Campbell Scientific PC208 Datalogger Support Software - Manual (Page 101)

SECTION 8. SMCREAD CARD READING SOFTWARE
8-3
You are now asked in which card program area
you wish to store the program. Enter a number
between 1 and 8.
SMCRead now loads the program into the card,
displaying a ‘ . ’ as each 100 characters is
transferred.
8.2.8 E — ERASE, RESET AND TEST THE CARD
CAUTION: The E option completely erases
all data and programs in the card. At the
same time the card memory is fully checked
to ensure the module can store and recall
data correctly.
SMCRead asks you to verify that you want to
erase the card before this option runs. Press
Y
for yes or N for no as appropriate.
SMCRead runs the E option by issuing the
‘1248K’ command to the module and displaying
the status of the process. First a row of ‘+’
symbols is displayed. One ‘+’ is displayed for
each 16 kbyte page of memory written. At the
end of this row an equal number of ‘-’ symbols
is shown as the data is read out and checked
successfully.
A further two rows of ‘-’ symbols are shown as
further read/write tests are performed on the
memory.
If an error occurs at any stage an ‘x’ is
displayed and tests on memory after that page
are aborted. After an error is detected the
memory that can be used is limited to the pages
of good memory tested before the failure.
If an error does occur, use the E option several
times to check if the position at which the error
occurs is repeatable. If the test fails at different
points in the card, the card may have a serious
hardware fault. If the error always occurs in the
same memory page, it is possible to use the
card with reduced capacity. Please contact
Campbell Scientific for further advice.
At the end of the test, SMCRead displays a
message indicating how many locations are
usable.
8.2.9 C — CLEAR DATA AREA QUICKLY
This option is similar to the E option, with the
exception that it does not do a full memory test.
Instead SMCRead uses the ‘1249K’ command
to erase the card memory and reset the
pointers. Before this, SMCRead temporarily
offloads all programs present in the card to disk.
After erasure the programs are reloaded into
the card so that only data is erased.
As with the E option, you are asked to verify that
you wish to proceed with erasing the card.
As with options P and D, program reading and
loading are subject to verification procedures. If
SMCRead is unable to reload a program back
into the card, a warning is displayed and a
temporary file containing the program is
retained on disk. Such temporary files are
named T1249K1.DLD...T1249K8.DLD
depending on the program area in which the
program is stored in the card. If an error
occurs, you should copy or rename the files that
have not been loaded into the card before
investigating the problem. The file can later be
loaded manually using the D option.
If the card is corrupted do not use the C option
initially. Use the E option to fully test and reset
the card.
8.2.10 S — SHOW THE POSITION AND SIZE OF
THE FILES IN THE CARD
This option asks SMCRead to scan through the
card and report the position and types of files
found in the card. A listing is written to the
screen which is similar to a DOS directory
listing, where the type of file, its size plus the
beginning and end locations are shown. This
information can be used to determine how
many files are in the card and detect any
wasted space. The start position of data files
can be used with the L option to read specific
files from the card.
There are three different types of files that the
Show option will list:
•
A data file, i.e. datalogger data. The Show
option assigns a number to the file which
starts at one at the beginning of the card
and increments for each new data file.
•
A program file, shown with the number
assigned when the program was loaded
into the card.