I know this may seem like a bad idea, but I'm considering getting a dslr soon and would love (at least initially) to not have to re-invest in expensive CF cards for it as well... How well does it work to re-format cards and use them back and forth between devices? (e.g. hvr-mrc1k and a Canon 5D MKII dslr, re-formatting each time I change devices with it)

Will this "break" the CF card for mrc1k use? I know formatting a CF card with windows/mac will "break" it sometimes, making the mrc1k unable to use it, yes?

Has anyone done this before successfully (or unsuccessfully)?

Cheers!

-joe

I think if you get a card that breaks when you format, you either have a cheap device or cheap card. Professional gear shouldn't cause this type of a problem.

I think if you spent 24-7 formatting cards you'll end up having trouble, but normal use with quality equipment should work fine.

I have a Canon 7D & Sony Z7, I've moved cards back & forth & have yet to have a problem. I'm pretty sure (please correct me) that they both use FAT 32, so you don't really have to re-format between uses. If you're really worried, "delete all" instead of "format."

Zach, that's great news... Thanks! Does anyone else have similar experience with sharing cards? I'd love to have a few voices on this... Cheers,

-j

I would suggest NOT to transfer files from one unit to another w/o backing up the files. I don't think they would write over files, but I personally wouldn't take the chance unless I absolutely had to.

Zach, to answer your specific question I had a Sandisk Firewire 2 reader which completely blue screened 12 CF cards. They simply would not format in my MRC1s.

In some desperation I tried formatting them in my Sony Alpha 1.

That worked OK and enabled me to re-format them in the MRC1s. Since then no problems - but no Sandisk Firewire 2 reader either!