Guest spacecowboy6982 Posted August 27, 2003 Report Posted August 27, 2003 Hey Gota new desktop a week ago and built into it is one of those memory card/sd card reader/writer diskettes. I spose i have to format my memory card to do this? What are the drawbacks of formating' the card? Cheers SpaceCowboy
Guest kyrkesmith Posted August 27, 2003 Report Posted August 27, 2003 I am almost certain you wouldn't have to format the card. The file system used by the phone is obviously compatible, because you can read files off the phone on ActiveSync. If you do need to format the card, the drawback is that you lose all your data! You may also find that a small amount of space is taken up by the file system. An example of this is a floppy disk, that has a capacity of 2 MB unfomatted, but only 1.44 MB formatted. But you can't use an unformatted disk, so there's nothing you can do.
Guest Posted August 28, 2003 Report Posted August 28, 2003 The card should be formated when you recieved it, you will only need to reformat it if it becomes corrupted and stops working. If it works in the phone, it'll work on the PC.
Guest spacecowboy6982 Posted August 28, 2003 Report Posted August 28, 2003 Yeh , i was beginning to wonder. The 8mb one always askd if i want to format it when i insert it. unlike my 128mb one - which really only has 120mb or something? So by putting the card in the processor (in drive:H i think it is) with my phone connected to activesync i just drag and drop my mp3's etc into the memory card - simple as that? I'll give it a whirl just now. Cheers SpaceCowboy EDIT: Holy Hell it works !! Drive C now thinks its a FAT 32 which it wasnt before i dont think - no more meory has been taken up on it. Hmmm
Guest kyrkesmith Posted August 28, 2003 Report Posted August 28, 2003 If you're running Windows XP, you'd be better having your C drive on your PC as NTFS rather than FAT32. I think it's almost impossible that your computer's hard disk has changed file system to FAT32 by using the SD card reader - it must have always been FAT32. Look into changing it to NTFS though.
Guest spacecowboy6982 Posted August 28, 2003 Report Posted August 28, 2003 NTFS - how do we go about changing that then ? And what exactly does it do ? Im runnig XP home if that makes a difference ? Just been reading about - dunno what to make of it ? It said something about fat32 being able to handle 4gb or sumthing? Dont havea clue !? Cheers SpaceCowboy
Guest kyrkesmith Posted August 28, 2003 Report Posted August 28, 2003 Nah, the only difference is if you ever intend to downgrade to Windows ME or below and keep the files from the hard disk. NTFS and FAT32 are the File System used by the hard disk, and you won't notice anything spectacular. You'll get a more stable hard disk, with better security. It's also worth noting that FAT32 has a maximum file size of 4GB, which is a bit of a limit if you're ever working with big video files. NTFS can also support far bigger drives than FAT32. There are advantages of both, do a search on Google and you'll see. Personally, I prefer NTFS though. Search for NTFS FAT in Windows Help, and you'll get a guide on how to convert.
Guest spacecowboy6982 Posted August 28, 2003 Report Posted August 28, 2003 What about DVD movies and PS2 image files - mostly these are bigger than 4gb (4.7gb) would ineed to convert to NTFS to copy properly? I have not yet had the chance to use my burner so is this the case?
Guest kyrkesmith Posted August 28, 2003 Report Posted August 28, 2003 I assume you're talking about making personal backup copies of your DVDs and PS2 games? You could do this "on-the-fly" without first saving to the hard disk, with no problems. I don't think you'd be able to save to the hard disk though, without converting to NTFS first. Also note that a recordable DVD is only 4.7GB, but that's a seperate issue.
Guest spacecowboy6982 Posted August 28, 2003 Report Posted August 28, 2003 True, cheers for the tips m8. SpaceCowboy
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