Hacking Why is it so important to use Panasonic SDFormatter on Acekard

[Hotness1]

Just wondering

 

[Evo.lve]

According to Panasonic, your mSD card has slightly different specs to the type of cart that your reader has (regular SD card or USB) so Windows formats it as the SD card or the USB, whereas Panasonic's formatter recognises it as a microSD card.

That's what I think anyway, it's something like that.

But if you have a Mac the default formatter is fine.

 

[twiztidsinz]

According to Panasonic, your mSD card has slightly different specs to the type of cart that your reader has (regular SD card or USB) so Windows formats it as the SD card or the USB, whereas Panasonic's formatter recognises it as a microSD card.

That's what I think anyway, it's something like that.

But if you have a Mac the default formatter is fine.
Actually, it's according to the SD Association, the people who determine the standardized specs for the Secure Digital cards of all types, that the formatters don't format it properly.
And I believe that the Mac default formatting is no better than the Windows -- Both will work, but are not optimal.

SD Formatter 2.0:

This software formats all SD memory cards and SDHC memory cards using a formatting program that complies with official SD memory card requirements. SD formatting provides quick and easy access to your SD memory card. This program may only be used on Windows® 2000, Windows® XP and Windows® Vista®.

SD or SDHC memory card file systems formatted with generic operating system formatting software do not comply with official SD memory card requirements and optimum performance may not be experienced.SD Formatter 3.0 Beta:QUOTE

The SD Formatter was created specifically for SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards. It is strongly recommended to use the SD Formatter instead of formatting utilities provided with operating systems which format various types of storage media. These generic utilities may result in less than optimal performance for SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards.

The SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards have a "Protected Area" on the card for the SD security function. The SD Formatter does not format the "Protected Area". Please use appropriate application software or SD host device which provides SD security function to format the "Protected Area" in the card.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

It only becomes important when you try and play games with AP, read/writes to the microSD becomes a factor at this point. Any errors in the file system structure becomes a problem real fast and very apparent to user.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

If you haven't had a problem with your MicroSD, there's no need to even touch the Panasonic thing. I haven't had a single problem, and I've just been using Windows Formatter with FAT.

 

[Ythan]

As far as I can tell, it's a myth that gets perpetuated because people don't know any better. Panasonic SD Formatter does exactly two things, it creates 4MB of unallocated space to store keys for CPRM copy protection, and reformats with a 32K cluster size to improve access speed. Unless you want to play DRM-protected media, you don't have to worry about CPRM. And there are numerous ways to specify the cluster size when formatting media, eg. 'format x: /Q /FS:FAT32 /A:32K' in Windows.

I'm sure people will continue to suggest the SD Formatter as a cure-all for Acekard problems, but I think that advice is generally misguided.

 

[Rydian]

AFAIK it redoes the partitioning, some people have had issues with the partition size/location, which this is an easy fix for (as using the windows formatter keeps the partition table intact AFAIK).

 

[twiztidsinz]

As far as I can tell, it's a myth that gets perpetuated because people don't know any better. Panasonic SD Formatter does exactly two things, it creates 4MB of unallocated space to store keys for CPRM copy protection, and reformats with a 32K cluster size to improve access speed. Unless you want to play DRM-protected media, you don't have to worry about CPRM. And there are numerous ways to specify the cluster size when formatting media, eg. 'format x: /Q /FS:FAT32 /A:32K' in Windows.

I'm sure people will continue to suggest the SD Formatter as a cure-all for Acekard problems, but I think that advice is generally misguided.

I dunno... When I first got my 4GB SDHC I had formatted it with windows since it arrived essentially the day after I ordered it (ordered it Tuesday night, arrived Thursday) while my AK2i arrived 8 days after ordering.
When I started to use it on my AceKard I didn't re-format it, just deleted all the files. Games loaded at a relatively fine speed, I would say about the same as on my R4 with 2GB MicroSD, so I didn't think much of it.
After AKAIO 1.5.1(?) had an issue with the settings being borked on soft reset, I formatted my card using the Panasonic SD Formatter (solved the problem of the erased settings on soft reset) and it felt like games loaded faster. I cannot say for sure if they did or if it just seemed that way, or if they DID load faster if it was because I had a fresh format, however games still feel like they load faster and I haven't formatted the card since.

Again, this is just how it seems and I have no data/evidence to back up my claim, so take it with a grain of salt.
Maybe if I feel up to it, I'll dig up the DS Latency tester app (I just deleted) and do some tests with the DS app/Windows Copy/HDTach and post my results... maybe.

