SD Card problems

[riscphree]

I've put about 320MB on my 2GB SD card, but my PocketPC had a crash when I was doing something on it and now none of the data shows up. However, when I go to see how much space is free in it (using the Settings -> Memory screen) it shows me using 320MB. But the file manager shows nothing?! Where is my data? How might I be able to get it back?!?

I did stick it in my laptop with its onboard SD slot, but it did not detect ... multiple times. So thats a no go.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Your problem isn't uncommon - the file allocation table on the card has been corrupted, probably because your PPC was writing something to the card when the crash occured. For recovery options, please read through this thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=39583&).

[riscphree]

Thanks for the hint. If I can't get it to read on my laptop, are there any options that I can do from the PPC? I didn't see anything in the thread you linked to.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

If I can't get it to read on my laptop, are there any options that I can do from the PPC?

The laptop can't detect the card, or is it detecting but can't see any files? And no, there aren't any data recovery options on the Windows Mobile platform.

You could probably safely reuse the card, if you're willing to lose your data. A simple reformat will do, but that obviously deletes any data on the card to begin with.

[riscphree]

The laptop can't detect the card

Thats it. I don't mind having to format it, I can lose the data, but I would like the card working to its full capacity. So this is going to be tricky.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Ok, that makes it bit trickier. Can you see the card on your laptop through the Computer Management Console? You can find it here: Start->Settings->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Computer Management. Once there, go to Disk Management - that lists out the physical drives WinXP can see.

Alternatively, have you tried a USB2 card reader yet? If you haven't got one, it's a decent investment to make, considering how cheap they are. It also makes large file transfers fairly easy as it's way faster than transfering files through Activesync.

[riscphree]

Nope, it doesn't show up under the Computer Management MMC unfortunately.

I don't have a USB card reader, since I figured my onboard SD slot would be good enough. I will have to pick one up and see what happens now.

[riscphree]

Ok, I used CnetX's Flash Format program to get the card formatted. On the PocketPC it shows that it is back to filled with nothing. Which is ok by me. By my laptop still does not pick it up. Not sure what is up with that.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

That is weird - but at least you got your card working again.