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SDHC & micro-SDHC card readers for Windows 98


Multibooter

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Also, to identify a controller, you may want to use Chipgenius, that usually finds more info than other utilities...cannot say how useful this can be with SD cards and the like or if it will even run on Win98

ChipGenius v2.64 (runs under WinXP, does not run under Win98)

Quite useful utility for SDHC card readers, for some card readers it identifies the chip used. Does not tell whether a card reader works with SDHC or just with SD cards. Very handy for documenting your card readers: in contrast to ListUsbDrives v1.7.8, the displayed info can be transferred with copy & paste. No installation, just double-click on the .exe Added to my toolbox. Download location: http://www.mydigit.cn/mytool/chipgenius.rar

An excellent list of controller chips, including chips in SDHC card readers, is contained in: http://www.hjreggel.net/cardspeed/info-controller.html Amazing, 24 manufacturers of controller chips for card readers & memory cards. BUT: Knowing the manufacturer of the controller chip still doesn't give you a Win98 driver for the card reader.

Edited by Multibooter
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Huge boot record of Panasonic Formatter

The 4GB card freshly formatted by Panasonic Formatter had a boot record of 3.064MB (6276 sectors), possibly with special instructions for the controller inside the SDHC card. Maybe this has something to do with the copy-protection scheme of the SD card controller. When the card was reformatted by Acronis Disk Director to FAT32, cluster size 16kB, the boot record was reduced to 16kB (32 sectors). It could be interesting to look into the huge boot sector created by Panasonic Formatter, which may give a clue why the Panasonic Formatter creates fast cards, while the other formatting software creates slow cards.

When I looked with Paragon Partition Manager 9.0 RecoveryCD v8.08 (NOT the Windows software, but the CD which apparently boots from Linux a different version) I made an interesting discovery: The Recovery CD saw a 4GB SDHC card, freshly formatted by Panasonic Formatter, as having 2 partitions! The 1st partition was displayed as File system: Free, Size: 4.0MB. The 2nd partition was displayed as File system: FAT32, Size: 3.7GB. Somehow the RecoveryCD kept Panasonic's code in a separate partition.

I then created with the RecoveryCD a multi-partition SDHC by just using the space originally occupied by the 2nd partition, leaving the Panasonic code in tiny partition 1 untouched. I created 3 primary partitions. When booting into WinXP, I put this 4GB card into a card reader which was set by Hitachi Filter Driver to fixed, and then copied my standard 122MB of photo files onto these fixed partitions. The speed increase was substantial:

Partition 2: FAT32, 1289 MB - 85 seconds = 1.43 MB/sec

Partition 3: NTSF, 2080 MB - 180 seconds = 0.68 MB/sec

Partition 4: FAT16, the remainder (about 480MB) - 105 seconds = 1.16 MB/sec

In a 2nd test I created an extended partition containing 3 logical partitions of similar size, each partition 32kb cluster size (=64 sectors/cluster)

Partition 2: FAT32 - 75 seconds = 1.63 MB/sec (FAT32 in the single extended partition is therefore faster)

Partition 3: NTSF - 200 seconds = 0.61 MB/sec

Partition4: FAT16 - 107 seconds = 1.14 MB/sec

In a 3rd test I created a similar extended partition containing 3 logical partitions, but this time each partition had a 16kB cluster size (=32 sectos/cluster)

Partition 2: FAT32 - 83 seconds = 1.47 MB/sec

Partition 3: NTSF - 210 seconds = 0.58 MB/sec

Partition 4: FAT16 - 132 seconds = 0.93 MB/sec

This contrasts with a previous similar test of Acronis Disk Director 10 under Win98: 132 seconds = 0.92 MB/sec as top speed of an SDHC card formatted by Acronis. Because the RecoveryCD somehow leaves the special code by Panasonic intact, it can create the by far fastest multi-partition SDHC cards. Paragon Partition Manager 9.0 RecoveryCD boots into Linux 2.6.18.2-34-paragon & recognizes an SDHC card in an USB 1.1 port and in a USB 2.0 add-on PCCard. Paragon Partition Manager 9.0 RecoveryCD is the TOP TOOL for creating multi-partition SDHC cards.

Maybe some more tricks can be found to bring the speed of multi-partition SDHC cards up to the 4.06 MB/sec of the class 4 SDHC card formatted as a single partition by Panasonic Formatter

Edited by Multibooter
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SDHC & micro-SDHC card readers are essential add-ons for Win98

SDHC cards are removable media, comparable to Jaz, zip and plain floppy disks, in sizes currently from 1-32GB. Now is the last moment to buy card readers which have working Win98 drivers, eventually they will be gone. I don't expect large capacity USB-sticks with Win98 drivers to be available in 1-2 years, but SDHC cards for your Win98-compatible card reader will be around for many more years. The media wears out, maybe after writing 10.000 times the capacity of the card/stick.

