USB Flash Memory - Quick Questions

[risk_reversal]

Seasons Greetings to all.

I am currently using a 1Gb Corsair Flash Voyager drive [Model #: CMFUSB2.0-1GB] on Win98SE (4.10.2222A). I installed the Corsair supplied driver and the drive is working without any issues.

I have 2 quick questions

1. I wanted to purchase a larger such drive from Corsair (either the 4Gb or 8Gb of the same model ie CMFUSB2.0-4GB / 8GB) and was wondering whether 98SE would have any issues either detecting or working with these larger capacity sticks. Indeed, is there any limit applicable to 98SE 2nd edition in respect of these memory sticks.

2. Presumably the Corsair driver which I installed for the 1Gb stick would also work for the larger Corsair sticks ie 4/8Gb also.

Many thanks for any info provided

Cheers

Edited December 26, 2007 by risk_reversal

[amocanu]

a USB flash memory is used in a similar way as a hard drive, so i guess the only limit would be at 127GB.

The 4GB or 8GB versions will work flawlessly.

[dencorso]

2. Presumably the Corsair driver which I installed for the 1Gb stick would also work for the larger Corsair sticks ie 4/8Gb also.

The Corsair Flash Voyager 1 GB, 2 GB and 4 GB all use the same driver files, because all of them are employ the Prolific 2518 controller.

The Corsair Flash Voyager 8 GB, on the other hand, is a totally different beast, and employs a Silicon Motion SM321QF controller, so it uses a different driver.

I've used them all, and still use the Corsair Flash Voyager 8 GB with my Win 98 SE. I also use a Sony Micro Vault USM-E Plus-1GB and a Kingston Data Traveller II 4GB. But I have removed their original drivers a long time ago, and use only NUSB for all of them, nowadays.

If you decide to do so, after deleting the device in the Program Manager, I recommend you rename UMSSCORS.inf to UMSSCORS.old (in %windir%\INF), to prevent detection conflict, then installing NUSB, then redetecting uour flash drive(s). Then again, you can leave things as they are and just install the provided additional driver for the Corsair Flash Voyager 8 GB.

Edited December 26, 2007 by dencorso

[risk_reversal]

Many thanks for your very informative reply dencorso. Following your comments I did some more searching on the 'house of help' forum and have found an old and new win98 driver.

They are listed in RAMGUY's sig below

http://www.houseofhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53660

For complete clarity, I have 3 final questions please if you have the time.

1. The old win98 driver (which I have currently installed) is for the 1,2 & 4Gb Corsair memory sticks with the Prolific 2518 controller.

2. The new win98 driver is for the 8Gb (and over) memory stick running the Silicon Motion SM321QF controller.

Have I understood this correctly, and finally

3. Does the new win98 driver also work for the memory sticks with the Prolific 2518 controller ie 1,2 &4Gb.

Many thanks for your kind help

Cheers

[dencorso]

1. Yes, the old win98 driver is for the 1,2 & 4Gb (and also older, smaller than 1 GB) Corsair memory sticks with the Prolific 2518 controller.

2. Yes, the new win98 driver is for the 8Gb memory stick running the Silicon Motion SM321QF controller, that I know for a fact, and, I suppose, also the 16 GB and the 8 GB GT (It also works with the Sony Micro Vault USM-E Plus-1GB or 2GB, tha use the same controller, and, conversely, the Sony driver works with the 8 GB Corsair).

3. No. The old driver does work with the 0.5, 1, 2 & 4Gb Corsair Flash Voyagers, but *NOT* with the 8 GB Corsair Flash Voyager (and higher), and vice-versa.

Different controllers use different proprietary drivers, which are specific for the family of chips they were written for.

If you wish to use one driver only, which will recognize flawlessy all your Corsairs and mostly every other Mass Storage USB devices, you must switch over to NUSB (Maximus Decim Native USB drivers, about which there is a sticky topic on this forum). On the other hand, you may keep the driver you already have and just add the new win98 Corsair driver, because both can live side by side. The advantage of NUSB is that you can recognize lots of other devices too, without adding any new driver.

