SanDisk SD Card - Formatting Problem?

[arlowood]

Hi Guys
Recently ordered a 2GB SanDisk SD ExtremeIII card from Amazon for my Canon G7. Card arrived and I popped it into camera and took a few shots to experiment.
Stuck card into my card reader and plugged into PC USB. Auotoplay did not fire up so I was a bit suspicious. Navigated to card reader in "Computer" and tried to access pics. Received Windows message that card required formatting before it could be accessed.
Was a bit puzzled as I had read somewhere that all SanDisk cards come pre-formatted.
Did not proceed with PC formatting but replaced card in camera and selected the "in camera" format option. This done I took a few more pics and again tried to view them on the PC. Got the same problem - disk coming up as unformatted. This time selected the option to format in PC but got an error message saying Windows could not complete the format???
Just for assurance I got an older basic SanDisk card - formatted that in camera and took a few pics. Popped it into card reader and Hey Presto off it went as normal and the pics were accessed without problem.

Do I have a duff 2GB card or is something else wrong? Is there an issue with my card reader? It is a Hama USB 2.0 "8 in 1" reader which I have used successfully for several years. Is it up to the job of handling these 2GB Extreme cards? It has worked OK on smaller capacity cards (up to 1GB) made by both SanDisk and Kingston.

Any comments and help would be appreciated.

[yelvertoft]

It could well be the card reader not being able to read the 2GB Extreme III cards. The first time I bought an identical card, I had the same sort of problem. It turned out to be the reader was too old to recognise this speed/size of card. Try and see if the card can be read by another, more up to date, reader.

Duncan

[nirofo]

Try plugging the camera to PC USB cable in direct to the PC and try downloading and formatting the card that way, if that works ok then it looks like you will need a more up to date card reader. Some of the extreme cards cannot be read by some readers, I have a portable photobank with built in card reader that will not read extreme cards or cards above 2gb and it's only 2 years old!

nirofo.

[nobby]

I have had this happen sometime ago and it transpired that the card reader was an old version which would not read the card, as suggested plug the camera through the USB and you shouldnt have a problem!

[arlowood]

Hi Guys

Thanks for all your input. Was already suspicious of my old Hama card reader after reviewing comments on other forums.
Tried the suggestion of connecting the camera direct to my PC with the SanDisk Extreme III in the camera. After the G7 driver installed, I was able to access the pics on the card without any problems.
This suggests the old reader can't handle these new higher speed/capacity cards.
Have already ordered a new SanDisk SD reader (only a fiver so not too much risk involved)
Thanks again for useful suggestions