Erasing data from SD card.

[Kadegboye]

Is there anyone out there who knows how to erase data from an SD card using the pocket pc phone? I use XDA II and after I saved my data on an SD card as a backup for months, I now want to erase the old data and save the current data on this SD card. How can I do it?
Kay.

[Janak Parekh]

I don't understand your question.

Are you looking to erase a few files off the SD card? If so, use File Explorer.

If you're looking to completely wipe/format the SD card, functionality isn't built into the Pocket PC platform for that; look for something like Flash Format (http://www.cnetx.com/format/).

(Keep in mind that if you have a desktop SD reader, you can do either of these without additional software on a desktop.)

--janak

[Kadegboye]

Thank you Janak, I will try file explorer. Unfortunately my desktop pc does not have SDIO slot and hence I cannot consider that option.
Kay.

[pdhenry]

In ActiveSync there's an "Explore" button on the menu bar.

Go to "My Pocket PC" then to the "Storage Card" folder and you can see, move, delete, etc. the files on your SD card. This might be faster or more intuitive than using File Explorer on the PPC.

There still isn't any native way to format the SD card - but a USB card reader is 8 bucks or so...

[Kadegboye]

Thanks Guys,
File explorer did not work. I will try the ActiveSync method and if that doesn't work, I will try the 8 bucks appliance.
Kay.

[Darius Wey]

Thanks Guys,
File explorer did not work. I will try the ActiveSync method and if that doesn't work, I will try the 8 bucks appliance.
Kay.

File Explorer didn't work? How are you attempting to delete the files? Unless the file is locked or is being used by the system, all it involves is a tap-and-hold on the file, and tapping Delete, and your file should delete fine. However, I still believe the USB card reader is still the best solution that will serve you well in the long run. You'll not only be able to format quickly, but copy files a lot quicker. But make sure it's a USB2.0 reader (which most should be these days).

[XDA_User]

I have a similar problem - my SD Card won't allow erasing of directories/files that are on the card, even in a card reader! Also, the card doesn't allow one to write new information on it, but all data is readable.....

Any suggestions??

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Did you guys think to check the lock button on the SD card? If it's set to locked, the card will only allow read only mode.

[XDA_User]

Yup, card lock unlocked....

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Before you guys do anything drastic, download and install either of these two programs:

GSFinder+
http://page.freett.com/todamitsu/GSFinderE.htm

Total Commander
http://www.ghisler.com/pocketpc.htm

Both are freeware file explorer replacements. After installation, navigate to your card, tap and hold on the file you want to delete and check its attributes - it may have been set to read-only.

[XDA_User]

Thanks for those programs - good stuff!

By the way, could the reason that some of these directories are read-only because the card was used in a digital camera, that may have corrupted it?

Thanks,

[Nurhisham Hussein]

You're welcome! The reason you stated is possible I suppose - though I regularly switch Cf cards back and forth between my PDA and my camera. SD cards appear to be a tad more sensitive to many things though.

[XDA_User]

When I try to copy the card directly in my HP nw8000's inbuilt SDcard reader, *avi files do not seem to want to be copied for some reason....*.jpgs are doing fine, and the folders with e-mail attachments are also labelled as read-only for some reason....

Oh, and the card was being used in my earlier XDAII, and now in my XDAIIs, but the XDAII was back to ground zero, once the thing happened to get reset for some reason!

Maybe the XDAII, or a program I had installed there, had locked up the storage (SD) card for some reason....

I'm going to try to retreive the *.avi's by changing their properties, one by one, so let's see how this goes.....