 

[joshbean39]

i use windows formatter only time i had a problem with my micro sd wen my brother pulled it out wen i was putting my games on from the last microw sd

 

[Hotness1]

As far as I can tell, it's a myth that gets perpetuated because people don't know any better. Panasonic SD Formatter does exactly two things, it creates 4MB of unallocated space to store keys for CPRM copy protection, and reformats with a 32K cluster size to improve access speed. Unless you want to play DRM-protected media, you don't have to worry about CPRM. And there are numerous ways to specify the cluster size when formatting media, eg. 'format x: /Q /FS:FAT32 /A:32K' in Windows.

I'm sure people will continue to suggest the SD Formatter as a cure-all for Acekard problems, but I think that advice is generally misguided.
I dunno... When I first got my 4GB SDHC I had formatted it with windows since it arrived essentially the day after I ordered it (ordered it Tuesday night, arrived Thursday) while my AK2i arrived 8 days after ordering.
When I started to use it on my AceKard I didn't re-format it, just deleted all the files. Games loaded at a relatively fine speed, I would say about the same as on my R4 with 2GB MicroSD, so I didn't think much of it.
After AKAIO 1.5.1(?) had an issue with the settings being borked on soft reset, I formatted my card using the Panasonic SD Formatter (solved the problem of the erased settings on soft reset) and it felt like games loaded faster. I cannot say for sure if they did or if it just seemed that way, or if they DID load faster if it was because I had a fresh format, however games still feel like they load faster and I haven't formatted the card since.

Again, this is just how it seems and I have no data/evidence to back up my claim, so take it with a grain of salt.
Maybe if I feel up to it, I'll dig up the DS Latency tester app (I just deleted) and do some tests with the DS app/Windows Copy/HDTach and post my results... maybe.

i use windows formatter only time i had a problem with my micro sd wen my brother pulled it out wen i was putting my games on from the last microw sd

I think some people just get luckier with formatting than others


QUOTE(twiztidsinz @ Dec 14 2010, 07:53 PM)

Maybe if I feel up to it, I'll dig up the DS Latency tester app (I just deleted) and do some tests with the DS app/Windows Copy/HDTach and post my results... maybe.

Please do. I would like to see the results.

 

[Presto99]

I've never used the Panasonic SD formatter on any of my SD cards, and I have used a few, on different flashcards, and haven't had a problem. If I needed to format it, Windows can do it just fine. I don't see why the Panasonic one could really help.

 

[Hakoda]

I've never used the Panasonic SD formatter on any of my SD cards, and I have used a few, on different flashcards, and haven't had a problem. If I needed to format it, Windows can do it just fine. I don't see why the Panasonic one could really help.

Don't fix what's not broken

 

[TheDruid]

I had some issue with games that are 256MB in size. Sometimes deleting the file from the SD card and re-copying it over worked. Sometimes I had to delete and recreate the save files. I got errors that some forum members classified as due to the microSD card's speed.

I copied all files off, formatted with the Panasonic SD formatter, and copied all the files back. Had not have had an issue since. I agree with Ythan that probably the speed increase is due to the 32K cluster size and you can do that with an OS formatter. Read speed would not be affected.

Now there is one thing that the Panasonic formatter will do to an SD card and is bring its (write) speed back to what it was when you bought it. An OS formatter is not able to properly erase a card, so all writes will eventually have to perform an (expensive) erase cycle before writing. With the SD formatter all blocks are marked erased correctly, so writes should be faster for a while (must pick the ERASE ON option). I do not believe the write speed impacts your ability to run the games though.

 

[Deleted-236924]

As far as I can tell, it's a myth that gets perpetuated because people don't know any better. Panasonic SD Formatter does exactly two things, it creates 4MB of unallocated space to store keys for CPRM copy protection, and reformats with a 32K cluster size to improve access speed. Unless you want to play DRM-protected media, you don't have to worry about CPRM. And there are numerous ways to specify the cluster size when formatting media, eg. 'format x: /Q /FS:FAT32 /A:32K' in Windows.

I'm sure people will continue to suggest the SD Formatter as a cure-all for Acekard problems, but I think that advice is generally misguided.

It doesn't hurt to use SDFormatter, no?
If it indeed makes no difference, then it shouldn't matter whether people use the Windows formatter or Panasonic's formatter.

 

[DaMummy]

people who use the, "if it aint broke, dont fix it" have never used panasonic sd formatter, and even when formatted with 32bit cluster in windows, it still performs better when done with panasonic formatter, why, is beyond me, but it simply performs better and faster