SD card idiosyncrasies

I have run into a very strange issue with my SD cards. My cards work fine if I format them and put them into the eDGe. However, if I try and take one of the cards out of a digital camera, I have tried two and get the same results, the eDGe states that the cards are damaged and that I need to reformat them. When I accept the format nothing happens. If I reformat the cards on my computer they seem to work just fine again. The edge also gives me a bad SD error if I hook the camera up via USB. Does anyone have any insights?

The FAT filesystem used on SD cards can be implemented incompletely in some devices. (aka: sloppy, lazy programmers). The camera is likely doing a not-entirely-complete implementation which is acceptable for it, and some other devices, but the edge and probably many general-purpose computers expect the format to be managed better. I've run across similar problems moving media between some devices and computers. I've run repair tools on media that computers report corrupted and as soon as it goes back into the device it gets abused again (from the computer's point of view.)

Ken, does that mean that, in essence, there are some cameras that are incompatible with the edge? Meaning, that when you take pictures on an SD card in those cameras, you won't be able to then just pop that SD card into the edge and be able to access the pictures?

I've had bad luck with Sandisk 2GB SD cards in general in the eDge (one says Class 2, the other doesn't specify) but even the grocery store brand SD card I bought works just fine. Even the crappy little 128/256/528MB cards that came with cameras work, as do all my SDHC 8GB and 16GB (Transcend). But for whatever reason, I have a couple of Sandisk 2GB that just won't play nicely, so I don't use them in my cameras (both Canon Powershots, one a big monster and one pocket sized). I just assumed it was an SD card issue and not a camera issue, since other cards work fine.

Which camera are you using Forbdneye?

Yes, it depends on the camera that's abusing the SD card. Some companies cut corners and as long as they manage to read and write within the device, they're OK with it.

I've had devices that are supposed to be mountable over a USB connection, and they functioned well as long as data is only read/copied from the device. Deleting a file within the device or over the USB connection would hose the storage and I had to fsck the card on a linux system to fix it.

It could also be that SD card in question is just junk.

I am using a Panasonic FZ28. The other camera is my wife's and it is also a Panasonic. Ken I would think that since the card is formatted on a computer the FAT system on the implementted on the camera wouldn't matter, would it? I am using PNY, Patriot, and Sandisk memory cards.

Originally Posted by Fourbdneye

. . . since the card is formatted on a computer the FAT system on the implementted on the camera wouldn't matter, would it?

If the camera is doing a bad job updating the allocation table or other file system details then it doesn't matter how clean the computer left the SD card. The camera keeps wrecking it.

That makes perfect sense. Perhaps when it puts the image folders onto the card it is not updating the card correctly.