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  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

I just went on a 16 GB ride with SanDisk.

J

JohnZeman

New member
Today I received a new SanDisk Extreme III 16 GB CompactFlash card from SanDisk. After putting it in my 5D, I verified it was 16GB, and then following the camera's instructions I formatted the card. Guess what? My 16GB card had turned into an 8GB card. I tried every trick I could think of to no avail and then finally gave up and called SanDisk tech support.

There I was told something rather surprising. To make a long story short the tech support lady told me that with cards that large (meaning over 8 GB) I should never use the camera to format the card. That when I did so, during the format the camera destroyed half of the card's partition data. In other words instead of one 16gb partition, it created 2 8 GB partitions, one which was not allocated and therefore not visible to the camera, or the Windows "My Computer".

Currently I am awaiting an email from SanDisk which should contain the exact instructions on how I can recover the lost 8 GB partition on the card.

Has anyone else used a 16 GB SanDisk Extreme III card yet? If not, but if you're considering buying a 12 GB or larger card, you might be aware that SanDisk warns us not to use the camera to format those large cards (using the computer is apparently ok though according to them).
 
Cem_Usakligil

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Bummer. Do you have a CF card reader? If so, put the card in it and format the card from within windows or OSX. If necessary, you can use the Windows disk manager to remove the split partitions and create a new one for the whole 16 GB.

I am using Extreme III 4 Gb and 8 GB cards in my 5D. 8 GB has percievably slower write rates when the card is more than 50% filled. But I haven't tested it scientifically. My advice would be to buy 4x4GB instead. Cheaper compared to a single 16GB card, and not a single point of failure anymore.

HTH.

Regards,
 
J

JohnZeman

New member
Hi Cem,

Apparently computer management doesn't support adding or removing partitions for removable media like memory cards (at least that's what XP is telling me). That's how we finally found the problem though, the unallocated partition shows right up in the disk management section of computer management.

I'm still waiting on the fix from SanDisk. Since posting I've received a confirmation message about the problem saying the fix will be emailed to me soon.
 
Cem_Usakligil

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Hi John,

Unfortunately, you are right, the Disk Manager of XP is crippled by MS to prevent creating or deleting partitions on removable storage. However, there are many other partition managers out there such as the PowerQuest PartitionMagic or the Paragon Partition Manager. The latter has an older version with a downloadable working demo here:
http://paragon-partition-manager-personal.paragon-software-group.qarchive.org/_download2.html
I just tried it and it seems it can actually partition my SanDisk. Try and see for yourself if that helps. Good luck :)

Cheers,
 
J

JohnZeman

New member
Cem it looks like Partition Manager would do what I need, however when I get to the step to actually do it (meaning apply the partition changes I'd made) it stops and tells me the demo will not actually do anything, that I'd have to buy the full program in order to proceed. I appreciate the suggestion though, but for now I think I'll wait to see what SanDisk comes up with.

Asher, I'm afraid I have no idea how this might apply to Mac users.
 
D

Deleted member 55

Guest
JohnZeman said:
My 16GB card had turned into an 8GB card.
Click to expand...

In reality the camera does not support that big of a card.

Just for fun I put a 8GB card in my D30 just to see what happened and got a 2GB capacity. I then reformatted it in my 1DsMKII and all was well again.

What firmware version is in your 5D and does Canon say that it will support 16GB. The 1 series MKII needed the latest upgrade to support 16GB.
 
N

Nill Toulme

New member
While Canon's latest firmware updates for the Mark II 1-series cameras add support for cards larger than 8GB, AFAIK they haven't yet issued similar updates for the other cameras, including the 5D.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net
 
C

Chuck Westfall(Canon USA)

pro member
Hi, Folks:

The EOS 5D is the only current EOS Digital SLR that does not support in-camera formatting of CF cards with capacities higher than 8 GB. The 1D Mark III is OK right out of the box, and all other current models support in-camera formatting of 12GB and 16GB CF cards with the latest firmware. That includes Rebel XTi and 30D. I know this for a fact -- I have tested each of them myself.

Naturally, we have continually requested an update to the 5D's firmware to add this feature, but to date Canon Inc. has not supplied one, nor have they told us when to expect it.

The 5D is fully compatible with 12GB and 16GB CF cards that have been formatted in other EOS cameras as listed above, so users who have access to other current EOS models are recommended to format their 12GB and 16GB CF cards in those cameras prior to using the cards in a 5D.

Best Regards,

Chuck Westfall
Director/Media & Customer Relationship
Camera Marketing Group/Canon U.S.A., Inc.
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
That information is great.

Again Chuck, I'm happy that you follow the threads here. Thanks.

I'll now format cards in my 1DII for my 5D!

Asher
 
J

JohnZeman

New member
Problem solved.

Not by SanDisk for they still haven't gotten back to me. But after thinking about it, and after reading the posts in this thread (especially the one from Chuck) I decided that a fix this time probably wouldn't help me in the future when I'll likely forget the 5D cannot format cards this big and do it again. So I went ahead and purchased the personal version of Paragon Partition Manager (as suggested by Cem earlier in this thread) and it cleaned the card right up. I now have a full 16 GB card again in my 5D.

Many thanks to all who responded. Let's hope my experience will help prevent a similar problem from happening to any of you some time down the line.
 
Cem_Usakligil

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Hi John,

While I'm happy that you've solved the problem, it is a shame you had to purchase another program for that. Nevertheless, the Paragon Partition Manager is a very good utility. I'm sure you will end up using it also for other purposes.

