Bkbroil Review: Pocket Mechanic v1.0.9

[bkbroil]

Review: Pocket Mechanic v1.09
I have been using CNetX Flash Format for quite some time and
I was recently given the opportunity to try the newest version of Pocket
Mechanic. Pocket Mechanic is many tools wrapped up into one. But it is best
known for its functionality for formatting storage cards.
In the review below I will go through the installation and
some of the features of the software.
Installation:


Typical Windows installation that was intuitive and easy.
After Installation, Pocket Mechanic placed an Icon in the
Programs folder.

Registration (Okay, do I have to):

Simple registration input. So far...steady as she goes. There
is nothing different from any other application that I have installed on my
Ipaq. (Good that’s the way I like it! )
Also, Pocket Mechanic does provide a 10 day trial installation for those of you
who would like to try it before you buy it.
The Application:

Okay, now we’re into the meat of the application. First
thing that sets this apart from other applications that I have used in the
past, is the use of Large Icons with the functionality description of the
highlighted icon in the bottom box. Not that big of a deal you say... but I found
myself tapping on the different Icons and reading the text to determine what
was the best action to take (rather than going into the functionality and
saying "Nah, that’s not what I wanted to do"). To launch the functionality of
the Icon, you will need to double tap. (Not my first inclination when using a
PPC but I quickly got used to it) However, I would like the option to turn the
text description off, since I’m sure after a couple of uses I will not need the
descriptions. (Hmmm, and why can’t I remember to take out the trash every week
after 6 years of marriage. )
Card Information:

Everything you always wanted to know about your storage card
and more. (Interesting that the Icon is named "Card Information" and the
heading on the screen is named "Volume Information") The information contained
in the expandable list has all of the cluster sizes and memory information
about the current storage card. This is a read only function of Pocket
Mechanic.
The meat of the matter : Card Formatting:

The Logical Format function is what appears at first glance
to be a typical storage card formatting screen. Although, the Options
dropdown has a number of typical uses for a storage card that can be chosen to
automatically set the FAT and the Cluster Size for your card to format
with.
The following table displays the Options along with the
associated FAT and Cluster size:

• Multimedia (mp3, video etc) FAT16 32k
  Applications and their data FAT32 2k
  Emails, web cache, AvantGo cache FAT32 1k
  Large files (backups, maps, video) FAT16 16k
  Mixed large and small files FAT32 2k
  Many small files FAT32 1k
  Not sure, optimized for performance FAT16 32k
  Not sure, optimized for free size FAT32 512k
  Digital camera FAT16 8k

It is interesting that they have chosen the options for the
typical use of a storage card. I am not an expert on the "Best" cluster size
for a card to be used in a digital camera (or any of the options) so I am
assuming that Pocket Mechanic has determined that those values are the best.
(Remember this for later )
I chose the "Multimedia (mp3, video etc) option for my
Sandisk 128mb Secure Digital Card because I normally fill them up with .WMA
files for traveling. And off I go.....

Yeah....yeah....yeah......I know, it will take me longer if I don’t
choose quick mode.. So, I hit "yes" and off I go again....

(GASP!) I received an error!
I could not format the SD card with the specified cluster size?
But....but....but....all I chose was the "Multimedia (mp3, video etc)" option...and Pocket Mechanic chose the FAT and cluster size...Pocket Mechanic Knows best .. right :P .
I don’t know why if can’t format it with the specified cluster size, perhaps the application should detect the media format and only provide the options that are available for that media type.
I manually changed the cluster size option to 2k and the FAT
option to FAT16 and "away we go"....