As I post, this I'm using a 32GB Corsair Flash Voyager, which works perfectly, being recognized by NUSB without any problem. Now, if 32GB isn't large enough, I'm also using a 500GB USB IOMEGA HDD, partitioned in two 250GB partitions, one primary and the other logical, inside an extended partition. I have also used it as a single primary 500GB partition (that chokes NDD32, that's why I've split it in two). NUSB also recognizes the USB HDD without any issue. So, I don't think we have any problem with Win 9x/ME-compatible support for Mass Storage Devices at present (thanks to Maximus-Decim :thumbup). In my experience, all USB Flash Drives based on SMI's SM321/SM324 controllers are guaranteed to work flawlessy with the current NUSB, although many other controllers also work. It seems that even now another Corsair Flash Voyager is hitting the market, and it's a 64GB. Can anyone confirm it also uses the same family of SMI controllers as as all 8-32GB Flash Voyagers also use? (Older 1-4GB Flash Voyagers used Prolific 2518 controller, that also works with NUSB, but most machines refuse to boot from them). And what about the Flash Voyager GT, do anyone have experience with them and Win 9x/ME?

And, BTW, I'm using Chip Genius 2.64 with my Win 98SE and it works OK...

[...]but nusb is more for advanced users with a lot of time to burn.
I must disagree here also: NUSB is a mature package, that you install once, and it returns you the true bliss of having device after device recognized and working thenceforward.

Please don't take me wrong: I'm not feeling particularly confrontational, and I do think this topic is relevant and that you're doing a great job with it. I do not intend to hijack the topic. SDHC & micro-SDHC rock, and you do too! :thumbup

Edited by dencorso
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SDHC & micro-SDHC card readers are essential add-ons for Win98 I don't expect large capacity USB-sticks with Win98 drivers to be available in 1-2 years
Hi dencorso,

Thanks for the correction, it should read "with manufacturer-provided Win98 drivers". NUSB is a great generic driver for USB-sticks, SDHC card readers, external HDDs, external floppy drives and other USB mass storage devices, especially for devices which are not supported by their manufacturers under Win98. So most large-capacity USB-sticks on the horizon WILL most likely be able to run under Win98 with NUSB, even when "Windows 98" is not on the box anymore.

I prefer however to use as much as possible manufacturer-provided drivers for mass storage devices, some stored data can be critical. When a manufacturer provides a driver for Win98, it (should) mean that the device has actually been tested by the manufacturer under Win98. NUSB has worked fine for me on unsupported devices, but don't forget the comment by Maximus Decim when you install NUSB: "Remember! You install it at own risk!"

NUSB will be put into my listing "Toolbox for SDHC cards" http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...st&p=802886 It's possibly the most important tool there, I will list it after being more informed about the uninstall, NUSB makes a lot of system updates http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...st&p=802886 You are particularly knowledgeable about NUSB, your info would be greatly appreciated.

NUSB is a mature package, that you install once, and it returns you the true bliss of having device after device recognized and working thenceforward.
Maybe some improvement in the readme.txt file, but which great programmer likes to document?

If you want a single driver for all your USB mass storage devices NUSB is truly great and simple. But when you want to use NUSB only for those USB devices which don't have a Win98 driver, and for your other USB devices you want to keep on using the manufacturer-provided drivers, it may get complicated, esp. for USB devices where you have to specify the location of the manufacturer-provided driver during installation.

Some manufacturer-provided drivers have special features, like the one for the BusLink USB floppy, which allows under Win98 the assignment of drive letter B: to the USB floppy. Then there are special drivers for USB combo eSata-USB enclosures, the MSI StarReader which can read SIM-cards and which updates the ASPI layer, etc.

The automaticity of NUSB can be overcome by (temporarily) renaming \INF\Usbstor.inf and usbstor.PNF before installing a device with its own manufacturer-provided USB driver.

Question: For the emtec card readers I want to use the manufacturer-provided driver, but that driver does not install an eject-utility in the system tray. How can I use the manufacturer-provided driver but have the emtec card reader included in the NUSB eject-utility in the system tray (i.e. use only the NUSB eject utility, but not the NUSB driver)?

