They aren't hard drives, it's a whole different process. They work superficially the same because that's a layer designed on. If you go to sdcard.org there are technical specifications and formatters for Windows and Mac, like that's the whole world.
I've seen formatting with hard disk tools work, I've also had better luck formatting in cameras or phones. And many times scanning for bad blocks causes a hard crash of the whole computer. I've got about 3 USB memory sticks here about 10 years old that I don't dare to scan again. But that in itself is odd, that for 10 years we haven't come up with a better approach. There are hundreds of pages of PDFs on how they work at http://www.sdcard.org but there seem to be limitations on how you can use that information. Like that .org maybe should have been a .com or .biz Despicable. But as we enter an era of solid state drives having proper utilities becomes more important. And many of us experiment with rooted phones with Linux on SD cards, and small single board computers like the Raspberry Pi, Beagleboard, etc. using SD cards instead of hard drives. You have to accept this disclaimer before you can download their PDFs: The information contained in the Simplified Specifications are presented only as a standard specification for SD cards and SD host/ancillary products and is provided "AS-IS" without any representations or warranties of any kind. No responsibility is assumed by the SD Group, SD-3C, LLC or the SD Card Association for any damages, any infringements of patents or other right of the SD Group, SD-3C, LLC, the SD Card Association or any third parties, which may result from there use or any portion there of. No license is granted by implication, estoppel or otherwise under any patent or other rights of the SD Group, SD-3C, LLC, the SD Card Association or any third party. Nothing herein shall be construed as an obligation by the SD Group, the SD-3C, LLC or the SD Card Association to disclose or distribute any technical information, know-how or other confidential information to any third party. Ooops, I probably broke some law by posting that. :) I was never interested in law school. -- Credit is the root of all evil. - AB1JX