No Problemo!!
Disk Cleanup:

I found the "Disk Cleanup" to be a surprise. I wasn’t
expecting this to be in Pocket Mechanic. The Disk cleanup will scan the checked
areas of your PPC and clean delete extraneous files. Nice touch! I think it
might be nice to have an option that Disk Cleaner run at every soft reset.
Storage Card Benchmark:

This I found to be interesting, yet I’m not sure what I will
use it for. The application will benchmark the media for read and write speed.
From the results, the speed at which my Ipaq can read the SD Card is .18 MB/sec
and the Write speed is .08 MB/sec. Okay? Nice, I guess. (Not something to bring
up at my next social gathering…then again, I’m pretty geeky...maybe I will bring
it up."Hey ... I bet you my Ipaq can read and write faster than yours!" )
Conclusion:
Pocket Mechanic has a host of tools available in the
application. Some you will use and some you will not. Of the tools that I will
use: Media card Format and Disk Cleanup it does them extremely well.
I did have a hiccup in the formatting but nothing of any importance. There are
a number of other tools that I will probably not use after today (but ya’ never
know).
I especially like that this ONE application can replace my
current installations of CNETX Flash Format and Space Reclaimer.
Overall on the bkbroiler hamburger scale (5 being an industry changer ...or dare I say...a Whopper ),
I give this application 3.5 burgers.
.5

[Brad Isaac]

Win A Copy of Pocket Mechanic by entering our contest

[arebelspy]

Great review. Take out the trash. Heh.
I like the storage card benchmark. Now we'll be able to figure out what SD card is faster, etc.
Anton's products are the best!
-arebelspy

[bkbroil]

I never really thought that the SD Cards differed in read and write speed. I thought it was dependent on the device that was reading them (until I started seeing some of the posts).
According to my Bench Mark results (above) a Sandisk 128MB SD card performs at .18 MB/sec read and the Write speed is .08 MB/sec (in an Ipaq 3835).
I wonder what some of the other SD Card brands are posting?

[Brad Isaac]

hmmm...that's a good idea. I wonder how we could organize a storage card read/write pool. Where we could record results for our various cards and Pocket PCs. That way, we'd know which cards would be the best and could always make the right purchasing decision
Any suggestions?

[bkbroil]

Do you have anything else to give away?
Since Pocket Mechanic has a 10 day trial and Magic SS is freeware for screen capture.....you could ask people to post their times with a screen capture (using the Benchmark Utility in Pocket Mechanic).. (this involves creating an ftp site to upload the images) and the person with the fastest time wins .......
????
(Please...please....please...a Scottevest )
and we all win too...by finding out the best SD card to purchase.
What ya think?

[bkbroil]

This post above was directed at you Brad. .... What ...you're speechless?

[Brad Isaac]

ooops...sorry I missed it....been trying to fix one of the site's modules ALL DAY! And the good news is...It ain't working
Anyway, you can actually copy and paste your stats into a forum post. by using keyboard shortcuts. Simply hightlight all text, use CTRL + C to copy and CTRL + V to paste
Like this test I just ran with PM trial:
Details:
Card tested: "SD Card"
Min. read time: 0.25 ms
Max. read time: 8.75 ms
Avg. read time: 2.74 ms
Sectors/block: variable 0-64
Sector size: 512 bytes
Start sector: 0
End sector: 246016
Total sectors read: 2504
Total data read: 1.00 MB
Total read time: 6870 ms
Do you all think we should start a new forum thread?

[Protista]

For comparison purposes, we ran Pocket Mechanic Benchmark read speed benchmarks on our Lexar 128 MB SD. The result was .58 mb/sec.
We have found this utility to be excellent for comparing performance of various SD cards, format parameters, and also as an indicator of overall system performance.
We use an Ipaq 5955 running WM 2003 and Pocket Mechanic.

[Brad Isaac]

I agree, it is a good card benchmarker...however, sometimes the truth hurts - as in the case of my personal sandisk card benchmarks...they come back extra slow

[mab]

I been having problems with formating my SD card. I am not sure what setting to use when formating. I have tried the large and small file setting , Applications and there data and not sure optimize for performance and I still have problems running programs and saving data to this card. What setting should I use for normal right out of the package usage. I use the card in my Ipaq 2210 for saving data and programs.
Thank you