XDAIIi & Best SD Card

[lydiachris]

Hi.

I have many questions which have been skimmed across on quite a few other topics in this forum, I wish to ask more in depth questions for all you IT Brainiacs which I lookup to greatly 8)

I own a XDAIIi and a 512MB Kingston SD Card.

Using 'Storage Tools' by softwinter...
http://www.softwinter.com/storagetools.html

The SD Card is formatted:

FAT 16 (Backup FAT)
Cluster Size (The Largest Size)

I also use TomTom Navigator 3.07 with GPS 3.07.
I experience frequent lockups whilst driving.

What I am asking you guys is what is THE BEST AND ULTIMATE SD CARD to use in my XDAIIi with TomTom.
I know about all the Sandisk Ultra II/Extreme III but pocketgps.co.uk...

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/storage-card-compatibility.php

Do not advise using Sandisk cards due to their poor performance.

Do any of you guys recommened how to tweak my SD card but increasing/decreasing the cluster size or formatting the card with FAT32 !? Or are there any REG Hacks that people know of how to increase the stability of the XDAIIi using the SD Card slot.

Also are there any solid specs of HOW fast the XDAIIi SD Slot can Read/Write to SD Cards?!

Sorry to ask such harsh, to-the-point questions but I have learn so much from this forum and will be donating money soon as if I were to ask or ring the customer services of the products I own they would charge a bomb on phone calls and not answer my questions.
This forum does neither of those :D

Thanks in advance,
lydiachris

[pebsuk]

The only card that I have found to reliable with the XDA IIi is the Kingston, I have the 1GB version currently formated FAT16 32 Secs, 512 bytes per sector and Tom Tom functions perfectly...Hope this helps...

[lydiachris]

Hi there. thankyou for VERY quick reply.

Please could you explain more about the way you have formatted your card.

I understand the FAT16 bit but what do you by 32 SECS and 512 bytes per sector.

Thankyou again,
lydiachris


ps. I take it that you are using the standard Kingston (blue), not the elite pro version (white)

[Fredrick_Fredrickson]

The Kingston "Elite Pro" range is miles faster than the standard kingston SD cards, and only about 20% pricier (at http://www.picstop.com/securedigital.htm). Just replaced my Kingston 256 with an Elite Pro 1GB, and Tomtom flies! (5 times faster to load)

PS if you're using Tomtom's GPS 3.07, you might wish to change to one of the earlier versions that doesn't hijack your BT stack (Pocket GPS world has loads of info and downloads for this)

[lydiachris]

Hi there. Are you serious?!? Do you have a XDAIIi ???

I am currently using a standard blue kingston 512MB SD.
But I have just bought an Elite Pro 512MB SD Card for £33 which I am quite pleased with :D

Please could you post some more info on the formatting question I have posted above.
How did you format your card Fredrick_Fredrickson.

Also what does the 'Cluster Size' of an SD Card mean. I understand that if you have many large files i.e. like TomTom maps (all the individual files) then it is better to have a larger cluster size than say if you have many little files like photos.
Am I correct in saying that!?

Cheers,
Lydiachris

Ps. has anyone got one of these?!?!?!

http://www.kingston.com/digitalmedia/sdultimate.asp

[Fredrick_Fredrickson]

Very serious!
5 times quicker to load.
Just did a quick back to back ABA test, starting up Tomtom.
Kindston Elite Pro (1GB): 15 seconds
Kingston Standard (256Mb): 53 seconds
Both cards formatted FAT32 with default cluster sizes.
Test on an XDAII (not XDAIIi)

Note that the new Elite Pro cards are also blue, like the standard ones.

[lydiachris]

Hi thankyou.
That is really amazing!!!! :D

Could you please look further into how your cards are formatted, i.e. cluster sizes.

Why FAT32??? Doesn't this cause lockups whilst your using tomtom????!!!!!
I thought that SD Cards usually work better with the FAT16 file system?

Actually, do you experience any lockups at all with tomtom???

Regarding the colour of the cards, what colour is your elite pro card???
Because if you go on the link that I posted above, they are actually the ultimate kingston card.
With 133X read / write etc...

Cheers,
lydiachris

[Fredrick_Fredrickson]

The manufacturer of Storage Tools says (http://www.softwinter.com/storagetools_faq.html):
Q: What file system I should use FAT12, FAT16 or FAT32?
A: It depends on the storage card size. For larger cards, 64MB and up, the answer is almost always FAT32. FAT32 can be incompatible with digital cameras.

My cluster size is:
256MB standard card: 512 bytes
1GB Elite pro: 4Kb

I've not had any trouble with lockups (touch wood)
My card colour is blue, but it is definitely an Elite Pro, not an Ultimate.

[bluebotle]

Hi,
For those experiencing lockups using TomTom 3 and XDA2i please look at my thread, its not the SD card its the Phone that causes the lockups.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=21002&highlight=

Cheers

Blue

[lydiachris]

Hi thankyou.

But how the hell do you turn your bluetooth on with flight mode enabled?!?!
It is impossible on a XDAIIi.

UNLESS your using a wired gps receiver?!?!?

[lydiachris]

I don't know if anyone is interested but I have done extensive testing on my XDAIIi with my Kingston Elite Pro 512MB SD Card.

Using Spb Benchmark

http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/benchmark/?en

and softwinter's storage tools

http://www.softwinter.com/storagetools.html

I have tried formatting my SD Card withmany various differnt set-ups.

I.e. differnt cluster sizes, FAT 16 and FAT 32, back-up FAT or not.

And by using the 'storage card' benchmark option on SPB Benchmark I have found that my Kingston Elte Pro card functions best and fastest by formatting it like this...

FAT16
512 byte Sector Size
64KB Cluster Size
Backup FAT - NO.

Hope this helps some people, maybe other people can try with their makes of storage card and post their results.

The next 'best' format was with..

FAT32
512 byte Sector Size
32KB Cluster Size
Backup FAT - NO

Also another observation I made was if you format the card using the first set up but have

Backup FAT - YES

There is a significant decrease in speed operation.

As I said above I format my cards in my XDAIIi or through my laptops media card reader.

Hope this helps!!
Happy testing 8)

Cheers,
lydiachris