Trouble with removable drive disappearing

[mpcrsc562]

Good day all!

On my new toy, my Aspire One 532h, I have a problem with an SD card disappearing from Windows. Let me explain:

As I stated, this is an Aspire One 532h, Intel Atom N450, 1 GB DDR2-667 memory, 250 GB HDD, Windows 7 Starter. It has an integrated card reader that is run by ENE Card Reader drivers (Service & Support). Because my specific model cannot upgrade past 1 GB system memory (sucks!), I have been using ReadyBoost to help performance. I have found that formatting SD cards to exFAT helps Windows to use these cards for ReadyBoost. At one time, I used a 4 GB SD card and an 8 GB flash drive for ReadyBoost with no problems -- except for the flash drive protruding from the pc. I found a 16 GB SDHC Class 6 card for a good deal. I formatted it to exFAT, inserted it and selected to use it for ReadyBoost. All was well at first. About 3 minutes later, I hear the Windows Device Disconnect sound. I check Explorer and the card/drive is gone. I remove the card, wait for a second, then reinsert the card. It is recognized and again about 3 minutes later, the card/drive disappears. I tried an 8 GB SDHC card (which I am using right now) and have had absolutely no problems.

My question for those who have any Aspire One experience or netbook experience in general: With this ENE card reader, is there a size limitation on SD/MS/xD/MMC cards that can be used? A sixteen gigabyte card won't work and I have no problems with any size below that. Each card--from the 16 GB down to the 4 GB--has been formatted as exFAT. Maybe I'm not phrasing my search right, but I have not been able to find any info on this.

 

[LiquidSnak]

Have you tried multiple 16GB cards? And yes, there are size limitations on cards sometimes, but usually in hardware such as phones and cameras.

 

[Bill2]

Does this card work as readyboost in the first few minutes that it is seen by the computer? It may not be readyboost compatible. Check in the card's properties whether Readyboost tab shows up.

Also, for readyboost to work the card must meet a minimum speed criterion. As per wiki the device must be capable of 2.5 MB/s read speeds for 4 KB random reads spread uniformly across the entire device and 1.75 MB/s write speeds for 512 KB random writes spread uniformly across the device.

Another issue could the internal card reader. Check on another machine or an external card reader.

 

[mpcrsc562]

Does this card work as readyboost in the first few minutes that it is seen by the computer? It may not be readyboost compatible. Check in the card's properties whether Readyboost tab shows up.

Also, for readyboost to work the card must meet a minimum speed criterion. As per wiki the device must be capable of 2.5 MB/s read speeds for 4 KB random reads spread uniformly across the entire device and 1.75 MB/s write speeds for 512 KB random writes spread uniformly across the device.

Another issue could the internal card reader. Check on another machine or an external card reader.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, the ReadyBoost tab shows up. I am able to enable ReadyBoost and then the card/drive goes poof!

 

[karlsnooks]

ReadyBoost utility is questionable. If you would like to improve the performance, install the max amount of ram that toy will take. 1 GB is minimal requirement, but 2 GB is a practical minimum.

 

[mpcrsc562]

ReadyBoost utility is questionable. If you would like to improve the performance, install the max amount of ram that toy will take. 1 GB is minimal requirement, but 2 GB is a practical minimum.

Thanks, but not applicable. Can't go past 1 GB. (http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/netbook/2010/Acer/Aspire/AspireOneAO532h/AspireOneAO532hsp2.shtml)

As far as ReadyBoost is concerned on my system, I speeds up performance greatly. I just wanted to use a larger sized SD card. And if my post wasn't clear, and I apologize if I was not, this happens only with SD cards, not with flash drives.

 

[karlsnooks]

Pity. I do not have any solution. I would try formatting as NTFS.

 

[LiquidSnak]

Have you tried multiple 16GB cards?

^^^

 

[mpcrsc562]

No, unfortunately, I don't have any other 16 GB cards to use and it is monetarily feasible for me to go out and buy extra cards just to test this. I can get along with an 8 GB cache as I'm doing now.

Thanks all for you're input.

 

[karlsnooks]

Did you format as NTFS? If not, then please do.

 

[LiquidSnak]

I thought that readyboost required the FAT file system?

 

[karlsnooks]

OK. Let me summarize:

In yoiur case of a 1 GB ram limit, you will see a benefit from using ReadyBoost.

ReadyBoost works much better with Win 7 than with Vista

To have more than 4 GB readyboost memory, use NTFS.

You can use NTFS, exFAT,Fat32 for lesser amounts of ReadyBoost memory.

Now here are some links:
Keep tabs on ReadyBoost with Windows 7's Performance Monitor | Microsoft Windows | TechRepublic.com

Monitoring ReadyBoost on Windows 7 - Saveen Reddy's blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

ReadyBoost - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ReadyBoost - Windows 7 features - Microsoft Windows

ReadyBoost Performance Test : Windows Vista and Windows 7 Help

Take a closer look at ReadyBoost features in Windows 7 | Microsoft Windows | TechRepublic.com

Windows 7 Readyboost Really Boosts | Connected Internet

 

[LiquidSnak]

Thanks for all the good reading and information

 

[mpcrsc562]

Karl, I haven't had a chance to test the SD hard formatted in NTFS. I will do it sometime tonight or tomorrow morning and post back my result.

On a side note: I thought I already had the latest drivers installed for the integrated reader, but I didn't. I will have to upgrade to the latest drivers prior to testing out the card.

Thanks for the help/info.
I'll be back as soon as I can with the results.

 

[karlsnooks]

Looking forward to hearing the results.


Let me know if you use one of the methods mentioned in the links to measure performance. Although subjective evaluation is often better than all of the facts and figures.

 

[mpcrsc562]

So, I updated the driver for the integrated card reader.
I then formatted the card to NTFS...

Same outcome.

I suspect, contrary to what I was told in a chat with an Acer support rep, that there is a limitation on this card reader with how large an SD/MS/xD/MMC card the reader can handle... Or, this one is defective in some way.

I also suspect that the card maybe defective. I formatted the card to FAT32, inserted the card into my point-and-shoot camera (which supports SD cards up to 32 GB) and the camera gave me a "Card error" message.

Anyway, thanks for the help and info.

(an 8 GB ReadyBoost cache certainly helps, but I sure would have liked this card with 16 GB to work. I think I'm going to return the card...)

 

[LiquidSnak]

Return the card and pick up a good Kingston 16GB SDHC

 

[mpcrsc562]

Found another 16 GB Class 10 SDHC card for a very reasonable price. All works as it should -- now.

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

 

[LiquidSnak]

Glad to help out