# deleting sd card pictures



## shirbon (Oct 2, 2014)

I have some trail cams that use sd cards, i take the cards out and plug into computer to view. I want to delete some of the unwanted photos. I tell it to delete, it take a long time to do it, the picture count goes down as they delete. Then when its all done, magically all the pictures I deleted or wanted to delete are all still back on the sd card. Is there something I am doing wrong ?


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

Does the trail cam not have a built in delete function?


Are you sure you are deleting them from the card and not some imported folder?


I don't have any experience with trail cams so questions are about all I have for you.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)




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## shirbon (Oct 2, 2014)

No the camera has no way to view or delete pictures you have to put the se card in a computer or a card viewer. I assume its deleting from the card and not a file but not 100% sure as i am not techy at all.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)




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## shirbon (Oct 2, 2014)

NealTW, yeah I’m trying to delete some pictures i select but not all. I didn’t know the card has a little lock/unlock switch like you show. So it needs to be in unless ck to delete photos ? I will have to look and see.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

shirbon said:


> NealTW, yeah I’m trying to delete some pictures i select but not all. I didn’t know the card has a little lock/unlock switch like you show. So it needs to be in unless ck to delete photos ? I will have to look and see.


If you can't select and delete at the camera then you do have to down load the card, then format the card and load back the pictures you want to save on the card.


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## shirbon (Oct 2, 2014)

if i format the card wont that delete all the pictures on it ? if i format it to the computer will that mess up the format for the trail cam ?


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

shirbon said:


> if i format the card wont that delete all the pictures on it ? if i format it to the computer will that mess up the format for the trail cam ?


If you save all the picture to the computer first, they save in what ever format the camera has taken them. Maybe you should have a second card so you can do this before you format that card in case it doesn't work as expected.


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## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

I have two trail cams and view them weekly. I delete the goofy ones where the dogs are running, etc. With it in large icon view format, click on one picture. With the CTL button held down, click on other pictures you want to delete. Then with all the pictures you want deleted highlighted, right click on one and click delete. It will ask you if you want to delete these pictures, and you click yes. They're gone.

You can format the entire card by right clicking on the drive and selecting "format". Be aware ALL your pictures will be deleted. It will not damage or alter the settings on the game cam. It is just a storage device.


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## shirbon (Oct 2, 2014)

chandler48, that is what i been trying, exactly what you said but they dont actually delete, they are gone when your done deleting but then put the card back in computer again and they are all still there. very frustrating especially for me not being tech savy at all. and to save tnem on computer and put the ones i want back on the card i dont know how to do that either.


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## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

If you are saving the pictures to the PC, then you are not deleting them from the PC, or from the card. Once you insert the card, you should only see the pictures on the card, not what is on your PC. Make sure you are calling up pictures from the card drive address.


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## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

You must think you're doing something that you're not actually doing.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)




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## shirbon (Oct 2, 2014)

Nealtw, that’s exactly the way I do it but they don’t actually go away, I have tried several times. However, I did figure out how to save the ones I wanted to the computer and reviewing the manual for the trail cam it says how to delete the entire card with the camera,though I don’t know if they actually deleted yet till I go to look again i can only hope that they did. This is all sure a pain in the neck hassle. Thanks for the help everyone.


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## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

I can only imagine the pain to delete pictures using the camera. You are trying to do it on a pc using the SD card slot, right? Bring up x drive and click on DCIM. That will give you all the pictures on the card. Not sure what you are doing. Maybe you can give us a step by step procedure so we can help you out.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

shirbon said:


> Nealtw, that’s exactly the way I do it but they don’t actually go away, I have tried several times. However, I did figure out how to save the ones I wanted to the computer and reviewing the manual for the trail cam it says how to delete the entire card with the camera,though I don’t know if they actually deleted yet till I go to look again i can only hope that they did. This is all sure a pain in the neck hassle. Thanks for the help everyone.


I remember the old floppy disc, you could do a fast or slow format. When you did the fast one, the tags were gone oo you could save over the old files. The slow format took a while but you had a clean disc.


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## 3onthetree (Dec 7, 2018)

shirbon said:


> Nealtw, that’s exactly the way I do it but they don’t actually go away, I have tried several times.


Could be, if you are transferring videos with File Explorer and dragging them with your mouse, say to your pc desktop, then they are "copying" them instead of "moving" them. If you are actually viewing the SD card contents and can't delete them, it could be a locked card or your security priveleges in Windows does not allow you to perform that function.


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## CaptTom (Dec 31, 2017)

I always break it down into the steps *I* want to do, not let the computer decide. So no drag-and-drop; always right-click and decide whether to "cut" or "copy." Then navigate over to the destination folder, where I can "paste."

My years on the Help Desk taught me that a lot of people don't start with a clear understanding of folders (directories) and files.

The way I do it is to copy all the files from the correct folder on the SD card to a temporary folder on the hard drive of the PC. One that I created, named "Temp." Nothing starting with "My."

In that folder, I can review the pictures, delete the ones I don't want, and rename them to something meaningful to me (I use a product called "Advanced Renamer.")

Then I move the ones I want to keep to the appropriate folder for longer-term storage. I have my own system of folders for various types of photos. Those folders are all backed up regularly.

Once that's done, I can wipe all the pictures from the SD card (or camera, or phone.)

It would also be trivial at that point to format the SD card. They do get corrupted, and I imagine the harsh environment of a trial cam only makes that more likely.


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## That Guy (Aug 19, 2017)

Theres a program, out there, called 'deep delete' It has military grade deletion.. Its a small package, less than 10mb...


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