Like you, I'd definitely forget to NOT to format the card in my 5D. Formatting a card as the first activity when I insert it into the camera has become a really nasty (automated) habit of mine.

Cheers,
 
K

Keith Kiiroja

New member
I have a 12gb Sandisk and a 4gb Hoodman...both cards work amazing and both cards are their regular capacity and both were used and formatted with my Canon 30d...
 
B

Barry Johnston

New member
Hi guys....

I have a 4Gb SD card in my 1D N, but my camera won't format the card, can anyone give me any ideas at all why it won't?

Cheers,
Barry.
 
E

Eric_Skrzypczak

New member
I'm so irritated with Canon right now I can't stand it. I'm a guy who will probably buy a new digital SLR every 12 – 18 months for the next 40 years. I hope that Canon can get their act together or I'll have to switch to Nikon. I sent Canon support the following email this week:

I love your digital SLR cameras. When your cameras came out I bought the EOS 10D, 20D and 5D models as soon as they were released. I know that you are always pursuing the next, best thing. However it is really lame that the 5D will not correctly format cards bigger than 8 gig.

If you can't produce an update for the 5D firmware that allows this to happen I'm sorry to say that I've bought my last Canon camera. I'm so frustrated that I've really felt the need to get on every website that discusses Canon cameras and start discussing the lousy firmware support that you seem to have for models less than two years old and still selling on the market.

I don't think any of your loyal base is expecting a bunch of new features with older bodies we just want to be able to format our cards correctly in your cameras. Is that really so much to ask for?
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Eric,

I am empathetic with your feelings. However, for the record, although not really good enough, one can use a 16GB card after formatting it in another Canon Camera. So if the card is purchased in a camera store, simply pop it in a 1DIII and reformat the Canon way. Not convenient of course, but works.

It really miffs me that firmware is not open source as we'd see far better function if we had the combined creativity of users all around.

Asher
 
E

Edward Bussa

Member
Asher Kelman said:
Eric,
It really miffs me that firmware is not open source as we'd see far better function if we had the combined creativity of users all around.
Asher
Click to expand...

Indeed - I downloaded the CHDK hack for DIGIC II processors (like on my S3 IS) and it is simply amazing what can be done when people are not constrained by committee and liability!
 
E

Eric_Skrzypczak

New member
Asher,

I do realize that I have options. I actually purchased paragon-partition-manager . However last week I was on an international trip. I had not loaded the software on my business laptop. I'm used to formatting the card before I use it so I did it without thinking and immediately cut its capacity in half. I was not in an urban environment with any other SLR cameras that I could identify. I need to remember to use “delete all” as opposed to formatting. However this really should work. After all my business is Canon's to loose.

Eric
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Funny how times have changed! I still have some 8GB and 16GB Sandisk CF cards that I keep for when I lend out my 7D or 5D to one of my sons! I'd never dream of using anything less than 32GB today and it's usually 64GB. The advantage is that I can keep 2 64 GB SD cards in my wallet for emergencies.

I noticed this thread because someone was looking at it!

Yes, times have changed! But the 5D and 7D still make perfect pictures. If that's all we had, everyone could still earn a living at photography, crime scenes and insurance losses could be documented and we'd have the same chances of winning competitions, but would not need such large hard drives to store 20-400 MB Tiff pictures!

Asher
 
Doug Kerr

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Asher,

I actually have on my desk a 16 MB MMC card (the predecessor to the SD card).

Best regards,

Doug
 
M

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
How times are changing...

My first steps into digital photography were using a 4MB SmartMedia card back in '99 (this was enough to start with a whopping resolution of 1280x960).

Sixteen years later I have a 128GB SDXC card I use for larger shootings or video...

Best regards,
Michael
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Michael Nagel said:
How times are changing...

My first steps into digital photography were using a 4MB SmartMedia card back in '99 (this was enough to start with a whopping resolution of 1280x960).

Sixteen years later I have a 128GB SDXC card I use for larger shootings or video...

Best regards,
Michael
Click to expand...


....and I still have an Apple 2E with 128K of memory, considered "going over the top" at the time when coding was scrupulously efficient!

Asher
 
M

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Asher Kelman said:
Michael Nagel said:
How times are changing...

My first steps into digital photography were using a 4MB SmartMedia card back in '99 (this was enough to start with a whopping resolution of 1280x960).

Sixteen years later I have a 128GB SDXC card I use for larger shootings or video...

Best regards,
Michael
Click to expand...
....and I still have an Apple 2E with 128K of memory, considered "going over the top" at the time when coding was scrupulously efficient!

Asher
Click to expand...

Does it take pictures?
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Asher Kelman said:
Michael Nagel said:
How times are changing...

My first steps into digital photography were using a 4MB SmartMedia card back in '99 (this was enough to start with a whopping resolution of 1280x960).

Sixteen years later I have a 128GB SDXC card I use for larger shootings or video...

Best regards,
Michael
Click to expand...
....and I still have an Apple 2E with 128K of memory, considered "going over the top" at the time when coding was scrupulously efficient!

Asher
Click to expand...


Michael Nagel said:
Does it take pictures?
Click to expand...


Yes! If one has the Logitech camera attached, LOL!

I set it up to make pictures using random numbers to assign a starting points for a circles of random sizes within some limits and place at random position of the screen to generate, after a certain completion of the circle, random tangents and so fort so I made "ART" but more than that, fascinated by son and enticed his to work on learning Borland Pascal then C+ and so on ................until he was the head of marketing for a software company! I just sold him my 55mm 1.8 Zeiss lens for his Zeiss APS C camera and that does get very good pictures........all based on the Apple II e.

Asher
 
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