Problem reading nanoFlash formatted cards

[David Cherniack]

My nanoFlash arrived along with an Addonics e-sata and USB card reader. Problem is that the reader won't recognize the Delkin 64GB card when formatted in the nF. It will recognize the same card when formatted in the Canon7D. The USB card reader that ships with the nF has no trouble seeing the card and the files. However I'd prefer to read the cards at e-sata speeds.

So is Convergent Design using a non-standard file system that the Addonics is unaware of?

David

[Dan Keaton]

Dear David,

We have not had any previous problems with computers reading our CompactFlash cards.

We attempt to use a standard format.

Could you please try reading the Delkin 64 GB card using the CompactFlash card reader we supplied with the nanoFlash?

You are probably the first to use Addonics eSATA CompactFlash card reader, as far as I know.

[David Cherniack]

Hi Dan,

Yes, as mentioned, I did try the USB reader that ships with the nF. The card reads in it. And the Addonics reads the card after it's formatted in the Canon 7D. However the card formatted in the 7D can't be read by the nF and vice versa. So there must be a difference in the nF format somewhere.

Best,
David

[Piotr Wozniacki]

David,

Your experience seems similar to what I have with an ExpressCard CF adapter; it can read/write my PhotoFast cards (very fast, too) only when they're formatted in it - when recorded or formatted in the nanoFlash, the reader cannot see them and Vista prompts me that they need to be formatted...

I went as far as to format them in the PC (using FAT of course, and the sector size the same as I can see the nano is using), hoping that after this initial format they would be recognized upon consecutive inserts - but no joy, either.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear David,

I am sorry, when I was composing my answer, I forgot that you had tried reading the card in the USB card reader.

When we format the card in the nanoFlash, we use a very large, but legal, cluster size.

It could be that these ExpressCard 34 card readers do not like our large cluster size.

[David Cherniack]

Hi Dan,

Can you tell me the cluster size so I can ask Addonics?

David

[Adam Stanislav]

Originally Posted by David Cherniack

Can you tell me the cluster size so I can ask Addonics?

Assuming your card is drive X, you would type "chkdsk X:" and it will tell you. Mine says:

The type of the file system is FAT32.
Volume Serial Number is xxxx-xxxx
Windows is verifying files and folders...
File and folder verification is complete.
Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.
   31,251,360 KB total disk space.
           16 KB in 1 hidden files.
           16 KB in 1 folders.
    9,539,984 KB in 13 files.
   21,711,328 KB are available.

       16,384 bytes in each allocation unit.
    1,953,210 total allocation units on disk.
    1,356,958 allocation units available on disk.

So, each cluster ("allocation unit" above) is 16,384 bytes.

[Lance Librandi]

Hi All,
I have noticed that when formatting my cards with the new Public Beta 1.5.31 firmware, I see UMDA 5 appear on the status line of the NanoFlash is this an error message?

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Adam,

Thank you for posting the information about Chkdsk.

Dear Lance.

With the Public Beta 1.5.31, we are displaying the the UDMA level.

Currently, in this Public Beta, we display UDMA 4 or UDMA 5.

If you card only supports UDMA 4, we display UDMA 4.

If you card supports up to UDMA 5, we display UDMA 5.

If you card supports up to UDMA 6, we display UDMA 5. (I know this sounds strange).

We are planning on supporting UDMA 5 in the future. Currently we use UDMA 4 for writing to the cards. (Thus, we only show, for our purposes UDMA 4 or UDMA 5).

With the next release, we will display UDMA 4, UDMA 5, UDMA 6.

[David Cherniack]

Thanks, all. I've passed the cluster info on to Addonics. Hopefully they'll update their firmware.

David