Accessing many files on an SD card

charliearmoryco · 11-26-2007, 11:28 AM

My Kindle hasn't arrived yet, so excuse me if this is a dumb question.

A 4GB card can hold a lot of data. Reading the manual it didn't appear that it allows you to use a directory structure to organize your files. Are you just supposed to keep all your files at the root of the drive? A 4GB card could hold tens of thousands or documents. I'd hate to try to navigate through all of them in alphabetical order.

Nate the great · 11-26-2007, 12:12 PM

The underlying OS can use a directory structure, it just won't let you see it. My current workaround is to wait and let the Kindle index all the files, then use the search function to find stuff.

janiebegood · 11-28-2007, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

The underlying OS can use a directory structure, it just won't let you see it. My current workaround is to wait and let the Kindle index all the files, then use the search function to find stuff.

Ahhhhh. So the SD card may not be a viable option for housing stuff "off" the Kindle, since it won't have any kind of directory? I guess I had envisioned putting .prc files on the SD card and reading them straight off the card -- do you know if that's possible, Nate? Or is the card intended as another vehicle to move files from the computer to the Kindle, but not to read from?

The more I learn, the more excited I get -- I'm just hoping to get a realistic idea of the ways I'll be able to use it!

TallMomof2 · 11-28-2007, 01:57 PM

You can read an ebook off the card but my personal experience is that page turns are slower and it drains the battery faster.

janiebegood · 11-28-2007, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

You can read an ebook off the card but my personal experience is that page turns are slower and it drains the battery faster.

Thanks, TallMomof2! Is there any way to select from a list of file names if you're reading straight from the card?

TallMomof2 · 11-28-2007, 06:58 PM

The Kindle makes a listing of all your files as long as they are located in the proper folders. Your ebooks would be in the document folder on your SD card. There is also an Audible folder and an MP3 folder for the appropriate files.

In the Kindle listing it will indicate in a small box underneath the title the location of the file: Kindle, SD Card, or Amazon. Your choices for sorting the list are fairly primitive: Most Recent, Title, and Author. If you have a lot of books use the search function to find the particular book you want.

What I do is move the book from the SD Card to the Kindle when I read it to conserve the battery.

HTH

janiebegood · 11-28-2007, 09:07 PM

Thanks, TallMomof2! I'll play around with it when it finally arrives, see how workable it is. I appreciate the tip about moving it off the SD to conserve the battery.

badgoodDeb · 01-25-2008, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

The Kindle makes a listing of all your files as long as they are located in the proper folders. Your ebooks would be in the document folder on your SD card. There is also an Audible folder and an MP3 folder for the appropriate files.

HTH

[preface - my Kindle hasn't arrived yet either, so I'm collecting knowledge about how to use it]

Does the above mean that I can put books in a different folder, perhaps future-books and done-books, and they won't clutter the index on my Kindle main screen? I do this with my Palm.

Second question would be - is there a file manager on the Kindle which can move files from the SDcard/document/ folder into SDcard/done-books/ so they stop cluttering my index screen? Or move books from SDcard/future-books/ into SDcard/document/ when I'm ready to read them? Even if there is no file manager, I might be able to put the SDcard into my Palm to do that file moving. That way I could carry a bunch of future books with me, but not see *all* of them until I want to.

So -- would it work the way I've described?

TallMomof2 · 01-25-2008, 09:30 PM

Yes, you can definitely put books in a folder that the Kindle will not see. If you use MobiPocket 6.1 to send mobi files to the Kindle they will be put into a folder called ebooks. The Kindle doesn't "see" this folder so the files have to be moved by you while the Kindle and/or the SD card is connected to your computer.

The Kindle has a "Content Manager" that allows you to move files back and forth between Kindle memory and SD memory. But the content manager will not see any folders except the default folders so storing books in a different folder requires you to connect the Kindle to your computer to move them into the document folder.

So it won't work exactly how you want but it is doable as long as you connect to a computer.

11-26-2007, 11:28 AM	#1
charliearmoryco Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: Amazon Kindle	Accessing many files on an SD card My Kindle hasn't arrived yet, so excuse me if this is a dumb question. A 4GB card can hold a lot of data. Reading the manual it didn't appear that it allows you to use a directory structure to organize your files. Are you just supposed to keep all your files at the root of the drive? A 4GB card could hold tens of thousands or documents. I'd hate to try to navigate through all of them in alphabetical order.

11-26-2007, 12:12 PM	#2
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 8,208 Karma: 58191 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Airpanel 100, Jornada 720, Kindle, Smart Q7, Zelda has Sony 600 & 700	The underlying OS can use a directory structure, it just won't let you see it. My current workaround is to wait and let the Kindle index all the files, then use the search function to find stuff. __________________ Nate's Ebook News - www.natesebooknews.com

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11-28-2007, 01:57 PM	#4
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 1,050 Karma: 1589 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Iliad, Cybook Gen 3, Touch, Amazon Kindle 2 & DX, HTC Imagio	You can read an ebook off the card but my personal experience is that page turns are slower and it drains the battery faster.

11-28-2007, 06:58 PM	#6
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 1,050 Karma: 1589 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Iliad, Cybook Gen 3, Touch, Amazon Kindle 2 & DX, HTC Imagio	The Kindle makes a listing of all your files as long as they are located in the proper folders. Your ebooks would be in the document folder on your SD card. There is also an Audible folder and an MP3 folder for the appropriate files. In the Kindle listing it will indicate in a small box underneath the title the location of the file: Kindle, SD Card, or Amazon. Your choices for sorting the list are fairly primitive: Most Recent, Title, and Author. If you have a lot of books use the search function to find the particular book you want. What I do is move the book from the SD Card to the Kindle when I read it to conserve the battery. HTH

11-28-2007, 09:07 PM	#7
janiebegood Enthusiast Posts: 27 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: Kindle user since 12/07	Thanks, TallMomof2! I'll play around with it when it finally arrives, see how workable it is. I appreciate the tip about moving it off the SD to conserve the battery.

01-25-2008, 09:30 PM	#9
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 1,050 Karma: 1589 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Iliad, Cybook Gen 3, Touch, Amazon Kindle 2 & DX, HTC Imagio	Yes, you can definitely put books in a folder that the Kindle will not see. If you use MobiPocket 6.1 to send mobi files to the Kindle they will be put into a folder called ebooks. The Kindle doesn't "see" this folder so the files have to be moved by you while the Kindle and/or the SD card is connected to your computer. The Kindle has a "Content Manager" that allows you to move files back and forth between Kindle memory and SD memory. But the content manager will not see any folders except the default folders so storing books in a different folder requires you to connect the Kindle to your computer to move them into the document folder. So it won't work exactly how you want but it is doable as long as you connect to a computer.