Huge Memory Loss after formatting CF card

Memory Cards SD | microSD | CFast | CFexpress | CompactFlash
1

I recently purchased a SanDisk Extreme 32 GB CF card for my Canon Rebel XT DSLR camera.

After I copy photos to my hard drive, I usually reformat the CF card in the camera. I’ve noticed that after doing this, I am only left with 8 GB of memory. This has happened twice with two SanDisk Extreme 32 GB CF cards. I have tried it on smaller capacity cards and it has not been an issue.

Has anyone else had this problem and is there any way to get it back to 32 GB?

2

This is in the wrong forum so I assume it will be moved but in the meantime - did you buy these cards off eBay or similar?

3

Oh, which is the correct forum?

I bought the card new from Amazon. I returned one thinking it was simply labeled wrong. It wasn’t until I got the replacement and formatted that one that I noticed the 24 GB reduction.

4

This forum is for SSD drives, not memory cards.

Was it a marketplace seller? I know there was scams on eBay were people were taking say a 2GB card or pendrive and having it remapped to identify itself as an 8GB card so it would look like 8GB drive when you went to use it but it was only physically able to store 2GB of data. Not sure this is related but it does sound a little similar.

5

No, not a marketplace seller but direct from Amazon. Before I realized what had happened, I sent it back to Amz and they sent a replacement. When I put the 2nd one in the camera, it showed 29gb free; after I formatted it, it only had 7.9gb.

6

I’m going to repost this to the appropriate forum.

Thanks!

7

@amdew717 wrote:

I recently purchased a SanDisk Extreme 32 GB CF card for my Canon Rebel XT DSLR camera.

After I copy photos to my hard drive, I usually reformat the CF card in the camera. I’ve noticed that after doing this, I am only left with 8 GB of memory. This has happened twice with two SanDisk Extreme 32 GB CF cards. I have tried it on smaller capacity cards and it has not been an issue.

 

Has anyone else had this problem and is there any way to get it back to 32 GB?

This is a common issue with some older cameras. You probably want to check if a firmware update is available and if not do not use the camera to format the card. 

To fix the card you can google search for a free program called HP Disk Storage Format tool. Download that connect the card to a reader and use the HP tool to format the card. it should restore it to the full capacity.