Sony admits to problems with 1Gb MemSticks!

[iwsif]

Got it from here thanks to a friend ->http://esupport.sony.com/perl/news-item.pl?mdl=PEGNX80V&news_id=105Q1-1 What is the problem that occurs?

* An "Un-format" sector may be created when formatting the Memory Stick® media with the CLIÉ® Handheld. This will generate an error when trying to read and write to certain Memory Stick® media.

Q1-2 Does this issue break the hardware? Does data-loss occur?

* No, it does not break the hardware. However, if a failure occurs while writing data, there is a possibility of the data-loss as well.

Q1-3 With which 1GB or larger Memory Stick PRO™ and Memory Stick PRO Duo™ media models is this issue confirmed?

* MSX-M1GST, MSX-2GS, MSX-M2GS and PSP-MP1G.
Note: There are no known problems with the MSX-1GS and MSX-M1GS Memory Stick PRO™ media.

Q1-4 Which CLIÉ handheld models are affected by this issue?

* CLIÉ Handhelds and peripherals equipped with the PalmOS 5.X operating system:
o PEG-NX60/PEG-NX70V
o PEG-NX73V/PEG-NX80V
o PEG-NZ90
o PEG-TG50
o PEG-TJ25
o PEG-TJ37
o PEG-UX50
Note: CLIÉ Handhelds equipped with the PalmOS 3.5/4.x operating system do not support Memory Stick PRO™ or Memory Stick PRO Duo™ media.

Q1-5 What causes this problem?

* A hardware specification change in 1GB or larger Memory Stick PRO™ and Memory Stick PRO Duo™ media.

Q1-6 Why doesn't my CLIÉ handheld support this media?

* The 1GB or larger Memory Stick PRO™ and Memory Stick PRO Duo™ media did not exist when the affected CLIÉ Handhelds were designed.

Q1-7 Will I ever be able to use 1GB or larger Memory Stick PRO™ and Memory Stick PRO Duo™ media with my CLIÉ Handheld?

* No. There are no plans to implement support for this media for the affected CLIÉ Handheld models. Personally I suffered some time back a severe Sandisk 1Gb,blue label total failure after only 3-4months of usage and I'm now terrified from what could happen to the replacement Sony 1gb,black that I was granted.

Did anyone else encountered problems with their 1Gb memory sticks?In theory there are so many who use them without problems,but now it's Sony itself who admits the problem!
(please state your mem.stick type too! :) )

[dragonsgames]

And no replacement. Glad I didn't get one ;)

[gluv4u2]

I've been using my black 1gig ms without any issues for about 9 months

[SonyStyle]

i think the newer ones are compatible. like the one sony is currenlty selling.

[SonyStyle]

Got it from here thanks to a friend ->http://esupport.sony.com/perl/news-item.pl?mdl=PEGNX80V&news_id=105Personally I suffered some time back a severe Sandisk 1Gb,blue label total failure after only 3-4months of usage and I'm now terrified from what could happen to the replacement Sony 1gb,black that I was granted.

Did anyone else encountered problems with their 1Gb memory sticks?In theory there are so many who use them without problems,but now it's Sony itself who admits the problem!
(please state your mem.stick type too! :) )

let me get this straight, u bought a sandisk 1Gb and sony gave u a sony 1gb black ms?

[Suntzu69]

TH55 is not in the list. so does it mean its safe to use 1gb memory stick to TH55?

thanks in advance!

[iwsif]

@ SonyStyle: No,not Sandisk itself! :lol:
But the store I had bought it,had run out of Sandisk MS,so they decided to give me a Sony one,a thing I didn't mind of course,seen the bad experience I had with Sandisk. ;)

@ Suntzu69: First impression is that they talked for all OS5 Clie's without exceptions.On the other hand the TH55 was built afterwards and proof of this,lies in the different implementation of the same components in the UX50&the TH55.So I can't really tell,seen the bad experience I had and the lack of problems in others... :confused:

Any other one,has any bad experiences with 1gb.MS?

[CliePet]

Using a 1GB stick should not be a problem. Formatting is the potential problem.
Formatting should be very rare. Formatting the stick using the CLIE should be ultra rare (and not essential)

> ..."when formatting the Memory Stick® media with the CLIÉ® Handheld"
IMHO if you are buying a 1GB or 2GB memory stick you should never format the stick in the CLIE. Instead you should have a separate USB 2.0 (FAST) memory stick reader for placing data on your memory stick. That can be used to format the stick if necessary (which should be very rare). Formatting from the PC also lets you specify other options.

FWIW: The TH55 probably has the same problem (the list is obviously not complete since they didn't mention the UX40)

[Cyker]

What about mounting the stick as a drive and formatting it? Reckon that will cause problems?

That's what I did with my 1GB stick to lower the cluster sizes because I don't have a Pro-compatible card-reader...

[JAmerican]

Been using Sandisk since my first 16MB MMC card for my Treo 90 but I have a blue 1GB and 2GB MS Pro cards from SanDisk and the only issue is that the 1GB is chipping around the are where the MS is curved. That's it. I also lost my other 1GB MS but thats another issue.

JAmerican

[intellidryad]

I had no problems with my Sandisk 1G MS Duo that's related with the Clie. (my last burned MS was kinda defective I guess, and I got a free new one under a lifetime warrenty)

I guess the problems Sony's reporting are only related with the sony black sticks.

As with the TH55, although you don't see it on this list, it's on the Japanese version of the list(wonder why it was left out in translation...)

