Card Tricks - a small utility to help manage SD cards [currently v. 1.44]

reyalp

Might want to add a "new new dryos" udumper to cardtricks, see https://chdk.setepontos.com/d/3994/50 😉

Regarding FAT16 vs FAT32, one thin to keep in mind is that the FAT16 on a 4 gb card cluster size is 64K. This means the *minimum* size of a file is also 64K. This doesn't matter much for multi-megabyte files, but is rather wasteful if you have a lot of small files for some reason.

I suspect (but haven't confirmed) that the canon firmware is smart enough to only read/erase/write hardware sectors that physically need updating. If not, this could have a major impact on performance in some cases. As always, the testing is recommended if this really matters to you.

whim

reyalp
Might want to add a "new new dryos" udumper to cardtricks, see https://chdk.setepontos.com/d/3994/50 😉

It's on the list, but i first need to find room for another button 😁

cheers,

wim

piperpilot

Well, I have read most of this thread and done an extensive google search and am coming up short.

I downloaded CardTricks and ran the program. When it runs, I get prompted to select my SD Card Drive. I have my card plugged in and accessable...I select the drive (F: in my case)...hit OK...and immediately get prompted to select the drive again.

Now behind the "select the drive" filesystem browser, I can see that my card was loaded, it was FAT and it read the Drive label just fine. The drive is listed as "Removable" so it is definately the right drive.

What am I doing wrong? I can successfully write to the card via a DOS prompt and can browse the contents via windows. I can even format the drive by right clicking it in "My Computer". My operating system is WindowXP.

In addition, when I get to this point, the only way to exit the program is to kill the process from the task manager.

Help here would be appreciated!

Thanks,
PiperPilot

whim

Hello Piperpilot,

Welcome to the forum !

You haven't installed CT to the SD card I hope ? That would surely cause the drive select dialog to loop, because
CT is programmed to refuse to select the following:
1) your system drive (the one Windows boots from)
2) all hard drives (unless you checked "Allow fixed disks")
3) the drive CardTricks is running from (because in this case formatting would lead to program suicide)

more things to check:
- press "Cancel" in the drive select dialog, and uncheck "Auto" (above the Card icon). Close and restart the program.
You will now first have to click the card icon to get the drive select dialog. Does it work now ?
- Delete the CardTricks144.ini file if it exists and retry
- Try if the program properly recognises a USB stick if you have one (to eliminate a weird SD card as cause)

If these tips don't solve your problems, please supply more detail: program version, install path, and card type/size;
as an afterthought: where did you download the program ?

hope that helps,

wim

piperpilot

OK...I figured out whats going on. When you run the installer and it extracts the program, it creates a cardtricks folder wherever you tell it to extract the program. BUT...it puts the cardtricks144.exe file in the root of the folder you specify, not in the cardtricks folder. In my case, I told it to extract to c:\ so that it would put the program in c:\cardtricks...well cardtricks144.exe ended up in c:\ do I moved it to the cardtricks folder. This is what was causing the problem.

I guess the program is looking for stuff in .\cardtricks\

Anyways, I moved the file outside of the folder and it all works fine now.

PiperPilot

ibangpots

Does anyone have a bin file for the july 08 firmware? I can't get the posted version to work and I think its because I have the july 08 firmware even though it is version 1.00b.

reyalp

ibangpots
Does anyone have a bin file for the july 08 firmware? I can't get the posted version to work and I think its because I have the july 08 firmware even though it is version 1.00b.

1) This thread is for card tricks, not general help. Start a new thread for your quesiton.
2) Your question doesn't make sense. You need to provide more detail. Which camera, "July 8" version of what ... in a new thread.

Thank you.

HarpoMa

***Note: I selected this thread because it seemed to be directly related to diskboot and newer cameras but if you prefer I ask elsewhere I'll nuke this here and ask there....***

It's been an enjoyable break from chdk but I'm back today and working on partitioning. After completing the task I began asking myself this question.... Why was it needed? Now multiple partitions works in the SD780 but I wanted to test some of what was said here...in relation to the SD780.

I formatted a 4GB card (i know everyone is saying bigger then 4GB but thats all I got) as FAT32 (partition type 0xb). I set it bootable with card tricks. I added the build with partition support and locked the card. Turning it on it then went to the second partition (i've made it ignore the 1st partition in my code).

So has Canon updated the support for bootdisk for FAT32 volumes? IE could I expect to bootdisk a 32GB SD card without a second partition? Note this is a SDHC camera.

My fdisk from OSX...

bash-3.2# fdisk /dev/rdisk2
Disk: /dev/rdisk2 geometry: 960/128/63 [7741440 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
Starting Ending
#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [ start - size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1: 0B 0 1 1 - 1023 254 63 [ 63 - 195312] Win95 FAT-32
2: 0C 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 195426 - 7546014] Win95 FAT32L
3: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused
4: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

whim

.... as FAT32 (partition type 0xb). I set it bootable with card tricks

AFAIK that's impossible, unless you used CardTricks 1.45 (special version for DSLR which supports making FAT32 bootable, read here: https://chdk.setepontos.com/d/4214/1 ) 'normal' version 1.44 will only allow the 'make bootable' operation on FAT16.

