Help: File system used by S2pro, to drive CF card

[Ben]

Maybe I`m at the wrong spot for this Q, but

Can anyone tell me what type of file system the camera uses.
Is it FAT12/16/32,Windows does not seem to recognise the file informations as any FAT.

The reason being, I want to design a portable mass storage device (since they are so darn expensive in South Africa), but would like to find out how to get the images from the CF in a reliable fasion.

Any ideas.

[Ramses]

Hello,
I have understood that S2 uses FAT16. That also limits usability of large CF cards (down to 2Gb?).

[LinhLe]

Dear Ben.

Maybe you could track down the code of Micro drive from IBM because Fuji said that they supportd it.
good luck

Lính Lệ

[Swampy]

It is FAT16.

And it is correct that you will not be able to use anything larger than 2GB on the S2.

[santiverdu]

Hi,

It's interesting to know that the S2 supports only FAT16. What about the new Microdrive from Hitachi-IBM with 4GB?

Is possible to make an upgrade of the camera firmware to support FAT32?

Santi

[santiverdu]

Nobody has an idea?

Thanks

[Swampy]

Santiverdu - Of course it possible to upgrade the firmware to accept a FAT32 file system. The better question will be - Will Fuji do it? I doubt it as the images aren't large enough to warrant it. You may be able to fine some obscure person who has access to the firmware code that can modify it and even install it into the camera, but I wouldn't bother with it as Fuji wouldn't touch the camera anymore.

[Markraw]

Hi Ben,

The S2 uses the FAT 16 format. This really isn't a problem as far as I'm concerned. Do you really want to buy a 4GB card (and pay about $500 more than buying four 1GB cards) and have ALL of your photos on one card? You are also better off formatting the card on your PC after a shoot. That way, if there are any bad sectors on the card, they will be marked and not used (you can't use the Quick Format for this!). If there is any fragmentation on the card, it takes care of that too. Thom Hogan's book does a much better job of explaining this than the Fuji manual. In fact, the manual doesn't even touch on compact flash cards!

Hope that this was useful,

Mark

[easternherp]

Where can us UK people get Thom Hogan's book.
I saw that you get a free digital version if you register your camera online with fuji.com but not for uk.

[Markraw]

Here is a link to Thom Hogan's S2 Guide

http://bythom.com/s2guide.htm

It is well worth the price!
Mark