microdrives v CF v SD

toby-tronic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 11, 2004 Posts: 20

I'm thinking of putting a big drive in the cf sloy on my hp2210 but would like to know the capability of the microdrive style iems v CF for performance, etc. Any ideas??

Also, is there a reason to have memory in both slots?? Has anyone experience of why this would be good??

Also, if all i'm going to put into this larger memory is mp3's and maps then should I be bothered about performance??

Sorry for the number of q's.

wayne

DRP · Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2004 9:04 am Post subject: MD

Hi TT
I have a 2.2 Magicstor Microdrive (Dave PocketGPS put me onto it) & a number of CF cards, the drive is slower than my largest CF card.
I tested it with all of SmartST, Europe loaded (with room for more), and it works fine but slow loading up on start.
The good points are price & size (£120, 2.2Gig). Try www.ebuyer.co.uk or Scan.
Regards. DRP
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toby-tronic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 11, 2004 Posts: 20

by slow do you mean 10 secs or 2 mins? Also, with just a small map in memory will this make a difference - i use TT3 so the UK whole map would be the biggest.

Is power drain an issue??

Wayne

DRP · Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2004 2:12 pm Post subject: Micro drive

Hi Wayne,
Slow = 60 to 75 seconds for full GB maps on CF. Full Europe 2+ Min’s on Micro drive (this is an approximation), on start up, using SmartST. Have not used TT? Have not noticed any slow real time issues.
Power drain, I have not experienced any real difference as I use a car cord while navigating & have not experienced any lower battery time when in work.
One tip when fitted into 2210 I think it is best left in as it is a pain to remove, as it has no ridge on its back to remove it. “You will need a PC chip removal tool or something either side to eject it”. On no account press the narrow sides together.
Regards DRP
:o

Hunnymonster · Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2004 3:06 pm Post subject:

Folks - be aware that on a lot of digital photo forums the MagicStor has a very bad rep.... some even go as far as calling it Tragicstor due to their apparently lacking quality control.

Dave · Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2004 3:30 pm Post subject:

The way MicroDrive's work in digital cameras compared to PDA's is completely different. In most cases with digital cameras you need fast write speeds, if the drive doesn't access quickly enough, most camera firmware will lock up. I've been using IBM MicroDrive's and also the MagicStor's since they have come out and haven't had any problems in PDA's (or top end digital cameras for that matter). PDA's will primarily only be doing reading but cameras will write to the disk on location. Taking a few frames a second is okay before you'll lock the buffers up, but I wouldn't want to attempt 7-9 frames a second which is what some photographers try to accomplish and then wonder why it won't accomplish it due to the spin up rate.

Hunnymonster · Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2004 3:42 pm Post subject:

Typically the talk isn't of lockups on firing the shutter, just plain ol' failures.... either Dead on Arrivals or failure within days of receipt....

Realise the use they'd be subjected to in a PPC is different, but when talking about a general read error, it doesn't matter what it's in. Your data is gone Sad

toby-tronic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 11, 2004 Posts: 20

Thanks for the input. With the 2.2gb card in it is unlikely i'll be changing often and there's always the sd slot.

Please keep the thought coming folks as i'm sure i'm not the only one looking at 1gb cf cards on ebay and wandering if the microdrive is the better option!!!

Hunnymonster · Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2004 10:12 pm Post subject:

All things considered, I'd be more inclined to go for the 1G CF card over a 1G MD for 1 simple reason:

A microdrive has a spinning disc in it and will be far more susceptible to accidental damage than a solid-state CF card.

Of course you need to balance that against the price difference.

toby-tronic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 11, 2004 Posts: 20

Well, i took the plunge and here are a few observations.

I copied the data off my 256mb card and onto the magicstor and this didn't work. I got a format tool (cnetx flashformat) whch formatted the disk but i wasn't sure what were the best setting so i went with FAT 16/ 512byte cluster.

Is this OK or is there a better formating tool??

I then got the old data onto the new card but the whole ipaq is running at a crawl and the card may be the problem. Navigator seems to hang so.....

Is a reformat, reinstall of maps the best way to start again?? Also, the poi, overlays etc on the old card - are they lost for ever or can i bring them forward to the new one as i have added lots of speed cameras using checkpoint??

Help Crying or Very sad

Wayne

toby-tronic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 11, 2004 Posts: 20

correction

fat16
512 sector
32 cluster

sorry!

DavidW · Posted: Sat May 01, 2004 2:07 pm Post subject:

512 bytes per sector is normal. FAT16 is the most compatible file system you can use.

32KBytes per cluster may be too high- it depends what you use the card for, but a lower figure may be more optimal. This very large cluster size may also be the cause of the performance problem - try dropping down to 8KBytes per cluster and see if things improve any.

Any data that was on the card when you formatted it is lost - if you had no backup of your POI files when you formatted your card, they've gone.

David

toby-tronic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 11, 2004 Posts: 20

I kept a backup of the data on my previous card so I can put them in the final srtructure when this is sorted out I assume

WAC

DRP · Posted: Sun May 02, 2004 10:37 am Post subject:

Hi Wayne,
To save you all the hassle go get a Compact Flash read write, USB unit. There are lots out there for just over £10-£15
I have been using 2 for a couple of years with my Digital cameras. You simply plug in the USB; put the CF card into it. Your Desk Top then thinks it’s a new drive and you can do with it what you want. You can format, defrag, up & down load maps to it, almost any thing, without using your PDA as a host. Then simply plug it into your PDA & off you go. I use Navman SmartST, the software will load maps directly to the CF via the read write.
If you have set it up properly, when you plug it in you will get an icon down by the clock depending which Windows you are running, you may have to click the icon and disconnect, before removing the CF.
I have a HAMA Pocketdrive 6 in 1 & a Belkin CF/CF2.
The Hama takes CF,MD,MS,SD,MMS. (I picked it up for a Fiver, in a January sale.)
Have a look at the Argos page1029.
Regards.
DRP
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toby-tronic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 11, 2004 Posts: 20

Yeh, i've just done this and it is excellent with my other cards but this one seems to be duffer. If crashes the pc when i try to copy more than a few mp3 to it etc.

Thanks for all your help here guys but its time to call time on this card Crying or Very sad

Many Thanks

WAC

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