Deleting images from an SD card

I routinely delete all the images from the SD card after I have copied them onto my computer's hard drive - and checked that the copy has been successful!

There seem to be two options, on the K-S2, for clearing the SD card. There is a 'Delete all Images' in the menu when in Playback Mode, or alternatively, one can format the card from the option on page 4 of the Set Up menu. For some reason or other I have routinely cleared the SD card by using this 'Format' option, rather than the 'Delete all Images' route.

Is there any technical reason to prefer one method over the other?

Martin

If you're continuing to use the card again in the same camera then "Delete All" is ok ..... "Format" is often required when a card is introduced after being used in another camera (but not necessarily if the other camera was the same brand /file type)

Format sets up the file structure again from scratch, so I always format. This should be done in camera. It prevents the capacity of the card being slowly reduced as odd bits of discarded files clutter it up. A bit of a spring clean.

The card is so critical in the image making process that I always do this, and I have never had a card problem. Every couple of years the cards get replaced as well, usually because capacities have been gradually increasing as file sizes have crept up.

As John says above, I do exactly the same and re-format after each shoot is cleared down and confirmed on to the computer.

I've always followed John's advice, trying to avoid a corrupted card.

It is important not only to transfer the images to the computer, but also to make a backup of them on a separate drive, and then follow John's good advice.

Philip

i connect camera to computer open the folder then cut and paste to a hard drive folder then format the card in camera. only back up those that become keepers after processing anything else is sent to the bin

I always remove the card from the camera and use a card reader to connect to the computer.

Always format before any major event.

I take the card from the camera and put it in the PCs inbuilt card reader. I then cut the files from it and paste them into my PC photo archive. That leaves the card empty.
IMHO I'm not sure its a good idea to continually reformat an SD card. Flash based media has a limit on the number of writes so reformatting every time is going to cause more wear to the card than necessary and get you to that limit a bit quicker.
Clearly if any corruption to a card has occurred its worth trying a reformat to fix it and use an intelligent SD card formatter to do that as all the camera format is likely to do is rewrite the block allocation map. It all happens too fast for it to have been a proper reformat so card errors won't be cleared. If anyone believes otherwise I'd be interested to hear their reason.

I've never trusted cutting and pasting files also known as MOVE.

My favourite for copying and verifying files is TeraCopy but even they had problems with move. v3.21 deleted all files if you cancelled a move

Like JAK I don't like formatting a card more than once. Each format writes blanks to the same FATs. Just delete it's easier and recovery is also simple if you delete by mistake.

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You see, this is now cutting to the chase, getting to the core of the original question.... Is the process of repeated card formatting in any way a form of wear and tear ?

I should add that I do myself format every time after filling up a card and the files are copied to the PC and backed up, but I'm no power user, only starting a card fresh every 3-6 months or so.

For copying and incremental "echo" backups I use the free, simple and effective Microsoft Sync Toy.

It's not worth worrying about. Most systems write junk to the file system without you knowing such as date last accessed. MS even change the DATE/TIME of all your files when BST changes.

Deleting files on the PC is safer because you can review them before deletion.

Initial Format is perhaps better done by the camera, but even that shouldn't be necessary because they all use the SD Standard. Panasonic used to advise using their formatter on a PC.

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Nor me - I use Copy/Paste.

That way there are two copies of the file. Well, the original and a copy...

Having two SD card with the images on in both my K-1 and K-3 there's a backup already should something go wrong. I think one knows whether they can trust their system to cut and paste without problem.
As to a MOVE command, not all operating systems include that.