Happy holidays!

Edited December 27, 2007 by dencorso

[PassingBy]

Hmmm .....

I'd like to briefly clarify a few things about the usb storage drivers issue above.

From my past reading/understanding/fiddling/experimenting/blowing-things-to-bits, it does not matter what controller chipset is being used by the usb flash storage devices (Windows doesn't care about them unlike scsi/ide controllers). What matters most is the protocol that they use to 'talk' to windows. There are three primary protocols:

1. BO - Bulk only.

2. CBI - Control/Bulk/Interrupt.

3. CB - Control/Bulk.

(please refer to http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/usbfaq.mspx for more info)

Most (about 99%) usb flash drives uses bulk-only and will work 'natively' on WME, W2k & above. These OS have 'native' usb storage drivers, meaning that the built-in drivers are able to support all three protocols identified and filtered by their usb storage device class-protocol or by specific VID/PID.

Usb storage drivers issued by the manufacturers (if any) may have certain specific requirement. Usb fdd for example requires specific CBI support to work correctly. If a particular manufacturer driver set is a generic version (based on MS DDK sample) that supports all three protocol then it will work with any usb storage devices which uses any of the protocol. To make them work, add VID/PID of the usb device (or the usb device class & protocol filter) to the driver inf list and set the driver protocol flag. That's it ... and that's what NUSB is all about, putting together a set of native drivers with the required protocols that will work with all usb storage devices defined according to their class & protocols.

There are exceptions to the above whereby the usb storage device (ie. usb-ata/external hdds) requires vendor specific 'pass-through' commands. Fortunately, these seldom occurs nowadays. There's a few other technical issues that may affect proper usage but let's not go there ... I need another vacation ...

In summary, for the casual user, NUSB will be the recommended and easier alternative than figuring out the VID/PID and protocol flags.

Rgds

[risk_reversal]

dencorso, many thanks for taking the time to completely clarify.

PassingBy, it was most kind of you to take the trouble of going into such detail.

Although I dual boot several pcs (98SE/XP), my wife steadfastly uses 98SE on her pc and with the info provided at least I can now upgrade her memory stick with no probs. I may just go for the 4GB stick for ease but at least in future I will know how to proceed with larger capacities.

Cheers

[risk_reversal]

I received my 4Gb Corsair Flash Voyager drive today and it appears that the controller of this new drive is different to the one on my 1Gb Corsair. Reason being that when I connect the 4Gb drive to my win98 box which has the driver for the 1Gb Corsair drive, win98 displays the 'New Hardware Found' wizard.

It would appear that the new Corsair win98se driver is required for this drive to operate and I was just going to install that for ease.

My question is as follows and relates to installing this driver as there is no .exe file

The new win98 Corsair driver contains the following three files

- Smimbpdr.pdr

- Smimb.sys

- Smimb.inf

I suspect that to install this new driver, I need to right click on the Smimb.inf file and select install.

Here is a link to that file

http://www.houseofhelp.com/forums/showthre...ftware+Download

and click on link for Newer Win9x Driver for Flash Voyager located in RAM GUYS sig

Many thanks for any info provided

Cheers

[RainyShadow]

I suspect that to install this new driver, I need to right click on the Smimb.inf file and select install.

Wrong. You just point to the folder with these files when windows asks for a driver.

[Mijzelf]

When you insert the stick, windows asks for the driver. Then you point to the directory containing the files. If windows doesn't ask for the driver anymore because it already loaded the (wrong) driver, you can go to Device Manager, find trhe stick, and via properties choose 'Update driver', where you point to the right driver.

[PassingBy]

Hmmm .....

I've made a quick glance into your Corsair "new driver set" and saw that it is based on the MS DDK sample with very minor modifications. (In fact, most usb pendrives driver set (that I've seen) derives from the MS driver sample with almost no or little modifications ...) Therefore it does not matter what controller the Corsair drive uses ...

