Resolved SD Card Formatting

I have a collection of about 20 SD cards of various sizes and speed classes that I am using for an embedded project. I have noticed that when they are formatted on a Windows XP (SP3) PC that most do not include an MBR as the first sector. Two, however, do, one of which is only 64MB in size. My questions are as follows.

a) Why does Windows not format all SD cards either with or without and MBR instead of most which exclude it and a few that include it?

b) Is there a way to force the format to include the MBR if required or to exclude the MBR if required?

c) Is there any way to select the cluster size as is possible with Windows 7?

Regards
Farmer Jo

 

Hi Farmer Jo, Welcome to WindowsBBS.

I have SD cards which I have used mainly for camera. When I've saved the photos I want, I just Delete from within the camera. I have never had to Format a card.

I don't know the answer to your query, but wondered whether FAT and NTFS would have anything to do with it. Neil.

 

Interesting point about the Risks of Re-Formatting an SD card Tony. Neil.

 

My Samsung Digimax 360 is quite old by today's standards, but it still takes excellent photos.
In the Menu, I have the choice of Delete All photos from the card or individual shots.
In the Setup, I have the Format option - which I have never used. I have 1 SD card 64MB, 2 x 128MB, 1 x 512MB and 1 x 2GB which I just swap around and Delete photos either through the camera facility or through the computer using Picasa.
I have never used the Format procedure. Neil.

 

Hi TonyT.

Thanks for the link.

I did read this some time ago but was still unable to determine why some SD cards when formatted include the MBR but others do not.

I have since discovered that the data from an SD card can easily be read from a Win32 application (irrespective of any formatting standard) which saves me the exercise of supporting either the FAT or FAT32 file system on my embedded target (also saving tons of code). Was interesting learning about the MS filing systems though and perhaps to support them in an embedded system is a challenge for another day when I have a bit more flash memory to play about with.

Regards
PCFarmer