256 MB SD works!

[Dave Beauvais]

Notice: somewhat long message follows. :sleeping:

I'm pleased to report that my 7BA E-200 seems to work perfectly with a SanDisk 256 MB SD card! The last time I tried a card larger than 64 MB, it was a SanDisk 128 MB SD in one of the 2AP E-200s that I had. I had many issues with the first 128 MB SanDisk card and exchanged it for a new one assuming it was defective. Much to my disappointment, the replacement also had issues. I then started doing some research and found that a few E-200 and iPAQ users were having problems with 128 MB SD cards, and SanDisk cards, in particular. I found a deal at the local Micro Center for a Lexar 64 MB SD card for about $35 and snapped one up. Until recently, it's been sufficient, but I'm starting to carry more data around.

Then, I saw the post here at Thoughts two or three days ago about some specials at Buy.com (http://www.buy.com/). I saw a 128 MB SD card listed for about $58, but when I scrolled down further, noticed SanDisk's new "Cruzer 256 (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10321052&hdwt=30421&loc=101)". This is basically a really slick SD card reader with a 256 MB SD card included. Price: $149.99 with free shipping. Sold! I don't see the 256 MB version at Amazon, but they do have the 128 MB. I think you can help out Thoughts by buying there. Jason: can you make an affilliate link for any product?

It arrived today, I copied the contents of my 64 MB card to my PC, then copied it down to the new 256 MB card. This is where I had problems; not with the E-200, but with the card reader and my laptop. It would get through almost all the files and would abort with a data error. My WinXP system event log shows a string of errors ending with an entry stating that there's a bad block on the device. I tried the 256 MB card in another card reader I had and it wasn't able to copy even two files before having problems. I still can't explain this since none of the card readers seem to have problems with the 64 MB card. I ended up copying all the files via ActiveSync directly to the E-200 over my wireless LAN connection. I was expecting to see the same problems I'd seen months ago with the 128 MB cards, but amazingly, things seem to be working perfectly.

I'm still puzzled by the errors in WinXP, but as long as the card works in my E-200 without errors, I'm happy! The Cruzer is a great way to get a SD card reader and high-capacity SD card at a (relatively) low price. If you have smaller SD cards that you're replacing with the 256 MB card, you can stick them in the Cruzer reader and use them that way. Much cheaper than those USB "keychains" that are everywhere now, and not much bigger, either!

Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to pass along the good news!

--Dave

[Jason Dunn]

Sure, you can take ANY Amazon.com link and append /jasonsego on the back after the B*** number. So for instance on the Cruzer link:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000068OIR/qid=1027115021/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-6469480-0307208

The affiliate version of that link would be

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000068OIR/jasonsego

And in case anything is wondering, www.jasonsego.com is a personal domain. I thought it would be a funny name for a personal site, since that's really what personal pages are - "ego" sites. It's my sarcastic side, what I can I tell ya... ;-)

By the way, regarding the Cruzer, how is it at plugging into the USB ports on the back of computers? Is there enough clearance? What about hubs?

[Dave Beauvais]

By the way, regarding the Cruzer, how is it at plugging into the USB ports on the back of computers? Is there enough clearance? What about hubs?
The Cruzer by itself will probably not fit into the USB ports on the back of your PC -- especially if you have a PS/2 keyboard and/or mouse attached. Really, if there's anything next to the USB port you're using, it probably won't fit because of how wide the body of the device is. For this reason, the Cruzer includes a little three-inch "pigtail" USB cable that can be attached to it. For laptops with USB ports on the side, though, this could be great.

http://www.beauvais1.com/images/ppc/cruzer_laptop.jpg

The first photo here is the Cruzer plugged into my laptop. (The color even matches! Oooh!) :roll: The second is a horrible, rapidly completed composite of several photos of the Cruzer showing the pigtail attached, the included carrying case, etc. The pouch even has a tiny mesh pocket on the back, for whatever reason. Probably carrying spare SD cards.

http://www.beauvais1.com/images/ppc/cruzer_composite.jpg

Hope that answers your question!

