something wrong with my sd card?

sberg · March 13, 2006, 10:07:25 PM

i can add about 25-30 gba roms on my 512 mb sd card..but it shows its half full..when i try to add more than 25-30 i get a message that says, Cannot copy the directory or file cannot be created

754boy · March 13, 2006, 11:01:55 PM

try reformatting

sberg · March 13, 2006, 11:17:31 PM

Quote from: "754boy"try reformatting

:shock: this worked, ugh i tried so many complicated things and this is all i had to do, thank you

sberg · March 13, 2006, 11:20:58 PM

ugh, spoke too soon now it says not FAT format..same problem again

MAD2X · March 13, 2006, 11:28:20 PM

Just reformat using FAT only.

sberg · March 13, 2006, 11:30:48 PM

Quote from: "MAD2X"Just reformat using FAT only.

i did and the same thing happend

CodFather · March 14, 2006, 11:53:00 AM

There is a limitation with the FAT16 filing system when using it with lots of small files. Basically you lose an additional 8KB of space per file that you add. I found this to my cost recently. FAT32 is much better but sadly the Supercard doesn't support that.

To get round it I ensured that:

1) My patched gba roms were compressed (using the compress option in the patching software) hence taking up as little space as possible.
2) I didn't bother copying across the .sci files (i.e. the real-time save files). I just used the .scz and .sav files. This saves you quite a bit of space if you've got lots of roms.

If that doesn't work then you're left with the possibility that your SD card is either faulty or fake (it could be a 256MB card masquerading as a 512MB).

m2pt5 · March 14, 2006, 12:06:08 PM

Make a folder on the SD card and put your files in it. Theres a limit of 512 entries in the root folder in FAT, and long file names consume multipe entries. This doesn't apply to subfolders.

Edit: Come on people, this is a very common complaint - this should always be the first answer to "why does it say my card is full when it's obviously not?"!