[dan_kirshner]

The memory expansion card _appears_ to be a plain vanilla "SmartMedia" card - 64 MB for two hours -- even though the TalkSwitch info says it has been "formatted."

A vanilla SmartMedia card can be had for $30, while TalkSwitch charges $150. Expensive formatting!

Does anyone know if a generic SmartMedia card will work?

[aprokrotke]

Hey - interesting that you post this at the same time as I look for memory for our talkswitch.

I bought generic SmartMedia, brand new - it does NOT work with the Talkswitch system. It fits in fine, but the talkswitch just doesn't read it. There is some special format they load onto the card. I guess if a way was found to re-format the card to that standard, you'd be in business for $30. Honestly, $350 for a $30 128mb card is a rip off. I have no qualms saying that is price gouging. If you find a way to re-format a generic card, let me know, and I'll do the same.

[GlennCrocker]

DITTO,
I agree, I tried a generic card also. Did not work. It is a ridiculas price for theirs. With the newer Talksitch, I think you can buy a license for more memory. I found a 60 minute card on ebay for a reasonable price. I love my Talkswitch, but I am learning Trixbox and FreePBX. One of the reasons is, I want to track my marketing to know what works and what phone numbers are being called. Talkswitch has reporting software that you can buy a license for... It's only just under $500. Crazy.

It's all built into the Trixbox/FreePBX. You can also add multiple VoIP providers. Asterisk just seems to offer more solutions, So I'll probably be migrating over once I learn all this stuff.

[hartsockt]

Has anyone found a solution to this issue?

[hoop105]

someone could try putting one of the talkswitch cards in your computer and opening it up from the mycomputer window and looking to see what is on it.. I do not have an additional card in my system or I would and you could possibly copy the files from the talkswitch card to a generic card???

[ricka]

I have no experience with a talkswitch, but if its using some no standard filing system, (maybe even linux), perhaps something like dd, or drive image could be used to copy a partition from a working card.

[RGR]

I used Disk Management to look at the file format and it reports back 'RAW' for my 60min memory card.
I tried DriveImage XML, but could not get it backed up.
Any suggestions?

[ricka]

I have on occasion used acronis when Drive Image would not backup an unknown partition type. I also used a raid controller once to copy a partition that was unknown. The raid technique is neat, in that it does a logical block copy, which doesn't care about higher level formatting. A friend has a diskjockey, that uses this technique and it even has a mode that ignores errors and copies whats in the logical block.

All these suggestions require the smartmedia to appear like a real hard drive. I had thought about getting a ide to smartmedia adapter to do this. Upon further investigation, I think an ide to pcmcia adapter, and then a pcmcia to smartmedia adapter is more available. I don't think looking at the smart media using windows is of any use, since windows is limited in regards to unusual formats. I think linux is more useful, but I am not a linux user, so I am only speculating.

[RGR]

Originally Posted by ricka

All these suggestions require the smartmedia to appear like a real hard drive.

The card does not show up as a HD, when selecting the drive letter a box comes up asking if I want to format it.
I do have a Mac available, too.
Any other suggestions?

[ricka]

Sorry, nothing else comes to mind.