Same Software installation on multiple storage cards?

[yardcat]

Can many/most software be installed on more than one storage card without producing conflicts with settings on the device itself?

This would allow me to save device memory, but be able to access a particular program from any one of several cards I might be carrying on a particular day. (my particular device is Wm5; FeederReader, Spb Backup are examples).

Thanks in advance - yardcat.

[Darius Wey]

You shouldn't come across any conflicts by installing your applications on to your storage card.

Just bear in mind that not all applications are designed for storage card installations (in particular, Today plug-ins and background services). Because a Pocket PC tends to initialise a storage card after the OS has started (following a soft-reset or wake-up from standby), this can cause some applications to misbehave. It's best to check each application's web site for storage card compatibility notes.

[Menneisyys]

In general, you can absolutely safely install your apps to any number of memory cards (assuming they have the same in-PDA name like "SD Card" or "Storage Card" - that is, you can't interchange CF and SD cards because they have different path names.)

To do this, you have two choices:
(re)install the given app to all of your storage cards (that is, in turn, insert all your storage cards in turn and rerun the installer of your application every time)
if the above process is far too slow, you want to keep your already existing, file system (non-Registry - Registry-based settings are generally left intact during an uninstall) -based settings or, for some reason, doesn't work, do the following:

put the card in a card reader (to simplify your life)
go to the installation directory of your application. If you haven’t used a third-party installation redirection tool like CabInst or Mad Programmer’s FDC (please see this article (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=187&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) on these two apps if interested) and you have a pre-WM5 device, the installed application’s subdirectory will be right in the root directory of the card. If you used CabInstl or FDC, it’ll be where you’ve directed the installation to. If you have WM5, it will most probably be under \Program Files on your card (with very few exceptions – for example, some Java Virtual Machines putting files in \Windows on your card).
If you can’t find the directory at all because its buried somewhere, say, under \Program Files\Games or has an unrelated name, you can easily find it by doing one of the following:

examine (look at the contents of) the .lnk file in \Windows\Start Menu (in the main storage of your PDA) to see where it points to
if it’s pointing to the main memory (because part of the program, including the executable you invoke, must be in the main memory and only, say, the datafiles are stored on your cards; an example of this is the excellent GPS map/navigator program iGo (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=821&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)), then, if you have a pre-WM5 device, examine the <program name>.unload file in \Windows (still in the main storage – that is, not on the memory card). In addition to the main memory paths, you’ll also see storage card references in these files; it’s in them that the directory name can be found.
If you have a WM5 device (and, therefore, there aren’t .unload files in \Windows), you will want to look into the application-specific subkey under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apps\ in the Registry. You’ll find two values, InstallDir and InstlDir in there, both pointing to the same directory on your storage card as can be seen in this example screenshot (http://www.winmobiletech.com/kuvat/RegAppsProgInstallPath.bmp.png) where they both point to \SD Card\Program Files\Opera.
Once you’ve located the home directory of the program, just copy all the files from there to anywhere on your desktop PC. In my article How do I defragment my Pocket PC memory cards? Do I need this at all? (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=516&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) I’ve described how this must be done.
Remove the old and insert your new, "clean" card and copy back all the files onto it, making sure you copy them back into exactly the same directory.
All in all: the above-explained simple file copying will work, you don't need (but, in most cases, allowed) to reinstall your application onto each of your memory cards.

[GSmith]

1. (re)install the given app to all of your storage cards (that is, in turn, insert all your storage cards in turn and rerun the installer of your application every time)
One of my users has tested this method and confirmed that it works with FeederReader. I am not aware of anyone testing the other methods (which means the other methods *might* work). Aside from standard registry entries during installation, FeederReader stores all of the preferences on the file system. And it stores all the feed data (optionally) on the storage card. So when you exit FeederReader, switch storage cards, and restart FeederReader, you will be reading a different set of feeds.

Greg Smith
Author, FeederReader - The Windows Mobile news, blogs, text, audio, video, podcast program.
www.FeederReader.com - Download on the Road

[yardcat]

Thanks All, we members are all so fortunate to have such Great People at PocketPC Thoughts.

No reason to Re-Install, simply install only start-up exe program related stuff on your card, stuff that is pointed to from main mem.

Terrific solution. I will also try feederReader this method at a later date. - yardcat