Hi Richard, Do you know which of the Sandisk cards (model number) did not appear to work for you? This will save us going out and purchasing it! <SMILE>
-- Carol [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Richard Ehrler Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 2:35 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Braillenote] losing files Hello Dean and listers, As a follow-up to the message I sent to the list over the weekend, here are additional results of testing a total of eleven different compact flash cards from four different manufacturers and including several sizes from 64 MB to 2GB. I also tested two different brand 5 GB microdrives. I was testing on a Voice Note BT mPower. During the test, I had to do several resets when I got card not recognized messages with two of the eleven CF cards and after inserting both microdrives, in order for them to be seen by the VN. During the testing process, I lost no files on either the flash disc or off any of the CF cards or microdrives. When I had my previous VoiceNote, I always had a CF card in the rear slot and never experienced the card reformatting problem some people reported. Don't know if it has anything to do with it or not but I almost always make sure to go back to the main menu prompt before turning off the VN. In any case, considering what Dean has reported about loss of files if the unit comes up and doesn't recognize your CF card, I would suggest that you either consider removal of CF cards before powering up your note taker or be sure to keep good backup. While I tested seven different Sandisk CF cards, only two of them displayed the card not recognized message when I inserted them in the rear slot but both worked fine in an adapter sleeve in the right side slot. I put one of these cards in a card reader hooked to my Windows XP computer and ran scandisk on it to see if any bad blocks turned up. While it did report some lost clusters, it didn't report any damaged areas on the CF card so I then used the XP system to reformat the card as FAT16 and tried it in the VN again. It still reported card not recognized when I used the rear slot and still worked in the side slot. I formatted the card again using FAT32 but the results were the same. Something about this card and one other just seem to be incompatible with the rear slot of my mPower. What is even stranger is that both of these cards work fine in several other devices I own, including a Plextor PTR1, Book Courier, Book Port, and in the card reader I use on my computer. Go figure! This same card worked fine in my previous VoiceNote so guess the hardware gurus will have to figure this one out. Tested Compact Flash cards, grouped by manufacturer and card size, followed by tested microdrives: Sandisk 2 Gig CF cards: Tested 2 cards and had no problem with either. Sandisk 1 Gig CF cards: Out of 3 cards tested, only 1 came up as card unrecognized in the rear slot of my VoiceNote. It works fine in a PCM-CIA adapter sleeve in the right side slot though. No problem at all with the other two cards. Sandisk 128 Meg CF card: This card originally came installed in my Book Courier MP3 player. It came up as card unrecognized in the rear slot of the VN but worked fine in a PCM-CIA adapter sleeve in the right side slot. Sandisk 64 Meg CF card: Tested one card and had no problem. Kingston 1 Gig CF card: Tested one card and had no problem. Kingston 64 Meg CF card: Tested one card and had no problem. Dane-Elec 128 Meg CF card: Tested one card and had no problem. SimpleTech 64 Meg CF card: Tested one card and had no problem. Toshiba 5 Gig PCM-CIA microdrive: I tested the model MK5002MPL. When first inserted, it froze the VN but after doing a simple reset, with no keys held down, the drive was recognized and I could access files off of it with no problem. Kingston 5 Gig PCM-CIA microdrive: I tested the model DP-PCM2/5GB. When first inserted, it froze the VN but after doing a simple reset, with no keys held down, the drive was recognized and I could access files off of it with no problem. Note, that in the case of the 2 tested microdrives, it was not only necessary to do a reset after inserting them, but I also had to do another reset after removing them before I could insert another microdrive or I would get a card not recognized error. On 2006-02-27 [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: Hi Richard, Thank you for sending us your findings. When testing, I would also, if possible, test some smaller capacity cards. Let us know what the outcome is anyway and we can see what might be going on from there. I don't have any explanation at this time, although I believe that there is a slight chance that we might be dealing with a hardware fault here, given what you seem to have done to date. Regards, Dean Jackson ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 5:31 AM Hello Dean, I've had my Voice Note BT mPower for a few months now but have just started trying to access some information off some CF cards and microdrives that I saved there before returning my old VN for the upgrade trade in. So far, I tried to insert the 1 GB Sandisk CF card I used in the old VN in the rear slot and get a card unrecognized message every time. If I put the same CF card in an adapter sleeve and install it in the side slot, then it reads just fine every time. In the process of trying the rear slot, I did indeed reboot the system with resets and even with turning it off and back on. In both cases, it either hung the unit or still came up unrecognized. After both tests I put the card back in the adapter and the files were still on the card and in my VN. With the Kingston 5 GB microdrives I purchased from HumanWare with my original VN back in 2003, inserting them does nothing until I reset. Then the drives are recognized and I can access files on them. So far, in neither case have I lost files on the card or the VN. Guess I should thank the Gods of technology or whomever for not losing any of my files but sure makes one wonder just what combination of circumstances cause some units to act differently. I will be checking my rear CF slot with several other cards over the next few days to try to determine if it does this with all cards or if just that one card is weird. If no cards are recognized there, then I expect my mPower was shipped with a bad slot. In which case, I'll probably wait until I need to return it for new batteries or some other reason to have the slot checked and repaired. Richard Ehrler On 2006-02-27 [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: Removing a compactflash card will prevent any Windows CE formatting that might take place at startup. This formatting occurs if the disk scanning of external devices, which occurs when Windows boots, finds a drive in an unusable state. In the event that all data on the flashdisk went South, as is being reported happens, you would lose the contents of all your databases, including email. ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.1.1/270 - Release Date: 27/02/2006 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. 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