Formatting Your CompactFlash Card

The CompactFlash card comes with your camera has to be formatted before its use. By the same token, any card you purchased from a store must be formatted before its use. Formatting a card means putting a layout on the card so that your camera's firmware could recognize and use it. A card needs to be formatted only once; but, you can certainly format your card as many times as possible. Keep in mind that all images and information stored on the card will be erased when formatting your card. To format a CompactFlash card, make sure that it has been inserted into the card slot. See Inserting and Removing Compact Flash Memory Card for the details.

In the following, the multi-selector will be used to browse the menu system and to make selections.

Use up and down to browse		Use right to select

Here is the procedure:

1. Turn the mode dial to A.
   

2. Press the MENU button to bring up the A menu.

   Press MENU to bring up the setup menu

3. Press the down arrow of the multi-selector to move the highlighted items to CF Card Format.

4. Once CF Card Format is highlighted, press the right arrow of the multi-selector to select it. A new screen appears warning you that all images will be erased (the left image below).

   To format the card, use the down arrow of the multi-selector to highlight Format (right image above), and use the right arrow to select (i.e., to format).

5. After you do this, the LCD monitor displays FORMATTING as shown below. If you have a large memory card, it will take a while to get it formatted.
   

6. After the card is formatted, the card format menu reappears. Then, press the MENU to exit the menu system and return to shooting mode. Once this is done, your CompactFlash card is ready to use. So, happy shooting!