For reasons too long to explain, I formatted my 2GB AData microSD card to FAT16 instead of 32. Shortly after, I found out that that wasn't a good idea, as when I reinserted it into my adapter and into the PC, it wouldn't recognize it anymore.
I tried two different readers (one microsd direct reader and a miniSD convertor one) on two different PCs, both running on WinXP.
What I want to do is reformat this on FAT32 so I can get on with it as before. Is there a way to do this, or is it beyond repair? I kinda need it now and in the near future, so going out and buying another isn't an answer for me.
> For reasons too long to explain, I formatted my 2GB AData microSD card
> to FAT16 instead of 32. Shortly after, I found out that that wasn't a
> good idea, as when I reinserted it into my adapter and into the PC, it
> wouldn't recognize it anymore.
> I tried two different readers (one microsd direct reader and a miniSD
> convertor one) on two different PCs, both running on WinXP.
> What I want to do is reformat this on FAT32 so I can get on with it as
> before. Is there a way to do this, or is it beyond repair? I kinda need
> it now and in the near future, so going out and buying another isn't an
> answer for me.
> Thanks!
Typically formatting it to FAT16 shpuld not cause any significant
problems, except large cluster size and reduced space. It should
vcertainly not damage the card in any way.
I suspect the card is either broken (no relation to the FAT16
formatting) or there is some compatibility issue with the
(as usual) broken Microsofr OS. You can try wiping the
card wih one of the many free disk wipers out there.
You can use bootitng to make a bootable CD that's free until you install
it on the HD and exceed the free trial. When it boots skip install and
go to maintenance. You can delete the partition on the card and make a
new one for fat32 and format it.
I'm assuming that will work since on my memory sticks I do that but I
make them NTFS.
Why would anyone go to all that trouble? Disk Managment will do all that.
"Ed Light" <nobody@nobody.there> wrote in message news:kdbek.69$2A5.9@fe127.usenetserver.com...
> You can use bootitng to make a bootable CD that's free until you install
> it on the HD and exceed the free trial. When it boots skip install and
> go to maintenance. You can delete the partition on the card and make a
> new one for fat32 and format it.
>
> I'm assuming that will work since on my memory sticks I do that but I
> make them NTFS.
Eric Gisin wrote:
> Why would anyone go to all that trouble? Disk Managment will do all that.
>
> "Ed Light" <nobody@nobody.there> wrote in message
> news:kdbek.69$2A5.9@fe127.usenetserver.com...
>> You can use bootitng to make a bootable CD that's free until you
>> install it on the HD and exceed the free trial. When it boots skip
>> install and go to maintenance. You can delete the partition on the
>> card and make a new one for fat32 and format it.
>>
>> I'm assuming that will work since on my memory sticks I do that but I
>> make them NTFS.
>
In the end, it's the excellence of the method. :-)
Seriously, I just tried it your way but delete partition was greyed out.
"Ed Light" <nobody@nobody.there> wrote in message news:xdzek.15940$Oq1.6624@fe95...
> Eric Gisin wrote:
>>> You can use bootitng to make a bootable CD that's free until you
>
>> Why would anyone go to all that trouble? Disk Managment will do all that.
>>
> In the end, it's the excellence of the method. :-)
>
> Seriously, I just tried it your way but delete partition was greyed out.
>
Because the SD card had no partition table, like a floppy. Which is usually preferable.
Eric Gisin wrote:
> "Ed Light" <nobody@nobody.there> wrote in message
> news:xdzek.15940$Oq1.6624@fe95...
>> Eric Gisin wrote:
>>>> You can use bootitng to make a bootable CD that's free until you
>>
>>> Why would anyone go to all that trouble? Disk Managment will do all
>>> that.
>>>
>> In the end, it's the excellence of the method. :-)
>>
>> Seriously, I just tried it your way but delete partition was greyed out.
>>
> Because the SD card had no partition table, like a floppy. Which is
> usually preferable.
I'm no expert, but why, then, could I create an NTFS partition and
format it in Windows? On a thumb drive.
To the original point, I can do it with bootitng. XP won't.
---
Ed Light
Previously Ed Light <nobody@nobody.there> wrote:
> Eric Gisin wrote:
>> "Ed Light" <nobody@nobody.there> wrote in message
>> news:xdzek.15940$Oq1.6624@fe95...
>>> Eric Gisin wrote:
>>>>> You can use bootitng to make a bootable CD that's free until you
>>>
>>>> Why would anyone go to all that trouble? Disk Managment will do all
>>>> that.
>>>>
>>> In the end, it's the excellence of the method. :-)
>>>
>>> Seriously, I just tried it your way but delete partition was greyed out.
>>>
>> Because the SD card had no partition table, like a floppy. Which is
>> usually preferable.
> I'm no expert, but why, then, could I create an NTFS partition and
> format it in Windows? On a thumb drive.
Unless it actually is a floppy, you have two choices:
1)''Superfloppy'', i.e. without partition table
2)Partitioned
In the first case the wholde device is layed out much like a
partition. You can even partition a floppy, but MS OSes are
brain-damaged and cannot deal with that.
The reason this is non-obvious on Windows is that MS thinks
it needs to protect its customers from this ''advanced''
things. They could get confused otherwise.
"Ed Light" <nobody@nobody.there> wrote in message
news:487b8859$0$18580$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com...
> Eric Gisin wrote:
>> "Ed Light" <nobody@nobody.there> wrote in message news:xdzek.15940$Oq1.6624@fe95...
>>> Eric Gisin wrote:
>>>>> You can use bootitng to make a bootable CD that's free until you
>>>
>>>> Why would anyone go to all that trouble? Disk Managment will do all that.
>>>>
>>> In the end, it's the excellence of the method. :-)
>>>
>>> Seriously, I just tried it your way but delete partition was greyed out.
>>>
>> Because the SD card had no partition table, like a floppy. Which is usually preferable.
>
> I'm no expert, but why, then, could I create an NTFS partition and format it in Windows? On a
> thumb drive.
>
> To the original point, I can do it with bootitng. XP won't.
>
Sure it will. You don't create partitions of "a type", you select the type during format.
>> To the original point, I can do it with bootitng. XP won't.
>>
> Sure it will. You don't create partitions of "a type", you select the
> type during format.
You have to have a partition to format in the 1st place. You can't
format free space.
Can't format FAT16 microSD card 
Linear Mode