Edited by Multibooter
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The automaticity of NUSB can be overcome by (temporarily) renaming \INF\Usbstor.inf and usbstor.PNF before installing a device with its own manufacturer-provided USB driver.
Yes, that's the best way of doing it. On the other hand, if you want to exclude some storage medium more permanently, you always can comment (i.e. add a semicolon before) its entries in usbstor.inf. By comparing the usbstor.infs for NUSB 3.1 and 3.3, its easy to see how it's done. I've uploaded just the .infs here, for their easy retrieval.
Question: For the emtec card readers I want to use the manufacturer-provided driver, but that driver does not install an eject-utility in the system tray. How can I use the manufacturer-provided driver but have the emtec card reader included in the NUSB eject-utility in the system tray (i.e. use only the NUSB eject utility, but not the NUSB driver)?
I don't believe it can be done... Then again, for all storage media that identify themselves as "removable media", windows will add "Eject" to the context menu, so one can always right-click on the device icon in explorer or my_computer, and select "Eject", to attain that result. Or eject them from the command-line, using the handy Dave Navarro's freeware EJECT v2.02. On the third hand, for external USB HDDs (which always identify themselves as "non-removable", for Win NT/XP to allow them to have multiple partitions), things get nasty without NUSB, so I think it becomes mthe "Removable"andatory to use NUSB, even if just to have them appear in the eject-utility in the system tray. BTW, ticking the "Removable" checkbox in My_Computer -> Properties -> Device Manager -> Disk Drives -> <right-click the external USB HDD's icon> -> Properties -> Settings is required for Win 9x/ME to assign letters for all partitions. But even with "Removable" selected Win 9x/ME won't add "Eject" to the context menu of a the "non-removable" medium.
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Nintendo will release on Nov.1 its Nintendo DS-I, available in the rest of the world early 2009:

- no GBA slot

- SD slot (=built-in SD card reader)

http://www.t3.com/news/nintendo-ds-i-confi...-in-2009?=36840

"They have ditched the GBA slot for an SD card one so people will download GBA titles from their online store which would be saved on the removable device. A smart move."

http://forums.maxconsole.net/showthread.php?p=1038499

P.S.: Without a GBA slot, the add-on cards like R4-III DS, SuperCard & Co, will not fit into the new DS-I anymore. Nearly all Nintendo-DS games, about 2700 .nds files (=game images which run on these add-on cards) are currently available in the internet. So no more GBA slot, as an anti-piracy-measure?

And new games released on SD cards, making use of the copy-protection capability of SD cards?

Edited by Multibooter
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@Multibooter and jaclaz

Since this side remark I did in a previous post seems to have passed unnoticed, I quote it here to ask you to test Chip Genius 2.64 in your Win 9X systems and confirm or deny my finding:

And, BTW, I'm using Chip Genius 2.64 with my Win 98SE and it works OK...
It may work in my system due to some of the numerous updates I've added, so your testing is important to decide whether it works or not.

Also Microsoft's own USBView (v. 5.1.2600.2180, from Win 2k DDK) works under Win 9X and provides useful information about the USB ports in a computer and the devices therein attached. It might be a worthy addition to the toolbox.

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@Multibooter and jaclaz

Since this side remark I did in a previous post seems to have passed unnoticed, I quote it here to ask you to test Chip Genius 2.64 in your Win 9X systems and confirm or deny my finding:

And, BTW, I'm using Chip Genius 2.64 with my Win 98SE and it works OK...
It may work in my system due to some of the numerous updates I've added, so your testing is important to decide whether it works or not.

Will do, though I don't have a "plain" Win98 installed anywhere accessible right now. :)

jaclaz

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And, BTW, I'm using Chip Genius 2.64 with my Win 98SE and it works OK... It may work in my system due to some of the numerous updates I've added, so your testing is important to decide whether it works or not.
Hi dencorso,

I have a nearly-unmodified Win98SE. When I double-click on ChipGenius.exe under Win98, the window with all the text comes up ok, but no device & no information is displayed:

PnP Device ID: VID = PID = (Invalid) (the same for Serial Number)

Revision: (Information not returned)

Chip Vendor: (No match record) (the same for Chip Part-Number & Product Vendor)

The program should run under Win98, but it might need a dll or a newer version of a dll since it works with you. I installed VB6 SP6, same problem. Then .NET 1.1, same problem. Then .NET 2.0, same problem. The chip info is in chips.wdb, probably a MS Works Data Base. The program calls MSVBVM60.DLL, which I put into the same directory as ChipGenius.exe, same problem. On his website http://www.mydigits.cn/chipgenius.htm the author states Win98 compatibility, so it's probably just a tiny little thing. Would be nice to have another Win98-compatible tool in the toolbox.

Edited by Multibooter
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Hi, Multibooter!

