Formatting SD cards

Formatting SD cards

The Pandora OS can read cards formatted with various filesystems including ext2 ext3 and fat32.

For NTFS, the If the Community Codec Pack must be installed.

If you have access to a desktop computer, it's a good idea to use the Panasonic SD Formatter, which can improve performance of SD cards.

• Formatting a SD card : demystifying !

ext3

To format a card ext3, insert the card into the Pandora, then open terminal, and type: [1]

sudo fdisk /dev/mmcblk0 # (use mmcblk1 for the second slot)

# 't' then '83' to change the partition type to linux, then 'w' to save.

sudo mkfs.ext3 -m 0 /dev/mmcblk0p1 # (use mmcblk1p1 for the second slot)

If you want to set a volume name then type:

sudo mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -L volumename /dev/mmcblk0p1

FAT32

The software to format FAT32 is not included with the Pandora, but can be easily installed. Open terminal, and type: [2][3]

sudo opkg update
sudo opkg install dosfstools

Once installed, you can format a card like so:

sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/mmcblk0p1 # (or mmcblk1p1 for the second slot)