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alert5 · 02-15-03, 09:34 PM

My latest findings with this SD Card are encouraging but by no means definitive. After a fair amount of research, I am still not sure what the file format is on these devices. Cisco has some words about Class B and Class C storage formats. Class B uses something called Low End File System (LEFS) and Class C is evidently "similar to DOS", whatever that means.

I also bought the StorageTools software from (version 1.5 just released) http://www.softwinter.com and it deals with the card as a DOS device. It provides a number of options for formatting, including FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 and they recommend using FAT32 for any SD Card, 64MB and above. This does not conform with the FAT file structure rules on a PC. So the rules are different for this solid state device.

I went ahead and formatted as FAT32 with 512 byte cluster size and 118 MB was available of the initial 120 MB. The 8 missing MBs are evidently needed for maintaing the file structure. I reformatted as FAT32 and 1KB cluster. Now it showed 119 MB available. I reformatted again as FAT32 with 2 KB cluster and it reported all 120 MB available. That's where it is now.

Since then I've loaded the device up with almost 10 MB of various files. These include DOCs, LITs, PDFs, XLSs and AVIs that were cut and pasted from the PDA internally and a bunch more were copied from my desktop through activesync.

All these files have been accessed many times without a hitch from the associated application or just by clicking on the files in their SD Card folders.

I've run the StorageTools verification, repair and defrag routines a dozen times. No errors and no fragmentation. I also noted the reported stack loss is a paltry 600 KB or so.

Seems rather solid at this point but I dare say if I were to pull the card and place it in a camera; for example, I doubt the camera would be able to read it. Oh well, one of the beautiful features of the Axim is having both CF and SD slots and my digital camera uses CF anyway and my wireless CF network card works great in the Axim.

One other tidbit. Someone on the yahoo Axim forum noted that the Axim expects a folder with the name "My Documents" on a card of this type so that it can map where all the various file types are and if you do not create that folder, then the zero length "ignore_my_docs" file gets written on the root of the card. This in itself is not an issue though and it's OK to create your own folders as I have done. However, you can only go one folder deep on the card if you want your applications like Pocket Word to "see" all the files on the SD media.

I guess my recommendation to folks having problems with your SD Card is this: Format it with a tool like StorageTools.

02-15-03, 09:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
alert5 Aximsite Rookie DAP Freshman Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Brockton, MA Posts: 61 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Sandisk 128 SD Card Followup My latest findings with this SD Card are encouraging but by no means definitive. After a fair amount of research, I am still not sure what the file format is on these devices. Cisco has some words about Class B and Class C storage formats. Class B uses something called Low End File System (LEFS) and Class C is evidently "similar to DOS", whatever that means. I also bought the StorageTools software from (version 1.5 just released) http://www.softwinter.com and it deals with the card as a DOS device. It provides a number of options for formatting, including FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 and they recommend using FAT32 for any SD Card, 64MB and above. This does not conform with the FAT file structure rules on a PC. So the rules are different for this solid state device. I went ahead and formatted as FAT32 with 512 byte cluster size and 118 MB was available of the initial 120 MB. The 8 missing MBs are evidently needed for maintaing the file structure. I reformatted as FAT32 and 1KB cluster. Now it showed 119 MB available. I reformatted again as FAT32 with 2 KB cluster and it reported all 120 MB available. That's where it is now. Since then I've loaded the device up with almost 10 MB of various files. These include DOCs, LITs, PDFs, XLSs and AVIs that were cut and pasted from the PDA internally and a bunch more were copied from my desktop through activesync. All these files have been accessed many times without a hitch from the associated application or just by clicking on the files in their SD Card folders. I've run the StorageTools verification, repair and defrag routines a dozen times. No errors and no fragmentation. I also noted the reported stack loss is a paltry 600 KB or so. Seems rather solid at this point but I dare say if I were to pull the card and place it in a camera; for example, I doubt the camera would be able to read it. Oh well, one of the beautiful features of the Axim is having both CF and SD slots and my digital camera uses CF anyway and my wireless CF network card works great in the Axim. One other tidbit. Someone on the yahoo Axim forum noted that the Axim expects a folder with the name "My Documents" on a card of this type so that it can map where all the various file types are and if you do not create that folder, then the zero length "ignore_my_docs" file gets written on the root of the card. This in itself is not an issue though and it's OK to create your own folders as I have done. However, you can only go one folder deep on the card if you want your applications like Pocket Word to "see" all the files on the SD media. I guess my recommendation to folks having problems with your SD Card is this: Format it with a tool like StorageTools.