[bookport] Re: FILESYSTEM MUSINGS
- From: "Walt Smith" <walt@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 12:06:19 -0400
This echos my sentiments. I'd never buy a so-called "generic" (for which
substitute no-name) CF card, no matter how good the price. Give me Sandisk
and, in a pinch, Kingston and nothing else.
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Bennett" <david382@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 1:45 PM
Subject: [bookport] Re: FILESYSTEM MUSINGS
Since learning to come to terms with CompactFlash cards a few years ago,
I've found that they are not created at all equal. If I stick with Sandisk
I'm ok, and if my frugal tendencies lead me into buying a bargain item by
some other brand, it isn't. I just go with Sandisk and have a near 100%
success rate. Maybe our equipment is more sensitive to inequities than
digital cameras and the like, or maybe other people do have these issues and
I just haven't taken the trouble to notice.
David Bennett
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Tanner" <david-tanner@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 12:26 AM
Subject: [bookport] Re: FILESYSTEM MUSINGS
>I think I have had to reformat 1 card a couple of times. But, I am
>wondering if another thing that may be involved is that I have noticed that
>certain brands of memory cards seem to have more issues with having to be
>reformatted occasionally.
>
> For example, I have gotten to the point that I hesitate to purchase Lexar
> memory cards or thumb drives because I have seen their memory have more
> chances of having problems with files becoming corrupted.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Robert Carter" <r-carter@xxxxxxx>
> To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 2:46 PM
> Subject: [bookport] Re: FILESYSTEM MUSINGS
>
>
> : Hi All,
> :
> : I have had one flash card go bad. It would not work in a pc or camera
> : or anything after it failed. I doubt that the Book Port is causing
> : these problems as I, like Joni, am a very heavy user and almost never
> : have to format a card.
> :
> : Robert Carter
> :
> : At 02:39 PM 10/25/2005, you wrote:
> : >For what it may be worth, which may not be much, I am an extremely
> heavy
> : >user of the Book Port and have used it since May 2004 and have never
> had to
> : >reformat a flash card. Now I know I have jinxed myself and will be
> doing it
> : >tomorrow.
> : >
> : >Joni
> : >----- Original Message -----
> : >From: "Richard Ring" <ring.richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> : >To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> : >Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 10:56 AM
> : >Subject: [bookport] Re: FILESYSTEM MUSINGS
> : >
> : >
> : >The only issue I would take with your assumption is this. I have had
> to
> : >reformat a card twice in the past two years. Why then, do I not
> : >experience these same problems that some (not all) Bookport users seem
> : >to report?
> : >If I did in fact have to reformat a CF card every six weeks, I would be
> : >quite unhappy, so if this is the behavior that the majority of Bookport
> : >users are experiencing, then the problem is a severe one.
> : >
> : >
> : >-----Original Message-----
> : >From: bookport-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> : >[mailto:bookport-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Brian Buhrow
> : >Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 10:50 AM
> : >To: bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> : >Subject: [bookport] FILESYSTEM MUSINGS
> : >
> : >
> : >Hello. I've been reading this list for a couple of months, and
> : >have
> : >noticed what seems to be a somewhat common thread which appears to
> match
> : >my
> : >experience, and which, if it's true, raises issues which I think should
> : >be
> : >addressed in order to make the user experience for the bookport an even
> : >happier one.
> : > From what I can tell, there are a number of users who purchase
> : >their
> : >bookports from APH, get them home, load them up with data, read from
> : >them,
> : >and are completely happy with them. Then, after a month or two of use,
> : >when books have been cycled through the unit, and the user is feeling
> : >more
> : >comfortable putting more and more on the Bookport, he begins
> : >experiencing
> : >difficulties when transfering data to the Bookport. Flash cards fill
> : >unexpectedly during transfers, users encounter file coruption during
> the
> : >reading process, or weird errors just happen, seemingly from no where.
> : >the advice on this list, generally, seems to be that flash cards
> : >get
> : >corrupted, and they either have gone bad, or need to be reformatted
> : >before
> : >they work again for another month or two.
> : >My experience coincides with this description. I have had my
> : >Bookport
> : >for about four months, and have had to reformat the flash card I use
> : >most
> : >often at least once. It's now been about six weeks since I last
> : >reformatted my flash card, and I'm now beginning to see anomolous
> : >behavior,
> : >which I suspect will go away if I reformat my card yet again.
> : >All of this is to say that I think there is a subttle filesystem
> : >bug
> : >in the Bookport which no one yet quite understands. On clean, i.e.
> : >newly
> : >formatted flash cards, things work well. Then, as material comes and
> : >goes
> : >from the filesystem on the flash card, some of it written by the host
> : >computer, some by the Bookport itself, the filesystem becomes "dirty"
> in
> : >the way that most filesystems become "dirty" over time. Directories
> : >become
> : >fragmented as items are deleted and inserted, disk block allocations
> : >become
> : >fragmented as well, and the efficiency of the filesystem on the flash
> : >card
> : >becomes less over time. All of this is normal, and should be expected.
> : >The rub is that the Bookport appears to not deal well with this loss of
> : >efficiency, and as a consequence, becomes very fickle in its operation
> : >as
> : >the filesystems on its flash cards age.
> : >While, as someone suggested, running defragmentation programs
> : >against
> : >the filesystems on one's flash cards for Bookport might aleviate the
> : >problem, I'm not convinced this will totally help because I don't think
> : >defragmentation programs zero out blocks they free up on the
> filesystems
> : >they fix. The behavior I observe with my bookport leads me to believe
> : >that
> : >the firmware makes certain assumptions about what is in its various
> file
> : >buffers, and reuses them without necessarily properly cleaning them.
> : >For
> : >example, I have an MP3 file on my bookport right now which reads fine,
> : >except if I query the percentage status while the file is playing, and
> : >I've
> : >read more than 50% of it. If I hit the 8 key when the latter half of
> : >the
> : >file is playing, I get an FS buffer panic, followed by a bunch of audio
> : >file read error messages, accompanied by choppy sound until I either
> : >stop
> : >the bookport, or it comes to the end of the file in question.
> : >Let me stress, though, that I'm not trying to suggest that I
> : >know what
> : >the problem is, or how to fix it. However, I believe there is a
> : >problem,
> : >and that it should be looked into. The bookport should be able to deal
> : >with filesystems which pass chkdsk or scandisk, but which aren't
> : >necessarily pristine in terms of not having been used, and users
> : >shouldn't
> : >have to regularly reformat their flash cards in order to preserve
> : >usability.
> : >I love my bookport, but this issue, what ever it is, certainly
> : >adds to
> : >my level of frustration using it, and makes it downright inconvenient
> at
> : >times, while I cajole it into working.
> : >-Brian
> :
> :
>
>
>
Other related posts:
