LinuxQuestions.org
Download your favorite Linux distribution at LQ ISO.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > HCL > External Storage Devices > Sony
User Name
Password

Notices


Search · Register · Submit New Product ·
 

Sony microVault 128
Reviews Views Date of last review
5 3724 08-30-2004
spacer
Recommended By Average Price Average Rating
100% of reviewers $67.50 6.6



Description: uhh, sony usb thumb drive
worked fine in RH9 formatted in FAT
software drivers for security password is windoze-centric
Keywords: pen drive, flash usb storage
/sbin/lspci output: NA
Chipset: NA
Connection Type: usb


Author
Post A Reply 
Old 02-22-2004, 10:21 PM   #1
Capt_Caveman
 
Registered: Mar 2003
Distribution: Fedora
Posts: 3,658
Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid?: $60.00 | Rating: 6

Kernel (uname -r): 2.4.21-192-athlon; 2.4.22-1.2149.nptl
Distribution: SuSE9; Redhat9; Fedora Core1



[Log in to get rid of this advertisement]
Comes with a proprietary filesystem that you have to format with FAT to get to work. Once formatted, the Micro-drive is recognized by the USB hotpug module and placed under /dev/sdaX (where X is a number depending on the number of scsi devices). Then just mount the drive nomally. On one system (a Gateway 3200 running FC1) it was un-useable and gave a stream of I/O errors on insertion of the USB drive. Might have been a hardware issue. Works with Mac OSX but not OS8.

Conclusion: Handy tool to have, should work on most systems. Doesn't work "out-of-the-box", but can be made to work with a minimal amount of effort in most situations.
 is offline    
Old 04-21-2004, 09:55 PM   #2
pottam
 
Registered: May 2003
Distribution: Mandrake 9.2
Posts: 4
Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 2

Kernel (uname -r): 2.6.3-4mdk
Distribution: Mandrake 10.0 Community & MandrakeMove


This Microvault USB2 256 Mb is formated in 4 parts; only 249 Mb are usable (FAT) . DiskDrake does n't like it (overlapping sectors messages). Sometimes, kudzu recognizes 4 partitions /sda1 to /sda4, with weird huge sizes, but which one is the good one ?
Finally, I added this line to the /etc/fstab : /dev/sda /mnt/sony vfat user,rw,noauto,umask=0 0 0
And it works.
But no way to use it as a valid key for MandrakeMove.

If it was possible to reformat the whole flash drive! I tried with a generic utility from Prolific Technology, but it did'nt recognize the MicroVault.

And Sony gives no tool for doing that.

Conclusion : with Linux, never buy a sophisticated pen-drive, buy a generic, standard one, it's OK.
 is offline    
Old 04-24-2004, 11:54 PM   #3
Schrambo
 
Registered: Mar 2004
Distribution: all things Debian
Posts: 101
Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 8

Kernel (uname -r): 2.4.22
Distribution: Slackware 9.1


No problems for me with my Sony MicroVault (64mb).
my current /etc/fstab entry for it

/dev/sda /mnt/usb vfat auto,user,owner,ro 0 0
 is offline    
Old 05-29-2004, 01:49 PM   #4
Aerick
 
Registered: Apr 2004
Distribution: Red Hat 9.1
Posts: 14
Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid?: $75.00 | Rating: 7

Kernel (uname -r): 2.4.20-8
Distribution: Red Hat 9.1


Works great when adding the appropriate entry in /etc/fstab (as indicated above). My only beef is that it can't be done on the fly. In other words, unless I have the drive in my usb port on boot up, it won't work - I have to run a 'mount' command.

I would like to know how to setup a shortcut on my kDE desktop to run such a command for mounting and unmounting the drive. Does anyone know how to do that? I haven't searched these forums yet, but I searched the two Linux books I have and couldn't find out how to do so. I have an inkling it has something do with with scripts.
 is offline    
Old 08-30-2004, 02:23 PM   #5
Bigun
 
Registered: Aug 2002
Distribution: Gentoo > current. Have used: Red Hat 7.3, 9, Gentoo 1.4
Posts: 400
Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 10

Kernel (uname -r): Gentoo-dev-sources 2.6.8-r1
Distribution: Gentoo


Fantasic workability, was able to format it into multiple filesystems such as reiserfs, ext3, and ext2. Supported multiple partitions and is an all around great product.

My only bitch is that it began to fall apart and I had to superglue it back together.
 is offline    





All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:51 AM.

Main Menu
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
RSS2  LQ Podcast
RSS2  LQ Radio
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration