Database Info

SD Card Wiped!

Hey All-
I thought the issue with SD card would have been fixed with the T-mobile WM2003 ROM update (4.01.16). Although I am not sure if that is what did it. I did not have the problem until I updated ActiveSync (v3.7.1 - Build 4034) when it came out about a week ago. I have an ActiveSync backup file (backup.stg) from BEFORE I upgraded all of this (a different partnership as well). Is there a way to extract the data from that file to restore my SD card?
Many Thanks

Out of curiosity, what brand of SD card are you using? I'm using a Kingston 512 mB but have read on a few forums problems with the Kingston loosing content in the XDA II. I have not experienced the problem.
Ed

No this problem still persists, I've used a PNY,Sandisk & Panasonic SD card in my XDA I running WM2003 4.01.16 and it blows them all away. I've tried everything and all the ROM from's YORCH'S Kitchen. They obviously only tested the XDA ROM'[email protected] T-Mobile without any SD memory attached at all, and couldn't have cared for customer feedback. However, saying that it's suprising the amount of PDA users I know, whom don't have additional memory attached. I hope there's a resolution soon, in which ever form, upgrade, reg-keys anything to stop this annoyance.
Cheers.

I am using a San Disk 128Mb card. Any info on how to get into that Backup.stg file? Thanks

Yes, I do believe it is a bug that most bug testers missed to point out with the WM2003 4.01.16. I've encountered the same problem and lost all the files saved on my SD card (San Disk SD Card). The sad part about this bug is that your lost files are unrecoverable!

scottyjchef said:
I am using a San Disk 128Mb card. Any info on how to get into that Backup.stg file? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey scottychef, for that just go do the following on your PC:
First you need to go to "My Computer" in flile explorer then you select Tools menu and then "Fonder Options" and under the "View" tab check "Show Hidden Files and Folders" and then find the following folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\"YourUserName"\Application Data\Microsoft\ActiveSync\Profiles\"YourOldProfile"
And copy the .bak file into your current profile directory.
Best Regards,
Rayan

Some people came to the conclusion that the sd card erasure was something to do with the Today configuration and that when they chose the default screen etc the problem went away.

After going around the bend with my SD Card being erased/corrupted on nearly daily basis, and being fortunate enough to have friends with both XDA I’s & II’s running both PPC 2002 & 2003 I thought I’d set out and scour the registry to see if anything was missing that could be causing the problem, and I instantly noticed a one thing. On my version of 2003 (4.01.16 T-mobile) there is no key referring to FAT file system for the SD Card, which both the XDA I (PPC 2002-O2) & XDA II (PPC 2003-O2) have.
Also the FATFS.DLL which exists under the \Windows folder (Hidden of course) on both PPC2002(O2) & PPC2003(O2) is not present on the T-Mobile (4.01.16) ROM, However there is a FATFSD.DLL referenced in \HKLM\System\StorageManager\FATFS but not linked to the Storage Card
So I've simply made substitute keys from the ones missing.
Since I’ve entered the following Keys, I’ve nearly gone a week without a single hiccup. Now it may be too early to tell, but if a few of you guys with this problem should try it and it works for you, then problem solved.
Here’s what to do.
Install the PMH Registry Editor (freeware) to your XDA then navigate to
\\HKLM\Drivers\PCMCIA\SDCard
Add the following REG_SZ key:
Value name: FSD
Value data: FATFSD.DLL
Also, I’m not quite sure if the next key adds any performance/stability but was present on the XDA II and not the XDA I, but I added it anyway
Add the following REG_DWORD key:
Value name: BlockTransferSize
Value data: 64
Could be a combination of either key or one or the other, or neither, but I haven’t the time to try each permutation. Or maybe I've just been lucky this week and It'll get wiped over the weekend, I'll keep you posted.
Now reset the device and good luck, plus please post your findings as I could be barking completely up the wrong tree!!

