I have a 2GB xD Picture Card, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XD-Picture_Card, plugged into a Logic Gear MultimediaDrive LGMMD-MAXI USB 2.0, http://www.logicgear.net.au/catalogu...4/c3348/p56314
plugged into a USB port on my PC, which is running SUSE Linux 10.1 AMD64.

The xD card shows up as a USB-SCSI disk:
/var/log/messages has:

Jul 28 21:48:57 linfinit kernel: usb 3-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4
Jul 28 21:48:58 linfinit kernel: usb 3-3: new device found, idVendor=04cf, idProduct=9921
Jul 28 21:48:58 linfinit kernel: usb 3-3: new device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Jul 28 21:48:58 linfinit kernel: usb 3-3: Product: CS8819A2-111
Jul 28 21:48:58 linfinit kernel: usb 3-3: Manufacturer: Myson Century, Inc.
Jul 28 21:48:58 linfinit kernel: usb 3-3: SerialNumber: 100
Jul 28 21:48:58 linfinit kernel: usb 3-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Jul 28 21:48:58 linfinit kernel: scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Jul 28 21:48:58 linfinit kernel: usb-storage: device found at 4
Jul 28 21:48:58 linfinit kernel: usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
Jul 28 21:49:03 linfinit kernel: Vendor: Myson Model: CS8819A2-111 0 Rev: 1.01
Jul 28 21:49:03 linfinit kernel: Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 00
Jul 28 21:49:03 linfinit kernel: SCSI device sda: 4096000 512-byte hdwr sectors (2097 MB)
Jul 28 21:49:03 linfinit kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Jul 28 21:49:03 linfinit kernel: sda: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
Jul 28 21:49:03 linfinit kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Jul 28 21:49:03 linfinit kernel: SCSI device sda: 4096000 512-byte hdwr sectors (2097 MB)
Jul 28 21:49:03 linfinit kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Jul 28 21:49:03 linfinit kernel: sda: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
Jul 28 21:49:03 linfinit kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Jul 28 21:49:03 linfinit kernel: sda: unknown partition table
Jul 28 21:49:03 linfinit kernel: sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sda
Jul 28 21:49:03 linfinit kernel: sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
Jul 28 21:49:03 linfinit kernel: usb-storage: device scan complete

---> Note the message: "sda: unknown partition table"

linfinit:~ # lsusb
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 04cf:9921 Myson Century, Inc.

linfinit:~ # ls /dev/sd* -la
brw-r----- 1 root disk 8, 0 Jul 28 21:49 /dev/sda

---> Note that /dev/sda exists, but there is no /dev/sda1

linfinit:~ # fsck -t vfat /dev/sda
fsck 1.38 (30-Jun-2005)
dosfsck 2.11, 12 Mar 2005, FAT32, LFN
Currently, only 1 or 2 FATs are supported, not 255.

---> It seems like the xD card is using a peculiar file system.

linfinit:/home/leopardi # fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 2097 MB, 2097152000 bytes
65 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1016 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 4030 * 512 = 2063360 bytes

Disk /dev/sda doesn't contain a valid partition table


My questions: How do I mount this card? Do I need to write my own driver? Why does it work on Windows?

My questions are very similar to the following thread:
"mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1"
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=566231
except that:

1. The file system on my xD card is *not* corrupted, in the sense that my Olympus FE-130 camera can read and write photos to it.
2. I cannot reformat my xD card, since I want to be able to continue using it in my camera.

Have you tried mounting /dev/sda? Some work with the knowledge of a partition.

Brian

Windows might have some proprietary drivers to understand the card. I've seen some cards that didn't mount nicely on Linux (and didn't take the time to wonder how it works, simply used an XP machine aside); last one was just 2GB flash card for a GPS navigator. On Windows it did work without problems, but then again, I had the software installed for managing the maps of the GPS device, so I'm not sure if it was about that. The cards should be pre-formatted, but if it isn't, you can always try to re-format them under Linux (to fat if you want it to work with other operating systems without much trouble).

