So... You Need A Card Reader?

[Shirohagen]

Hello.

Just got my GP2X, but am still waiting for my SD Card to arrive so I can't do much with it yet.

I have read that you can't put an unformatted SD Card into the GP2X and format it from there, you have to format the card seperately with a computer before using it in the GP2X.

Basically does this mean that a card reader isn't actually optional, but that you NEED one in order to format an SD Card for first time use? I haven't ordered a card reader as I figured that I could do everything via USB link, but how can I get going without one?

I use a Mac too, so if I did get a card reader I would be using Disk Utility to format it in "MS-DOS" format rather than the standard Mac OS format. Alternatively I could use Virtual PC to format under Windows XP, but that's a bit of a fuss anytime I want to format a card. In the good old days of the GP32, you could format a card directly from within the firmware environment.

So...

...do I need a card reader then? The bill for this thing is starting to add up...

 

[Zeon X]

I would recommend getting a card reader. The SD card should work straight out of the box and I haven’t had to format mine, but transferring files to the card is much better done through a card reader, rather than the USB cable, which doesn’t work half the time. You should be able to get a card reader for about £10.

 

[Squidge]

SD cards come preformatted, but I think you'll quickly find that the USB interface on the GP2X is neither reliable or fast, so you'll be needing a card reader soon anyway.

SD card readers are rediculously cheap now though. I paid £3.50 for mine from the local computer shop, and you can normally find them for less on sites such as ebay, or pay slightly more and get one that supports multiple different cards.

 

[rokdcasbah]

you can in fact format the sd card using while it's in the unit, but i tried this and it created a huge mess. just get a card reader.

 

[Shirohagen]

Yeah, I've ordered one (A nice PC card 6-in-1 unit for my Powerbook) but I won't get it for a while and I'm itching to get going!



®

 

[noreason]

i copy files through the usb cable to my gp2x and it works just fine! (win xp)

 

[hannanshah]

Can someone find me a card reader which supports my Sandisk 2GB Ultra II card? The two I've tried (including a Sandisk reader!) only format it as a 1GB card. Even my ancient USB 1.1 digital camera is able to correctly format the card as 2GB. Unfortuantely the GP2X isn't detecting the card when I use my digital camera for the format. It detects the card when I use the card readers but I don't want half the capacity! I'm in the UK by the way.

 

[Shikaku]

Can someone find me a card reader which supports my Sandisk 2GB Ultra II card? The two I've tried (including a Sandisk reader!) only format it as a 1GB card. Even my ancient USB 1.1 digital camera is able to correctly format the card as 2GB. Unfortuantely the GP2X isn't detecting the card when I use my digital camera for the format. It detects the card when I use the card readers but I don't want half the capacity! I'm in the UK by the way.

​

You/Windows is formatting it wrong.

Go to http://sandisk.com, click support/FAQ, and find the 2 GB sandisk SD.

Or just read this:

9. go to Start then Programs and then MS DOS Prompt

10. At the c:\windows> directory, type cd\

11. You should now be at c:\>

12. Type: fdisk and hit enter

13. You will see a yes or no question about disk space. Type: y, and hit enter

14. At this point you should have an option number 5. Type 5, and hit enter

15. Choose the option that displays the drive letter of your card. I.E. if it's using E:, select the number that is referring to E: and hit enter.

16. You should be back at the main menu now.

17. Select option 3, Delete Partition or Logical DOS Drive.

18. Select option 1, Delete Primary DOS Partition.

19. You should be back at the main menu.

20. Select option 1, Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive.

21. Partition created, hit escape until you get the C:\> prompt

22. Then type: format (your drive letter here)

23. type: y, and hit enter.

24. Type: Exit

25. You should be in Windows again.

26. You are finished!

 

[rokdcasbah]

i know how you feel about wanting to get going, so do this at your own risk.

