FYI: The SD Association Provides A Memory Card Formatting App
But is it really any better than formatting in-camer or on your computer?
The SD Association is the governing body behind the SD card standard, and all the countless super-popular variants like the SDHC, SDXC and all the micro versions. But did you know the SD Association offers its own SD card formatter—and it recommends that you use it over anything else?
SLR Lounge recently did a post on the formatter, which we had never encountered before. The manual for the application (available for both Windows and Mac OS X) says:
We’re really curious about how much more effective this could be than the included tools in your OS (like Mac’s Disk Utility), or compared to an in-camera formatter, or one created by the card’s own manufacturer. Theoretically, each should have it’s own advantages. If you use the one created by the manufacturer of the card, it should be the one best designed for that specific brand. If you use the one in your camera, it’s probably the best way to ensure folder hierarchies and configuration files are set up correctly.
The SD Association thinks that using its specific formatter should ensure the best performance possible for your card, and we imagine it might be able to do a base level format better than some other applications. But we’re curious to know what you use to format your SD cards, and why?