lost MicroDrive

[saulo866]

Dear All

recently, without any warnings, I lost the internal MicroDrive! I mean, it is no more detected. I am only capable of using my SD mini now.
settings > memory>pnly Storage Card (SD MINI) appears.

What can it be? Hardware failure?
What shall I do, since my athena is out of warranty and probably repairing this hard drive is even more expensive than buying a new unit.

If I launch "Format MicroDrive" I get: "The Microdrive cannot be accessed"

Will upgrade my ROM provide any help?

Details:
ROM: 2.19.707.4
Rom date: 07/06/07
rdio: 1.45.00.10
protocol: 32.78.7020
ExtROM: 2.19.707.101

Thanks a lot
Saulo866

[saulo866]

I forgot to mention hardware details:

CPU: PXA270
Speed: 624MHz
RAM: 128MB
Flash: 256MB

Thanks and waiting
Saulo

[Palmchen]

Have you tried a <hardreset> ?
take a look in the wiki to make a hardreset. please test and report ...

btw: make a backup first...

[hansgnilsson]

Hi
I have had the same problem and I had to replace my x7500.
But soon there will be microsdhc card with 16gb. I think this will be cheaper than buying a new device. Hans

[saulo866]

Hallo Palmchen

Yes I did a hard reset, by using: settings > system > clear Storage...

Did I do the right thing? Or can you suggest me a different type "hard-reset" a more deep one?

Thanks and waiting
Saulo

[eaglesteve]

Hallo Palmchen

Yes I did a hard reset, by using: settings > system > clear Storage...

Did I do the right thing? Or can you suggest me a different type "hard-reset" a more deep one?

Thanks and waiting
Saulo

Pull down the volume button, and while keeping it pulled down, poke your stylus into the reset hole.

Then press action button. Then follow the prompt..

[saulo866]

Thanks Eaglesteve

I have the hard reset, as per your instructions.

During the process, I was asked to Format MicroDrive...I accepted and I got NO error messages.

Now I have a clean unit.

I go to settings > system > memory and the MicroDrive is NOT there!

What shall I do more to make it "reappear"?

Thanks a lot
Saulo

[yokomcperez]

The same happened to me.

iLauncher was installed so I tried the option to restart in safe mode that appears when you soft-reset twice in less than 1 minute. That gave access to the microdrive and I backed up everything to a folder in the pc via WM5 just in case. Then soft-reseted again and everything was fine again.

[sumtingwong]

Don't hold your breath. Your MicroDrive will get f*cked up AGAIN!!!! It's as sure as death and taxes. It's a never-ending cycle of hard-resetting, recovering, reusing, getting f*cked up AGAIN!!!, hard-resetting, recovering, etc... I have given up on using the stupid MicroDrive long ago. Sending your Athena back for repair will end up with a refurbished piece of junk getting sent back to you. Do yourself a big favor, avoid the pending aggrevation, go buy an 8GB MiniSD (on sale at Fry's Electronics for around $45) and forget about the MicroDrive!!!

[lakeman]

Thanks Eaglesteve

I have the hard reset, as per your instructions.

During the process, I was asked to Format MicroDrive...I accepted and I got NO error messages.

Now I have a clean unit.

I go to settings > system > memory and the MicroDrive is NOT there!

What shall I do more to make it "reappear"?

Thanks a lot
Saulo

This is an annoying limitation and searching finds many threads and I put an entry into the wiki about this as well.

You can refind the microdrive by going to Settings/system/format microdrive and use the dropdown menu to "Recover Microdrive"

You will of course lose all your data.
I dont store any data from applications on the microdrive and recently forgot why.
I had the camera store photos on it and it crashed several times till i remembered and changed this
hth

[eaglesteve]

Don't hold your breath. Your MicroDrive will get f*cked up AGAIN!!!! It's as sure as death and taxes. It's a never-ending cycle of hard-resetting, recovering, reusing, getting f*cked up AGAIN!!!, hard-resetting, recovering, etc... I have given up on using the stupid MicroDrive long ago. Sending your Athena back for repair will end up with a refurbished piece of junk getting sent back to you. Do yourself a big favor, avoid the pending aggrevation, go buy an 8GB MiniSD (on sale at Fry's Electronics for around $45) and forget about the MicroDrive!!!

