Management File

[Fred22]

I just purchased a Sony DSC-H20 and I'm in the process of setting it up (charging the battery right now). I bought the camera as a birthday present to replace her old Sony Mavica, which is around 7 years old. It's been an excellent camera, bit the discs are becoming hard to find, and we just switched to Vista, which doesn't support the Mavica.

I have a question about formatting. The DSC-H20 uses the Sony Memory Stick ProDuo cards. The manual says: "When you insert a "Memory Stick Duo" media without a management file into the camera and turn on the power, part of the "Memory Stick Duo" media capacity is used to automatically create a management file. It may take some time until you can perform the next operation". I assume this also applies to the Memory Stick ProDuo which came with the camera. Do these memory sticks usually come with a management file or does the camera always have to create one for your specific camera? I assume this is a type of "formatting". When it says it may take "some time until you can perform the next operation", how much time are they talking about? Does it take minutes, seconds, etc?

Fred

[Photo-John]

Fred-
Interesting question. I don't have a specific answer to your question. However, I haven't ever had any issues with a new memory card in a Sony digital camera. It's always been just a matter of putting the card in the camera and going about my business. With any new card or new camera, I will generally format the card in the camera before I start shooting. That ensures that the card is absolutely prepared for that camera and there no files on the card that might cause conflicts and corrupt image files.

Bottom line - I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you do have a problem, let us know about it and we'll do our best to help. I expect you won't notice any delay when you put the new card in the camera, though.

[California L33]

I just purchased a Sony DSC-H20 and I'm in the process of setting it up (charging the battery right now). I bought the camera as a birthday present to replace her old Sony Mavica, which is around 7 years old. It's been an excellent camera, bit the discs are becoming hard to find, and we just switched to Vista, which doesn't support the Mavica.

I have a question about formatting. The DSC-H20 uses the Sony Memory Stick ProDuo cards. The manual says: "When you insert a "Memory Stick Duo" media without a management file into the camera and turn on the power, part of the "Memory Stick Duo" media capacity is used to automatically create a management file. It may take some time until you can perform the next operation". I assume this also applies to the Memory Stick ProDuo which came with the camera. Do these memory sticks usually come with a management file or does the camera always have to create one for your specific camera? I assume this is a type of "formatting". When it says it may take "some time until you can perform the next operation", how much time are they talking about? Does it take minutes, seconds, etc?

Fred

Let us know. My guess is about a minute- and you never have to do it again. Maybe we can get a pool started. Who wants 30 seconds, and who wants 2 minutes?