--Dave

[Jason Dunn]

For this reason, the Cruzer includes a little three-inch "pigtail" USB cable that can be attached to it. For laptops with USB ports on the side, though, this could be great.

Thanks SO Much for posting the pics! :D That's exactly what I needed to know. And it worked for you without any drivers, correct?

[Dave Beauvais]

Thanks SO Much for posting the pics! :D That's exactly what I needed to know. And it worked for you without any drivers, correct?
Glad the photos helped. I guess the old cliche is right: a picture really is worth 1,000 words.

Windows 98 (original and Second Edition) require drivers because the USB implementation in that vintage of Windows does not have support for the "USB Mass Storage Device" class of devices. Windows ME, 2000, and XP all work without any additional software or drivers. (That about the only thing that WinME has going for it! ;) ) Under ME/2K/XP, it's literally plug and play; you plug it in, the device is detected as a "USB Mass Storage Device" and a new removable storage drive appears. It's really as simple as that! For those with Win98, a CD with drivers is included, but the driver on their Web site (http://www.sandisk.com/cruzer/default.asp) was updated July 15th, so the CD is already out of date. :)

Software called "CruzerLock" which the box claims is "data security software," is also on the CD. I haven't broken the license seal on the CD envelope yet, but I'm guessing that perhaps this actually allows you to use the "secure" part of "SecureDigital." :) It does note on the box that it's for Windows operating systems only. The product page (http://www.sandisk.com/consumer/cruzer.asp) on SanDisk's Web site makes no mention of the software and I want to hold off on opening the CD until I'm sure the SD card itself is okay. I've been giving it a real workout in my E-200, copying large amounts of files to and from the card without problems. I'm still curious why two different SD card readers had trouble with it on my WinXP laptop, however. I may give it a try on my Win2K Server later on tonight.

It's unfortunate that Win98 doesn't have USB Mass Storage support because something like this would be very useful in computer support for carrying around driver updates, patches, etc. Now, I have to carry the Win98 driver with me on a disk or CD if I want to use the Cruzer on a Win98 machine. I still know way more folks with Win98 boxes than Win2K or XP, but hopefully that will change in the coming year or so.

--Dave

[mdc124]

Wouldn't it have been even better if the "sleeping bag" :D had a little hole so the usb connector could poke out. Then you could use it, and swap the card without pi**ing about with taking it on and off.

thats my only 'complaint' apart from experiencing the "Bad Block" issue you have seen

[Dave Beauvais]

I meant to post this a long time ago but forgot. I discovered the source of my problem, but am still at a loss to explain it. When copying files from my WinXP laptop to the 256 MB SD card using the Cruzer, I eventually noticed that the copy process always aborted on the same file. With some further experimenting, I discovered that only that file would not copy. In fact, I couldn't even copy it to other locations on the hard drive. It was an MP3 file of Enya's song, "A Day without Rain" that I ripped from my CD using Audiograbber (http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/) 1.80 (currently up to 1.81) and the LAME encoder (http://mitiok.free.fr/). The rest of that CD copied and played fine and even that song played just fine in Winamp. Strangely, if I copied the file via ActiveStink to the SD card while it was in the Pocket PC, it copied fine without errors. :?

I deleted that file from the fileset to be copied to the SD card and the rest of the files copied just fine. I have since re-ripped that track from the CD and it now copies fine, too. I am at a loss to explain why only that file was affected in such an unusal way, but it does not seem to be the SD card that was at fault. (It wasn't an NTFS permission problem, either, which was one of the first things I looked at after discovering the problem was isolated to that file.)

Anyway, the 256 MB SD card that came with my Cruzer works just fine. I had no futher problems with it in my E-200 (7BA series) and now that I have a Toshiba e740, it's also worked flawlessly in it.

For those who are keeping track, the card is formatted using the FAT32 file system with a 4 KB cluster size. I formatted it in the Cruzer using the standard WinXP Pro format procedure.

--Dave