I don't think storage card is any better. In my case my microdrive and storage card failed twice each in 16 months. I install all my applications on my microdrive without any issue. My storage card is only for movies, videos, pictures, and musics. In that way I can have unlimited memory by just swapping the cards.

[cktlcmd]

In all my laptops, it took them only 2-3 years... tops, and the first thing that had to be fixed and replaced was the hard drive. It does not matter what brand. I guess, I just don't trust them. So just go get the Micro SD card, never had any problems with all of mine. I still have my VERY FIRST 256 MB SD card, back when it was still considered as BIG already, and it still works like brand new.

[eaglesteve]

Similarly I have notebook which is even more than 10 years old with harddisk still running fine. It is not always the first thing to go. In some of my computers, it is the video card that goes first. In others, it is the DVD-drive.

If you search the net, you will find many people having problem with SD cards. Such as reported here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=346301
http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=5907&posts=4
I have also twice lost everything on my SD card.

Just goes to show that you need to have a procedure to recover.

For me, if I lose my microdrive, it is not a big deal, as I have a copy of that on my PC. I simply reformat and copy the programs (My microdrive contains mainly the programs, and some selected data files) back there. I also am able to recover by the procedure below:

When I do backup, I have two schedule. One will backup to my microdrive and another will back up to my storage card. It is not likely that I encounter problem with BOTH at the same time. So, I'm ALWAYS able to recover a day or two old's data depending on which one I'm recovering from.

In addition, I have another storage card which is the backup of my microdrive. This I do occasionally as it takes quite a while to write to SD card. But if I'm going for a extended trip without any other means of recovery, I'd bring along that backup SD card.

Like I said, installing programs in microdrive allows me unlimited space as I can swap in and out storage cards without affecting the working of any programs. It is faster than the storage card too, and to me, there is no extra risk of losing files wherever you install your programs.

Bottom line is: while there is no guarantee that the drive will work all the time, there is no need to stay far away from it. With some usual backup procedures, there is really no need to worry at all.

[rezam]

Dear Friend:
If you saw my old topic in this forum i had this problem for about 6 mounth ago, finally i sent my athena X7500 to the registered service center and after 1 moth they sent it back to me with more and more physical and hardware fault and hits !( I live in IRAN )
and this problem occured again for about one mounth later,
one day I install the "Card Export 3.12" on my device and connect my device as a usb mass storage device, and i saw that my microdrive is re-appeared again! :D I advice you that test this way , I lost my Microdrive again and I recovered it with this trick , I think this problem is occurred because of a driver problem or somthing non-harware error like this .
do it and inform me the result, if this problem solved , please someone that is fluent in english write a letter of this problem that i can send it to HTC support to tell them do a official way for cover this problem,excuse me because of my very bad english.

[eaglesteve]

Dear Friend:
If you saw my old topic in this forum i had this problem for about 6 mounth ago, finally i sent my athena X7500 to the registered service center and after 1 moth they sent it back to me with more and more physical and hardware fault and hits !( I live in IRAN )
and this problem occured again for about one mounth later,
one day I install the "Card Export 3.12" on my device and connect my device as a usb mass storage device, and i saw that my microdrive is re-appeared again! :D I advice you that test this way , I lost my Microdrive again and I recovered it with this trick , I think this problem is occurred because of a driver problem or somthing non-harware error like this .
do it and inform me the result, if this problem solved , please someone that is fluent in english write a letter of this problem that i can send it to HTC support to tell them do a official way for cover this problem,excuse me because of my very bad english.


Sounds like the problem comes from the microdrive driver. I think it makes sense. Wu posted long time ago that before HTC acquire dopod the microdrive in Htc athena was not as good as that of dopod u1000. May be that's why my dopod u1000 is so much problem free.

[rezam]

Sounds like the problem comes from the microdrive driver. I think it makes sense. Wu posted long time ago that before HTC acquire dopod the microdrive in Htc athena was not as good as that of dopod u1000. May be that's why my dopod u1000 is so much problem free.

thank you dear eaglesteve
And so Is there any way to solve this problem more offical than my trick?for example a new driver?or sth like that

[bluesbrothers93]

we looking for way to make recognize SSD instead Microdrive

do you identify the Microdrive Driver ?