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View Full Version : help! my 1GB SD card is now 480MB. Panasonic SD Formatter destoryed my card.


itsme
05-21-2006, 07:34 AM
I have an ATP brand 1GB SD card that I had since september last year and it was working just fine today. The partition got corrupted when I unplugged it without doing the "safely eject hardware" option. Windows complained the media isn't formatted and asked if I'd like to format it, but the camera was able to read it, so I was able to salvage the pictures by using the camera cable.

Data recovery software was recognizing the existing partition as being 480MB and the card being 960ish MB. After I got all my data, I put the card into my card reader and use the Panasonic SD formatter. At this point, the "capacity" field showed 960 ish, but after I clicked "format" with the option set to "quick format"(default) , it instantly flashed over to "480MB" and the card is now permanently 480MB. I probably should have clicked "full format", but who would've guessed permanent damage!

Somehow the SD Formatter altered the descriptor header on my card, so no matter what I do, the card is recognized as 480.4MB.

Windows format = no success
Panasonic SD formatter trying every options = no success
In my Panasonic LZ2 camera = no success.
Administaritve tool in win xp = it won't let me create/delete partition on removeable media.

The card functions just fine as a 480MB card, so I think its something the SD formatter utility wrote to it in the user inaccessible section of the card.

How do I fix this?

mclaugh
05-21-2006, 04:50 PM
set "Format Size Adjustment" to "ON!" :eek:

itsme
05-21-2006, 06:09 PM
set "Format Size Adjustment" to "ON!" :eek:

Apparently you didn't read, or don't comprehend what "trying every option" means.

It's been tried. Didn't do diddly squat.

1234
09-07-2006, 04:56 PM
If you read further into the documentation of the uses of the Formatter you used, It may have some compatability issues with your Reader. One part states that some Readers will only be able to Read/Write only so far into the disk (IE: formatting it to only a certain extent... 1gb to 512 --480ish--)

My suggestion, Get a NEW reader from walmart or somewhere cheap - as they usually carry universal brands of crap... Run the SD Formatter again.. If it doesnt fix the problem, Just return the reader ;)