SD and CF Formating Question in PM

[gdl357]

Can someone recommend the correct settings to format the following new cards in Pocket Mechanics please. I need to know the Fat size and cluster size.

Sandisk 1GB Ultra-II SD
Kingston Elite Pro 2GB CF

The Kingston will have all the apps installed in it with some mp3 and the Sandisk will have temp. info that will be deleted frequently.

Thx
Giorgio

[coach_ng]

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=105561

[gdl357]

mmm, now I am even more lost. Some people say FAT32 some FAT16 , some say 32k clusters and some say 64k and 512. Oh boy.

[0gopogo]

Uncheck the "Backup FAT" toggle.

Choose FAT32 for cards > 2GB, otherwise FAT16. (Avoid 4GB FAT16 format until you understand what this means. I don't know if Pocket Mechanic can create those anyway.)

Minimize the cluster size if your typical applications deal with many small files and few large files. Don't go smaller than 4k.

If your main application is for audio or video (large files), choose 16k or 32k clusters.

2GB cards formatted with FAT16 must use 32k clusters.
1GB cards formatted with FAT16 must use 16k clusters.

According to Menneisyys' article Pocket Mechanic silently switches to FAT32 if you enter incompatible cluster sizes for FAT16, so watch out.

If you share the card with e.g. a digital camera, find the format option which works (or works best) with both the camera and the PDA.

[gdl357]

This doc contradicts that.

http://www.aximsite.com/articles/link.php?id=250

FAT16 = 16MB - 512MB

FAT32 = Greater than 512MB

Choose the Allocation Unit Size (4096 byte or 4KB is good) if you are given this option.

[0gopogo]

There is no contradiction.

Sorry, friend, you need to read more thoroughly. I am familiar with that article. It clearly states that the 4k cluster size aims for limiting slack space. It also agrees that larger clusters improve speed. I was suggesting down to 4k sizes if you are mostly using small files. If you mostly use large files there is no benefit in small cluster sizes i.e. you might as well user larger clusters to maximize performance.

Then there are the other limitations I mentioned. For instance, you may want to share a card between camera and PDA but the camera does not support FAT32. One of my cameras, the Kyocera, is like that.

[gdl357]

I still don't get it.
Please recommend the settings for these two cards. I will only be using them in my PPC and will mostly be installing apps and a few mp3's on the CF card and larger videos on the SD card. thx

Sandisk 1GB Ultra-II SD =
Kingston Elite Pro 2GB CF =