Hello, so I have a couple FAT 2gb CF cards that are being used by a media server. I need to update their contents but after I accidentally formatted them to FAT32 (I reformatted them back to FAT) they are not being read by the media server. Media server is giving me the error "Card not ready".

After failing to get them recognized by the server I tried cloning a working CF card to a problematic one. But now the card I tried to clone became unreadable by the same server! It's not giving the "Card not ready" but it still doesn't read it. I used the HDDGuru software and it seems like it broke the working card as well.

Only way I can update the contents in these cards are by manually deleting the files inside and copying the new ones. I discovered that too late so I need to get the problematic cards working again.

Side notes : I use a card reader connected to a Win10 Laptop. The guy before me who was handling these cards had a WinXP laptop. He could simply quick format them to FAT and they would work without any problems.

I tried cloning by the HDDGuru software by making an image of a working CF card.


Any idea what I can do?

then use an XP machine (or mini XP from Hiren's boot cd)

That's next on my list. I didn't know OS would make a difference when formatting drives.

@onru43, were you able to backup the contents of your original cards with the card reader?

Are you sure that the card reader is working properly, ie can you read and write files from/to the card in Win 10 after formatting?

Does Win 10 detect the "broken" card?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

I was. I tried copying them back in the card and server still did not read the card.



I can copy/delete and format from the reader just fine. I was able to successfully copy and paste files in to other CF cards and they work.



I can open the card in Win10 laptop. Doesn't give any errors. It's just the server that can't read it.

Could we see the card's content in a hex editor?

For example, could you show us the Partitions window in DMDE?

https://dmde.com/

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

If I can get access to them again I will try to do that.