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Resolved Can't reformat sd card to plain fat

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by charlibob, 2011/08/08.

  1. 2011/08/08
    charlibob Contributing Member

    charlibob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    I have an older canon camera that only recognizes fat format. I have a fat32 card that I would like to use, but the camera won't reformat it. The camera comes up with the message card locked, even though it isn't. With my Windows 7 operating system on my computer, there doesn't seem to be an option to reformat to plain fat. Is there a method to reformat this card using win7?
     
    charlibob,
    #1
  2. 2011/08/08
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Yes ....

    Insert card into PC

    Right click on the card > Format

    The File System dropdown has 4 options including FAT - screenshot.
     

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    PeteC,
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  4. 2011/08/08
    charlibob Contributing Member

    charlibob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks Pete, that is what I expected to be able to do. Unfortunately my copy of Win7 only has three options, none of which are fat.
     
    charlibob,
    #3
  5. 2011/08/08
    charlibob Contributing Member

    charlibob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Just tried my Dell laptop running Win7 also. Same result.
     
    charlibob,
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  6. 2011/08/08
    wildfire

    wildfire Getting Old

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    wildfire,
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  7. 2011/08/08
    charlibob Contributing Member

    charlibob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Hmm... It is an 8 gig card, but it looks like 4 may be the limit for fat16, although the specs for the camera list pic quantities for 8 gigs??? The old card is only one gig, but that severely limits the amount of video I can shoot with it. Maybe it is time for a new camera.
     
    charlibob,
    #6
  8. 2011/08/08
    charlibob Contributing Member

    charlibob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Oh, it is a canon powershot sd450. It has been a great little pocket camera, but there are more capable models out now.
     
    charlibob,
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  9. 2011/08/08
    rsinfo

    rsinfo SuperGeek Alumni

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    You should format the card from the camera only. Computer formatted card may not be compatible with cameras.

    You should try a 2 GB card instead of 8 GB as FAT16 limitation is 2 GB.
     
    rsinfo,
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  10. 2011/08/08
    charlibob Contributing Member

    charlibob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Actually it appears the limit is 4gigs. In addition to Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 also support FAT16 volumes up to 4GB in size. Ah well...
     
    charlibob,
    #9
  11. 2011/08/09
    retiredlearner

    retiredlearner SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    I go along with rsinfo. You should be able to Format with the camera - mine does it in a twinkle.:D
    I would imagine that if you plan on shooting 8Gb of video - you will flatten the battery real quick.:eek: Neil.
     
    retiredlearner,
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  12. 2011/08/09
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    True and that's how it should be done, but older cameras were limited to smaller cards than are available today, which they will not recognise. Hence the camera claimed that the card was locked - what it meant was - too big :)
     
    PeteC,
    #11
  13. 2011/08/09
    charlibob Contributing Member

    charlibob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Lets call this Resolved. It all stemmed from my ignorance of the 4 gb limit for fat 16 cards. Thanks to all for the help.
     
    charlibob,
    #12
  14. 2011/08/09
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Please mark this thread as 'Resolved', see .....
     
    PeteC,
    #13
  15. 2011/08/11
    charlibob Contributing Member

    charlibob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Still a problem. Bought a 4GB card. It came fat32, but I formatted it fat. Still not recognized by the camera. I looked at the formatting options for the 1GB card I have been using and noticed the allocation size is 16kb with 3 other sizes optional, but when I insert the 4GB card in the computer, only 64kb is listed. Perhaps 16kb is not an option on anything larger than one GB. Does anyone know?
     
    charlibob,
    #14
  16. 2011/08/11
    charlibob Contributing Member

    charlibob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    OK. Looks like the problem is that I am limited to a maximum of 2GB SD cards (not sdhc) for 16 kb allocation size. That hardly seems worth while. So again this is resolved.
     
    charlibob,
    #15

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