It happened to me also!! I've bought a new MMC card, 256 MB,, and 3 days ago, I woke up & found my card wiped out!
I've used a software called Easy Recovery Pro, and I've recovered all my lost file on the card
I used a digital camera to create a new drive ( I: ) for the card, so that I can recover the files!! Is there any other mean to map the MMC or SD card to a drive??
anyway, I just read some notes on this forum, and I've found that its a bug in windows 2003, but to solve the problem, always format your card using FAT32, and before formating it, just switch the today screen to DEFAULT, then format, and after the format completes just put your favourite theme :? (you could say its crap, but beleive me, it worked, am using my card now without any problems no more)
Micro$oft is weird

I'm bumping this. Is it still working, spadb? Did anyone else try this procedure?
spadb said:
After going around the bend with my SD Card being erased/corrupted on nearly daily basis, and being fortunate enough to have friends with both XDA I’s & II’s running both PPC 2002 & 2003 I thought I’d set out and scour the registry to see if anything was missing that could be causing the problem, and I instantly noticed a one thing. On my version of 2003 (4.01.16 T-mobile) there is no key referring to FAT file system for the SD Card, which both the XDA I (PPC 2002-O2) & XDA II (PPC 2003-O2) have.
Also the FATFS.DLL which exists under the \Windows folder (Hidden of course) on both PPC2002(O2) & PPC2003(O2) is not present on the T-Mobile (4.01.16) ROM, However there is a FATFSD.DLL referenced in \HKLM\System\StorageManager\FATFS but not linked to the Storage Card
So I've simply made substitute keys from the ones missing.
Since I’ve entered the following Keys, I’ve nearly gone a week without a single hiccup. Now it may be too early to tell, but if a few of you guys with this problem should try it and it works for you, then problem solved.
Here’s what to do.
Install the PMH Registry Editor (freeware) to your XDA then navigate to
\\HKLM\Drivers\PCMCIA\SDCard
Add the following REG_SZ key:
Value name: FSD
Value data: FATFSD.DLL
Also, I’m not quite sure if the next key adds any performance/stability but was present on the XDA II and not the XDA I, but I added it anyway
Add the following REG_DWORD key:
Value name: BlockTransferSize
Value data: 64
Could be a combination of either key or one or the other, or neither, but I haven’t the time to try each permutation. Or maybe I've just been lucky this week and It'll get wiped over the weekend, I'll keep you posted.
Now reset the device and good luck, plus please post your findings as I could be barking completely up the wrong tree!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Well maybe, but i don't think so, becuase when my MMC was wiped, I noticed that Windows has changed the file system to FAT32, although it was FAT16 before!!
So all what I think is that Windows needs the storage card to be formatted as FAT32 and not anything else!
I did formatted my MMC using FAT32, and now its working so fine, no wippings no data loss, it works like a charm
Am still using my MMC card without fear of getting wipped!

spadb thats a interesting fix, you might also wants to label your card (
as in reformat and then give it a name, that solved it for me and its been
months since my last erase).
HTH

Got the same problem
I tried most of the T mobile Roms they have the same bug which is painfull to restore data to the Storage :S and relocate the shortcuts..anyway if u just wanna try how this could be deleted try to pull off the sd out then put it in do it several times it will be wiped I tried that on purpose with the newest Tmobile rom and today wiped again by itself with an old Tmobile Rom 4.01.00 and the SD is on the FAT32. I just can't tell what should we do in this case nor the Tmobile wm2003 are good neither the ATT with the sound clipping, If there's some1 could get us the best Rom ever tested or a way to fix all this bug we'd appreciate the help.. P.S my SD is 256M.B

GOD DAMN IT!!!!!!! My 256 MMC card got wipped again!!!!! :twisted:
I hate this!!!!! I hate it I hate it I hate it
I wanna know if the SD card registry solution posted by "spadb" works with MMC cards as well!
I will recover my files & format the card again..
I hope this time it won't be wipped again!
by the way, is there any software which can map the SD / MMC card to a logical drive under windows, while the device is on the cradle (without using card readers)?

