Formatting SD Cards

[The_Traveler]

Format in Camera.
Memory Card Best Practices: 15 Things You Should Already Be Doing

 

[Advanced Photo]

Why are you reformatting it? Are you using it with a different file system each time? All you need to do is erase the files and leave the format as it is.
Time is not the important factor, the thing that matters is file size and number of files. Each file needs to be addressed and that takes some space.

Formatting is much easier and faster?

Ctrl+A delete.
It's fairly easy and fast.
If you want faster, tick the box that says erase files after moving.

 

[Advanced Photo]

Anyhow, use the tool I provided to get it back to original and then delete the files after downloading.

 

[Frank F.]

We have many different ideas here:

Safe erase means something in the ballpark of: fill all memory cells with random numbers, encrypt them, throw away the key and then write zeros to the cells
Formatting in Camera means: leave content untouched and flag all memory cells "empty"
Formatting in Computer means: leave content untouched and flag all memory cells "empty", possibly with a different file system, not every camera understands, exFAT for example
Low level formating means to write zeros to all cells

We should agree on the Nomencalture or we will not be able to sensibly communicate.

 

[Advanced Photo]

Using the Secure Digital Card formatting tool I provided is the preferred and recommended way to format a card.
Read more about this free software here.

Remember this:
SD Formatter or in-camera formatting?
According to a SDA Help Desk reply to an email inquiry by Digicamhelp:

“The SDA does recommend using the SD Formatter to format SD Cards rather than the formatting utilities provided in SD host devices such as digital cameras. The formatting utilities in SD host devices may not format SD Cards correctly, causing operability issues.”

So don't listen when folks tell you to 'format in camera'

 

[Advanced Photo]

Format in Camera.
Memory Card Best Practices: 15 Things You Should Already Be Doing

This is very old information and as it says in number 2 formatting in camera is a general concensus and like a lot of things people generally believe, it is wrong.
Back in 2012 when that article was written, the SD Association had not yet made the formatting tool publicly available. That happened in 2013.