Card Problem

[Colin Southern]

Colin, in the case of bits and bytes yes. In the binary world of computing it is quite silly use to decimals numbers, because they simply aren't 1:1 comparable. It's like saying there are ten eggs in a dozen or 1000metres in a mile just because the numbers are nice and round.

I know what you mean - and I don't even particularly disagree with it - but I did think that your phrase "manufacturers lie to you" was a bit "strong" considering that the the prefix "kilo" means 1000 everywhere else in the metric world.

Admittedly, for those of us in the IT industry, having it mean 1024x is totally instinctive, but (a) the difference is small, and (b) even though it's more convenient for us IT professionals, is it any more "truthful" or accurate in the eyes of the consumer? I'm not convinced that it is; so personally, I stop well short of calling it a "lie".

Just my opinion - no biggie for me either way

[FrankMi]

I don't want to add any fuel to the fire but hopefully a bit of clarity.

Kilo does mean 1,000 in the decimal world but computers are NOT based on decimal but rather the binary numbering system. Kilo being 1,024 is totally appropriate in the IT world where all numbers are computed in the base of 2 or a compatible base such as 8 (octal) or 16 (hexadecimal), none of which will be directly equitant to the base of 10 (decimal).

To make matters more complex, memory chips are designed on the base 2 but must be formatted (given internal addresses so that the data can be efficiently accessed and the formatting structure take up space just like streets in a city take up space so that the remaining available space is always something less than the total space, but how much less? That depends, so to speak, on the formatting structure, that is, the width and number of streets in the city. I hope this helps!

[Colin Southern]

Kilo does mean 1,000 in the decimal world but computers are NOT based on decimal but rather the binary numbering system.

Hi Frank,

My point is that most folks don't know that difference between a bit - a byte - a nibble - a word - or a double word - a kilobyte - a megabyte - a gigabyte - or a terrabyte; so I'm summising that the average non-computer-literate Joe Bloggs probably thinks that a kilobyte is 1000 bytes (as per the metric system) - which is how memory manufacturers present the information ... thus it's not really a "lie" - it's just speaking to them in the language that (a) they understand and expect, and (b) one that's technically accurate.

Remember - there are 10 types of people in this world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't!

[martinp2502]

It would appear that there are some bad sectors on the card that formatting has isolated, so that you have only 14.8 GB available. I feel that the card is dodgy, and you should get a new one

I go along with this. Having had problems in the past with rescued external hard drives etc, I'd also get a new card and bin that one. It's not worth the risk in my opinion.

[koolkat]

I've use the Sandisk recovery program with good results. The only problem is...it recovers all the photos that are on the card. Not really a big deal but say you have a 16 gig card and you're only interested in the shots you took today, say 2 gigs of data. But, the software will recover any and all the photos to the end of the card size, a "problem" I can live with to get back what I'm really interested in. Time wise...yes it does take some time but a very worth wild program, use it once and you'll be happy.