3 questions

Avic7 · Oct 12, 2004

Hiya everyone,

Thanks for reading this post. It is my first official post outside of my introduction. Since i am a newbie, pls forgive me if i step on any toes.

My first question is what is a raw? When i take a picture with my canon IXY 400 digital camera and transfer it into my computer, it is in jpeg format. I got confused reading some previous posts.

My second question is whether or not it is bad to constantly reformat the compactflash memory card instead of using the "delete all images" function. Does it ruin the memory or what?

My third question is related to my second question, earlier this weekend, i was bestman for my buddies wedding. I finished taking a picture, turned the camera off, went downstairs to get a drink, came back up and when i turned on the camera, it said, "memory card error" total image is ZERO.
What could have caused this memory card error? Is it to many reformats on the compactflash card? What is the best program i can use to recover those lost images? And will I be able to recover 100% of those lost images?

ok, sorry i know those are more than three questions. I look forward to hearing from you all.
Thank you
Avic7

Big Mike · Oct 12, 2004

First off, RAW is a file format that higher end cameras use. It's the 'raw' data from the sensor...not adjusted or optimized like a jpeg file. Different cameras have different raw formats and you need special software or plug-in to open the files.

As for you other questions...I just don't know.

Avic7 · Oct 12, 2004

I C thanks for clearing that up for me Big Mike.

fadingaway1986 · Oct 13, 2004

I always thought you were better off if you format the card often...

With my kodak digital camera (a few years ago) - Every now and again it would tell you to format the card, and generally you would lose all the photos... So I figured - If you format it before every use - it is less likely to do that after you have taken photos...

I work in a minilab - and we often get people wanting their photos put onto a cd... However, a lot of the time our printer tells us that our customer's card is not formatted, therefore we can't do anything with it. I always tell the customers to format their cards often...

Hope that helps...

- Alecia

Canon Fan · Oct 13, 2004

I format my card(s) after every single time I dump the pics off of them (well after I have them backed up twice) but definately when I put the card back in the camera it is the FIRST thing I do.

Avic7 · Oct 13, 2004

well a buddy of mine told me this earlier, and i don't know if it is true or not

Just like any HDD, it hurts to constantly format. it is more wear and tear on the disc. Deleting is a bit better. I bought a card reader for all my media. after I upload, I delete using that....

lazarus219 · Oct 13, 2004

hi, now ive never really understood formatting, although i still do it regularly- what does formatting actually do to the memory?

Avic7 · Oct 13, 2004

as far as i know it suppose to clean up previous pictures that u have taken, wipe the slate clean in other words.
The problem is i don't know if i am wearing the "slate" out by "wiping" it to much...anyone know? and anyone know a good recovery program?

voodoocat · Oct 13, 2004

Just like any HDD, it hurts to constantly format. it is more wear and tear on the disc. Deleting is a bit better. I bought a card reader for all my media. after I upload, I delete using that...

Umm. That's not really true. And most media cards are not hard drives. It's solid state flash memory (other than microdrives). The best method is to format the card in the camera after you dump the images as the others have stated.

fadingaway1986 · Oct 13, 2004

Oh good. I was starting to worry my customers were gonna come back and yell at me!

PrimaryCanary · Oct 13, 2004

Avic, what type of compact flash card do you own (Lexar, SanDisk?) because they usually come with recovery software you can use to restore accidently deleted or destroyed images. You still might be able to save those wedding pics.

And as for formatting, I'm farely sure that most cameras just delete the FAT table on the card (that's why it only takes 10 seconds on my full 1GB card) To try to ease some troubled minds, I have 2 maxtor harddisks in my computer, each are over 3 years old, and every 3 months they get formatted and the OS reinstalled.

Avic7 · Oct 13, 2004

Let see since i bought my camera in taiwan, i managed to get a free 256 mb memory card. Don't know the name it is called except on the cover it is purplish and say F1 and in the top left hand corner it say PQI.
Since then to replace this memory card (don't wnat to lose anymore pics) i bought a 512MB Sandisk Memory compactflash card. Costo seems to be the cheapest but most placest will match their price. DO i need to go to Sandisk website for their data recovery software? I never got a recovery software to go with the sandisk that i bought?

Thanks for ur help
Avic7

PrimaryCanary · Oct 13, 2004

Unfortunately it seems that sandisk only packages the software with their extreme cards. I did not know this. I'm not sure of any other options. Any help here members?

http://www.sandisk.com/retail/ext-cf.asp