What Does Format SD Card Mean & Does Formatting Erase Data

Part 1. What Does Format SD Card Mean

What is Formatting an SD Card

SD card will be pre-formatted before being put on the market. Formatting SD card is more like a process that bring SD card to the initial condition. SD card formatting will erase all existing data. But there are differences between format and delete.

So what does format SD card mean? What really happens?

When you format a SD card, you will remove all SD card files. Compare with just delete data, SD card formatting can improve the read and write speed and improve the performance. It can quickly give more storage space. What's more, it will reduce the risk of storage errors.

When the SD card is infected by a computer virus, you can't remove virus or corrupted files by deleting. In that case, you can easily rely on formatting way to remove them and get your card back to normal condition. The normal deletion only destroys the file system that shows the device where the data is located.

How Long Does It Take to Format an SD Card

Formatting an SD card is usually a quick process, but in some cases, it can take hours or even days. If you're facing this issue, it’s important to understand the reasons behind the delay and take appropriate action. Key factors like SD card performance, format type, and SD card formatter can impact SD card formatting time. For example, if you use full format to rewrite the files system completely, it might take up to a few hours. However, quick format only consumes only minutes.

Part 2. What Happens When You Format SD Card

Does Formatting an SD Card Delete Everything

Formatting an SD card deletes all the existing data stored on your device, file system and directory structure that organize the data, making these data inaccessible. Different format types affect the extent of deletion. For quick format, it only erases the file table (index of files), making the data inaccessible. The actual data remains on the card until overwritten. However, a full format not only erases the file table but also scans the entire card for errors and overwrites the data, making it much harder to recover.

Do You Need to Format a New SD Card

Formatting your SD card is a risky action for your data loss. Does your SD card need to be formatted? Well, if your SD card is storing the unwanted files you want to delete permanently or you want to fix a corrupted flash drive, optimize its performance, you can format it. However, for a new SD card, sometimes you might still need to format it. For example, if your new SD card is incompatible with your devices, the formatting might also help you solve this problem by changing its file system. Formatting it ensures it’s in a format that your device can read and write to (usually FAT32, exFAT, or NTFS).

Part 3. How to Format SD Card on PC/Mac/Digital Camera/Android

How to Format SD Card on PC

Formatting an SD card on a PC is a straightforward process. Below are the steps to format an SD card on a Windows PC:

How to Format SD Card on Mac

How to Format SD Card on Digital Camera

It is easier to format a SD card on digital camera. All you need is to find the format option from settings. Now we take GoPro camera as an example to show you how to format SD card on camera.

How to Format SD Card on Android

Formatting an SD card is important to note that formatting will erase all data on the card. Follow the steps to format an SD card on Android:

Part 4. How to Recover Data from Formatted SD Card

After formatting your SD card, you might find that some important data has gone with the formatting. What is even worse is that you don’t have any backup. Don’t worry, as long as the place your erased data is located hasn’t been replaced by the new file, you can use software like Aiseesoft Data Recovery to retrieve the lost data after formatting your SD card.