hi,
this may seem silly but i cannot seem to back my SD card up (in case of any failure)
i'm not too sure if this is the case however, i cannot seem to copy my installed software directories which are installed on my SD??? (they all have a default ending of say...
BetaPlayer.
eWallet.
Pocket Controller.
buttonMax. <<-- notice the FULLSTOP?
all the other directories copy fine except for these folders.
is anybody having any issues copying ALL files from their SD card?
is there any software that can full backup the SD card to the computer?
ie. similar to SPRITE backup?? or can SPRITE even do this? how do you set it?
Hi
Strange...
Maybe the filesystem on card is screwed up.
Try creating directories (on PC) manually (with the same names) and then copy files from inside(s).
If you succeed this way, format the SD and copy all data back.
Good luck.
I had a similar problem some time back, with those '.'s appearing after some of the directories, and not being able to do much about them, except through a card reader connected to the PC (and sometimes not even then).
eventually i had to reformat the whole card to get it working again, using CNetX's Flash Format, which also has a utility to check and try to fix cards. you can check it out here. http://www.cnetx.com/format/
Google for a freeware product called MobSync. The website is mainly in Japanese but the product is in (pidgeon) English. MobSync can sync. any directory on the PC with any on the device, one way or both ways.
I have it set to sync my Storage and Storage Card to my PC on each connect. It doesn't handle files which are too large, has the odd spelling error and has some minor issues with AS4 but as a fall back mechanism it is excellent.
Note: it doesn't convert files when it copies them - again this is a minor issue and there is a shareware product there that seems to do this.
hi i'm not too sure what you mean when you say file conversion from PC to PDA or PDA to PC?
does this matter?
jimjamz said:
hi i'm not too sure what you mean when you say file conversion from PC to PDA or PDA to PC?
does this matter?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It can matter but it's not a major issue. For example if you pull a Pocket Word file over via ActiveSync it is converted on the way and becomes a Word/WordPad document at the PC end, this doesn't happen with MobSync.
If all you are looking to do is preseve the data from your Storage and Storage Card, it will serve the purpose just fine.
Introduction
Transcend and several other manufacturers make 4GB SD cards these days. They're great if you use your HTC device as MP3 player or Camera, as they offer enough space for thousands of songs and pictures.
My device, the HTC Universal, handles them just fine. However some applications, most notably the Camera application, don't like it.
Why some apps don't like it
The main problem here is the way in which they calculate the free space.
the processor is 32-bit, which means it can handle numbers ranging from 0 to 2^32. 4GB is exactly 2^32 bytes, so that shouldn't be the problem.
The problem is that applications sometimes handle the number as signed, which means that it differentiates between negative and positive numbers.
With signed numbers, the last bit is actually used as the sign (positive or negative), and the new range stretches from -2^31 (-2GB) to 2^31 (2GB).
Up to 2^31, the unsigned numbers and signed numbers are the same, but after that the last bit is set in unsigned numbers, which means that if treated as signed it will be seen as a negative number.
So if you have more than 2GB free, and the application mistreats the number of bytes free as being signed, the application actually thinks you have less than 0 bytes free
How to fix this?
There are several ways to fix this. The most simple one would be to have a simple dummy file so you always have less than 2GB free. This works for the camera application, but any miscoded application taking a look at the actual size of the disk will still screw up
The other solution is partitioning your SD-card. This means that you actually split the SD-card up into several virtual SD-cards of smaller sizes. So one SD-card of 4GB could be seen as four of 1GB (my set up).
This way you still have 4GB of storage, but applications will not get confused as it's split up into several chunks.
WARNING
Before you start remember to back up the current data on your SD-Card. the procedure will completely erase your SD-card. You might be able to retain the data by using partitionmagic's resize partition features, but you'd have to test yourself.
Also I'd like to mention that although I tested this procedure myself, I can't garantuee it will work for you. If it renders your SD-card useless, I can not be held responsible.
