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Hopefully this test makes sense. This page is a bit heavy on the graphics! BTW, if your card works at the moment and you try this test and then it fails, and you end up with a corrupted card please don't expect me to replace it! (Yes, somebody has tried that..) The tests here are basically for Pocket PC PDA's using standard utilities with PPC2002/WM2003, and a picture viewer that's required to see the results for PPC2002...
If you don't have a PDA but you want to try these tests, then you can. You'll have to make sure that you can view the contents of your memory card whilst its in the device you use when its connected to your computer. For example, most cameras will show the memory card as a "removable drive" when connected via USB... You can then use Explorer to copy the files...
Anyone with a Palm PDA want to try these tests and supply me with the screen shots then I'll be happy to publish them here. I'll try to update this so the tests with Pocket PC PDA's, Palm PDA's and connected devices will be on separate web pages soon.
If your card is okay at the moment then you do these tests at your own risk!!! And once its failed, its likely that the card will continue to fail.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
Test one – copy from CF card to SD card
Test Two – Copy directory on SD card
A source folder is set up on a PC. It has the following structure:
|
Test Photos |
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├──────── |
Folder 01 |
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├──────── |
Folder 02 |
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├──────── |
Folder 03 |
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└──────── |
Folder 04 |
Sub folders 1 to 4 contain 100 copies of an identical 9k jpeg image (The picture I used is available here). Graphics are used because it is easy to see if a graphic file is corrupted or not, and the Axim comes with a third party application that allows fast viewing of pictures as thumbnails. This application, Resco Picture Viewer is available as a trial copy from http://www.resco-net.com/PicView.asp (alternatively if your device & card is connected to the PC then use the thumbnails viewing option...)
The pictures and file structure are verified on the PC, then copied to a Compact Flash card*. The information is verified on the CF card on the PC, then on the Axim PDA:
Left screen shot shows the file structure on the CF card, right screen shows the thumbnail viewer. Both pictures are from the Picture Viewer software supplied with the Axim.
The tests were done twice – once using the PDA in stand-alone mode, power source battery, and then whilst connected to a PC via its cradle, power source mains. The tests shown will be from the first battery stand-alone test.
* Alternative setup - rather than copy from the PC to a compact flash card, use ActiveSync Explore option to copy directly to your PDA. Select the My Pocket PC folder, then select the SD card folder. You can now drag and drop the PC folder directly to the SD card. Note that this works as test one too..
Alternative setup 2 - use Explorer to copy directly to the memory card. This basically is test one. You should then be able to run the tests but use Windows Explorer rather than the PDAs File Explorer.
1) The SD card has no data on it, and is formatted to the manufacturer’s specification (FAT16, 4k sectors.).
2) The source data on the CF card is verified as 100% correct with no corruption.
3) The PDA has been set up not to turn itself off after a set period of inactivity.
To test creating 400 files in a 2 level directory structure on the SD card using the PDA
Use File Explorer on the PDA to copy the data from the CF card to the SD card.
Using the Picture Viewer software, browse the SD card and check the directory structure. Folders 1 to 4 should not have any subfolders (as shown on the left-hand picture). Then browse the 4 sub folders one at a time, ensuring the 100 pictures in each folder are visible (example shown in right-hand picture).
Above screen shots shows corrupted File Allocation Table (FAT) after test 1 – this effectively disables the SD card and the only way to re-use the card is to re-format it. Note the “Not enough space on the disk” error – even though the SD card has only used 3.6mb of space. Other errors are shown here
1) Test One has been completed successfully.
To test copying 400 files in a 2 level directory structure from the SD card to the SD card within the PDA. This tests card reading and writing.
Use File Explorer on the PDA to copy the folder Test Photos created in Test One on the SD card.
Using the Picture Viewer software, browse the SD card and check the directory structure of both Test Photos and Copy of Test Photos. Folders 1 to 4 should not have any subfolders. Then browse the 4 sub folders one at a time, ensuring the 100 pictures in each folder are visible.
Left-hand screen shot shows Folder 02 under Copy of Test Photos having a subfolder (this is incorrect). Middle screen shot shows the contents of Folder 02 and a number of “dot” directories. Right-hand screen shot shows corrupted pictures within Folder 02
Test Two can be repeated, the folders on the SD card being copied until the SD card is full or file / disk errors stop the copy process.
