How To Format A SD Memory Card By Using SD Formatter

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Nowadays Data Storage is becoming easier as Data Storage Devices are becoming very small, compact and easy to handle with bigger capacities in small sizes. One of these devices is A SD which is a very commonly used these days in , Cameras & Hand Held Devices. But you never know when it can stop working – Imagine you click a picture of a lifetime only to realize that the SD Memory Card is not working and the only option left is to format the SD Memory Card.

You would normally format the SD Memory Card by using the inbuilt Right Click Format Command present in but according to the SD AssociationSD or SDHC memory card file systems formatted with generic operating system formatting software do not comply with official SD memory card requirements and optimum performance may not be experienced“.- resulting in data loss or death of your SD Memory Card.

For The Same purpose SD Association has built a nifty little program which will format your SD Memory Card with ease. It's called SD Formatter.

SD Formatter is only supported by Windows, MAC & Linux Users will have to wait. It Supports both SD & SDHC Memory Cards, & A Standard Memory Card Reader is recommended for the formatting process.

Click Here To Download SD Formatter (It's a 1.28 MB exe download)

Open SD Formatter

Select The Drive Which hosts the SD Memory Card, The Size of your SD Memory Card will be displayed in the Size Option below the Drive Letter. In the below pic the drive is F:\ & the SD Memory Capacity is 3.68 GB.
After selecting your SD Memory Card click on Option, below the Refresh Button.
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.
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.
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.
Hope This Tutorial helped you all in learning how to format SD Memory Card  in a Quick, Easy & Geeky Way. Happy Computing Till Then.
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