My set-up
This tutorial was written using:
- T-Mobile MDA Pro (HTC Universal)
- Windows XP SP2 MCE (equivilant to Pro)
- Transcend 150x 4GB SD-Card
It might work with a different set-up, but I can't garantuee anything
Requirements
- Windows Mobile 5
- WM5Storage (do not use CardExport2, you need the ability to turn off "Removable Class"!)
- Big SD-Card
Let's get started
Just follow the following steps
First, make a backup of your SD-card! the following procedure will erase it!
Next, install WM5Storage. I will attach a copy of version 1.53 with this post, but you can get the latest version here.
Just copy the .cab file to your device, and execute it from the file explorer. Just make sure you install on the main memory, as the SD-card becomes inaccessible during the procedure
Start WM5Storage. On my device, WM5Storage did not put anything in the start menu or the today screen, so I had to launch it through the file-explorer. You can find it at My Device\Program Files\WM5Storage\.
Be sure to untick both "Read-Only" and "Removable Class". Optionally you can set it to light a LED on read/write, but that's not neccesarry for this procedure.
Disconnect your device from your computer.
Insert the SD-Card if you haven't done so already
Hit "Activate" (bottom, right)
Re-connect your device to your computer.
From now on all steps are done from the PC
Wait until windows has recognized all "new hardware", and you have new a new hard-drive listed in "My Computer".
Open the control panel (Start -> Control Panel)
Go to either Performance and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools (category view) or directly to Administrative Tools (Classic View)
Double-Click Computer Management
Go to Computer Management (Local) -> Storage -> Disk Management (might take a little while to find all drives)
In the bottom view, find the disk that has your SD-card in it (You can find out by looking at the contents through "My Computer", or by seeing which disk is added once you plug in your WM device)
Right click the partition (white block ), and choose for Delete Partition
In the just created "Unallocated" space, right click, and choose for New Partition
In the wizard:
choose for a Primary Partition
For size, enter 1024MB (or if there is no more remaining, just the remainder). Ofcourse you can also choose your own size
Assign any drive-letter you want (or none if you only want it to be accessible on the WM Device).
Format the partition as Filesystem FAT32, Allocation unit size Default, and pick any volume label you want (You will only see the volume label on the PC, on the WM Device it will just be "Storage Card X". Also tick "Perform a quick format"
Wait until the bottom line in the new partition reads "Healthy" (wait for it to format basically )
Create as much partitions as you'd like (just resume from right-clicking and picking New partition)
You're done partitioning! If you want, you can fill the contents of the SD-Card now before you deactivate WM5Storage
Disconnect the device from the computer
Next few steps on the Device
Click "Deactivate" (same place as "Activate" was before )
Close WM5Storage
You're all done! have fun with the multiple storage cards you have now
Afterword
I've put quite a bit of time in this tutorial, I'd appreciate if you at least told me if it worked
If you can spare a few coins, I'd also appreciate a donation. You can donate with PayPal to "[email protected]".
nice post, i'm bloging it right away 8)
I have a 2GB SD card. My o2 mini prompt me to format it when inserted. After formatted. o2 mini shows 0.01 MB only.
"My computer using card reader shows 14KB and from Disk Management, it shows 1.86 GB Free. I believe this "1.86GB Free" means unallocated space.
I right click on the unallocated space, but there is no option for me to choose a Primary Partition. It only has 3 options.
"New Logical Drive...",
"Delete Partition...", which is grayed out and
"Help".
Help! How to allocate this 1.86GB and format it to fat32?
Any kind soul please help me get this 2GB SD card to work with my o2 mini. 1.86GB and not 0.01MB.
Thanks
is there anyway to rename the partition with a different name? i've tried a lot of ways but in vain... the 2nd partition always follow the name of the 1st partition... any help please?
thanks in advance...
non
After having lots of problems with my SD card, I already thought that partitioning possibly could solve the problem and, using your howto, I can use my 2 GB SD-card without any problems.