I'm getting this problem too. I've had my XDA II for less than a week and its wiped my SD card twice. Looking around other pocketpc forums on the web it appears that other people are experiencing this too. I wonder if this is a bug in the latest Windows Mobile 2003 update?
I've tried using the repair option in an evaluation copy of storage tools and it appears to be able to restore the data. It's almost as if the FAT is getting corrupted including the backup FAT.
I'm using FAT32 for the filesystem. I know my SD card is ok because it has worked 100% on my Orange SPV phone previously.
Going to phone O2 tomorrow because this is getting beyond a joke.
Cheers,
Richard.

name ur SD card storage or somthing and make it fat 32 ive never had a sd erase yet (touch wood) that was using a sandisk 256mb card, soon to get a simpletech 256mb (speedy )

What tool can I use to label the SD card? Storage tools doesn't appear to have that option.
Cheers,
Richard.

a pc :roll:

http://www.pocketgear.com/ppcw/software_detail.asp?id=8392
and posible pocket mecahics

For all of you guys who lost their data from their SD cards, you can ALWAYS get your data back using any SD Card Reader or Digital Camera.
Just put your SD card in the card reader or the cam & run any file recovery software on the removable disk which appears whenever you connect the card reader / cam to your PC, and you will restore all of your files.
I've restored all of my files using this simple way of recovery. 8)

Virus? memory card won't read... [u][b]"ignore_my_docs

Virus? memory card won't read...I have no anti-virus software in my XDA2 (silly me? is it important nowadays to have anti virus programms in pocket pcs?) - suddenly my nearly full 1 GB sd apacer memory card wont read any more -
the only thing on it is this: "ignore_my_docs" (when I try to delete this message - it comes back again).
In the device's memory, it shows the memory card as STILL BEING FULL!
1) Is this a virus? Does anyone Know what this is about?
2) should I put an anti virus, firewall type thing into my xda?
3) if so, which is the best one?
4)will it get rid of this virus, (if it is a virus)?
5)will it give me all the information back off my my sd card? Is there a way I can get this information back?
thanks people...

there are only about 5 pocketpc virus's or there about
doubt you have one of them
some walaby roms have been reported to delete the sd card for no reason
normal pc undelete programs can undelete your sd card if placed in a sd card reader
you can use search in this forum for many many many posts about the delete issue
sinse you have a walaby device you can narrow your search down to that forum

ignore_my_docs
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,2863
Ignore_my_docs - very frustrating
By Ed Hansberry on Wednesday, August 14, 2002
Has anyone noticed an "ignore_my_docs" zero byte file on their storage card or ROM file store? I think this was done in the Pocket PC 2002 OS because people had trouble finding data on their storage card unless they had specifically created a \My Documents\ folder.
So, the Pocket PC 2002 now looks at the storage card when you insert it. If \My Documents\ doesn't exist, it puts a hidden file called "ignore_my_docs" on the card. It also has done this to the HP Safe Store or iPAQ File Store. So, what does it do? Well, Pocket PC 2002 apps see this hidden file and look at the root of the storage card for everything. This can be very annoying if you have a large card with hundreds of files on it in other subfolders. For example, my storage cards always look like this:
\Music\
\My Documents\
\app1\
\app2\
Don't get me started on apps being installed in the root versus under a \Program Files\ folder. That is another rant. Ok, if ignore_my_docs exists, apps like Excel and Word will scan the entire card looking for their files. Prepare to wait if it is a 1GB microdrive that is full. The solution is to create \My Documents\ on the card and delete the hidden ignore_my_docs file. To delete it, either dock your device and use Explorer on the desktop, assuming it is configured to see hidden files, or tap-and-hold in File Explorer on your Pocket PC in the white area below a file listing and select "View All Files." The beauty of this is that Windows Media Player on the Pocket PC 2002 doesn't require music to be in \My Documents\ any longer as it did under the Pocket PC 2000 OS, so all of your music is still readily available.
Edit: The above also applies to Pocket PC 2003 and 2003 SE devices as well as all ROM file stores on any device that allows you to store data there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

yes i have that as well ,but never really knew what it was about

just cleared it up for me as well, as I found this file today and wonderd what it was. Thanks.

