Format an SD Card the Easy Way

Posted on January 5, 2010 at 5:19 am

SD cards can be tricky little gadgets. They sit in our cameras and cell phones, just waiting for us to take the picture of a lifetime…at which time, of course, they stop responding. While nothing can predict when or where an SD card will die, proper formatting can both lengthen the life of the card and provide the most available space possible.

The SD Association provides an SD card formatter for this purpose. Yes, they recognize Windows has a built in formatting program; however, they warn that by using the generic operating system formatters, “optimum performance may not be experienced.” Translation: SD card death and less picture-saving space.

The program downloads as a 1.28 MB executable file compatible only with Windows (the Read Me file cautions Mac users not to use the application). Both SD and SDHC cards are supported, and using a USB card reader is recommended for the formatting process.

The application initializes with just one small screen.

First, select the drive containing the card you wish to format. Likely, this will be E or F for most Windows users. Notice that when you select the drive, the size of the SD disk appears just below the selection. For the 4GB card used in this article, the size is recognized as 3.68 GB.

Next, click Option to select how you want the SD card formatted. A dialogue box appears with a dropdown menu listing three “format type” options. The first, Quick, is simply a standard wipe of the disk—all data currently on the disk will be erased.

The second, Full (erase off), will put the disk into a proper SD format, but beware: even though it says “erase off,” all data on the disk will be deleted, or rather, overwritten. However, the “flash” erase, which truly deletes all data beyond the realms of easy recovery, is not used in this second option.

Thus, the third option, Full (erase on),—is the option you will want to use most often, as it formats the card properly, while giving it a fresh start with no old data left on the disk at all. Not all cards support this, but if you choose this and the card does not support the option, the formatter automatically reverts to the second “erase off” option during the formatting process.

Under the Format Type dropdown menu is a second menu called “format size adjustment” that asks if you want to try to increase the amount of space on your SD card or not. Turning this option on will allow you to use the maximum space possible on your SD card. Once you have made your selection, click OK.

option 2 - SD Formatter

You will be brought back to the original formatter screen where it should display the options you just selected:

Finally, click Format. You will be asked one last time if you are sure you want to do this. If you are sure, click OK.

A new dialogue box then displays the status of your formatting efforts. For the options selected above, it first erases all files from the disk, then formats it. If you are using a larger disk, as in this example, this process will take a few minutes. Do not turn off your computer or remove the disk until the entire process is complete.

When complete, a dialogue box appears telling you the results of the formatting process.

format results - sd formatter

In the example above, the card used is a Micro SD card, which does not support the full erase option. The dialogue box shows this by stating it performed a full format, but could not “flash erase”—which is perfectly fine. The SD card will still have a nice, fresh start and prolonged life for taking pictures and storing files.

SD Formatter is available from SDcard.org.

» Filed Under Free Software Downloads

Comments

9 Responses to “Format an SD Card the Easy Way”

Frankie said on : January 7th, 2010 at 3:12 pm

Is there any problem with doing a quick format? Will it reduce the speed of the memory card or cause any other kind of problem? I’d rather have the option of being able to recover photos just in case I format pictures I didn’t mean too…thanks!

Katie said on : January 7th, 2010 at 4:53 pm

The quick format is OK to use, but it is still a good idea to use the full format once in awhile to prevent possible corrupt files and such. It all depends on just how much you’re deleting and taking new pictures. For a card you use all day everyday, a full format every couple of weeks is a good idea. If you are just shooting a few pictures here and there, once a month or so is probably just fine.

Lauren said on : January 15th, 2010 at 9:26 am

Hi, can you tell me a program to measure the speed at which my SD card is reading and writing to memory? I want to test and see if my SDHC card actually performs at the advertised speed of 30 MB/s. Thanks!

Jayney said on : February 9th, 2010 at 5:23 pm

Hi there i have a Vivicam3720 and am using a 2gb memory card that wont let me format or reformat it what do i do??

Katie said on : February 10th, 2010 at 8:59 am

Jayney – are you using a USB card reader? Trying to format the card while it is in your camera and connected to your computer is known not to work. Make sure the card’s write protection is also off (this is the little notch on the left).

froune said on : February 22nd, 2010 at 11:50 am

Thanks for writing about this software, I always like doing things the proper way! Keep up the good work!

Abbas said on : March 4th, 2010 at 3:04 am

thank you for explaining the proper procedure for formatting an SD card. I have had several problems and hopefully this fixes it.

siva shankar said on : March 8th, 2010 at 12:27 am

I was unable to format my 2Gb Micro SD card even with th help of SD CARD FORMATTER. I think it is corrupted. I was unable to delete files on it, unable to format or even unable to write. Is there any other software to formatt my micro sd card