Please refer to the Japanese version of the list here:
http://www.nccl.sony.co.jp/products/common/info51.html

Translation:
http://translate.google.com/transla...Flanguage_tools

[Suntzu69]

thanks guys for the info! :)

[sdubourg]

The orginal post said

"An "Un-format" sector may be created when formatting the Memory Stick® media with the CLIÉ® Handheld ..."

Did the problem occur if you are using a MS that is not formated with Clie ?

[Rossi01]

I remember a while ago I got a 512 Mb Sony (black) and it malfunctioned in my TH55. A new one provided by the store gave the same results. I then returned it for good and got a blue Sandisk and have been using it with no problems for about 1 year now.

After that isse with Sony music CD's software I wonder what kind of crap they placed there to control the use of media (music, movies, etc.) that may be causing this problem.

[Cyker]

It does seem that there is a problem with the black 'sticks and Clies.

Stick with the pearl-blue/white ones.

[sdubourg]

Rossi01 : what kind of problem did you have with black MS ? I am intensively using 2Gb black MS since 2 months with no problem. I could do the same tests that you did and report the results in this thread.

Cyker : the pb report by sony seems to be linked to the capacity. Silver MS > 1Gb are supposed to have the formatting problem too. I believe blue Sony MS have a max capacity of 512 Mb. Am i wrong ?

[Cyker]

Need clarification; To my knowledge there is no such thing as a Silver MemoryStick.

The current range of Memory Sticks are:
Purple-Blue - The original MemorySticks, went from 8MB to 128MB (I have LOTS of these from my T665 :D)
White - Same as the original MemorySticks (Max 128MB), but with MagicGate; The ONLY sticks you can play ATRAC3 music off of.

Pearly-White - These are the original MemoryStick Pros; Maximum size is rated at 32GB, but this particular strain only go up to 1GB (At least I have never seen any higher! I have a 512MB one of these.)
Pearly Blue - These are second gen MemoryStick Pros; Presumably also have a 32GB maximum rating. They currently run up to 4GB. (I have a 1GB one of these, looking for a 2GB!)

Dark-Blue - These are some retarded MemoryStick by Sony - They are like the original White MS (128MB limit) but have the non-working MagicGate from MS Pro! Totally pointless unless you have a non-MSPro compatible device and can't find a Purple stick...
Black - These are the newest MemoryStick Pros, and are 'high speed'. These seem to be the ones having the most problems - The lower capacity ones seem okay but the higher capacity ones seem to be a bit marginal in Clies.


This is just Sony's line, excluding the custom sticks (Like the PSP Duo ones, which are just one of the above with a different case anyway).
Sandisk has it's own line; For the most part they are the same as above, but they also have some varients of their own.
Allegedly, the Sandisk Black MS have better compatibility with Clies.

[sdubourg]

I'm not sure that we can conclude than San-disk have a better compatibility. In various thread, I can see problems with Sony and with San-Disk.

[Rossi01]

Rossi01 : what kind of problem did you have with black MS ? I am intensively using 2Gb black MS since 2 months with no problem. I could do the same tests that you did and report the results in this thread.


I had a thread a while ago about that. When I filled it with MP3 files my Clie would "get lost" and freeze. It happened with two brand new 512Mb black Sony MS. The same problem did not happen with a blue Sandisk. Other people, apparently, had similar problems and others did not. So the big question remained. Was it due to the Clies (unlikely) or bad Sony MS batches (likely)?

I have been less and less impressed with Sony. First its costumary decisions to simply abandon customers (BetaMax issue and recently the Clie). Most recently the spyware they planted in people's PCs while they played the music CDs there. Also all the mess they are creating with the new HDDVD-BlueRay technology to make even more difficult for people to own their own media. For example, the new high def DVDs players will literally require special ports in the TVs and should not allow for devices to adapt to older HDTVs. So what happens to people who already invested in HDTV devices? I'm currently migrating away from anything Sony.

[dragonsgames]

I know. Sony has great products, great designs, but people always screw them up. Those people didn't get laid off :rolleyes:

[sdubourg]

Rossi01 - Thank you for the description of your problem. My usage of MS is similar to yours. Your problem is then not a general problem of incompatibility as I didn't encountered any problem with my black MS.

[drbob]

I'm using a Sony 2GB Memory Stick Pro Duo (Model No MSX-M2GN) with an adapter in my TH55 - got it a few days ago. All seems good so far, I didn't format it in the PDA (it came preformated to FAT16)

No freezes, no lost files, the card is around quarter full at present. BTW the western market markup on these cards is surreal; here in the uk they retail at £300-400, I got mine on ebay, with shipping from china for £70.

[RobertJSawyer]

Who were you dealing with on eBay, DrBob? Was it leocheng456? He seems to have a lot of these; here's one:

http://tinyurl.com/84a94

(Just want to hear from a satisified customer before I do business with someone so far away; I'm in Toronto)

Thanks!

[drbob]

It was a seller called "weisungelectronics", though I don't think he's selling many cards at the moment.

Research the feedback of sellers before bidding to get an idea of how reliable they are (I'd be a little wary of someone with 25 feedback for such a long distance purchase though). That means looking a the detail of past transactions as well as glancing at the feedback page - does the item fit with previous selling patterns etc. (In the past I've almost bid on items from hijacked accounts with good feedback before noticing discrepancies e.g. all previous sales were toy soilders shipped from europe, whilst current auctions are for high value electronics shipping from taiwan...)

Many of the 2GB cards go for over £90 with postage/insurance but if you bide your time and don't let yourself get carried away by an auction there is no need to pay more than £60-70.

[RobertJSawyer]

Good advice, DrBob! (The Dr. Phil of our forum? :) ) Many thanks!