What does fdisk say about it?

linfinit:~ # mount /dev/sda /media/xd_card -t vfat
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda,
missing codepage or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so

linfinit:~ # dmesg | tail
SCSI device sda: 4096000 512-byte hdwr sectors (2097 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
sda: unknown partition table
sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sda
sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
usb-storage: device scan complete
FAT: bogus logical sector size 65535
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev sda.

linfinit:~ # mount /dev/sda /media/xd_card
mount: you must specify the filesystem type

linfinit:~ # lsusb -v

Bus 003 Device 005: ID 04cf:9921 Myson Century, Inc.
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 2.00
bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 64
idVendor 0x04cf Myson Century, Inc.
idProduct 0x9921
bcdDevice a2.11
iManufacturer 1 Myson Century, Inc.
iProduct 2 CS8819A2-111
iSerial 3 100
bNumConfigurations 1
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 32
bNumInterfaces 1
bConfigurationValue 1
iConfiguration 4 USB Mass Storage
bmAttributes 0x80
(Bus Powered)
MaxPower 300mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 2
bInterfaceClass 8 Mass Storage
bInterfaceSubClass 6 SCSI
bInterfaceProtocol 80 Bulk (Zip)
iInterface 5 Mass Storage Class
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x03 EP 3 OUT
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
bInterval 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x84 EP 4 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
bInterval 0
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
bLength 10
bDescriptorType 6
bcdUSB 2.00
bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 64
bNumConfigurations 1
Device Status: 0x0000
(Bus Powered)

As I said in my original post, the card works in my camera, so I cannot reformat it.

I gave the output of fdisk in my original post. Here is the output of sfdisk:

linfinit:~ # sfdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 1016 cylinders, 65 heads, 62 sectors/track

sfdisk: ERROR: sector 0 does not have an msdos signature
/dev/sda: unrecognized partition table type
No partitions found
linfinit:~ # sfdisk -V /dev/sda

sfdisk: ERROR: sector 0 does not have an msdos signature
/dev/sda: unrecognized partition table type

sfdisk: no partition table present.

linfinit:~ # mount /dev/sda /media/xd_card -t usbfs
linfinit:~ # ls /media/xd_card
001 002 003 devices
linfinit:~ # ls /media/xd_card/001
001
linfinit:~ # ls -l /media/xd_card/001
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 43 Jul 28 17:21 001
linfinit:~ # ls -l /media/xd_card
total 0
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 0 Jul 28 17:21 001
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 0 Jul 28 17:21 002
dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 0 Jul 28 17:21 003
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 Jul 29 14:31 devices
linfinit:~ # ls -l /media/xd_card/*
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 Jul 29 14:31 /media/xd_card/devices

/media/xd_card/001:
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 43 Jul 28 17:21 001

/media/xd_card/002:
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 43 Jul 28 17:21 001
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 52 Jul 28 17:22 003

/media/xd_card/003:
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 43 Jul 28 17:21 001
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 50 Jul 29 14:31 005

It could be your Logic Gear device. I have an old CardMate that
worked with Debian Sarge with some banging around, but I've
never gotten it to work since switching to Etch. Make sure your
"Picture Card" is plugged into the Logic Gear device before the
Logic Gear device is plugged into your USB port.

Mount the partition sda1 and use vfat as the fstype. If it still doesn't mount I'd format it as fat32 under Linux. It should still work with your camera and Windows. Oddly enough, especially for fat partitions over 32 GB, Linux does a better job than (recent versions of) Windows... go figure.

That's the way I've been doing it: plug the xD Picture Card into the Logic Gear MMDrive device before plugging the whole thing into the USB port.

I have no /dev/sda1 to mount, only /dev/sda.

If I format my existing xD card:

1. I will lose all of my existing photos.
2. There is no guarantee that my camera will recognize the format.

I could try to format a new xD card.

1) You can't mount sda, you can only mount partitions.
2) Save your photos to your Windows installation
3) If it doesn't work just reformat the card again using the camera's format function

I must agree. Get the photos off the media. Then remove partition under windows if present. Then under linux create a fat32 partition and then let the camera formet it. Then see if linux can see it.

Brian

You might want to use a GUI tool like gparted so you don't have to struggle with the command line.

I saved the photos by using the Olympus camera to USB cable.

I don't have Windows on this PC. I'm only guessing that the xD card can be read using Windows. I'll have to verify this on another PC.

I'll have to look up the camera documentation to see how to get the camera to format a partition. AFAIK the camera can erase an already formatted xD card, but I don't know if it can format a newly created partition.

I have a Feisty workstation at work, and a smaller xD card there, so I'll investigate those first.