Here are the versions I'm using of all files detected by Dependency Walker for ChipGenius:

Primary Dependencies:

CHIPGENIUS.EXE 2.0.0.64

KERNEL32.DLL 4.10.0.2226

MSVBVM60.DLL 6.0.98.2

Secondary Dependencies:

ADVAPI32.DLL 4.90.0.3000 *

GDI32.DLL 4.10.0.2227

OLE32.DLL 4.71.3328.0 *

OLEAUT32.DLL 2.40.4520.0

USER32.DLL 4.10.0.2233

I bet you're using a much earlier version of MSVBVM60.DLL, do get the above from MDGx's and try again.

And if that's not enough, I'd go for the ole files, from unofficial OLEUP. The files marked with * are from Win ME, but I sincerely doubt they are the one(s) that are critical. Good luck!

As a sample of what I see, here's what I get from my Corsair Flash Voyager 8GB:

====================================================

Device Name: ++USB Mass Storage Device(USB Disk)

PnP Device ID: VID = 090C PID = 1000

Serial Number: A100000000000102

Revision: 1100

Device Type: Standard USB device - USB2.0 High-Speed

Chip Vendor: SMI(??)

Chip Part-Number: SM321/SM324

Product Vendor: USB

Product Model: Disk

=====================================================

Edited by dencorso
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Hi dencorso,

I had no success in getting ChipGenius v2.64 to run properly under Win98 on my old laptop:

I started with OrangeWare v2.4.1, then I updated Win98SE in the following sequence:

MSVBVM60.DLL 6.0.98.2, updated from 6.00.9782 with Unofficial Visual Basic 6.0 SP6

GDI32.DLL 4.10.0.2227, updated from 4.10.1998 with Unofficial Windows 98 SE GDI32.DLL + GDI.EXE 4.10.2227 Fix

KERNEL32.DLL 4.10.0.2226. updated from 4.10.2222 with Copy2gb.exe from Unofficial Windows 98-98 SP1-98 SE 2-4 GB Files Errors

OLEAUT32.DLL 2.40.4520.0, updated from 2.40.4518 with Unofficial OLE Update 2.40.4530 + OLEAUT32.DLL 2.40.4520

USER32.DLL 4.10.0.2233, updated from 4.10.2231 with Unofficial Windows 98 SE Animated Cursor (.ANI) + Icon Handling

ADVAPI32.DLL 4.90.0.3000 , updated from 4.80.1675 with extracted file from WIN_10.CAB of WinME CD

OLE32.DLL 4.71.3328.0, no update, DLLs were same version

but still the same problem.

Then I installed older OrangeWare v2.1 and v2.3, still the same problem. Finally I changed the screen fonts from Large fonts (125%) to Small fonts, this was a work-around for the display bug in ChipGenius, but still the same problem.

This is what was displayed during and after all the changes:

Device Name:

PnP Device ID: VID = PID = (Invalid)

Serial Number: (Invalid)

Revision: (Information not returned)

Device Type: Generic USB Host Controller - USB2.0 High-Speed

Chip Vendor: (No match record)

Chip Part-Number: (No match record)

Product Vendor: (No match record)

Product Model:

Tools on Web: (N/A)

The window "USB controller & device list" [Pick an item for details]: is BLANK. This is probably the cause of the problem, somehow ChipGenius under Win98 cannot see neither the USB 2.0 PCCard controller nor the built-in USB 1.1 controller of the laptop.

Under WinXP however, on the same laptop, the window "USB controller & device list" displays the following 4 choices when the USB 2.0 PCCard is plugged in:

Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller

NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller

NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller

Intel® 82371 AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller

So ChipGenius somehow doesn't work under Win98 with this old laptop, while it does work with your desktop.

Edited by Multibooter
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While reading this topic, I've tested the above-mentioned application myself, with the same negative results. I first suspected it may be due to the Unicode format of the database, however I haven't been able to convert it to ANSI (had 2 system freezes due to Notepad++, which I swear I'll never ever touch again).

But, after running a profiling in DW, I noticed the same thing that plagued other VB applications when run under localized Windows versions (in my case, regional settings other than English): it expects a localized version of vb6.dll; here ti asked for vb6ro.dll and vb6chs.dll (Romanian and Chinese Simplified, I believe).

It also calls for a missing sxs.dll, which I do have at hand but it has tight missing dependencies to ntdll.dll and other system files.

My conclusion is that this application is not meant to run on 9x and it probably never will. Can't explain dencorso's results.

Oh and please fix the link in post #26 - it's mydigit, without trailing 's'.

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I hadn't thought about it before, but since the versions of all the files Multibooter is using are the same as the ones I'm using, as far as dependencies detected by DW go, the problem must lie elsewhere... and I think Multibooter just hit jackpot: the problem may be the underlying drivers. I'm using VIA's USB 2.0 EHCI driver, not the generic one from NUSB, nor Orangeware's. We need someone else using a VIA chipset and VIA's driver to test whether this is it. I can think of no other explanation right now. :wacko:

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