On Mon, Jan 29, 2007 at 11:05:01AM -0000, Alan B. Pearce wrote:
> So I put the card into a USB CF card adapter, and the PC saw it as a drive 
> for a short time, but then it went awry, and now will not work in the 
> adapter, or the camera. The camera will not format it, nor will another 
> camera here at work that takes CF cards.
> Is anyone aware of any reason why the CF card could die when used like this?

I have been able to revive CF cards on several occasions by plugging them 
into a Linux host, and erasing them by issuing this as root:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdX ( <--your CF card )

No need to specify length, the command will stop at the end of storage
space.

Careful not to specify a drive with good data for the output file (of) !!

CAREFUL NOT TO SPECIFY A DRIVE WITH GOOD DATA FOR THE OUTPUT FILE (of) !!

Although this does not 'low level' the card, it does seem to knock down the 
bits that confuse windows or the embedded device (like your camera).  I do not
know why CF cards get like this after some use, but after using dd to 'erase'
them, they appear to work again... most of the time!

Take care,
-Chris

-- 
| Christopher Cole, Cole Design and Development               cole@coledd.com |
| Embedded Electronics and Software Design                  http://coledd.com |
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