SD-Can't see files

[bdegroodt]

Anyone have a problem in the past with an SD card containing files, but not showing up anywhere on your PDA? I had a bunch of music on mine and as of yesterday, not a problem at all. Today, I launch WMP and there's no files in the play list. Decided to explore the card and nothing. Look in the memory settings and it shows an almost full card. Took it out and put it in a Palm, shows the 116MB of files (But I can't get to them because it's a Palm).

Tried a soft reset, nothing. Tried copying files to the card and get a card full message. Used the AS Explore, and don't see a single file on the card (How are you supposed to make room on a card that doesn't show files anyway?)

Any ideas? :x :?

[Pony99CA]

Anyone have a problem in the past with an SD card containing files, but not showing up anywhere on your PDA? I had a bunch of music on mine and as of yesterday, not a problem at all. Today, I launch WMP and there's no files in the play list. Decided to explore the card and nothing. Look in the memory settings and it shows an almost full card. Took it out and put it in a Palm, shows the 116MB of files (But I can't get to them because it's a Palm).

Tried a soft reset, nothing. Tried copying files to the card and get a card full message. Used the AS Explore, and don't see a single file on the card (How are you supposed to make room on a card that doesn't show files anyway?)

I lost some files off of my SanDisk 128 MB SD card -- a couple of Flash animations and the HTML files used to launch them.

When I got my 256 MB Cruzer version, I hooked the Cruzer reader to my laptop. I then used my laptop to do a ScanDisk of the 128 MB card, and that found several lost clusters. I used the DOS editor to look at the lost files, and recognized that two of them were the HTML files that I used to launch the Flash files. I had downloaded one of the Flash files after I lost them, so I checked that file against the lost files and found it was the same size as one of them. I then assumed the other big lost file was the other Flash file, renamed it to its old name and launched it with the HTML file. Sure enough, it worked. :-)

I also had a problem where I got a bunch (over 300!) of empty directories with the same name (something like " . "). Using Explorer allowed me to delete those.

If you have a way to read SD cards on your host PC, do a ScanDisk and see what it says.

Steve

[bdegroodt]

Thanks Steve. I ended up installing Flash Format from CnetX and reformatting the card. It seems to be ok, but man is loading music onto the card just a royal pain in the ass. So slow. I can't get WMP to complete the conversion process of each MP3, so I've had to resort to loading full sized MP3 files onto the card via drag and drop. Kind of makes me want to poke around at the competition as I wait for each file to move over.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

I'd recommend getting either a SD-to-PC card adapter or getting something akin to the Cruzer that Steve mentioned. Moving files to and fro using these methods are FAR quicker than relying on AS.

I certainly hope your card problems are not due to a bad card... I know we had a discussion a while back about certain brands possibly being of lesser quality...

[bdegroodt]

I'd recommend getting either a SD-to-PC card adapter or getting something akin to the Cruzer that Steve mentioned. Moving files to and fro using these methods are FAR quicker than relying on AS.

I certainly hope your card problems are not due to a bad card... I know we had a discussion a while back about certain brands possibly being of lesser quality...

They are faster? Like a lot or just a bit faster?

I'm not sure why the card issues happened. I will admit to one variable that I left out previously...I dropped my iPAQ the night before from the bed down to the hardwood floor. No physical damage, but perhaps it impacted the card (Although I thought since it's solid state, that things like that aren't supposed to damage them.). Who knows.

It's providing me fuel to look around. I sure do hope the new iPAQ (GSM) makes its way out soon. I've had my 3975 longer than any other device and I'm starting to itch.

[Janak Parekh]

They are faster? Like a lot or just a bit faster?
Much, much, much, much, much faster. Did I mention much faster? ActiveSync has internal limitations that effectively limit it to serial (e.g., 115/230kbps) bandwidths.

I don't bother using ActiveSync drag-and-drop for anything to my SD or CF cards anymore.

--janak

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

If you have WiFi, that's a hecka fast alternative too... in addition, if you ever decide to buy a new SD card, 256MB cards are roughly 4x faster than 128MB cards.

