Pandora Flash

[chuckr]

(If this has been discussed, I'd be really pleased with a pointer to that)

I wanted to buy myself some flash for the Pandora. The tech specs say it's 64Megs max, but does that mean I can buy a single 64M flash (to keep one slot open) or that I need to use 2 each 32M SDHC flashes, or even that the spec has changed to something else? I need to know what's the max I can use with a single slot, or with two slots.

Also, using the Linux that comes with the pandora, what's the filesystem types I could choose from on the Pandora? I would probably get things ready using my present capabilities.

Thanks.

 

[WizardStan]

32M is tiny. I think you mean 32G.
32G is the largest possible in SDHC. Two slots gives a max of 64G. There are no 64G SDHC cards. There's a theory that we may be able to use SDXC with a firmware upgrade, which will give us up to 4 terrabytes (eventually, maybe), but count on the 32G per slot.
Linux is capable of pretty much every file system, including FAT32 and NTFS so that it is compatible with Windows.

 

[Prometheus]

If I could give you only one piece of advice for the future, it would be this: Don't buy flash media on eBay, whatever you do.

 

[Critical_Impact]

If I could give you only one piece of advice for the future, it would be this: Don't buy flash media on eBay, whatever you do.

Too true, also Prometheus, your guide on the prices of various types of flash memory was very handy, I'll probably use it when I'm overseas in Hong Kong as I may buy some flash based media players/drives.

 

[danielliu88888]

be sure to check out prometheus' signature

 

[atomicthumbs]

64 gigs, not 64 megs, and it's per slot AFAIK (also, there aren't any 64 gig cards yet)

 

[WizardStan]

Too true, also Prometheus, your guide on the prices of various types of flash memory was very handy, I'll probably use it when I'm overseas in Hong Kong as I may buy some flash based media players/drives.

which works until the fake flash makers catch on, and start charging almost full price for their cheap knock offs

 

[typs lik dis]

You can use any combination of 0-2 SDHC cards.  I'd format them as EXT2.  If your main PC runs only Windows, there are drivers you can install to read/write ext* filesystems.

 

[chuckr]

First, yes, I meant Gb, not Mb, oops. Secondly, I got an advertising circular from MicroCenter a few days ago, and *thought* I'd seen something for a 64Gb flash, but now in looking at my favorite computer shopping site (pricewatch.com) and couldn't find anything like that, so I guess I was in error. What with the wealth of onboard peripherals in the pandora, I don't really need to reserve one of the 2 SDHC slots for peripherals, so I guess I can buy 2 of the 32 Gb SDHCs.

Lastly, I've occasionally had quality problems with flash, so I would not only avoid anything like eBay, I won't even buy flash unless it's from a name I respect. You just risk too much, especially if you're using flash for a filesystem (as against using it for a camera). Oh, yeah, can you boot off one of the 2 SDHC flashes?

 

[chuckr]

You can use any combination of 0-2 SDHC cards.  I'd format them as EXT2.  If your main PC runs only Windows, there are drivers you can install to read/write ext* filesystems.

Anyone who intimates I might be running Windows just doesn't know me very well. Ext3 would be good, but if ext3 or ReiserFS is available, that'd be the first choice for me, I can then read/write to my hosts here (Gentoo and FreeBSD). I was just wanting to verify that the Linux that comes with the pandora can handle those (or anything beyond FAT32).

 

[Tom`]

Oh, yeah, can you boot off one of the 2 SDHC flashes?

Yes, you can boot off either one (even if the NAND is hosed somehow; hence "unbrickable." The maximum card size isn't really dictated by hardware (or not the Pandora's hardware), just by what the current largest SDHC cards happen to be. Since it seems SDHC is being abandoned in favor of SDXC, it is not known for certain whether the larger-capacity SDXC cards will be supported, but the current educated guess is that they will be, just at a reduced rate (as compared to a dedicated SDXC reader).

Some people here will say that ext3/ReiserFS is a bad idea due to the journaling increasing writes to the card (and hence decreasing the lifetime of the flash), but it remains unclear how much real-world impact this has. In any event, it's worth considering ext2 or ext4 with journaling turned off. Anyway, any common (and probably a lot of less common) filesystems will be supported.

 

[WizardStan]

Anyone who intimates I might be running Windows just doesn't know me very well.

You've got a couple dozen posts, only a few of which were actually in this section of the forum. We DON'T know you very well. Or at all.

 

[WizardStan]

Some people here will say that ext3/ReiserFS is a bad idea due to the journaling increasing writes to the card (and hence decreasing the lifetime of the flash)

It will approximately half the lifetime of the SD card with journaling turned on. Of course, what is it half of? I used to be opposed to journaling for this reason, but I started thinking. I've got a couple of old 1 gig cards that I still use from time to time some 3 or 4 years after I bought them, and they're barely showing any wear. With proper wear leveling, a 16 gig card will probably last, what, a decade? With journaling, let's say 5 years. In 5 years, just buy yourself a new 32G card; they'll probably only be a couple dollars by then.

 

[Prometheus]

Too true, also Prometheus, your guide on the prices of various types of flash memory was very handy, I'll probably use it when I'm overseas in Hong Kong as I may buy some flash based media players/drives.

which works until the fake flash makers catch on, and start charging almost full price for their cheap knock offs

Though I can't add much more of worth to the thread, I just wanted to quote this and point out that sadly, in some places that's already the case.

 

[emil10001]

I would suggest not formatting the SD cards, and leaving them as FAT. The reason for this is that if you want to swap out SD cards from your pandora to another device, you'd want the other device to be able to read your SD cards. Is there really that much to gain by reformatting to another file system?

 

[gruso]

I'm going to give this topic a mini feature / community service announcement on the blog, at the suggestion of Prometheus. I'm planning to do it this week... which is what I said last week.

 

[Gary13579]

I would suggest not formatting the SD cards, and leaving them as FAT. The reason for this is that if you want to swap out SD cards from your pandora to another device, you'd want the other device to be able to read your SD cards. Is there really that much to gain by reformatting to another file system?

FAT is missing a lot of the features that I use often (ownership, misc flags, atime (although I suppose atime will be disabled for obvious reasons)). Not to mention being illegal, and a crappy proprietary format...

I'll stick with ext2. If you absolutely *need* to use the card in another device, set up the first partition to be a 100 mb FAT32 partition, then the second an xGB ext2. Problem solved.

 

[Pleng]

Unless, of course, you need to transfer a file larger than 100mb?

There really is no technical (as opposed to moral) reason for an average user to anything but Fat32. Clearly I'm not talking about the OP here who has already stated his preference for ext bases file system, and yourself who has a need for permissioning (something a casual user will no need to worry about), but it really peeves me when 'Linux People' tell casual users to format cards with a file system which is likely to create far problems (compatibility with his their other computers and those of people they are likely to socialise with) than it's going to solve.

 

[Critical_Impact]

Nothing wrong with ext2 or 3, if you use Ext2IFS on windows you'll have no problems with ext2 volumes. I've had multiple occassions when I had one of my drives formatted with ext2 and I plugged it into my friends PC and downloaded ext2ifs, worked a charm every computer I tried it on.

 

[Pleng]

And what if your friend doesn't want you to install the file system on his system? What if you want to transfer files between your Pandora and a work computer, where installing anything is forbidden? What if you want to use it in another device where installing alternate file systems is not even an option?

I'll say it again: There is no compelling reason for the average user to use ext on their SD cards. They will not be solving an problems, and they will be causing themselves all kinds of unnecessary problems. Advising people to use it without good reason is not at all being helpful, it's simply trying to impose your preference on somebody else.