What is a memory card ?
Memory card is a small, light weight, easily portable, removable, electronic data storage device which can be used to store audio, video, photos, multimedia presentation and any document in digital format. It is also known as flash card. Data of memory card is retained without power. It is used in many electronic gadgets like mobile phones, Ipod, Digital camera, Handy camera, Video game console etc.
It comes in many varieties such as MicroSD , MiniSD, MMC (Multi Media Card), Miniature Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick Micro M2, Secure Digital card etc.
It comes in various capacities. So according to our need we should buy it. It comes in 256 MB (Mega bytes), 512 MB, 1 GB (Giga Bytes), 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB and more. It totally depends on our use and what kind of data and how much data we would like to store on it.
If you are using high resolution digital camera such as 8.0 mega pixel or 10 or 12.0 mega pixel then you should use at least 4 GB of memory card. If you are using 5.0 mega pixel camera then 2 GB will do.
How to format a memory card ?
Now a day’s memory card is used in many electronic gadgets to store music, videos, documents,Photos etc. Sometimes data of its automatically got corrupted or even it can not show its content. I also faced such kind of problem in my digital camera. So we need to format it. So Here I am giving you detailed explanation of How to format a memory card in Windows XP.
Formatting of a memory card requires a device called memory card reader.
Warning: Formatting process of memory card will erase all stored data. So please keep in mind, always take backup of your important data at another location. (Simply copy the important data at your hard disk drive)
Step 1: Insert your memory card into the memory card reader. (There are different kind of memory card readers are available in the market. some support Mini, Some Micro SD and some MMC (Multi Media Card) and also special kind of memory card readers which supports almost all kind of memory cards are also available. Here I assume that you have appropriate card reader for your memory card.
Step 2: Now attach this memory card reader to USB (Universal Serial Bus) port.
Step 3: Click Start Button then click My Computer.
Step 4: In My Computer you may find a removable drive in my case it is Removable Disk (I:). (Before formatting always make sure that it is the right drive which you are going to format). Now right click this drive and then choose Format… option from the menu. A window will be appeared on the screen. It shows Capacity of memory card, File system in my case it is FAT32. If you want to give a name to your memory card then type a desired name in Volume label text box. If you want to quickly format the memory card then check Quick Format option otherwise leave it unchecked.
Step 5: Now click Start button to start formatting process of the memory card. When u press Start button, A warning message will be appeared on the screen that all the data stored on the memory card will be erased.
Step 6: Click Ok to start the process. Now formatting process will be started and progress indicator will be shown to you.
as soon as formatting will be complete, a message format complete will be appeared on the screen.
And you are done.