I have a PowerShot A610 and I usually just delete all pictures. What difference would it be for me to just format the card? Any?
Input please! When formatting you are telling the disk how to work for your camera. Doing it over and over again isn't good for it. Plus you are losing a little bit of memory every time you do that. The format write on the disk instructions.
You're better off just deleting all. Personally I don't think it's a good thing to keep reformating a card. It's better to just do the delete function rather than risk the card.
Lazy? Delete is enough - doing so merely forgets where the file pieces are without actually scribbling over the space in which the files were stored. Theatrically using un-delete software using a computer an image that is merely deleted could be reconstructed.
You really only need to format when there are problems with the media (data read/write errors) or when you want to grant more likely of a change that someone can undelete a picture - although there are also un-format utilities - formatting actually just marks off the boundaries to the storage area and prepares it for writting by the device (camera in this case); finally addressing why a shredding software exists - physically write nothing on-top-of something. It's a generally accepted practive among pro shooters to format the card. Especially if you shoot a lot of pictures.
Flash memory cards run under the same principles as a hard drive. If you delete, the files are not really deleted, only the file allocation table is deleted(the table that storess the location of data on the disk). A format actually goes out and physically deletes the FAT table as well as the data.
Why is this more desirable? Data that is just sitting out there orphaned can, on occassion, but is very rare, corrupt the new images you are trying to capture. I've never had this happen to me, but know of people it has. Since then, they've always formatted between shoots and have not had problems since.
Also, make sure that any deleting or formatting is done in camera. There are times when a computers OS does not write a compatible format these cards and the camera cannot read them. | 