Also: your 2nd partition is type 0x0C , that's FAT32 LBA ?

My 8 GB is formatted using SDMINSTE.EXE, first is FAT12 (2 MB, type 0x01) second is FAT32 (7817 MB,type 0x0B)

You probably need to take this up with someone familiar with the CHDK multipartition code ...

cheers,

wim

fe50

@HarpoMa
Until now, the firmware loading mechanism (loading the diskboot.bin from a locked card with the BOOTDISK signature at offset 40h) did only work with FAT12/FAT16 fs format.

Maybe Canon has changed this, you could test it easily:

- format the 4GB card in the camera, this way the Canon fw creates one partition, FAT32 formatted
- write the [tt]BOOTDISK[/tt] signature to the card, e.g. with CardTricks 1.45 or with a hex editor (hxd)
- copy your diskboot.bin to the card, lock the card

With the old behavior you'll get a "card locked" message, otherwise CHDK should start...

HarpoMa

Ok I retried this and turns out I had a faulty premise...

Partition type 0xb can be both FAT16 and FAT32. Alas in my case it's FAT16 and NOT FAT32. 🙁
So my osx lied to me with the following printout....

Harpo

bash-3.2# fdisk /dev/rdisk2
Disk: /dev/rdisk2 geometry: 960/128/63 [7741440 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
Starting Ending
#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [ start - size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1: 0B 0 1 1 - 1023 254 63 [ 63 - 195312] Win95 FAT-32 (incorrect FAT16!!!!)
2: 0C 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 195426 - 7546014] Win95 FAT32L

lglass

i'm a new guy here and i realy need some help...i'm not really good with hackiing at all and i want to update my xti to spot meter and the extra iso.

would you be so kind as to walk me thru this...i have already installed the .fir file...
my hang up is dealing with card tricks (how to) and installing the .bin file correctly.
i have installed card tricks v 1.44 on my pc.

Please help me if you will, i'd like to get the most out of my xti as it's my main back up to my 40D.

thanks, tim

whim

Hi Iglass

I'm gonna point you to this answer I gave a minute ago: https://chdk.setepontos.com/d/4598/2

hope that helps

wim

PS I can only tell you how to format your card (i don't own any DSLR) so please use the DSLR threads to get info,
they are here: https://chdk.setepontos.com/t/non-chdk-development

lglass

I have tried every way possible known to man (spent 16 hours) to try and upgrade my 400D to perform with the extended ISO and spot metering....

and nothing works...watched the video, etc....what could I be missing?

Anybody out there can suggest something???

t

jojo99

I put CHKD aside for some months, now want to reinstall.

I have Cardtricks 1.44. I run Cardtricks and get the prompt to point to my SD card (which is drive Q: in my system). I select drive Q: but CT will not accept it.

Select your SD Card drive - Please note that only 'Removable' or
'Unknown' (and 'Fixed' if selected) drive types will be
accepted; select Cancel if no drive selectable.

The browse for SD drive window keeps reappearing. It also will not accept a click on the Cancel button. I have to go into the process tree in C_A-D and kill the CT process there to stop this loop.

I tired formatting the drive form Windows Explorer but that didn't do anything.

Anyone have any ideas why this might be happening?

I am running WinXp SP3. I have full Administrator rights.

whim

@jojo99

read this post + answer, it might apply in your case too ...

https://chdk.setepontos.com/d/2187/298

HTH,

wim

jojo99

whim
@jojo99

read this post + answer, it might apply in your case too ...

https://chdk.setepontos.com/d/2187/298

HTH,

wim

Yes, that helped. Thanks.

Cardtricks is kind of kludegy software. It is very dependent on the directory structure it sets up. The helper software MUST be in a sub0directory to the executable or you will get the problem I had.

Normally, I like to try and keep all files in the same folder/directory except for the original zip file, which is in a sub-folder. But CT doesn't like when I do this and goes into its loop.

whim

Cardtricks is kind of kludegy software

i used to have it set up it's helper files automatically, but got tired of complaints about virus
alerts.
And, of course, nobody needs to use CT ... all it does is format and write a signature to the boot
sector, a hex editor and format are all you need.
Or, if it really bothers you, write a better program

cheers,

wim

reyalp

Suggestion, inspired by https://chdk.setepontos.com/d/5855/92
- Make it obvious that udumper won't work on current cameras without hacking
- Add support for preparing a canon basic disk + dumper http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Canon_Basic/Scripts/Dumper

alistair

Hi guys
need some help..😀

Ive tried using the link for the Cardtricks download.. it appears on the site as the download, however when I open it on my PC its a 3kb file linking me into a page to upload files or photos.
file:///C:/Downloads/index.html
"Savedonthe.net hosts your files and images for free, for as long as you wish, without any tricks and gimmicks.
So, what do you wish to upload?"

the alternative site is now defunct
Ive tried the mirror sites and again no luck..
are the downloads still active on the link?
or am I doing something wrong?

TC
alistair

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