Thanks!
ive done this on a 512 sd and using wm03, used a card reader to do the partition.
actualy worked well for a while if you have alot of files to store in one of the partitions, but ended up being a real pain when you wanted to re-do it
Really nice post and easy too.
thanks
hi i tried it.....realyy wonderful....thanks a lot for posting this one...keep posting things lik tis.....
cheers,
Siva....
thx for this tips!
I used it for my 2GB MiniSD card, but now I would like to keep my TomTom maps on the second partition, but TomTom can't recognize the map. (Storage Card2\)
I tried by editing the 'CurrentMap.dat' file and set the path to the Storage Card2 but still TomTom doesn't want to read this second partition. Anyone a solution for that?
thx!!
Nice tutorial. I have problem with reading of my 4GB SD card. Now I'm using two partitions (1GB for cameras and 3GB for my PocketPC). Thank you
I have been trying this but all I seem to be able to do is partition the card but only able to format the first partition s the rest of the card is rendered useless
Any help appreciated
Great tutorial, will link it up from my related articles!
partitioning 4GB help
Hi,
I've followed you instructions (great job, btw) HOWTO partition SD card....using the file download WM5torage.cab For some reason, I cannot get past the part after clicking on ACTIVATE immediately after inserting the SD Card. My MDA (TMobile Wiz) keeps locking up and I have to do a soft reset. I've tried reformatting the 4GB Mini SD card a few times and I've actually gotten different results. My last format (FAT32) shows (on PC) 1930MB free and 1931MB used which befuddles me. I formatted it again and it showed 3.78 GB free. Perhaps you or someone could assist me if possible. I bought the Mini SD card off eBay from a reputable seller. It was suppossed to be a Samsung 4GB Mini SD card and I was a bit surprised when it arrived as a SanDisk. Any idea as to why the phone keeps locking up? I also wonder if there might be an issue with the card...I examined the back of the card where the contacts are with magnification and the sides of the black composite show traces of perhaps an epoxy or bonding agent...I think SanDisks QC is better than that. To make things easier, you can also email me at [email protected]
I have cingular 8125 and vista. I tried to use the program wm5storage but when I go to computer management there is not recognition of the 4 gig sd, nor is there any recognition of an sd when using my pda. Anyone know how to get the phone to recognize it (I tried reformatting) so that I can partition. Thanks
I have had some success with 4 GB cards from IntegrityElectronics and TopRam on my T-Mobile MDA running latest TMO ROM.
The problem I am running into a when using apps that are installed on the card and write dat to the card, other files get corrupted and render those applications unsuable. If I limit use to playing MP3 and videos, thing tend to stay stable.
Has anyone else observed this behavior?
Ok, I used the storage program to access the card. Then with the disk
management on XP I formatted the card as FAT for the entire 4gb card.
It looks like it worked. I copied all my files to it. Everything is running.
I have done several restarts with no problems...
Hope it stays so.
Good luck folks. I will report back if anything weird happens.
Ok. So it all got completely screwed.
I guess it got corrupted. My guess is when
I started using the camera. All of a sudden
there are only blank folders on the storage
card with a period as the names. Tons of them.
Nothing else. Any ideas?
And now I cannot get wm5storage to work.
It keeps telling me that something is accessing
the card. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
It seems the problem was that there was a hidden Recycler folder on the storage card that would not let me use wm5storage. Probably from
Resco File Explorer... Deleted that with my PC...
Somehow magically my pc read the card. I don't know how to explain
that seeing as it was formatted in FAT not FAT32...
Then wm5storage worked and I paritioned it into 2 halves.
Lets see how that goes.
I hope, well.
This may be a silly question but...
Can't you plug the micro SD into a card reader and use Windows XP Disk Management tool (or any other partintioning tool) to create the partition on the storage card? What's WM5Storage actually doing?
