formatting Sandisk CF w Nikon D200 ??

[TerpTide4]

I have a brandnew D200, followed instructions (twice) on how to format my new Sandisk Extreme III 4 GB CF, after completing this process meter reads 100 shots available.

This can't be right, can it? The CF card is empty!

Any words of wisdom?

Cheers

 

[jstuedle]

Do you have the menu set to RAW capture? Still, that would make them 40 meg files each. Maybe put the card in your reader and do a scan for bad sectors.

 

[itoncool]

I have D200 and Sandisk Extreme III 4 Gb too. Even if I set to RAW + JPEG Fine, I still have 156 shoots after formatted.

I always format the CF twice, first from Computer then through Camera before use. Because sometimes your camera couldn't read some files from computer. I don't mix my CF, I have CF only for my Nikon DSLR and I have CF only for my Canon P&S.

 

[TerpTide4]

The D200 is set on normal - jpeg, not raw, aware of the difference - thanks for bringing this to my attention. Chart in manual shows with capabilities for 1GB to be over 150 for normal setting - shouldnt I be looking at a reading of close to 500?

 

[JerryPH]

If you are trying to format it using the "2 button push format"... it will not do a complete format... but if you use the MENU and format from there, it will format the complete disk for you.

 

[TerpTide4]

Thanks JerryPH - now I am getting worried because I actually did the "two button" twice and the menu version once - same result.
Thanks for your response, perhaps a faulty CF

Or I am missing something..

 

[JerryPH]

Two button will (or is supposed to) delete all diectories that the camera created on it, but if you renamed any directories, it won't kill those.

The menu version is supposed to totally format everything on it.

If the in camera format doesn't work, it could be a defective card. Try formatting it on the computer with the CF card in a USB card reader. I paid $30 for mine and it is a USB v.2.0, so it is fast, and works flawlessly.

If it doesn't work in the card reader, your card is in need of being replaced.

How old is your card by the way?

Edit:
Oh, I forgot to add... use a light and shine it into the card holder slot in the camera... look for any bent pins. If you forced it in wrong or lightly at an incorrect angle, you could have damaged one or more pins inside the camera.

 

[JIP]

I want to ask too how old is the card?have you used it before?? Might there be some images sitill on there from a former use??. Did you get image recovey software with the card? The software I got with mine has a "full erase" feature it this might help to erase any old latent images that might still be on the card.

 

[TerpTide4]

It's a brand new disk and a brand new camera - was just going thru the stages of formatting it to use for the first time.

 

[JerryPH]

With my Extreme IV 8gb card using RAW only, I see 458 pics available on an empty card. On a 4gb card you would see about 250.

On a 2gb card you should see about 100. Is it possible you got a 2gb card instead of a 4gb?

If it is REALLY a 4gb card, time to take it back to where you purchased it and tell them there is an issue. 4gb cards should be AT LEAST 250 pics at it's highest quality settings.

 

[itoncool]

TerpTide4, Are you sure it's 4 Gigs? if yes and it's still brand new then you should go to the store and return it.


Jerry, seeing your post makes me realize that our 8 Gb Extreme IV doesn't have the same quantity when empty. Mine shows 480 on RAW only. 4 Gb Extreme III 240 RAW shoots (empty). 2 Gb Extreme III 120 RAW shoots (empty).

I wonder what makes the different, is it the quality of the CF are not same, the age of the CF or the formating flow? My 8 Gb Extreme IV is new.

 

[JerryPH]

Jerry, seeing your post makes me realize that our 8 Gb Extreme IV doesn't have the same quantity when empty. Mine shows 480 on RAW only.

Which is all I shoot.. lol. Yes we match. That is also what I meant by highest quality. I did not include RAW+JPG, which would lower it.

Also remember that those are approximations, and since we are on the topic... it is never a good idea to shoot any card down to 0. If it attempts to write that last file and cannot, it could corrupt the entire contents of the card costing you an enormous loss.

I don't shoot less than about 10 pics left and even then, more often than not, at the 50% of an event or evening... I swap to the 2nd card no matter how much is on the 1st one.

