DCIM

While the user guide does say to format it on your computer, it says nothing about what the correct format should be. It would be hard to believe the camera would understand either HFS+ or APFS formats.

The TC30 user video actually shows how to format the SD card in the camera (and says you should do so) even though they still say to format in a computer first. I guess if the camera would understand a computer-formatted SD card it would probably be FAT or ExFAT.

Erase it: Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

ExFAT or FAT32 would be the typical choices; whichever works better with the trail cam.

> instructions say I should format the memory card on the computer

Really? Do the instructions tell what format and partition map to use? I always reformat cards in the device (camera, drone, TV etc) because it should best know what format it supports.

Never heard of any camera device that did not want the card formatted by itself. Disk Utility might reformat the card but it will not set up the folder structure the camera is expecting. I would double check those instructions.

lowflit wrote:

I have a new SD card that has a DCIM folder. I'm using it for a trail camera and the instructions say I should format the memory card on the computer I use (ie my mac). Should I do this? Finder already recognizes the SD card has has a DCIM folder.

What make/model trail camera? Normally you format these cards in the camera itself. Check the trail camera's user guide.

So was this DCIM folder already on this SD Card before you used it with the trail camera? If so, are you sure this is a new SD Card since they should be blank, but it has been a while since I bought a new SD card.

Normally I like to erase all new drives just to be safe since sometimes they may contain some nasty surprises from the factory.