The SD Memory Card Formatter does not format the protected area in the SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards. SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards have a “Protected Area” for SD Card security purposes.
In general, formatting tools provided with operating systems can format various storage media including SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards, but it may not be optimized for SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards and it may result in lower performance. It is strongly recommended to use the SD Memory Card Formatter to format SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards rather than using formatting tools provided with individual operating systems.
The SD Memory Card Formatter formats SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card and SDXC Memory Card (respectively SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards) complying with the SD File System Specification created by the SD Association (SDA). SD Memory Card Formatter 5.0.1 for SD/SDHC/SDXC
