I have been trying to format the SD card in an SD slot in my computer. Do I have to have the card in the BCD536 in order to format it. I have tried to do that in the past with no success but since I can't find any information on a process on how to do it I am a bit confused. I thought that you could install the mini card into a larger SD card, stick it into the computer, open the Sentinel program, and clear the user data. At this point I would expect that the card (and drive) would be visible in the dialog box and you would click on it and download the data. Am I getting this process wrong. Or am I missing a step. Because I have tried six different cards from different manufacturers and nothing seems to work because the card isn't recognized. I am thinking that I am omitting a step or something because I doubt that I would have six bad cards. Can someone help me understand the process. Thanks for all your patience. I don't believe that I am dumb but I feel that I am missing something obvious.
You can do this with the SD card in the scanner, if the scanner is connected to the computer and is in Mass Storage mode. However for a large operation like this, I prefer to use a computer card reader. It goes much faster.
Here are the steps:
1. Insert SD card in computer card reader slot (may need an adapter card, which usually comes with the new SD card.
2. When the card is inserted a message appears on the computer screen showing which drive is associated with the card. Note the drive letter. (You may need to use Windows Explorer to determine which drive letter is associated with the SD card as this message appears only briefly. It should be apparent which drive letter is associated with the SD card.)
3. Start the SD Formatter Utility. Select the drive letter where the SD card is located.
4. Click the Format button on SD Formatter and answer OK, which shows up three times during the format process.
5. The third time is a message saying the formatting is complete. After clicking OK, Exit SD Formatter Utility.
6. Start Sentinel
7. Click Scanner>Clear User Data. A pop-up window appears. Check the “Display all drives” box. In the field you should see something like “X:\(Unknown)”. The “X” should be that drive letter associated with the SD card from previous steps. If not already highlighted, click on that X:\(Unknown), then press the OK button.
8. Another pop-up window appears, which is a confirmation that you want to Clear user data. Press OK. Yet another pop-up window appears saying “All information in your scanner will be erases if you proceed”. Click OK.
9. A progress window appears showing the progress of writing the necessary files to the SD card. When completed, a pop-up window appears saying “Finished Clearing User Data”. Click OK.
10. Click Scanner>Write to Scanner. Check the “Erase Favorites Lists on Scanner” and “Force Write Full Database” boxes, then click OK. A pop-up window appears asking you to confirm your actions, click OK. A progress bar window appears. When finished a “Finished writing to scanner” message appears. Click OK.
11. Unmount to SD card using Windows Explorer (eject the SD card), then remove the SD card from the card reader.
12. Re-insert the SD card in the scanner and turn the scanner on.