Device partially accessing SD card

Hi,
I have an HTC Charmer with a with a 2g Dane-elec SD Card.
Two days ago the device stopped accessing all the stored data (music, data files for skyscape medical books, e books, apps (all games), pictures, etc). I have tried several soft resets. I have downloaded and run scan disk using pocket mechanic's free trial. The only files I am able to access on the SD Card are WMDRM and Inbox.mst298.... that contains a mail attachments folder.
I have tried accessing the card via activsync and have the same trouble.
Via Start\settings\system tab\memory\storage card tab - the device sees the card and has it as almost full (1473.94MB in use, 471.69MB free)
I really don't understand why the device will see the card but not let me access most of the data on it.
Any help or thoughts would be really appreciated.
Will.

Wobwill said:
Hi,
I have an HTC Charmer with a with a 2g Dane-elec SD Card.
Two days ago the device stopped accessing all the stored data (music, data files for skyscape medical books, e books, apps (all games), pictures, etc). I have tried several soft resets. I have downloaded and run scan disk using pocket mechanic's free trial. The only files I am able to access on the SD Card are WMDRM and Inbox.mst298.... that contains a mail attachments folder.
I have tried accessing the card via activsync and have the same trouble.
Via Start\settings\system tab\memory\storage card tab - the device sees the card and has it as almost full (1473.94MB in use, 471.69MB free)
I really don't understand why the device will see the card but not let me access most of the data on it.
Any help or thoughts would be really appreciated.
Will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please DO follow my articles - I've often elaborated on this q
The solution is using chkdsk. See http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=39583

Relocating Pocket IE to external card?

I have an Axim X50v running the latest MagLite WM6 ROM. It's awesome, but it was running a bit slow, so I decided to try removing all my apps (saved to internal memory) and reinstalling them to my 16GB CF card. This has led to a vast and very noticeable performance improvement. However, if I open Pocket IE (again located on the device memory) it slows back to a crawl.
Is there a way to move Pocket IE to an external card so it won't have to mess up internal memory so much (also, caching pages to folders on CF cards instead of device memory). I found a guide that changed the cache path in WM2003 but the registry entry in question doesn't exist on WM6.

CalcProgrammer1 said:
I have an Axim X50v running the latest MagLite WM6 ROM. It's awesome, but it was running a bit slow, so I decided to try removing all my apps (saved to internal memory) and reinstalling them to my 16GB CF card. This has led to a vast and very noticeable performance improvement. However, if I open Pocket IE (again located on the device memory) it slows back to a crawl.
Is there a way to move Pocket IE to an external card so it won't have to mess up internal memory so much (also, caching pages to folders on CF cards instead of device memory). I found a guide that changed the cache path in WM2003 but the registry entry in question doesn't exist on WM6.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
read my Web Browsing bible; in there, I've elaborated on this. Ina nutshell: use SKTools, MemMaid or similar apps to do the auto-relocation.

I used a registry editor to relocate the cache to:
/CF Card/Temporary Internet Files
However, it works great until you do a reset. Then, it makes a folder called "CF Card" in main memory (puts content in there) and then the actual card comes up as "CF Card2" and all the paths to apps on the CF card get messed up.
Is there anyway to just disable the cache altogether? I'm on WiFi so I'm not concerned with minimizing data transfer, just minimizing memory use. I don't browse offline either, no point to have old copies of useless pages saved to your device when navigation is broken in them.

Some advice for you, I would suggest not moving the temp files to your SD card. PIE does not do well at all when you do this. Every device I've done this on with either Scchap's Adv Config or MemMaid, it would just freeze PIE.

