Hacking Acekard setup question

[gramkracka22]

Hey im a new user and looking to be a long time user. I just ordered my acekard 2.1, and 4 gb SDHC card and well im more excited for this than christmas

I just wanted to make sure i know what im doing for when it arrives and was confussed.I heard if u have over a 2gb mermory card u gotta reformat it to fat32 which i dont know how or what that is and for the setup on the wiki

"Quick Guide
Format the microSD with the Panasonic formatter.
Download the current version of AKAIO
Follow in install guide below: Put the _aio folder and akmenu4.nds in the ROOT of your microSD card
Insert the microSD card firmly in a non-spring loaded (new shell) ak2.1 and ak2i. If your MSD slot is spring loaded make sure it "clicks."
Insert the Acekard firmly into your NDS, again make sure it clicks.
Boot up the NDS, select the Acekard from the firmware Slot-1 selection box, and enjoy "

do i really need the panasonic formatter? i heard from some people i know on an other site its just like clicking in properties, then format, then somehow chose fat 32 and then simply drag the custom firmwar in and ur done.

can someone pleas explain how i set up the acekard exactly because i am kinda confussed. TY ALOT for ne positive feedback

 

[Another World]

the quick guide is how to set it up exactly, so follow the quick guide. whats so confusing about a step-by-step guide that includes links to the different software parts you'll need?

http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/index.php/AKAIO#F.A.Q.

Why should I bother to use the Panasonic SD formatter? 
According to Panasonic "SD/SDHC Memory Card file systems formatted with generic operating system formatting software do not comply with the SD Memory Card specification." This means that your O/S's built in drive formatter is not designed to format the exact set of circumstances that allow your microSD cards to function at their peak performance. While this may not be important for your Cell phone, it is very important when talking about ROMs and read/write access speeds which pertain to NDS flash kits.

-another world

 

[gramkracka22]

the quick guide is how to set it up exactly, so follow the quick guide. i won't retype it here, its already in the wiki.

http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/index.php/AKAIO#F.A.Q.

Why should I bother to use the Panasonic SD formatter? 
According to Panasonic "SD/SDHC Memory Card file systems formatted with generic operating system formatting software do not comply with the SD Memory Card specification." This means that your O/S's built in drive formatter is not designed to format the exact set of circumstances that allow your microSD cards to function at their peak performance. While this may not be important for your Cell phone, it is very important when talking about ROMs and read/write access speeds which pertain to NDS flash kits.

-another world

i know about the wiki..i even posted the section in my question but im confussed about wether i have to format it to fat32 (what ever that is) and how

 

[Another World]

http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/index.php/AKAIO#F.A.Q.

Why should I bother to use the Panasonic SD formatter? 
According to Panasonic "SD/SDHC Memory Card file systems formatted with generic operating system formatting software do not comply with the SD Memory Card specification." This means that your O/S's built in drive formatter is not designed to format the exact set of circumstances that allow your microSD cards to function at their peak performance. While this may not be important for your Cell phone, it is very important when talking about ROMs and read/write access speeds which pertain to NDS flash kits. 

What is the difference between FAT32 and FAT16? 
The File Allocation Table FAT (also known as FAT16) standards were developed before large devices existed. Without getting into the specifics, the general rule of thumb is to format your less than 2GB non-SDHC cards at FAT16. Anything over 4GB should be formatted using FAT32. While you can force some formatters to format a 4GB card at FAT16 you will see a significantly negative performance impact. In some cases, on slower 2GB or less MSD cards you can adjust the cluster size to improve performance. (IE: format G: /Q /A:64k /FS:FAT). For more information please read the File Allocation Table WIKI.

if you know about the wiki, why aren't you reading it? i didn't add all that info for no reason. it's there so you don't have to ask these repetitive questions.

-another world

 

[gramkracka22]

http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/index.php/AKAIO#F.A.Q.

Why should I bother to use the Panasonic SD formatter? 
According to Panasonic "SD/SDHC Memory Card file systems formatted with generic operating system formatting software do not comply with the SD Memory Card specification." This means that your O/S's built in drive formatter is not designed to format the exact set of circumstances that allow your microSD cards to function at their peak performance. While this may not be important for your Cell phone, it is very important when talking about ROMs and read/write access speeds which pertain to NDS flash kits. 

What is the difference between FAT32 and FAT16? 
The File Allocation Table FAT (also known as FAT16) standards were developed before large devices existed. Without getting into the specifics, the general rule of thumb is to format your less than 2GB non-SDHC cards at FAT16. Anything over 4GB should be formatted using FAT32. While you can force some formatters to format a 4GB card at FAT16 you will see a significantly negative performance impact. In some cases, on slower 2GB or less MSD cards you can adjust the cluster size to improve performance. (IE: format G: /Q /A:64k /FS:FAT). For more information please read the File Allocation Table WIKI.

if you know about the wiki, why aren't you reading it? i didn't add all that info for no reason. it's there so you don't have to ask these repetitive questions.

-another world

right i'll take another look aboot it..ty and sry to be a nucence

 

[Another World]

i guess i should apend to the wiki, the panasonic formatter is smart software. that means it will know if you have a sd or sdhc msd and format accordingly.

-another world

 

[Kishire]

I kinda get what he means, and to be honest, I don't know how to format my 8GB SDHC card either, I never did though, and it seem to fine so I didn't bother. But I guess if I do, the performance will be even better? correct me if im wrong.

Okay so I guess the thing that I'm most confuse about is this:
"Format the microSD with the Panasonic formatter."

Now, how exactly do I 'format' my microSD card? and should I make a copy of all my roms files first before doing so? Sorry if its really obvious to format a microSD card but I've never done it before so I would appreciate the tutor.

 

[gramkracka22]

i guess i should apend to the wiki, the panasonic formatter is smart software. that means it will know if you have a sd or sdhc msd and format accordingly.

-another world

alright i understand why i gotta use panasonic now but im still lost on the fat32 thing

im reading the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocati...e#Fragmentation on it but its more about its history and shit and like comp engineering shit and not so much as how to format to that mode..if ne1 wants to help me on that last problem

 

[m-p{3}]

i guess i should apend to the wiki, the panasonic formatter is smart software. that means it will know if you have a sd or sdhc msd and format accordingly.

-another world

alright i understand why i gotta use panasonic now but im still lost on the fat32 thing

im reading the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocati...e#Fragmentation on it but its more about its history and shit and like comp engineering shit and not so much as how to format to that mode..if ne1 wants to help me on that last problem

Fragmentation is the result of spreading a file to different clusters in a partition when there is not enough coutinuous space to save it as a single stream of data. When a hard-drive needs to access a file, it has to look at the File Allocation Table to know where is stored the information (think of an index at the beginning of a book). Since the file might be scattered on the disk, the reading heads must move to the different clusters to obtain the data chunks it requires. On newer technologies (NAND), you actually have no physical pieces to move, which will not have any dramatic impact when a file is fragmented because the access time is much more instantaneous. One drawback of these faster media is that they have a limited amount of write cycles, so they will eventually become unusable.

That why you should NOT defragment under ANY consideration a Solid State Drive or NAND memory. It will just kill the media faster than supposed.

PS: Sorry for my less than perfect english.

 

[Another World]

actually that made perfect sense to me! =)

-another world