Help! Hotsync Crashes PC!

[exppcguy]

Recently, I have been getting sporadic PC desktop (Viao running XP home) crashes when I press the hotsync button on my T665C cradle.

The PC wants to run chkdsk after these crashes, and once it even fixed (truncated) a bunch of files. Hope this did not screw up my Windows files too badly.

Anybody else experience this?

[Unregistered]

Shameless Bump!

[scotto]

Two points, one for Clie and the other for your own PC sanity.

You might be suffering from static discharge built up when you carry your Clie around. Try touching your fingers and the Clie to your computer case or some other grounded surface before putting it in the cradle.

Secondly, unless you need support for Windows ME, 98, or 95 in a dual-boot situation, convert your filesystem on the Viao to NTFS rather than FAT32 (which it currently exists as if you are running chkdsk at boot time.) Use the "Run..." item in the Start menu and enter "cmd". In the command shell, type:

convert c: /FS:NTFS /V

The process will tell you that it cannot perform the conversion until you reboot. Reboot, and the conversion will take place during the boot process.

NTFS is a journalled filesystem, which is far more robust and will save you from chkdsk woes should you have a crash for any reason.

[exppcguy]

Thanks for the info Scotto!

Only one question. My wife uses the same desktop for her home business, and she would not be a happy camper if I screwed up the PC. Could this conversion to NTFS have any bad consequences? Is there any risk to the Windows XP OS or to her files? Any hit on performance either?

Thanks again.

Exppcguy

[scotto]

There is always a risk in such things. I've done it several times on several machines and have not had a problem yet. Of course, there's always the first time... Murphy being the smarmy cretin that he is, is probably just waiting for this to go wrong on taking my advice. :(

The reason I suggest the conversion in the first place is that NTFS is much safer in the long run. One of these crashes, chkdsk is not going to be able to chew the FAT.

The best advice on something like this, is that if you are going to try any route which affects a system globally, backup your system first.

And if you don't have a backup strategy, now is as good a time as any to start thinking about one.

As for performance: tiny files will increase in size, but overall speed will improve.