[bdegroodt]

If you have WiFi, that's a hecka fast alternative too... in addition, if you ever decide to buy a new SD card, 256MB cards are roughly 4x faster than 128MB cards.

Funny you should say that. I was just thinking that I should be able to move files that way. How do I do that?

Edit-Strike that. I got it figured out. Certainly faster than USB/AS. Thanks Ekkie!

[Janak Parekh]

For Wi-Fi? Just set up ActiveSync over Wi-Fi, connect, and do the same process, but watch it fly this time.

--janak

[bdegroodt]

For Wi-Fi? Just set up ActiveSync over Wi-Fi, connect, and do the same process, but watch it fly this time.

--janak

Thanks Janak. This is going off topic, but why stop now :D Do you guys convert your MP3s down using some other program? I used to let WMP do it for me so I could get a lot more on the card. Transferring direct like this leaves the files in their larger size and I'm not super picky about the CD quality since it's just for use in the gym.

[Janak Parekh]

Well, first off - when you're ActiveSync'ed over WiFi, you can do the exact same WMP process. It's certainly the easiest way to go.

I personally don't, as I'm a stickler for quality. In fact, I've just ordered a Lexar 512MB SD card as my Microdrive was dying, and I wanted a high-capacity SD card. :) In fact, I rip at 160kbps Ogg, far from the most space-efficient.

--janak

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Thanks Janak. This is going off topic, but why stop now :D Do you guys convert your MP3s down using some other program? I used to let WMP do it for me so I could get a lot more on the card. Transferring direct like this leaves the files in their larger size and I'm not super picky about the CD quality since it's just for use in the gym.
Ogg, ogg ogg... ripped at 64kbps, they sound better than WMA at 96kbps and quite comparable (if not better) then MP3 at 128kbps... plus it's a true VBR format playable via PocketMVP. I can store quite a ton on a storage card.

Don't mind Janak and his 160kbps need (he's an audiophile), if he were using MP3, he'd probably drive that up to 256kbps.

[Buddha]

I'm with ekkie on this one OGG is the way to go for music on the PPC.
(48k or 64k is perfectly fine as long as you're not an audiophile like Janak :wink: )


You could use 'dBpowerAMP Music Converter (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm)'+ogg codec to convert your mp3's to OGG. and you can automate the process by using the 'File Selector' add-on. Just select what songs you want and it batch-converts all the songs you've selected.
You can find all the software necessary on the site.

To play the ogg files you have plenty of choice:
-WinamPAQ (http://www.projecteam.org/phpwiki/index.php/WinamPAQ%20-%20PDS)
-GSplayer2 (http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA032810/gsp.htm)
-and of course PocketMVP (http://home.adelphia.net/~mdukette/downloads.html)

[bdegroodt]

What's the deal on OGG vs MP3? I know it's open source, but why would I want to convert? Is it to protect my rights in the future? Better technology? I'm assuming MP3 players that have the player built in (Car stereos and those little arm band sports players) can't play the OGG format right?

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

The big deal is that it's open source and it sounds better and it takes far less space... nothing magical beyond that.

There is the hassle of converting over. So if you're interested, my recommendation would be to leave your current MP3s as-is (unless you have extra time and you have the original source) and to focus on converting new music going forward. PocketMVP plays both MP3 and OGG... so there's no need to go for a "Big Bang" conversion.

You're right though... if you have hardware MP3 players, you'll be left out in the cold. If you rely on your PPC, then OGG is the way to go.

[bdegroodt]

Hmmm...I have an extra hard drive that I use for archiving. Maybe it would be a good idea to rip to MP3 for archiving and OGG for regular use. In my last car I put in an MP3 player and it was great to have so much music on one CD, but I was always a little concerned about a player using a player format that isn't upgradeable. I'm sure MP3 will find its way to the sideline someday not too far from now for another format. Thanks for the info Ekkie. I'm going to give it a try today.

