NEWLY FORMATTED 4GB Compact Flash Card *OUT OF MEMORY*
This is a tip for anyone like me that decided to add a spare 4GB Compact Flash card to their Kit only to find after
(apparently successful) formatting within the camera that it is "OUT OF MEMORY" when you go to use it to take pictures.
Looking at my 2GB Card using a CF-USB adapter I noted that the card format is FAT ie 16 bits.
That basically means that one can only use up to 2GB of memory (2048 MB) just like in the good old days of DOS.
Partitioning is required to make it useful.
Whilst looking at the CF card from within windows you will need to copy the contents of the formatted CF Card into a folder.
You could use a new folder on your Desktop for example .
It MUST be copied back to the card after creating the 2GB partition.
Without this information you'll need to reformat using your camera & you'll have to start all over again!
If you don't have the ability to do this from within Windows it is possible to do it another way as explained later.
Unfortunately it's not so easy to create a partition on removable media using Microsoft as your workstation.
If you can boot into a DOS Floppy that has USB support then you could use fdisk to create a DOS partition,
but so far I haven't seen any bootable DOS floppy disks with that option. That doesn't mean that they don't exist, just that I haven't found any.
I used
Parted Magic LIVE CD and having placed my 4GB card in an adapter and plugged it into a USB port, I then Booted from the live CD,
***NOTE that if you have problems, after booting, with seeing your Display, reboot & select #6 on the menu
Safe Graphics Settings (VGA = Normal) ***
"mounted" the 4GB CF card, created a folder on my desktop and copied the contents from the CF card to the Folder.
This can easily be done by opening two windows, one with the CF card and one with the New Folder, just click on each to open a window.
Left click (just like Windows) and you should see the commands Copy (& Paste after you have used Copy to place something in Memory)
(this is not shown in the photo's unfortunately)
DO THIS BEFORE YOU PROCEED ANY FURTHER SINCE WE ARE ABOUT TO REMOVE ALL CONTENTS FROM THE CF CARD!!
Also remember that since we are using the LIVE CD whatever we place on our desktop will disappear if we lose power or shutdown!
Select Partition Editor from the Desktop and when open select the USB device from the drop-down menu listing the storage media.
Click on the drive (under where its says Partition), click on DELETE and afterwards APPLY, both found on the menu bar.
Click now on the "Unallocated" area, select NEW, leave the setting as Primary Partition, adjust the size to 2048 MB and File System to FAT16.
Click on apply and then confirm to proceed.
A second FAT16 partition can also be created by clicking again on "unallocated", selecting NEW then "Create as" EXTENDED,
Apply and confirm the action if & when asked.
Now select the unallocated space in the extended partition, Click NEW, leave the size untouched and select FAT16 again.
Click apply and confirm when asked.
You will now have two partitions on your CF card that have been formatted as FAT16.
Close the Partition Editor Window and then from the side bar on the window where you were working with the CF Card contents,
you should see the 2 NEW partitions listed. Click on the 2GB partition and select "mount".
Open the other window where you had pasted the original contents, copy and paste them back into the 2GB partition.
Click on the side bar to "unmount" the partition and you will be able to remove the card and check it out on your camera.
It should see the partition and be working normally now, without an error message!
You will not be able to use that 2nd partition with your camera since the camera will only see the Primary Partition.
However it could be a useful Hidden area for transferring files around using your CF card reader.
Once finished just logout, remove the CD from the drive and reboot into your normal operating system.