TheChampJT said:
Some advice for you, I would suggest not moving the temp files to your SD card. PIE does not do well at all when you do this. Every device I've done this on with either Scchap's Adv Config or MemMaid, it would just freeze PIE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, there will surely be at least a performance hit, even with the fastest cards - let alone the crashes. (See my Web browser bible's benchmarks)

TheChampJT said:
Some advice for you, I would suggest not moving the temp files to your SD card. PIE does not do well at all when you do this. Every device I've done this on with either Scchap's Adv Config or MemMaid, it would just freeze PIE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I relocated the cache and my PIE runs great...

Application for bridging SDHC as device memory

Guys,
Is there somewhere else who create an application that can make SDHC card as device memory?
Thanx.

irmanpribadi said:
Guys,
Is there somewhere else who create an application that can make SDHC card as device memory?
Thanx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The storage card can only be used as a storage card, not for device memory. nice idea though, it would be nice to have 16gb of ram
Regards
Jay

maybe this is not about ram but about having the sd card as primary partition, which might be possible although it has never been done before. in wm2003 the ramdrive was the primary partition and the "storage" was listed as a storage card. these days the storage is the first (and on most devices and roms only) partition. but when a ramdisk is added, it is listed as a storage card. that means the order of the drives is variable and a storage card could also be the first partition.
but what would you want with a theretical answer like that? an expert rom chef, who started with cooking wm2003 might know the answer or could do that for you.
but for all realistic means, you should simply try and save all documents, pictures, videos and music, install bigger programs, derive the cache for your browser, store email attachments all on the sd card. the only problems with completely leaving out on the internal storage, especially for program installation, is that it is slow.

It should be possible but you will probably need to cook a new ROM to get it working. It's mostly just a matter of telling CE which mounted volume you want to mount as root for the emulated objectstore.
This document on MSDN should give you an idea of what to do:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms885839.aspx
The MPx200's WM5/WM6 ROMs do this already. If you do this, keep in mind you likely won't ever be able to eject the card while the device is booted as the registry will be stored there. Now, maybe you could write some sort of app that would dismount/remount and reinitialize the registry at the press of a button but that doesn't seem too practical unless you have no choice as on the MPx200. Another workaround might be to store the registry hives on an internal flash partition and store the rest of the system folders on the SD card.
As for implementing the RAM/ROM based filesystem like in WM2003, I'm not sure. The Windows CE 5.x kernel used for Windows Mobile 5/6/6.1/6.5 certainly won't prevent you from doing it but I'm unsure the Universal's hardware can persist the ram contents between "soft" resets. If it can, then I imagine it's only a matter of using an NK.exe that doesn't force a clean reboot and using a different filesys.exe than the included ROM only/hive registry configuration it ships with. Heh, if you ever looked at the MS news groups you will see a whole bunch of posts by OEMS getting yelled at for using the ram based configuration in their beta WM5 roms. "Not supported" doesn't mean it can't be done and work, it just means MS doesnt' want you to do it for either marketing or other reasons.
Chef_Tony said:
maybe this is not about ram but about having the sd card as primary partition, which might be possible although it has never been done before. in wm2003 the ramdrive was the primary partition and the "storage" was listed as a storage card. these days the storage is the first (and on most devices and roms only) partition. but when a ramdisk is added, it is listed as a storage card. that means the order of the drives is variable and a storage card could also be the first partition.
but what would you want with a theretical answer like that? an expert rom chef, who started with cooking wm2003 might know the answer or could do that for you.
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ramdisk you are talking about is very different from the Windows CE object store used in WM2003 and many current non-PPC WinCE devices.
They don't even use the same filesystem! The ramdisk driver commonly circulated on these forums basically just formats/mounts a chunk of RAM as a FAT partition. It can't be resized and appears to the OS as any other flash card. You can even format it with StorageTools or whatever. The dynamic ramdisk or objectstore is built into the WinCE OS. It uses a proprietary filesystem optimized for RAM usage that is closely integrated into the kernel. As I understand it, It's more like a database than a filesystem like FAT. The registry, files and DBs are all stored in the same internal format and then abstracted by the OS and it's APIs. It couldn't even be disabled until more recent WinCE versions. More info: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa910544.aspx