i have a few compact flash cards that i use for my digital cameras, mp3 players, extra drive for my pc and transferring files between my computers. last year my 64 meg card went bad after just a few months and sent it back to the manufacturer and they replaced, it only took 4 months to replace, and now my 128 meg card has gone bad.

i tried accessing the 128 meg card with my camera, mp3 and computer but it can't be read. i don't want to go through was i did with the 64 meg card, is there a way of low level formatting this card with a hard disk software? please advise, thanks.

also, which is the best format to use for mp3/digital cameras, compact flash, secure media, sony stick or the new xd? any comments would be appreciated because i would like to purchase new equipment and need to know which way to go.

also use aa and aaa rechargeable batteries with my equipment which i purchase on ebay for about a buck a battery compared to 4 bucks a battery at bestbuy.

andy

you should be able to use the drive utility in Windows XP to low level format the card once it's in the card reader. Don't know for sure, though...

can you format the card in the camera? The Fuji 602z allows you to reformat the card in camera, and it have fixed a few problems for me w/ different cards.


in ref to the best typoe of flash memory, it depends. Compact flash is pretty reliable, pretty small, and it has the largest capasity per card, as well as the best price/mb of any of the formats. Microdrives are fast and cheap, CF compatible, but less reliable. A new version of the CF format should be out soon, which should half the price of the current CF cards.
SD cards are more reliable than CF, but more expensive per meg.
I have no on-hand knowledge of the new XD cards, sorry
memory sticks are the Sony-only, and IMO, Sony overcharges for their stuff. they make good stuff, don't get me wrong, but the difference in price is more than the improvement in quality.

as for batteries, regular alkalines are heavy, and they die fast. replacing them is expensive.
NiMH rechargables (2100mAh rating) batteries available here:
http://store.yahoo.com/greenbatteries-store/san21mahaani.html
for about $4 each, last about 3x longer than a regular alkaline from full charge to dead, and you can recharge then about 500 times or something.

good luck!

edit: just realised you said you were using rechargables. what kind of re-chargebles? a buck each, really? do you know the mAh rating on them?

thanks river-wind, i'll try the low level formatting of it but just read yesterday that when you use xp it formats everything to 32 fat and the 3 digital cameras (really cheap but nice) use 16 fat (read this on the compact flash association website). all 3 of these are mp3/camera/webcam units. so i'll have to use win 2000 on my son's network computers.

the batteries in purchased on ebay were 800mah. they were 20 for $20 with free shipping. use them mostly for playing my mp3's in the car (via a cassette adaptor from headphone output) and these last about 4 hours of playing time before having to recharge. these last about 1,000 charges.

andy