[bdegroodt]

Wow! The dbPowerAMP player alone is a great improvement in the sound quality alone over WMP. Thanks guys! I'm a convert. :D

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Yeah. I love dBPowerAMP... simple but effective. I never use WMP anymore... and definitely most everyone who's been willing to mess around with OGG has never turned back.

Enjoy :D

[Buddha]

Just keep your MP3's as they are, for playing in your car or on the computer. Personally I have my music collection in MP3 on a computer and I just keep it that way, for my mobile playing needs I use Ogg since Ogg (like ekkie said) has very good quality even at low bitrates. Once a week (or so) I just select a couple of albums (five or six) I'd like to listen to on my PPC and have them converted to OGG using dBpowerAMP with the 'file selector' add-on. I just delete the old ogg files after a week when I make new ones. This way I don't have to waste another HD for OGG's

Oh and yes once you've used ogg there's no looking back! :wink:

[bdegroodt]

Thanks Buddha! I just got an extra 512 MB of RAM today, so the encoding process should go a little quicker than this morning's session. Took about 38 minutes to convert 13 MP3 files. Looks like I got about a 50% reduction from the original file size.

Too bad you can't remove WMP from the PPC. I don't really need the space, but I hate to waste any on a program that I only use to toggle the screen now :P

EDIT- Uh oh! I just found the settings in PocketMVP to toggle the screen. Now I really don't need the WMP.

[Pony99CA]

Too bad you can't remove WMP from the PPC. I don't really need the space, but I hate to waste any on a program that I only use to toggle the screen now :P

Even if you could remove Windows Media Player from the Pocket PC, you might not be able to use the storage as it resides in ROM. I doubt that your iPAQ File Store would get bigger (XIP files might make it impossible to compress your ROM).

Steve

P.S. Why isn't this in one of the many audio topics? (That's a rhetorical question. :-))

[Pony99CA]

For Wi-Fi? Just set up ActiveSync over Wi-Fi, connect, and do the same process, but watch it fly this time.

If BD wanted to use WiFi to put files on his SD card, ActiveSync won't work, right? He'd want to use File Explorer to establish a LAN connection and copy files from there. File Explorer supports multiple selection if you use the CTL key on the keyboard, so it should be fairly quick.

Steve

[Janak Parekh]

If BD wanted to use WiFi to put files on his SD card, ActiveSync won't work, right?
Why not? I agree that File Explorer may be the fastest since there's no ActiveSync overhead, but no matter how you establish the ActiveSync connection, you've got the Mobile Device icon in My Computer.

--janak

[bdegroodt]

If BD wanted to use WiFi to put files on his SD card, ActiveSync won't work, right?
Why not? I agree that File Explorer may be the fastest since there's no ActiveSync overhead, but no matter how you establish the ActiveSync connection, you've got the Mobile Device icon in My Computer.

--janak

I just used the Explore option from the AS window and dragged and dropped, walked to the kitchen and grabbed a cup of tea and came back all done. Very happy camper here.

[Pony99CA]

If BD wanted to use WiFi to put files on his SD card, ActiveSync won't work, right?
Why not? I agree that File Explorer may be the fastest since there's no ActiveSync overhead, but no matter how you establish the ActiveSync connection, you've got the Mobile Device icon in My Computer.

I meant that ActiveSync wouldn't put files on the SD card because it only copies to main memory.

If you were just telling him how to use a WiFi ActiveSync connection so he could copy the files manually, I misunderstood. :oops:

Steve

[bdegroodt]

OK, I just had to add one more thing to this thread about dBpower...I had to restart my machine today after a few days of heavy use and was kind of pissy about the fact that I can't save a browser session to take me back to all of the tabs I was looking at last. So I restart the machine, launch Netscape and get the default launch screen. Launch dBpower and I'll be damn if it didn't pick up and start playing at the exact song in the exact spot that it was before I shut it down! That's cool!

[Buddha]

:D thats nice

you can save all your tabs aswell if you use AvantBrowser which allows you to save all the pages (tabs) you have open before closing the program :idea:

You can find it here (http://www.avantbrowser.com/)
(It uses the IE browser-core but with a totally different 'shell'/interface)