Format Compact Flash Card - 32bit

[superfuzzy]

I just got a 4GB Compact Flash card to be used with a Canon XTi DSLR. We need to format the card as fat32 (32bit) to get the maximum speed from the card.

The camera can formats the CF cards of course, but NOT 32 bit.

Can this be done with an external card reader and a MacBook running OSx?
How can this be accomplished?

I'm asking this question for a college student out of state and just learning how to use the MAC...

 

[Eidorian]

What format is it using if it's not using FAT32?

Anything over 2 GB will be formated to FAT32 in OS X.

 

[ChrisA]

I just got a 4GB Compact Flash card to be used with a Canon XTi DSLR. We need to format the card as fat32 (32bit) to get the maximum speed from the card.

You really want to format the card in the camera. I should repeat that 10 times.

What happens is you format the card on the Mac or PC and then you put it in the camera and the camera is not able to deal with the formatting on the card. If you are lucky the camera will simply refuse to accept the card but many people are not so lucky and the camera fails in more subtle ways that you do not notice right away. For example the camera only screws up your data after 200 files are written or only raw format files in some folders.

Use the camera to format the card. Even if the format the camera put on the card is technically "wrong" it is wrong in a way that camera software understands and can use.

 

[bousozoku]

If the camera isn't doing things properly, check for a firmware update because the camera is the only device that should be formatting the card.

Do not use Mac OS X or Windows to format the card. Even deleting files from the card using a computer can lead to problems. Use the camera.