 

[itoncool]

Also remember that those are approximations, and since we are on the topic... it is never a good idea to shoot any card down to 0. If it attempts to write that last file and cannot, it could corrupt the entire contents of the card costing you an enormous loss.

I don't shoot less than about 10 pics left and even then, more often than not, at the 50% of an event or evening... I swap to the 2nd card no matter how much is on the 1st one.

This is new to me, but very make sense because that's how you do to your Computer Hard disk, never load it with full capacity or it will corrupt. And CF is a storing device too. Fortunately, I rarely shoot down to 0, but I remember I did that couples of times.
Will never gonna happen again after this.

 

[Sideburns]

Which is all I shoot.. lol. Yes we match. That is also what I meant by highest quality. I did not include RAW+JPG, which would lower it.

Also remember that those are approximations, and since we are on the topic... it is never a good idea to shoot any card down to 0. If it attempts to write that last file and cannot, it could corrupt the entire contents of the card costing you an enormous loss.

I don't shoot less than about 10 pics left and even then, more often than not, at the 50% of an event or evening... I swap to the 2nd card no matter how much is on the 1st one.

Sorry, but you're yet another person on the internet making false assumptions, and starting rumours about technologies that will worried grandmas and amateurs forever.

The camera knows whether it can store the shot or not before it lets you take it. It knows the max file size of a picture, and will let you know if there isn't room on the card for that by saying "0".

I'm not trying to argue, but your fears are not well founded. I'm sure you've never encountered this. I've done it several times, and it's never missed a shot. The camera isn't as stupid as you think.

This is new to me, but very make sense because that's how you do to your Computer Hard disk, never load it with full capacity or it will corrupt. And CF is a storing device too. Fortunately, I rarely shoot down to 0, but I remember I did that couples of times.
Will never gonna happen again after this.

That's not true either...
But it usually is a bad idea to fill a harddrive to capacity if it's your windows drive, because the swap/pagefile is on that drive, and if it hasn't reserved that space specifically then you're gonna notice some slowdown. Not to mention the fact that if it needs to add files or use temporary directories, you're SOL. So yes, it's good to leave a bit of room...but it can't kill a drive.

 

[JerryPH]

Sorry, but you're yet another person on the internet making false assumptions, and starting rumours about technologies that will worried grandmas and amateurs forever.

The camera knows whether it can store the shot or not before it lets you take it. It knows the max file size of a picture, and will let you know if there isn't room on the card for that by saying "0".

Actually... I sadly speak from experience on the corrupting of the contents of a 2 week old brand new CF card. I did not mention it because it is rather embarrassing. I had to do not a quick format, but a full format to make it useable again, the recovery software that came with my did nothing for me. The card was fine after a full format.

And no, a camera (at least not my D200) cannot tell you in advance how big a picture will be, therefore, how can it know if it will fit that last one or not?

My NEFs range from (on one shoot to another ) from 14.9MB to 16.4MB depending on several factors but me not changing the file size, compression or quality settings. The camera will try to average it but it cannot know in advance how big that picture will be. I filled an 8gb card and it failed on my last pic... no pics were ultra important as I was playing downtown, so I had no issues with the lost pics, but it was still a PITA and a lesson to learn.

This is no false assumption or rumor... this is a true fact and it happened to me. I leave the choice for all to do as they wish, we are all big boys and gals here.

And discussing about hard drives, if one fills a system volume on most Windows operating systems from Windows 95 to Vista to very close near capacity and the page file is not set at a fixed size, it will not slow down at that point much at all (it does slow down when your physical ram runs out and tries to replace it with virtual ram AKA your swap or page file), you will get a low HD space warning and if you ignore that, as the swap file tries to expand to accomodate the needed extra virtual ram, and fails, the operating system will then sometimes (but not always) give you a nice BSOD. If the BSOD happens, you have about a 50% chance of having corrupted your hard drive.

A lot actually depends on what program your called that needed the additional RAM and how it responds to the OS telling it there is not enough memory to run it. A poorly written application will try to force a write to a portion of memory already used by the OS, and thats where you get your BSOD.

As far as a secondary drive or partition, you can fill that to 100% capacity without concerns as long as you do not place a pagefile or use it as a location for temporary files that the OS needs.