SG
Anyone? Can't one just soley use the Disk Management tool in Windows to partition a SD card?
Hello,
Perhaps a strange question, but suppose I have 2 microSD cards, and I install an application on a microSD card. If I want it to run regardless of what card is inserted, does it suffice to copy the folder in which it was installed from one card to the other card (reconstructing the directory structure)? Or do I have to go through the install procedure and install the application on the second card as well?
Can anything be said about the settings of this program: are they dependent on which of the 2 cards the application is running from, or are they independent of it? Or does this depend on the application at hand?
Thanks!
Jörg
when i got my 8525, i initially had a 2gb micro sd. when i got the 4gb micro sdhc, all i did was copy everything from the 2gb micro sd to the 4gb micro sdhc. then i was set to go.
no problems whatsoever.
V J said:
Hello,
Perhaps a strange question, but suppose I have 2 microSD cards, and I install an application on a microSD card. If I want it to run regardless of what card is inserted, does it suffice to copy the folder in which it was installed from one card to the other card (reconstructing the directory structure)? Or do I have to go through the install procedure and install the application on the second card as well?
Can anything be said about the settings of this program: are they dependent on which of the 2 cards the application is running from, or are they independent of it? Or does this depend on the application at hand?
Thanks!
Jörg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would work fine.
Thanks...
(good to know there are no hidden things)
I assume that settings will be depend on whether they are stored in registry or in configuration files.
Shortcuts to non-existing targets (e.g. to a program that is on a card that was removed) are still shown in the program list... Is there a way around this? My Psion 5mx had a dynamic "programs folder", showing only the available programs.
Perhaps there is a possibility to trigger a script upon card removal that simply copies the shortcuts to some other folder, and similarly copies them back upon insertion (after checking e.g. the volume label); but I don't know if/how this can be done... I can see myself making a script (MortScript) allowing me to remove/set shortcuts, but I don't see how I could automate this... (perhaps this ought to be in development and hacking).
Thanks!
Jörg
am really confused as to what you are up to..
seems like you are making an occupation out of something very simple to do.
Yes...
Simpler would be to execute a script on the card upon insertion... (thought of this after posting)
Bottom line is: I tend to forget to execute the scripts, leaving me with non-functional shortcuts. If this were automated, only the valid shortcuts would remain...
Jörg
on on htc touch hd go to start >setting>system
you then have the encryption tool that says when you activate it
"encrypted files can only be read on this device "
so may be a daft question but when i have this activated can i connect my phone via active sync or as disk drive and still see the files and open them and my memory card ?
what im trying to get at is if anyone found my phone they can read the files as they have the phone. what has been encrypted ?
thanks
I'd say no
I'd also say reflash with another rom and you can't read it ever again
even hardreset the phone and you can never read it again
it's made to make sure you're most secret stuff never gets out if you're phone
is stolen not to make sure your stuff will ever be something you can retrieve if something goes wrong
are you saying that you think the encryption is not working ?
No. That's not what he's saying. He's just advising that you not use it. The encryption key is stored on your phone's memory, so that if you ever hard-reset or flash another ROM, the encryption key will be lost and you won't be able to access the data on your memory card, ever again. You would have to do a full format of the card to even be able to use it again.
thanks for clearing that up .
could you recommend any software that i can install on the phone that requires
password to access the memory card while still in the phone and require password if memory card was taken out of phone and put into a pc memory card reader
thanks
I don't really know of anything that would be compatible across multiple systems/platforms like that
I just googled this and found the following software:
http://www.aikosolutions.com/encryption/secubox-encryption-vs-windows-mobile-encryption/
Just some thoguhts for using the native encryption...
I wonder if the encrytion key can be extracted from the phone...?
That way it could be added again on another ROM. Also, the key could then be used in a desktop application that implements the same algorithm (AES, I think). This would allow the card's contents to be accessed outside of the phone.