The Gadgets Page

After you’ve uploaded all of the images in your digital camera’s memory, what do you do?

• Use the camera to delete the files (Erase All)
• Use the camera’s “Format” option to erase the photos
• Use the computer to delete the files

Derrick Story recommended that you Erase, Don’t Format, apparently because using “Erase All” gives you a better chance of recovering deleted files, but later updated his post after comments confirmed that a formatted card is also recoverable.

What do I recommend? First, forget about recovering files. Don’t erase files or format the card unless you’re quite sure you have a good copy of all of the photos on the computer, and don’t ever assume you can recover a deleted photo.

Taking file recovery out of the equation, either Erase or Format will work, but some cameras will reset the filename sequence to 0001 when you reformat, so you may want to avoid that. The only other reason I can think of to avoid formatting is if you’ve been using the card in other devices (mobile phone, Palm, etc.)—formatting will delete all files, not just pictures, which may be more drastic than you wanted.

Personally, I just delete the files with my computer. It’s fast and works just fine, as long as you’re careful:

• Depending your settings, the files might go to a “recycle bin” or “trash” folder on the card instead of being truly deleted. This only wastes space, so be sure to delete them properly.
• Don’t format a memory card using your computer. Formatting on the camera ensures compatibility with the camera—both Windows and MacOS can format cards using file systems that won’t be recognized by some cameras.

If you’d rather avoid the potential hassle of deleting files on the computer, just use “Erase All” on the camera. Like Derrick, I also recommend formatting the card every month or two, or when you put it into a new camera, to avoid creeping file system errors.

[via TUAW]