PRC 2GB "Sandisk" SD card can't be formatted


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cyaw

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Apr 2, 2002
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Bought a 2GB "Sandisk" SD card from Beijing at an unbelievable price. Tested as 2GB in Beijing on the vendor's PC & when I inserted into my PDA. Then I tried formatting it using Pocket Mechanic on the PDA. Big mistake.

Now, it can't be read.

Tried formatting it on a camera. It will format and when I use it it will either say that the card is full or that there was a recording failure.

The PC detects it as a 122MB card (!!!) & asks if I want to have it formatted. If I try to, it will attempt it then say that it can't be completed.

It can be erased with Memory Card Safe Eraser but Partition Magic doesn't even detect it

Besides treating it as an exercise in caveat emptor, does anyone have any suggestion, how I can savage the card?
 

Try using a cardreader, format and see?

I think you meant salvage, not savage ;p
 

You are right, espn. I hope to salvage the thing before I turn into a raving lunatic and really savage it.

My attempts at reformat were done on a PC via a cardreader. That's when I encounter the 122MB

Been fishing around for a "fiercer" format program but no joy so far.
 

there have been reports on pirated sandisk cards that give u much less than stated value. i tink u got one of those. :)
 

Well, as far as I know, most of Sandisk SD cards are made in China nowadays. So you might just be unlucky to get a bad one. It'll be even worse if you've got 2gb pics on it ;)

Good luck finding solution to solve your problem.

Cheers!
 

Thing is I saw the 2GB capacity on at least two devices before my fingers got itchy to "optimise" the card. So it can't be bogus. Anyways, even if it gave me 1GB, I would have no complaints as it costs less than a 1GB in Singapore. But it just doesn't work!

The card was bought at the Silk Street in Beijing, infamous for its knockoffs. Doesn't even have a code or serial number at the back!
 

U bring down to local Sandisk distributor ask them to verify the authencity of your SD card...
 

Maybe it is coded to tell you it is 2Gb when it isn't? and when you attempt to format it as 2gb .. everything goes haywire. Just a guess.
I had a spoilt 512 mb CF that is able to format and report only 14MB and can't be written at all. So something may have gone wrong with the card. Hope you are able to get it change.
 

Happened to my friend, he bought 2 x 2gb cards when he went to Shanghai last month. Here one of them reported 62MB and the other was 124MB or something like that. He took it down to the sandisk service people here (I think it was some company called Vector magnetics). They said the cards are fakes.

Better check with the service centre here. Not sure if these are the right guys but you can contact vector magnetics at 65-63380129 / 65-63368238.
 

SD cards are quite problematic with PDA. I disgarded three cards of numerous capacity
when using them with my h6365, 64M, 256M and 512M, once inserted them into my PDA,
it can not be read on card reader (In fact I had two h6365 and the 2nd one spoiled a 512M
card).
 

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