It’s free, and you can find it on the SD Card Formatter website.
The app is called SD Card Formatter, and it’s available in Mac and Windows versions. Whether the card is SDHC or SDXC, the SD Card Formatter will make sure it’s formatted correctly and ready for use.Īnd the filesystem will be optimized for its intended use on an SD card rather than, say, an old-school magnetic hard drive. The SD Association makes available its own app that is designed to perfectly implement their own specifications for SD and microSD cards–they are the ones that set the specifications, after all. In general, formatting tools provided with operating systems can format various storage media including SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards, but it may not be optimized for SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards and it may result in lower performance.
It is strongly recommended to use the SD Memory Card Formatter to format SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards rather than using formatting tools provided with individual operating systems. In fact, the SD Association goes so far as to recommend against using the tools in your computer’s operating system: The downsides are that there are more choices, which means more complications and places where things can get messed up. The advantages of that method are that it’s using tools already available in the operating system and it works for any kind of storage volume connected to your computer.
Modern computer operating systems can handle this job well, and I’ve posted separately on how to format SD cards on Mac using the built-in Disk Utility app. There might be times you need to format an SD card in the computer. But that’s not always possible or practical.
For one thing, formatting is the best way to wipe an SD card clean to free up space.įor another, it can repair any filesystem errors that have crept in at some point.Ī best practice is to format the memory card in the camera you’ll be using it in. In general, they come out of the box pre-formatted, and you can put them straight in the camera and the camera will create any folders it needs automatically.īut there are several reasons you might need to format or reformat it. Hence, buy a SD memory card format from a trusted manufacturer and enjoy the fun and excitement of capturing special moments with your favorite cameras.SD Card Formatter for Formatting, Wiping, and Repairing SD and microSD Cardsīefore an SD card can be used it has to be formatted. Thus, it ensures the better performance of your camera or digital camera and it also provides high quality video recording.
The other advantage of using an SD Association approved software is that they are more efficient than their non-SD brother, as they run faster, and the time taken to convert the file is less. If you are interested in buying a SD memory card formatted, it should be supported by the SD Association, which would ensure the compatibility and safety of the software. It also publishes an official SD Association Blog that gives tutorials and information about the SD Association. The SD Association provides online technical support for all the SD memory card formats. It will not only help you in understanding the entire SD card format but also will help you in performing the functions with ease.
Even if you are not a professional user, but have some knowledge of computers, this can be a great help in the formatting process. The SD Association has published its official website on which there is a complete set of information, which is very helpful for any user. Thus, it acts just like an expert software engineer has designed it. The software is designed in such a way that it could be easily used by the layman users without any complexity. It provides a user friendly and extensive features for a better user experience, that includes auto format, erase and protect functions.
It supports to format both kind of SD cards, and UHS-I and UHS II cards, offering high data capacity to satisfy the various needs of the users. The SD Memory Card Formatter universally accepted as the most powerful SD card formatting utility.