The reason for the "New Hardware Found" wizard to appear is because the VID/PID (Vendor ID + Product ID) has yet to be registered in the device tree, hence the drivers are not loaded. If you're up to it, adding VID/PID (if it's not the same) to the .inf file will do the trick ... and ... no, these drivers are not loaded by right-clicking to install .....

I'd recommend that you use NUSB and you will no longer have to fiddle with what driver for which pendrive. Perhaps you are unaware that the NUSB driver set originated from MS (and used as a base for WinME, W2K and XP) ?

So, go get your W98 specific version from here :

http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/usbmsd98.php

Install it (remember: follow the instructions) and enjoy ...

Rgds

[risk_reversal]

RainyShadow & Mijzelf, many thanks for your directions. Much appreciated.

PassingBy, I was made aware of NUBS by dencorso who replied to my thread above and I must admit that it is a more elegant solution.

However, since my wife now needs her 98se to finish her thesis now would be a bad time for mishaps on my part.

The reason for the "New Hardware Found" wizard to appear is because the VID/PID (Vendor ID + Product ID) has yet to be registered in the device tree, hence the drivers are not loaded. If you're up to it, adding VID/PID (if it's not the same) to the .inf file will do the trick ... and ... no, these drivers are not loaded by right-clicking to install .....

Are you saying that I could edit the .inf file to the current ie old (Corsair) windows driver that is installed for my current Corsair 1gb stick and add the VID/VIP. I did try to look for any corsair .inf file in C:\windows\inf but found nothing that looked like a likely candidate. Furthermore, even if I found the .inf file I am not sure what the VID/VIP are.

The controller on the 1Gb Corsair which I have currently installed is Prolific as stated by my Device Manager.

Many thanks for your kind info

Cheers

[PassingBy]

Hmmm .....

Are you saying that I could edit the .inf file to the current ie old (Corsair) windows driver that is installed for my current Corsair 1gb stick and add the VID/VIP. I did try to look for any corsair .inf file in C:\windows\inf but found nothing that looked like a likely candidate. Furthermore, even if I found the .inf file I am not sure what the VID/VIP are.

Yes. The adjustments can also be made to the "new Corsair driver set" or any suitable driver set for that matter. My apologies for not having the patience to guide you through the required adjustments. Suffice to say that if you know how to identify the VID/PID (hint: it's in HKLM\ENUM\USB section) then you can proceed else better to look for a quicker alternative ...

If your win98 fulfills the basic criteria for NUSB (ie. W98 FE/SE ENGLISH !) and your system's age is roughly less than 8 years old (pentium II or pentium III or Athlon) then it is a safe bet that NUSB will work just fine.

The easiest and safest alternative right now for you would be to get NUSB, extract it to a folder and point windows to that folder when it detects your new corsair pendrive. This will only install the usb storage driver for your pendrive without installing the rest of the package. You can install the full NUSB package later when you're have the luxury to do so ...

Rgds

[dencorso]

I received my 4Gb Corsair Flash Voyager drive today and it appears that the controller of this new drive is different to the one on my 1Gb Corsair. Reason being that when I connect the 4Gb drive to my win98 box which has the driver for the 1Gb Corsair drive, win98 displays the 'New Hardware Found' wizard.

It would appear that the new Corsair win98se driver is required for this drive to operate and I was just going to install that for ease. [...]

Hi, risk_reversal!

I'm sorry I misinformed you. I've never seen any Corsair Flash Voyager smaller than 8GB with an SMI chip. But your info shows that Corsair has dumped the Prolific chips for the smaller Voyagers also. Thanks for the heads up!

Edited January 6, 2008 by dencorso

[risk_reversal]

No prob dencorso. In truth, I got the 4Gb since I did not want to spend that much on a flash drive. This time next year the 16Gb will be selling for the same price as the 4Gb.

In respect of the controller and FYG, I understand that 2Gb and over models now have the Silicon Motion controller, the others ie under 2Gb have not.

Good Luck