Now I have internal memory problems on my PP

[jusmee]

I plugged it into my wife's Windows machine to put a book on it, and when I tried to access the internal memory from explorer - everything hung. So, I disconnected to try it in my linux machine. Here I could see the files, but the internal drive showed as read only (the SD card was normal).

I tried to copy everything from the internal drive so I could format it, but linux complained about weird file and folder names - obviously corrupted. So I just copied the book files, then disconnected.

I then used the new reflash method reported here recently, holding down the lower lefthand button while powering on. This caused it to say it would clean the flash, but when it tried it reported

"Invalid block number 9"

then went on to reflash the firmware. Now when I connect to my computer, I get only the SD card showing up, the internal memory does not appear.

I checked with gparted, and linux believed there was no partition table on it. I put one on, and setup a fat16 partition, then formatted it. This got it working, but like others experienced, while computers can see it, the PP cannot.

I then tried the new reflash method, 'cleaning' it one more time, but still it shows an invalid block number 9.

[jusmee]

Oh, and you're going to LOVE this development. After my last attempt to reflash/clean it, I plugged it into my Windows 7 netbook. Windows said I needed to format the internal drive before I could use it, so what could it hurt? I said yes. Windows formatted it, and so I put a file on it to test.

When I unplugged it, the PP could see the test file !!!!

So, looks like these problems are not so straightforward after all.

[Dave_S]

I do not know if this has anything to do with your particular problem, but one good way to get PocketPRO's internal memory screwed up by Windows is to have "Optimize for Performance" selected in that USB device's properties. That will enable write caching, so it is easily possible that not all file system writes are completed at the time that the PocketPRO is removed from the USB cable. The safest setting for the PocketPRO USB device's properties is "Optimize for quick removal". This setting prevents write caching, so when the file copy dialog goes away the write to the PocketPRO is completely finished. Like I said, I do not know if this had anything to do with your problem, but I just wanted to mention it in case anyone else reading did not know about this simple safety measure.

[jusmee]

Yes, what you say makes sense. In my case, the wife's computer is Windows 2000, and it's a bit dumb wrt usb. I am sure a typical Windows bug caused this problem, and I was lucky to get out of it.

It is interesting that the inbuilt routines in the PP could not correct it, but Windows 7 managed to sort it out.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by jusmee

It is interesting that the inbuilt routines in the PP could not correct it, but Windows 7 managed to sort it out.

Yes, I wonder about that too!!!!!!!!!
When connecting to internal storage via USB, the Windows machine does not actually have direct access to the memory. Access to the memory would have to be simulated by the PocketPRO's microprocessor, and it would seem reasonable for it to take some precautions against accidents like mid transfer disconnections and erroneous or inappropriate commands. BUT, it does not seem to take any precautions. I have seen the Master Boot Record (MBR), or it's simulation on the PEZ, get corrupted on my PocketPRO because mine does function correctly at USB2.0 speeds.

[Sunspark]

For me it said invalid block 5.

The reason when you rebooted after there was nothing there is because the partition hadn't yet been created. You did that when you connected it to your WIN7 box.

I noticed the Win7 doesn't write a mbr/guid/whatever to the boot blocks while the other systems do.

If you aren't optimized for quick removal, you can use safely disconnect hardware instead.

Incidentally Dave_S, mine is usb1. benched it and the average write speed tends to be 1.5-2 mb/s 12 Mbps / 8 = 1.5 MBps. So it's definitely usb1. Now, in marketingspeak, it is also a usb2 device because it is part of the usb2 specification. It just isn't "usb 2.0 hi-speed certified". All your usb1 devices are usb2 devices as well, just not usb2 hi-speed.

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by Sunspark

If you aren't optimized for quick removal, you can use safely disconnect hardware instead.

Always do. But this time, I hadn't written anything to the device, I was just trying to open the drive in explorer. Explorer itself hung - not just the file manager, but the whole Windows desktop restarted itself.