How To Fix 4GB CF Card Formatted As 2GB?

[pwatkins]

I made the mistake of formatting a 4GB Sandisk Extreme III compact flash card in my camera, which formatted the card as a 2GB card.

How can the card be reformatted as a 4GB card?  I use a Windows computer.  The disk management tools in "My Computer" only seem to allow a 2GB format.

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks!

Paul Watkins

[DiaAzul]

I made the mistake of formatting a 4GB Sandisk Extreme III compact flash card in my camera, which formatted the card as a 2GB card.

How can the card be reformatted as a 4GB card?  I use a Windows computer.  The disk management tools in "My Computer" only seem to allow a 2GB format.

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks!

Paul Watkins
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=59502\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

You have (or the camera by default has) probably formatted the card with FAT16 instead of FAT32 file system - not a big problem, just that the maximum drive supported by FAT16 is 2Gb.

Best thing to do is stick it in a card reader attached to your computer and reformat the drive to FAT32 with a 32Kb cluster size.

[pwatkins]

You have (or the camera by default has) probably formatted the card with FAT16 instead of FAT32 file system - not a big problem, just that the maximum drive supported by FAT16 is 2Gb.

Best thing to do is stick it in a card reader attached to your computer and reformat the drive to FAT32 with a 32Kb cluster size.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=59509\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Tried that.  32k didn't work as a cluster size ("The specified cluster size is too big for FAT32."), so I had to go to 16k.  Here's what happened:

D:\ >>format g: /fs:fat32 /v:EOS /a:16k /x
Insert new disk for drive G:
and press ENTER when ready...
The type of the file system is FAT32.
Verifying 1945M
Initializing the File Allocation Table (FAT)...
Format complete.

2,038,808,576 bytes total disk space.
2,038,792,192 bytes available on disk.

       16,384 bytes in each allocation unit.
      124,438 allocation units available on disk.

           32 bits in each FAT entry.

Volume Serial Number is CCCF-6CD7

It still only found 2GB.      Anything else anyone can think of?

Thanks,

--Paul

[DiaAzul]

Have you checked that the camera has not partitioned the disk drive?

If it has then you will need to remove any partitions that have been created on the disk and then reformat it.

Select my computer, right click->select Manage
Got to Disk Management
If there are any logical drives then remove them.

[michaelphilip]

One other thought-
You've probably already done so, but just in case, have you checked to make sure that the switch on the CF card is in the correct position?

From the Sandisk web site:

" The 4GB CompactFlash card has a 3-position switch.
For cameras and devices that can only use FAT16 you need to use the 2nd and 3rd positions.
Position 1 allows you to use the whole 4GB of space but it is formatted as FAT32. Only devices that use FAT32 can access card in this position.
Position 2 allows you to use the 1st 2GB of space.
Position 3 allows you to use the 2nd 2GB of space. "

Mike

[pwatkins]

One other thought-
You've probably already done so, but just in case, have you checked to make sure that the switch on the CF card is in the correct position?

From the Sandisk web site:

" The 4GB CompactFlash card has a 3-position switch.
For cameras and devices that can only use FAT16 you need to use the 2nd and 3rd positions.
Position 1 allows you to use the whole 4GB of space but it is formatted as FAT32. Only devices that use FAT32 can access card in this position.
Position 2 allows you to use the 1st 2GB of space.
Position 3 allows you to use the 2nd 2GB of space. "

Mike
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=59546\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks Mike - the switch was the cause of the problem!

The card probably never had 4GB available on it, and I only noticed this after the in-camera format.  Hard to believe they would ship a 4GB card set to 2GB mode.  BTW, the switch positions are clearly marked on the card once you know what to look for.

Thanks again!

Paul Watkins