Kobo touch drive mac reformat

[switch77]

Hey guys, I'm wondering if you can help me.

I have a kobo touch 2gb. While trying to get the reader to recognize a 2gb scandisk car, I accidentally reformatted the Kobo disk. What I'm wondering is, what is the proper format in Disk Utility (FAT, exFAT, Mac OS extended) I should format the Kobo drive to; and what steps do I take next?

Thanks for any help!

[simond]

I'd suggest FAT as it's usually the safest default.

[switch77]

Okay, I've formatted the Kobo drive as a MS-DOS (FAT) format.
I restarted the device, and it prompted a "connect to computer" prompt, telling me to check kobosetup.com for the kobo initialization file. The computer has no problem recognizing the MS-DOS (FAT) format. I downloaded KoBo Desktop, and plugged in the device. It's at this point that I'm now stuck, as the KoBo Desktop program can't recognize the device. It just hangs at the "plug in your eReader" prompt.

I'm guessing I need to install the firmware, but I'm not sure how I go about this. Sorry for the amateur question, guys, but does this sound like the right course of action? And if so, how do I install the firmware?

Just perform a manual factory reset. Instruction are here:

https://www.kobo.com/help/en-US/arti...r-kobo-ereader

Originally Posted by switch77

I'm guessing I need to install the firmware, but I'm not sure how I go about this. Sorry for the amateur question, guys, but does this sound like the right course of action? And if so, how do I install the firmware?

Kobo's eInk devices are fairly robust in this respect. The partition that you see on your computer is for your books, dictionaries, fonts, and configuration files. There is a second partition that contains the system software, and a third partition that contains a backup of the system software (as it shipped from the factory) and default configuration files. Doing a factory formats the user and system partitions, then copies over the backup system software and default configuration files. In other words, your Touch will be just like new.

[switch77]

BWinmill.

Thank you, BWinmill. The manual factory reset did the trick.

I should add that running the manual reset also updated the KoBo system, which it seems I hadn't updated for about a year.

I'm still caught on this 2gb MSDOS (FAT) formatted scan disk card. The system pops up stating that the Micro SD card cannot be read, please format as FAT32.

I've read that KoBo touch has trouble with SD cards larger than a few gigabites, so this seems unusual. I've heard that running the SDFormatter fixes this, but I've had no luck with it. Running the formatter took about 15 minutes.

Originally Posted by switch77

I'm still caught on this 2gb MSDOS (FAT) formatted scan disk card. The system pops up stating that the Micro SD card cannot be read, please format as FAT32.

I wish that I could help you on that front, but I've found that SD cards are rather temperamental. (It's not just a Kobo problem.)

[filmo]

I read that some SD card brands tend to have problems. I have never had problems with SD cards. Had one bad card reader that blew USB fuse on computer mother board.

[switch77]

So, we tried a 4gb MicroSD HC which worked instantly. The Reader identified the card and in the settings it added 4 gigs of memory under "Micro SD" below "Onboard Storage".

I'm not sure what the problem was with the 2GB Micro SD card, except that it was not an HC card. It's also odd that the reader had no problem with the 4GBs, despite what I've heard about KoBo touch having trouble with cards larger than 2GBs.

Anyway, thanks again for the help, everyone!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by switch77

So, we tried a 4gb MicroSD HC which worked instantly. The Reader identified the card and in the settings it added 4 gigs of memory under "Micro SD" below "Onboard Storage".

I'm not sure what the problem was with the 2GB Micro SD card, except that it was not an HC card. It's also odd that the reader had no problem with the 4GBs, despite what I've heard about KoBo touch having trouble with cards larger than 2GBs.

I don't remember any reports of issues with 4GB cards for a very long time. In the early days of the Touch there were some problems, but there haven't been recently. Most recent problems are with 32GB. From memory, most problems have been with particular brands rather than size.

But, did I read correctly that the 2GB card was formatted as FAT? ie. FA16 and not FAT32? If so, maybe that was the issue. Especially as that is what the error message said. And did you actually test the card in the device? I frequently see this error message with my Touch, but the card works. I think it has to do with not inserting the card cleanly.

[switch77]

Thank you for the information, Davidfor. Just to follow up, I've got the card here. It is a 2GB "SanDisk" Micro SD card. You're correct, that it is formatted as FAT16 (MS-DOS): I'm assuming the SDFormatter utility I used did this, as there is no option in Disk Utility to format for FAT16, and the default MS DOS (FAT) format seems to be FAT32.

Using Disk Utility, I reformatted the card. Now it comes up as a FAT32 volume. When I reinserted the disk into the KoBo, however, it still popped up the "couldn't recognize microSD card" error. The card is apparently not being read, as it does not appear in the KoBo settings either. I repeated this process to be sure.

The 4GB card that does work is a Toshiba MicroSD HC disk.