# Why do you have to format a camera memory card



## alankearn (Aug 27, 2002)

My brother in law has recently bought a Nikon digital camera with an internal memory . In the instruction book for the camera it says he must format the memory in the camera and any additional SD memory cards he buys before taking any photographs. I have a Sony digital camera with a Sony memory stick but the my instruction book makes no mention of any formatting.I also have a 64mb usb data stick that did not need formatting so I wondered why one form of memory should need formatting before use and the other not, or are they two different types of memory.


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## kiwiguy (Aug 17, 2003)

The camera manufacturer cannot guarantee that the supplied memory structure has full integrity and has not been accidentally corrupted from the time it was made until the end user wants to utilise it.

The camera/card may have been demonstrated, anything is possible. There simply is no way the maker can control it when it leaves the factory.

Its purely a sensible and "carefully made suggestion" as a once-off action, it would apply to every such memory device. Its not anything to do with the type etc, just an attempt to stop unneccessary customer complaints.


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## alankearn (Aug 27, 2002)

kiwiguy said:


> The camera manufacturer cannot guarantee that the supplied memory structure has full integrity and has not been accidentally corrupted from the time it was made until the end user wants to utilise it.
> 
> The camera/card may have been demonstrated, anything is possible. There simply is no way the maker can control it when it leaves the factory.
> 
> Its purely a sensible and "carefully made suggestion" as a once-off action, it would apply to every such memory device. Its not anything to do with the type etc, just an attempt to stop unneccessary customer complaints.


kiwiguy

Thanks for the explanation

Alan


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## slipe (Jun 27, 2000)

You have a Sony camera with proprietary Sony memory. Sony has control of the entire process and the memory stick is going to be properly formatted for the camera.

SD is more of a universal format. I have two cameras that take SD memory and neither requires formatting of the card. Perhaps Nikon has a unique formatting system that is necessary or at least desirable for their cameras.

With my first digital camera I participated in a memory card test. My memory card was considerably slower than people with the same card and camera. So I reread the instructions which said to format the card before running the tests. My card became about a third faster and was in line with other users of the same card. I have regularly formatted my cards ever since.

I suspect they have improved the file systems and formatting doesnt have the advantage it did three years ago. Formatting doesnt seem to speed the camera the way it did with my Minolta and CF card. I still format regularly.


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