Digital cameras: memory card locked

memory card locked

Its quite possible that there is a write-protect/lock tab on the memory card. Most folks ma not realize it, but most memory cards use the old FAT format from MS-DOS. Some cameras only format in FAT12 whereas other cameras may format in FAT16. Also the card reader may only format it in FAT16. This is why I agree with some folks that have said to only format the card in the camera.

I suspect aside from the lock switch problem that there is perhaps file incompatiblity problems. Basically you can format a card at FAT16 via a camera or the card reader. But when you put that memory card into a camera that is only programmed to understand FAT12 it has a problem reading the FAT16 file format. On the converse a camera that can read/format FAT16 memory cards can also read FAT12 memory cards. This all depends on your manufacturer, etc...

There is a photo file recovery out there man by a guy named Christophe Grenier. His website http://www.cgsecurity.org . He has a utility called PhotoRec which is bundled with Testdisk(another file recovery utility produced by him).