SD And CF FAQ
From OESF
| Table of contents |
Quick Formatting Tips
Quick CF Format Howto
#umount /dev/hda1 #mkfs.msdos /dev/hda1 #mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/cf
Quick SD Format Howto
#umount /dev/mmcda1 #mkfs.msdos /dev/mmcda1 #mount /dev/mmcda1 /mnt/card
SD and MMC Comparison and Information
MMC and SD cards are two types of flash memory cards that can be inserted into the SD slot on the side of the Zaurus.
- MMC cards access time is greater then SD cards. (they are slower)
- MMC cards occasionally have issues remounting
- MMC cards work with any partition scheme or filesystem without problems.
- MMC cards are generally cheaper than SD cards
- SD card users have reported problems with filesystem corruption when they have attempted to reformat and/or repartition the SD card. The consensus seems to be that SD cards work fine so long as the filesystem is left alone.
- While SD cards support copy protection features, the Zaurus does not support these features, so they're purely flash cards for the Zaurus.
- The Zaurus does not currently support any I/O SD cards, such as the recent bluetooth SD cards.
- SD cards are usually more expensive than MMC cards. You're paying for the copy protection and speed features that the Zaurus can't take advantage of.
Current List of Good and Bad Cards:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |Manufacturer |Media |Size |Identifier |Zaurus |ROM |Comment | |- - - - - - - |- - - -|- - - |- - - - - - |- - - - |- - - |- - - - - -| |AVL |CF | 128 |019381 |5500 |2.12 |OK | |AVL |CF | 128 |019381 |5500 |2.20 |OK | |Hitachi |MMC | 64 | | |1.03 |OK | |Hitachi |MMC | 64 | | |1.11 |OK | |HP |CF | 32 | | |1.11 |FAT16 OK | |HP |CF | 64 | | |1.11 |FAT16 OK | |Kingston |CF | 128 | | | |FAT16 OK | |Kingston |SD | 128 |M128B1 | | |EXT2 OK | |Kodak |CF | 8 | | | |OK | |Lexar |CF | 512 | | | |OK | |Lexar |MMC | 64 | | | |OK | |Lexar |SD | 128 | | | |OK | |Mr. Flash |CF | 512 | | |1.11 |FAT16 OK | |Mr. Flash |SD | 128 | | |1.11 |FAT16 OK | |Panasonic | | | | | | | |SanDisk |CF | 128 | | |1.11 |FAT16 OK | |SanDisk |CF | 160 | | |1.11 |FAT16 OK | |SanDisk |MMC | 32 | | |1.12 |Bad | |SanDisk |MMC | 32 | | | |OK Backup | |SanDisk |MMC | 64 | | |1.12 |Bad | |SanDisk |MMC | 64 | | |1.12 |OK | |SanDisk |SD | 16 | | | |OK | |SanDisk |SD | 64 | | |1.10 |OK | |SanDisk |SD | 128 |0205LQ |5500 |2.20 |Bad | |SanDisk |SD | 128 |0201LM |5500 |2.20 |OK | |SanDisk |SD | 128 |0203LM |5500 |2.20 |OK | |SanDisk |SD | 128 |0112KZ | | |No Backup | |SanDisk |SD | 256 | | | |OK | |Simple Tech | | | | | | | |Transcend |MMC | 64 | | |1.10 |OK | |Toshiba | | | | | | | |Viking | | | | | | | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
This list dates back to sometime in 2002 and mainly refers to the Zaurus SL-5500. I had a major server failure loosing all my data and the wee list above was all that remained; due to my service provider's, and my, poor backup routine. I had begun a major update then I noticed that the site wasn't being visited as often as it use to be, so I eventually took the whole thing down in 2004. I would like to thank all those who submitted data, and those who visited the site for giving it an excellent Google rating. But alas it is no more. Peace and Long Life, Matt Kasdorf aka KnightFire. 2006/06/18
Re: http://web.archive.org/web/20021014000154/http://zaurus.knightfire.com/cf_sd-brand.html
Re: http://web.archive.org/web/20021014101240/zaurus.knightfire.com/ZaurusForm.php
Formatting
There are four filesystem options for which the card can be formated to. The industry standard is msdos (also known as fat) format. A lot of cameras and other devices use this format for their cards. To upgrade the ROM on the Zaurus it requires that the CF card be formatted in this format.
Comparison:
mkfs.msdos - CF cards that are used for ROM upgrades require this. Used in most devices. Holds up to 2GB. Default choice. mkfs.ext2 - Provides symlinks, long filenames, less fragmantaion problems. mkfs.vfat - Dosfs + long filenames and Higher capacity (don't use for rom upgrades) mkfs.minix - Provided for completeness sake, not recommended.
If the card is to be formated to a filesystem that the card has not been set to the filesystem should be changed first so the automounter will continue to work when the card is inserted in the Zaurus. (By default all CF cards are FAT format) To change the disk type use the fdisk tool. This by default doesn't come with the Zaurus and either needs to be done on a pc or after installing the fdisk (http://www.oesf.org/howto/downloads/fdisk_2.11g-4_2_arm.ipk) ipk onto the Zaurus. When using fdisk make sure to pass in the device (/dev/hda) and not a partition (/dev/hda1)
Example: Fdisk the CF card and set it up to use ext2 do the following:
- fdisk /dev/hda
Created 1 partition, /dev/hda1. set to Type 83, Linux. (for msdos use Type 6) Write the partition table.
Unmount the card Insert the card into the Zaurus and umount it. Either by clicking on the Applet and click "Eject Card" or from the command line execute:
#umount /mnt/cf
Don't remove and insert the card after it has been unmounted for the Zaurus will re-mount it on insert.
To See what is currently mounted on the Zaurus run "df" at the command line.
#df
Format the card The CF card device is located at /dev/hda and mounted at /mnt/cf The SD card device is located at /dev/mmcda and mounted at /mnt/card
<melinate> Using the Sharp ROM 3.10 on my SL-5500, my SD card was somehow mounted at both /mnt/card and /usr/mnt.rom/card I had to umount from /usr/mnt.rom/card before I could get fdisk or mkfs.ext2 to work. </melinate>
Then format the card from the command line using the fs of choice. Make sure to format the first partition.
Example: Formating the CF card with the msdos filesystem.
- mkfs.msdos /dev/hda1
Note the 1. You want to format the first partition (Example: /dev/hda1), not the raw /dev/hda. If the device is acidently formated fdisk must be used to re-setup the partitions.
Then re-mount the card to access the data.
Mounting
The Zaurus will automatically mount a cf or sd card on insert, but if the Zaurus doesn't the card can be manually mounted from the command line using the normal mount syntax
mount <device> <location>
For example mounting the CF card in the normal location would be
#mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/cf
To mount a nonstandard type use the -t option
mount -t <type> <device> <location>
For example to mount a SD card with a ext2 fs in the normal location would be
#mount -t ext2 /dev/mmcda1 /mnt/card
Issues
Some SanDisk MMC card's will not be re-mounted after the Zaurus is put into suspend mode. To remount the cards simply take them out and put them back in or follow the steps in section 3.
There was an error when formating or I formated it wrong and can't access it or format it or I formated the device and not a partion. Use fdisk to re-partition the disk and then format the card.
