1gig compact flash problem

hi all
i have been given a cf card and it dont want to work...
it is reconised in xp but tells me to format it
have tried to but at the end it say's cant complete format
looked under disk tools and it does not have a file system
tried a couple off file recovery programs and i finds files but they are
gobbly gook...ie .exe and .txt files
it seems it has been writen in RAW format
how do i completely clean the card and reformat in fat16?
is there a way round the write protect if thats what it is
for the record it is a SanDisk 1.0GB card
thanks for reading and waiting with anticipation!!!!!




nelson

Have you tried inserting it in your camera and formating it from there?


"nelson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:418382f4$(E-Mail Removed)...
> hi all
> i have been given a cf card and it dont want to work...
> it is reconised in xp but tells me to format it
> have tried to but at the end it say's cant complete format
> looked under disk tools and it does not have a file system
> tried a couple off file recovery programs and i finds files but they are
> gobbly gook...ie .exe and .txt files
> it seems it has been writen in RAW format
> how do i completely clean the card and reformat in fat16?
> is there a way round the write protect if thats what it is
> for the record it is a SanDisk 1.0GB card
> thanks for reading and waiting with anticipation!!!!!
>
>

You should always format memory cards, in the camera you intend to use it
with. Even with cameras of a common manufacture, such as Canon, will format
them differently, in various models of their own cameras.

Bill Crocker


"nelson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:418382f4$(E-Mail Removed)...
> hi all
> i have been given a cf card and it dont want to work...
> it is reconised in xp but tells me to format it
> have tried to but at the end it say's cant complete format
> looked under disk tools and it does not have a file system
> tried a couple off file recovery programs and i finds files but they are
> gobbly gook...ie .exe and .txt files
> it seems it has been writen in RAW format
> how do i completely clean the card and reformat in fat16?
> is there a way round the write protect if thats what it is
> for the record it is a SanDisk 1.0GB card
> thanks for reading and waiting with anticipation!!!!!
>
>

ok...will give it a try
thanks

"Bill Crocker" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:nrudnaLqo_JdKB7cRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> You should always format memory cards, in the camera you intend to use it
> with. Even with cameras of a common manufacture, such as Canon, will
> format them differently, in various models of their own cameras.
>
> Bill Crocker
>
>
> "nelson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:418382f4$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> hi all
>> i have been given a cf card and it dont want to work...
>> it is reconised in xp but tells me to format it
>> have tried to but at the end it say's cant complete format
>> looked under disk tools and it does not have a file system
>> tried a couple off file recovery programs and i finds files but they are
>> gobbly gook...ie .exe and .txt files
>> it seems it has been writen in RAW format
>> how do i completely clean the card and reformat in fat16?
>> is there a way round the write protect if thats what it is
>> for the record it is a SanDisk 1.0GB card
>> thanks for reading and waiting with anticipation!!!!!
>>
>>
>
>

"nelson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:418382f4$(E-Mail Removed)...
> hi all
> i have been given a cf card and it dont want to work...
> it is reconised in xp but tells me to format it
> have tried to but at the end it say's cant complete format
> looked under disk tools and it does not have a file system
> tried a couple off file recovery programs and i finds files but they are
> gobbly gook...ie .exe and .txt files
> it seems it has been writen in RAW format
> how do i completely clean the card and reformat in fat16?
> is there a way round the write protect if thats what it is
> for the record it is a SanDisk 1.0GB card
> thanks for reading and waiting with anticipation!!!!!

One thing you should understand is that you cannot
format 1 GB in FAT 16. FAT 16 is an obsolete disk
format that can only support 512 megabytes.

I seem to remember reading that FAT 32 is the
simulated format used on memory cards. I say
"simulated" because I'm not sure that the physical
format on the memory card has much in common
with the track/sector formatting on a disk. The
interface makes it appear that way.

Finally, yes, let the camera do the formatting, not
the computer.

Alan