How to Format a Sandisk Memory Card

A Sandisk card is a portable mass storage unit, used primarily in peripheral devices such as digital cameras. These cards are popular, due to their light weight, portability and data storage capacity. From time to time, Sandisk cards should be formatted to remove unwanted data and check for bad sectors. It's also a good idea to format a Sandisk card if your are switching it between devices, or you plan to sell or give it away.

Things You'll Need

• Sandisk memory card Multi-card reader

Instructions

1. 

   Insert the SD card into the multi-card reader on your computer. Most newer personal computers and laptops come with a multi-card reader. Just make certain that you insert the SD card into the appropriate slot.

2. Right click once on the Windows "Start" button.

3. 

   Click once on the "Explore" option.

4. 

   Find the SD card in the "Folders" section of the window. Please note the example from the picture. This particular SD card is labeled Kodak, as it is a Kodak brand card used in a digital camera.

5. Right-click once on the SD card icon.

6. 

   Click once on the "Format" option.

7. 

   Make any desired changes using the options on the "Format" window. Default options are recommended, but it is possible to change the file system and allocation unit size. If you change any of these settings and want to change back, click once on "restore device defaults." To perform a quick format, click once in the "Quick Format" box. A quick format means only that all files will be removed from the SD card, but it will not be checked for bad sectors. A quick format is considerably faster than a full format, but neither takes too long.

8. 

   Click once on the "Start" button on the "Format" window to begin the formatting process. A warning window will pop up to make certain you want to proceed with the formatting of the SD card. Click one on the "Yes" button to move on.

9. 

   Click once on the "OK" button on the "Formatting" window that pops up when the formatting is complete.

10. Click once on the "Close" button on the "Format" window to exit the formatting process.