formatting compact flash

Hi, I have a doubt while formatting a compact flash card to fat 16
file system using windows OS(XP). I'm not going to use compact flash
as a booting device. If that is the case will the first sector will
be a MBR as in the case of hard disk or will it be a boot record as in
the case of floppy disk. I'm using USB card reader to read the card.

thanking you in advance

Hari

I think you'll find that thuis group isn't so much for just "storage", but
"archival storage" (= tape etc) so you're not really in the right place
here.

Anyway, the only reason a HD has an MBR as well as the individual partition
boot sectors is that a HD CAN HAVE multiple partitions (= logical drives) on
it.... so it needs the MBR to (a) start booting the PC; (b) describe the
partition shapes & locations; (c) say which is the BOOT partition (if it's a
bootable disk).

Given that a flash card, like a floppy, or even a CD, is only ever a SINGLE
drive, then there is no purpose in it having an MBR.

Conversely, not having an MBR doesn't stop the device being bootable. Once
the OS has worked out which partition on the HD is going to boot, it boots
from it... just like you can boot from a floppy, CD etc.

However, in the case that the device IS bootable, then there will be OS
files on it to allow it to boot. The boot sector still remains as a single
sector.... which is STILL there, even if the device is NON bootable: it
provides some basic information about the media (eg its size!)


Paul Blitz


"Hari" wrote in message
om...
Hi, I have a doubt while formatting a compact flash card to fat 16
file system using windows OS(XP). I'm not going to use compact flash
as a booting device. If that is the case will the first sector will
be a MBR as in the case of hard disk or will it be a boot record as in
the case of floppy disk. I'm using USB card reader to read the card.

thanking you in advance

Hari

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 09:20:38 -0000, "paul blitz"
wrote:

I think you'll find that thuis group isn't so much for just "storage", but
"archival storage" (= tape etc) so you're not really in the right place
here.

Actually, Storage Architectures, not "archivale storage".

But you're right about this not being the ideal place!

[ Snip ]

Paul Blitz

Malc.

At least the USB flashes always get the MBR by formatting, dunno on CF
card - whether this is a removable drive or a removable media in the removable
drive.


--
Maxim Shatskih, Windows DDK MVP
StorageCraft Corporation

http://www.storagecraft.com


"Hari" wrote in message
om...
Hi, I have a doubt while formatting a compact flash card to fat 16
file system using windows OS(XP). I'm not going to use compact flash
as a booting device. If that is the case will the first sector will
be a MBR as in the case of hard disk or will it be a boot record as in
the case of floppy disk. I'm using USB card reader to read the card.

thanking you in advance

Hari

How Windows handles this issue:

- for all disk LUNs (IDE disks, SCSI disks, SBP-2/1394 disks, USB disks, this
also includes IoMega and magneto-optics and NOT includes CD/DVD/RW) - the MBR
partition table is tried. For both removable and fixed media.
- if the media is removable, and if the MBR is invalid - then it is checked to
be the valid FAT boot block, and the device is considered to be a
"super-floppy" - having 1 partition over the whole device.
- for removable media, only the first partition in the MBR is used in case if
device has MBR.
- so, removable media always have 1 partition.

Note that USB flashes are not removable media. They are removable _devices_.
Magneto optics is removable media. Dunno on CF cards.

--
Maxim Shatskih, Windows DDK MVP
StorageCraft Corporation

http://www.storagecraft.com


"paul blitz" wrote in message
t...
I think you'll find that thuis group isn't so much for just "storage", but
"archival storage" (= tape etc) so you're not really in the right place
here.

Anyway, the only reason a HD has an MBR as well as the individual partition
boot sectors is that a HD CAN HAVE multiple partitions (= logical drives) on
it.... so it needs the MBR to (a) start booting the PC; (b) describe the
partition shapes & locations; (c) say which is the BOOT partition (if it's a
bootable disk).

Given that a flash card, like a floppy, or even a CD, is only ever a SINGLE
drive, then there is no purpose in it having an MBR.

Conversely, not having an MBR doesn't stop the device being bootable. Once
the OS has worked out which partition on the HD is going to boot, it boots
from it... just like you can boot from a floppy, CD etc.

However, in the case that the device IS bootable, then there will be OS
files on it to allow it to boot. The boot sector still remains as a single
sector.... which is STILL there, even if the device is NON bootable: it
provides some basic information about the media (eg its size!)


Paul Blitz


"Hari" wrote in message
om...
Hi, I have a doubt while formatting a compact flash card to fat 16
file system using windows OS(XP). I'm not going to use compact flash
as a booting device. If that is the case will the first sector will
be a MBR as in the case of hard disk or will it be a boot record as in
the case of floppy disk. I'm using USB card reader to read the card.

thanking you in advance

Hari