1. put sd in gp2x, hook everything up
2. install and run usbmon in windows.
3. while this is going, go to gp2x settings menu and turn on usb connection.
4. windows should see the storage device. however, it won't list a spare drive letter if the card isn't formatted. to remedy this, go to admin tools > computer management > disk management
5. there should be extra drives listed in addition to whatever's normal for your computer. format the one that's the same size as the sd card. be careful though as i think the nand shows up as well.
6. there should now be another removable disk listed in my computer.
7. find a rom of ghouls n ghosts

edit: this may not work after all. i can't remember if i got it working in the end. it's possible that using this method may lead to windows formatting the card wrong. but fear not as your card reader will fix everything.

 

[hannanshah]

Can someone find me a card reader which supports my Sandisk 2GB Ultra II card? The two I've tried (including a Sandisk reader!) only format it as a 1GB card. Even my ancient USB 1.1 digital camera is able to correctly format the card as 2GB. Unfortuantely the GP2X isn't detecting the card when I use my digital camera for the format. It detects the card when I use the card readers but I don't want half the capacity! I'm in the UK by the way.

​

You/Windows is formatting it wrong.

Go to http://sandisk.com, click support/FAQ, and find the 2 GB sandisk SD.

Or just read this:

9. go to Start then Programs and then MS DOS Prompt

10. At the c:\windows> directory, type cd\

11. You should now be at c:\>

12. Type: fdisk and hit enter

13. You will see a yes or no question about disk space. Type: y, and hit enter

14. At this point you should have an option number 5. Type 5, and hit enter

15. Choose the option that displays the drive letter of your card. I.E. if it's using E:, select the number that is referring to E: and hit enter.

16. You should be back at the main menu now.

17. Select option 3, Delete Partition or Logical DOS Drive.

18. Select option 1, Delete Primary DOS Partition.

19. You should be back at the main menu.

20. Select option 1, Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive.

21. Partition created, hit escape until you get the C:\> prompt

22. Then type: format (your drive letter here)

23. type: y, and hit enter.

24. Type: Exit

25. You should be in Windows again.

26. You are finished!

​

I went to the command prompt in XP but fdisk doesn't work.

'fdisk' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Why can't Windows XP format the SD card correctly?

 

[hannanshah]

Also I've tried following the instruction on the Sandisk site but I can't see options 4-6 (ie. can't work out what it's asking me to do!). Apparently these are instruction for Win9x systems. What about Windows XP?

Cause:

Severe corruption on card or card has been reformatted incorrectly

Solution:

If you have a PC card adapter or a Parallel port ImageMate, you can do the following

FDISKING your SanDisk Card.

1. Enter the Device Manager by holding the ALT key on your keyboard, and clicking twice on
the My Computer icon. This takes you to System Properties wherein a tab called Device Manager resides.

2. Click on Device Manager.

3. Go down to Disk Drives and click twice on it.

4.Parallel Flash or EUSB Flash or USBAT , DISK TYPE 00 or DISK TYPE 80 or 16 and double click on it.

5. Verify in the Settings window of the drive letter assignment to assure you are looking at our card. I.E. if
your card is using drive letter E: than please verify that in the Current Drive Letter Assignment is E:

6. Click to un check the Int 13 unit box, and then hit OK.

 

[Shikaku]

ftp://ftp1.fkkt.uni-lj.si/newfdisk.zip

use that fdisk guys

 

[hannanshah]

ftp://ftp1.fkkt.uni-lj.si/newfdisk.zip

use that fdisk guys

​

'Incorrect MS-DOS Version'

Why can't Windows format my card properly through my card reader yet when I use the digital camera to format the card through Windows it works perfectly?

 

[hannanshah]

Looks like I've fixed it finally.

Went to admin tools > computer management > disk management (in control panel).

Drive J: (SD card) showed up with a 969mb partition and the remaining half as unallocated. I forced deleted this partition and then reformatted it to give me 1.89GB.