Re-formatting SD cards!

In one of my previous posts I talked about my biggest fear being the fact that I won't have an SD card with me at a photoshoot. I also explained that I have very many SD cards, so many I don't know where half of them are. One of the most important things that you can do for your memory cards are to re-format them to your camera. There are several benefits to reformatting your SD card, but here I will list 3!

Clearing storage room.

One of the most common and most useful reasons for re-formatting a SD card. The SD stands for Secure Digital, because it holds a certain amount of memory of information stored on it. These cards can only hold so much room and eventually you have reached the capacity limit (especially when using higher resolution, or other special features). Reformatting the SD card gives you a “clean slate” to start with as if the card was new.

No residue from erasing.

Sometimes when erasing pictures off an SD card while using the camera, it doesn’t really erase but more of lay over a new picture. The problem with this is that it can leave residue still on the card. If you reformat your card then it gets rid of the image permanently (which is also why it is important to backup anything you want to save onto a different device or computer).

Optimizing quality.

Many times there are specific setting that are suggested by manufacturers that will optimize the storage kept, especially pictures. The cards may not be adjusted to this setting, and in order to make it so that you can get the most out of every picture you take you have to reformat the card.

Overall a lot of people say that it doesn’t really matter whether or not you reformat your SD card when in reality it makes a big difference from storage to quality when you take the time to take care of your equipment!