How big is your 256MB SD card?

[pepemosca]

Hi!

I have an issue. I just bought a SanDisk 256MB SecureDigital card, and I have this issue with the avaible space.

I only have 239.30MB (245043.00KB) avaible.
Where are my 16MB to the 256MB?

Is this normal?

Thanks all for your thoughts.

[`helios]

256MB is the unformatted size. It happens with all storage devices i.e. flash memory, hard drives, etc...

Check your computers' hard drive. If you have a 40GB drive, odds are you only have about 37GB available. The only way to get more space back is to change the FAT.

I have a 128MB SD Card (also from Sandisk) when formatted, I only get about 120MB....

[TopDog]

Yes, you can format the card with FAT32 and get more out of it (they are originally formatted in FAT16 I think...)

My memcards have:
Pretec CF 256: 250MB
Pretec SD 128: 124MB
Viking CF 128: 124,5MB

[pepemosca]

Yes, you can format the card with FAT32 and get more out of it (they are originally formatted in FAT16 I think...)


How do I format a SD card with FAT32? Is it posible? Is there any software?

(Or it's just a joke? :wink: )

[pepemosca]

256MB is the unformatted size. It happens with all storage devices i.e. flash memory, hard drives, etc...

Check your computers' hard drive. If you have a 40GB drive, odds are you only have about 37GB available. The only way to get more space back is to change the FAT.

I get what you say about the HDD. But I thought that the guys at SanDisk will give me more memory to have 256MB when formatted.

I'm so naive :oops:

[pepemosca]

Do you recomend some program to do the card format?

I have used Resco Explorer 2003 v4.20. Is it good formating SD cards?

Using some other program, will I have more avaible space?

[Newsboy]

You should really check the support section at the SanDisk website. Direct from SanDisk:

"SD Card - Capacity

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why is the size of my card appearing slightly smaller when read by my system than the capacity listed on the label?

Symptoms:
The operating system, when reading the size of the card, reports a slightly different capacity than what is listed on the card’s label.

Affects:
SanDisk products: CompactFlash, SmartMedia Card, MultiMediaCard, PC Card, SD Card
Operating systems: Most
Hardware platform: All legacy computers.

Definitions of a Megabyte:
1) Operating Systems commonly define a Megabyte (MB) as: 2 to the 20th power (1,024KB--Kilobytes).
2) DiskDrive and Flash Memory Card Manufacturers commonly define a MB as one million bytes (exactly 1,000,000 bytes).

Unformatted (Capacity)
Also known as drive byte capacity before formatting. The Maximum capacity of disk drive before formatting equals [ (# Cylinders) X (# Heads) X (# Sectors) X (# Bytes per Track) ]

Example:
64MB CompactFlash Card:
490 Cylinders
8 Heads
32 Sectors
512 Bytes per Track
This equates to: [ (490) X (8) X (32) X (512) ] = 64,225,280

Unformatted Capacity: 64,225,280 bytes
Formatted Capacity: 63,934,464 bytes (User Data)

Cause:
Disk Drive Companies such as SanDisk define 1 MEGABYTE as 1,000,000 BYTES. Operating Systems define 1 MEGABYTE as 1,048,576 BYTES (1024K X 1024K or 2 to the 20th power).

Example:
SanDisk 64MB CompactFlash Card being read by Microsoft Operating System.SanDisk Total Formatted Capacity divided by 1 MB (as defined by the Operating System) equates to the following: SanDisk Total Formatted Capacity of 63,934,464 BYTES equates to 60,972,656 BYTES (60.9MB) displayed by OS."

You should be able to get 250MB out of your SD card, but you may have reformat it as mentioned here. I'd suggest Flash Format for the PocketPC, which you can find here:

http://www.webattack.com/get/pocketpc/flashformat.html

[Kati Compton]

Cause:
Disk Drive Companies such as SanDisk define 1 MEGABYTE as 1,000,000 BYTES. Operating Systems define 1 MEGABYTE as 1,048,576 BYTES (1024K X 1024K or 2 to the 20th power).

Yes, this is the main cause. And there can be some additional space taken to store a directory of what-is-where on the card.

[pschultz]

Do you recomend some program to do the card format?

I have used Resco Explorer 2003 v4.20. Is it good formating SD cards?

Using some other program, will I have more avaible space?
I use Flash Format, but I don't know if you will have more available space.

[lmtuxinc]

I used Storage Tools 1.5 to check mine and i have 241 MB when formatted with Fat 32. I do have to defragment it when it gets to full because it doesn't like to return the space that I have deleted things from to me.

[PetiteFlower]

I have 241 also. I use a card reader and my PC to format it.

[maximus]

Ok, here goes:

Panasonic 256 : 244 megs
Viking 256 : 241 megs
Sandisk 256 : 241 megs
Lexar 256 : 242 megs

Actually that is one of the reason I always recommended the Panasonic brand.

[pepemosca]

Thanks all you guys for your replys.

I will try formating my card with FlashFormat or Softwinter Storage Tools

BTW, which set-up do you have? I mean: FAT32 - 512Kb cluster size?

[pepemosca]

Tell me:

All the guys that have 239.30MB, did you format your card with Resco Explorer?