V36 - SD cards higher than 256MB?

[lesterF]

Hello,
I'm trying to breathe new life into my V36, and was interested in buying a 2GB or 4GB SD card so I could use it as my primary mp3 player.

I looked on the Viewsonic site, and they listed the maximum allowable memory for the SD slot as 256MB.

Does anyone have experience using their V35/V36/V37 with a high capacity card?

thanks.

[lesterF]

Hello,
I'm trying to breathe new life into my V36, and was interested in buying a 2GB or 4GB SD card so I could use it as my primary mp3 player.

I looked on the Viewsonic site, and they listed the maximum allowable memory for the SD slot as 256MB.

Does anyone have experience using their V35/V36/V37 with a high capacity card?

thanks.

[Jason Dunn]

You can use any size of SD card on the market today, which is 2GB. 4GB SD cards require some special changes to the format.

[lesterF]

Thanks for the reply Jason.

You had mentioned "4GB SD cards require some special changes to the format."

Could you elaborate a bit? I have read that some people can only format them to 2GB.

thanks.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by lesterF

You had mentioned "4GB SD cards require some special changes to the format."

I could have sworn that I read something about the SD spec needing to be updated to support more than 2GB, but in a quick Google search I can't turn anything up. So maybe I have no clue what I'm talking about. :lol:

[lesterF]

Been doing some research, but still no definite answers.

From what I've read:
in order to use a 4GB SD, your device must be able to read FAT32 file systems (as opposed to FAT16, or just FAT)

I formatted a 128MB disc to Fat32, and the V36 had no problems reading it.

Then, the 4GB SD's utilize some secure digital 1.1 format, which I'm still not clear on. Supposedly, it's backwards compatible, so older devices that use 1.01 will still be able to read these cards. However, I think that the data transfer rates won't be as fast.

I've only found one website that specifically lists the V36 for compatibility. It's the TRANSCEND website, and they say that their 2GB SD IS compatible with the V36, but their 4GB disc is not.

Ideally, I'd like to get a 4GB, so I'll do some more research. I'd buy one just to test, but most places that have a good price (~$110.00) have a 15% restocking fee if you return the product.

[Jason Dunn]

Well, let me put it this way...Windows Mobile can handle 4GB memory cards and higher, so there's no technical reason why your V36 shouldn't be able to handle a big SD card.

[lesterF]

Ok, taking a chance here. I just ordered a Transcend 4GB SD card from Newegg today. Should be here by Monday. Will post my findings...

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by lesterF

Ok, taking a chance here. I just ordered a Transcend 4GB SD card from Newegg today. Should be here by Monday. Will post my findings...

Tell you what, if for some reason it doesn't work, let me know and I 100% for sure will buy it from you. You have the Jason Dunn guarantee. ;-)

[lesterF]

Wow! Thanks for the Jason Dunn guarantee! It's nice to know there are still people who stand behind what they say.
Turns out you were 100% right! The Transcend 4GB card works perfectly right out of the box. It reports 3950MB free when inserted. I copied about 14 cd's worth of music so far (only 24% used) and it is running fine.
Now my only problem will be getting my rebate check ;-)
thanks again for the advice.

[Jason Dunn]

Glad to hear it worked out for you.