Topic: Formatting SD cards using HumminbirdPC

[mako101]

Hi Guys, a question about formatting SD cards using HumminbirdPC, what is the best choice for recordings and snapshots and what is the best choice for the number of Kilobytes?

1. FAT(Default)...32Kilobytes/64Kilobytes.
2. NTFS...512 bytes up to 64 Kilobytes.
3. FAT32...512 bytes up to 16 Kilobytes.
4.exFAT...512 bytes up to 32,768 Kilobytes.

Sandisk 4GB SDHC card does not seem to work on my 798 si hd (5.210 software), but 2GB Sandisk cards work well straight out of the packaging, but when it comes time to erase the card for fresh recordings, HumminbirdPC has the above options.

[Humminbird_Greg]

FAT (really FAT 16 I believe) for the 2GB SD memory card.
FAT 32 for the 4GB SDHC memory card.

You don’t get to pick and choose which you want, the formatting is tied to the technology the memory card was built with.

[mako101]

Greg, would the correct selection be FAT(Default) for the 2GB SD memory card?
Would the 4GB SDHC memory card work in the 798 hd si if it was formatted as FAT32?
How do you select the unit size(number of Kilobytes)?
HumminbirdPC was able to format the Sandisk 2GB SD card into all the formats and unit sizes listed.

[Moose1am]

Why don't you just format the card using the Humminbird Unit itself and not use Humminbird PC software?  Won't the unit pick the right fomat to use automatically?  Just thinking out loud.  I might be way wrong on this one.  So tell me which way works best?
I format my SDHC card using Windows and can't remember if I use NFTS or FAT32. I think it's the latter if memory serves me right. 
I need to know the answer to this also. I'm going to have to format an 4 G SDHC SanDisk Card to use to update the firmware on my 898 unit. It's time to download the new firmware software update and install it on my 898. I've been putting that off for a while and it's time.

[George]

Moose1am

As Greg stated you must use Fat32 to format the SD cards.  You can use your computer to reformat the cards.  I have but hardly ever reformat my cards, usually I only erase the files and have been doing so for at least the last 3 years. 

The new cards come preformatted with fat32.

George

[Moose1am]

SD and SDHC are two different type of cards. The latter is over 2 giga bytes in size while the former is less than 2 Gigabytes in size.  Didn't Humminbird Greg say that they required different formats?  Fat 16 and then FAT32
 

[Humminbird_Greg]

Yes he did.
As I stated before:
FAT (or FAT 16) is used for the SD type memory cards (up to 2GB in size).
FAT 32 is used for the SDHC type memory cards (4GB to 32GB in size).

I would let the software pick the memory allocation size.  You can’t increase the available memory size of the memory card and could probably only hurt things by selecting something other than the default.

[Moose1am]

Thanks Greg. Sometimes it's good to repeat things to help us get it right.  I'm trying to memorize this information so that I can use it later on.