Loss Of All Data After Sl5500 Battery Depletion

[knobby]

Apologies if this is a dumb question but have had no success discussing this with Sharp support. It would be appear randomly after the battery runs down on my SL5500 I'm required to reinitialise and reload all data and any applications (this is not helped by the SL5500 appalling battery life). I've sent the unit off to Sharp in the past who insist they can find nothing wrong. Various upgrades have not helped the problem. Would appreciate any insights orwhether this is something that I just have to live with.


Rod

[lardman]

Assuming you're running a standard Sharp ROM, then yes, this is the normal behaviour.

This occurs because the writable filesystem on the 5500 (where you save documents and install programs) is contained in a RAM disk. If the power fails (battery flat), the contents of the RAM (and RAM disk) are lost.

To get around this problem, either keep the battery charged ;-) or install a better ROM, such as OZ, which allows write access to the flashROM. This will allow you to install and save stuff to the flash memory and it won't be lost if the battery goes flat.


Si

[knobby]

Ok, thanks will look in to OpenZaurus.

[chrget]

To get around this problem, either keep the battery charged ;-) or install a better ROM, such as OZ, which allows write access to the flashROM. This will allow you to install and save stuff to the flash memory and it won't be lost if the battery goes flat.

Or, of course, do it the way it's designed: do regular backups to a CF or SD card  

Best regards,
Chris.

[knobby]

Ok fair point, I'll consider myself suitably chastened

[lardman]

Ok fair point, I'll consider myself suitably chastened

:-D, I do think it's a bit of a pain that it loses its state when the power fails, however this is the same as the early WinCE machines, and things like the Psions.

That said, I'd seriously recommend you go for something with a writable flashROM, then install your apps there and to a storage card. That way, you don't lose anything if the power does go.


Si

[chrget]

That said, I'd seriously recommend you go for something with a writable flashROM, then install your apps there and to a storage card. That way, you don't lose anything if the power does go.

That's something I personally consider a matter of taste -- while it is nice to be able to simply write to the flash, it also carries a certain amount of risk: nothing worse than doing something stupid to it (or have some software run amok and do it for you    )  while you're on the road and miles away from your desktop to fix it, leaving you (in the worst case) with a hi-tech brick in your pocket

With the Sharp approach, this is never a problem: you curse, grumble, hit reset and restore your latest backup from SD. And doing backups and restores is (IMHO) sufficiently painless on the Z for it to do so on a regular basis (i.e. even several times daily, if need be).

But, as I said, it's really a matter of taste.

Best regards,
Chris.

[lardman]

I see your point.

In which case, you could run OZ3.5.2 with GPE (probably also works with Opie, but it's not set up by default), which lets you run as a normal user (who can't delete many things other than ~/*), then su to root to possibly do more damage ;-)


Si