Now that we don't have Y2K to worry about, we have to scramble to find something else to panic about.

If your camera uses removable media to store images, and it's readable by your computer, you may have been tempted to do your file management where you usually do it -- on your computer. Not only may you been tempted, but you may have successfully done it. Over and over.

Now that we don't have Y2K to worry about, we have to scramble to find something else to panic about. Removable media is the topic this week.

The big problem isn't deleting (or copying) files between your card and your computer system. The problem (which may not be big on your system) is formatting the card on your computer. Indeed, we've done it and lived to tell about it.

But the prudent thing to do is to let your camera format your card. Some manufacturers insist on it. Some merely recommend it. But since saving your work relies entirely on the camera's ability to communicate with your card, the safe thing to do is to format the card in the camera.