Deleting pictures on an SD card

I wish to delete the pictures on my digital camera's SD card, which is
almost full. Is it best to do it withe camera controls or computer
controls? Thank you.

On 9 Feb, 10:53, Kiran wrote:
I wish to delete the pictures on my digital camera's SD card, which is
almost full. Is it best to do it withe camera controls or computer
controls? Thank you.

Do you whant to erase all? Just use Format on the camera.
Only delete some? Can be done on both, but as you are asking, perhaps
on the camera will be less risky. ;-)

Kiran wrote:
I wish to delete the pictures on my digital camera's SD card, which is
almost full. Is it best to do it withe camera controls or computer
controls? Thank you.

If you just want to re-use the card, use 'Format' on the camera menu.
This, like individual image erase, does not remove the image, it merely
rewrites a new FAT table on the card, which loses the connection to the
images, but they are still there, recoverable by a number of software
applications - until they are overwritten by new images.

If you really want to remove the images for privacy reasons, you will
have to reformat the card in a computer, using full format, not quick
format. Full format rewrites data into every sector and checks whether
the sector is ok, thus erasing all images on the card. Quick format
merely rewrites the FAT table as in the camera, and the images remain.

There are a few programs that write random data to the card, Flash Card
Wiper is one, available on the web.

Your computer can probably write either FAT16 or FAT32 when
reformatting, and most cameras can use FAT32, but check in the book.

I see by your groups that you post to a Mac group. If your computer is
a Mac then I cannot tell you how it will format a card, as I don't know
whether Mac formatting is compatible with PC style FAT16 or FAT32 as
used by digital cameras.

Colin D.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

In rec.photo.digital Kiran wrote:
: I wish to delete the pictures on my digital camera's SD card, which is
: almost full. Is it best to do it withe camera controls or computer
: controls? Thank you.

Others have suggested Format in the camera to totally erase the card, and
this is a good suggestion. But if you wish to be more selective of which
images to erase the "right" answer may be a bit more complicated. For some
cameras, some people have reported that if an image is erased in a card
reader attached to the computer the camera may have a problem as the
camera saves some data seperately of how many images are on the card and
such. If the data is mismatched the camera can become confused. On the
other hand both of the cameras I use have no problem if I erase images
with the card reader.

I would suggest that if you are going to format the card anyway you might
want to explore what works with your camera. Put the card in the card
reader and erase one or more files and then put the camera back in the
camera and see if it causes problems. If it does, format the card in the
camera and you will know you need to do all erasures in the camera. If the
camera has no problem with the card reader erasure then you know you can
erase individual images in either place.

Personally I prefer to erase images in the card reader when I am using it
for copying the images to the HD. I may be wrong but it SEEMS that the
computer completes the erasures slightly faster (tho that is purely an
impression, I haven't actually timed it). Of course if I am wanting to
just erase a single image (or a very small number of them) it just isn't
worth it to fire up the computer to erase them. Just doing it in the
camera makes more sense. JMHO

Randy

==========
Randy Berbaum
Champaign, IL

Colin_D wrote:

I see by your groups that you post to a Mac group. If your computer is
a Mac then I cannot tell you how it will format a card, as I don't know
whether Mac formatting is compatible with PC style FAT16 or FAT32 as
used by digital cameras.

Apple's "Disk Utility" application will format volumes to FAT32 as an
alternative to the Mac's native HFS+.
--
/Jon
For contact info, run the following in Terminal:
Mail: echo 36199371860304980107073482417748002696458P|dc
Skype: echo 139576319600233690471689738P|dc

Ed Ruf (REPLY to E-MAIL IN SIG!) ha scritto:

On Fri, 09 Feb 2007 09:53:27 GMT, in rec.photo.digital Kiran
wrote:

I wish to delete the pictures on my digital camera's SD card, which is
almost full. Is it best to do it withe camera controls or computer
controls? Thank you.

Just reformat the card in the camera.
--
Ed Ruf )
http://edwardgruf.com/Digital_Photog...ral/index.html
I sink is better with the computer.

Randy Berbaum wrote:

In rec.photo.digital Kiran wrote:
: I wish to delete the pictures on my digital camera's SD card, which is
: almost full. Is it best to do it withe camera controls or computer
: controls? Thank you.

Others have suggested Format in the camera to totally erase the card, and
this is a good suggestion. But if you wish to be more selective of which
images to erase the "right" answer may be a bit more complicated.

On a Mac, use "Image Capture", found in /Applications. This is actually
the program that does the behind the scenes work of iPhoto when it is
grabbing pix off a card or a camera. IC - as opposed to iPhoto - can
selectively copy or delete images on a camera (I use a Canon Ixus) or a
reader.

BTW: IC's Preferences is also the place where you decide what the Mac
should do as default action when it detects a camera or card. May seem
awkward, but is a confirmation of the fact that it is IC, not iPhoto,
that is the real stage worker here.
--
/Jon
For contact info, run the following in Terminal:
Mail: echo 36199371860304980107073482417748002696458P|dc
Skype: echo 139576319600233690471689738P|dc

Suddenly, without warning, Kiran exclaimed (09-Feb-07 7:23 PM):
I wish to delete the pictures on my digital camera's SD card, which is
almost full. Is it best to do it withe camera controls or computer
controls? Thank you.

If you're deleting everything, quickest way is to Format the card. If
you're selectively deleting, best to do it on the camera (even tho it's
more annoying). I've had problems with cards after deleting images on
the computer - worked fine when I put it back in the camera, but after
taking some pics and putting it back into the card reader, there was
"nothing there"! When this happened I'd have to use recovery software
to get the pictures off the card. This didn't happen if I did the
deletes from the camera itself.

Which brings me to my second point. You'd think that a full format
would delete the images, but at least on my three Nikon cameras, it does
not - image recovery software easily gets the pictures back.

jmc

Ed Ruf "Ed Ruf (REPLY to E-MAIL IN SIG!)"
wrote:

On Fri, 09 Feb 2007 23:24:31 +0930, in rec.photo.digital jmc
wrote:

Which brings me to my second point. You'd think that a full format
would delete the images, but at least on my three Nikon cameras, it does
not - image recovery software easily gets the pictures back.

No you would not think that.

Just to be very clear: This is equally true on a normal hard drive
unless you do a low level format or you zero and/or overwrite all the
data (preferably multiple times if you really, REALLY want to be sure.)
--
/Jon
For contact info, run the following in Terminal:
Mail: echo 36199371860304980107073482417748002696458P|dc
Skype: echo 139576319600233690471689738P|dc

Ed Ruf Ed Ruf (REPLY to E-MAIL IN SIG!) wrote:
On Fri, 09 Feb 2007 23:24:31 +0930, in rec.photo.digital jmc
wrote:

Which brings me to my second point. You'd think that a full format
would delete the images, but at least on my three Nikon cameras, it does
not - image recovery software easily gets the pictures back.

No you would not think that. All this high level formatting does here
is overwrite the FAT. It does nothing to the data on the card itself.
There are utilities to destroy/overwrite the data. My Lexar CF card
came loaded with their ImageRescue software. Here is the help file
info on the Format function:

Format Card will delete all files found on the CompactFlash card,
however, these files may be able to be restored using the Image
Recovery feature. Additionally, the CompactFlash card will be
formatted back to the original factory settings. This will make a
corrupted card useable again in your digital device or computer.
This is how high level formatting works on your hard and floppy drives
as well.

They also provide a secure erase function.
-
Ed Ruf )
http://edwardgruf.com/Digital_Photog...ral/index.html

It's best to full format a floppy (if you still use them). They aren't
the most reliable of media.
Dave Cohen