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ARTaylor.co.uk
GP2x
GP2x External 2.5" HDD Enclosure (Battery Powered) |
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  Features - Holds a 2.5" (Laptop / Notebook) HDD - CF/SD/MMC/MiniSD/MS/MS PRO/MS DUO/MICRO DRIVE Card Reader - Can copy files from cards to HDD without any external device (GP2x / PC) - Rechargable LiIon Battery (Charge from AC adaptor / PC USB port) - AC Power adaptor supplied - UK 3-pin (100 - 240V AC) What does it do? The 2.5" enclosure will house and power a 2.5" laptop HDD, allowing you to store many MP3s / Videos / Games and access them from your GP2x. It will connect to your GP2x via the EXT port (on the bottom). 2.5" Laptop HDDs are available from 20GB up to around 160GB. This little unit is much easier to carry around than a full sized 3.5" external HDD and USB Adaptor! How do I use it? Ensure that you have firmware v2.0 or above on your GP2x. The first time you use it, you have to go to the settings menu, and enable "Always" for USB host mode and mass storage. Plug the unit into your GP2x, and power them both on - preferably HDD first, but this shouldn't matter. Once the GP2x has booted, the USB indicator will flash on the drive. You can then access all of the files on the HDD through the "EXT" drive (in the same way as you access "SD Card" and "NAND") Partitions will appear as sda1, sda2 etc under the EXT option. The USB indicator lights up, but I can't access the drive Have you partitioned and formatted the Hard Disk to FAT32? The GP2x and the DigiMate do not support NTFS. Please read below on how to format a drive to FAT32. How do I partition and format a new drive (FAT32)? Windows XP does not allow you to format a drive to FAT32 if it is above a certain size. I used fdisk and mkfs.vfat (dosfstools) under Linux: PLEASE make sure that you know that you are adjusting the correct drive before doing this! See: Partitioning and formatting log fdisk /dev/sda (or the location of your drive - see dmesg!) Select new (n), Primary (p), 1, enter, enter, t, c, w. This will create a FAT32 (LBA) partition on your drive. You must now format the partition: mkfs.vfat /dev/sda1 Note: Do NOT use Swiss Knife to create the partitions under Windows, it does NOT create the correct partition type! I have not managed to find a free Windows tool to do the job. Partition Magic 8 works well though. If your Digimate USB icon displays when connected to the GP2x, but no sda appears in the EXT menu, then your drive is not formatted correctly! How long does it last? Approximately 2 hours (depending on usage pattern). It can run indefinitely when plugged into the mains. How do I use the card reader? In order to use the card reader on the GP2x, you have to build and install custom SCSI modules. This can be done by downloading the kernel source from the gp2x archives. You can still use the device to copy data off your flash cards onto the Hard Disk without these. The copied files can then be accessed by the GP2x. Will it work on a PC? Yes! With a USB Type A Male to a USB Mini Type B Female lead, you can charge and use it on a normal PC (Windows / Linux / MAC 8.9-9.x). What are the advantages? It is battery powered, so you do not need to be next to the mains. It is rechargable. It is much smaller than an external 3.5" HDD. It can store much more data than an SD card. Why don't I just buy a 3.5" external HDD and one of your USB Adaptors? Size and portability. The cost difference is approx 15.00 and you get a smaller, battery powered solution. In order to use a 3.5" external HDD, you would need to purchase the following: 1x 3.5" External USB enclosure (approx. 15.00 inc delivery on eBay) 1x GP2x USB Adaptor (19.99) 1x 3.5" HDD (40GB for example approx. 30.00) Total: 64.99 Alternatively, the 2.5" solution: 1x 2.5" Battery powered enclosure (44.99) 1x 2.5" HDD (40GB for example approx. 35.00) Total: 79.99 |
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Copyright - Richard Taylor - 2005