Smartphones and PDAs using various patterns of data storage such as SD (Secure Digital), MMC (Multimedia Card), Memory Stick Duo (standard developed by Sony and used in Sony Ericsson phones). The most common is the SD. Newer devices use mini or micro SD cards, which are essentially the same, but the dimensions of the card are very small in relation to the original SD card.

Mini and standard micro SD card support for up to 2 GB. To increase capacity, an extension of this standard called SDHC (SD High Capacity) has recently been developed. This pattern is used in micro SD card with all new devices already micro SD slot. SDHC standard supports up to 32 GB of data storage. This means that one card that can store about 50 hours of music recordings of high quality – very impressive! However, these cards do not work on older PDAs. The reason is not because of the standard itself (even if the device has a miniSD slot, you can use a micro SD card in it with a mini SD adapter), but because the older versions of Windows Mobile does not support SDHC. Only Windows Mobile 6.1 and higher has a support SDHC.

There is a solution, then? Yes there is. Just like the "big" computers, software problems on PDAs can be solved by updating software or the driver installation. Some manufacturers offer Windows Mobile to update their devices, but most is not available. Solution then is to install a driver. There is an SDHC driver for Windows Mobile 5.0 / 6.0, can be found by Googling for SDHC4WM5_pras.zip. There are, indeed, other pilots. But this is the latest and works on most devices. After installing it, the device will be able to recognize high-capacity micro SD card.

Some There are devices, however, a matter that the device does not see the card after going to "sleep" (energy saving) and then in order to wake up. This is related to the configuration of power management. When you go to sleep mode, the device cuts power supply to the card and other subsystems. On awakening, the power comes back, but it takes some time. There is a default timeout in Windows Mobile. If after that time can not come to the card, the system considers that the card was removed and cut the power supply to it. Most SDHC cards take longer to connect, this delay may exceed the standard time waiting and then the system assumes that there is no card inserted. To resolve this, one has to make some adjustments to the registry change delay times by default in Windows Mobile. Making changes to the Windows registry, either Windows Mobile or on a PC, is a delicate task and can result in a system failure. That is why we can be recommended only for experienced users. In any case, it is recommended that you backup your device before changing the registry. So even if something goes wrong, you can do hard reset and restore the configuration of the device.

There is no built-in registry editor in Windows Mobile, so you will to download a free web editor. Then make changes to registry keys as below:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SystemStorageManager] PNPUnloadDelay " = Dword: 8196

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SystemStorageManager] PNPWaitIODelay "= dword: 8196

The first specifies the delay time, in milliseconds, between dismount and disassemble a device that is not available. The second defines the time before retrying I / O operation if the device was not available. (Default values for these keys are less than indicated above, but you change them to 8196 which is about 8 seconds). If this does not help, you can disable the power management for the SD memory card:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINEDriversSDCARDClientDriversClassSDMemory_Class] DisablePowerManagement " = Dword: 00000001

However notice that if you do this, the SD card will be consuming power, even in sleep mode, which can result is a battery less life.

The adjustments above will not work on some devices, because, although all versions of Windows Mobile have those keys in the registry, some devices not to change the parameters. But even if your phone loses connection with the card after going to sleep mode, you can still use it to play music or videos, because it will go to sleep mode then. When the connection to the card is lost after waking up, is sufficient to re-insert the card, and then it can be used until it goes to sleep mode again.

Leonid Sinichkin is an IT specialist and programmer in the field of system and process automation. He is also an experienced user of smartphones and PDAs. Learn how to make Skype calls from mobile phone.

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