Mac and PC Users ­ Bypass ActiveSync Using CF Cards

ActiveSync is a great program, unless you own a late-model USB Apple Macintosh computer like I do. If you have an older Macintosh, it can work well ­ you simply need to get a Windows emulator such as Virtual PC from Connectix. But only a few power users have been able to get ActiveSync to work with the newer, USB-port Macs.

CompactFlash card in a laptop's PC card slot.

The simplest way around this problem is to use CompactFlash (CF) or MultiMedia (MMC) cards to swap files. My HP Jornada Pocket PC and most other Pocket and Handheld PCs come with CompactFlash or MultiMedia card slots. Macs and PCs can also be outfitted with these slots, making it fast and easy to copy MP3s, eBooks, documents, and even program files from the Mac to a Pocket PC using a CF or MMC card. Even many PC users, notably Rich Hall, editor of Pocket PC magazine, find this method faster than ActiveSync for file transfer.

In what follows, I always refer to CF cards because that is what I use, but MultiMedia card users can purchase an MMC adapter for their Mac or PC and everything else will apply.

The Mac (or PC) needs a card slot

I'm fortunate to have a Macintosh laptop that already has the larger PCMCIA card slot. A $15 adapter lets me slip the smaller CF card into this larger slot (see Screen 1). Desktop Mac and PC users can buy a CF or MMC card reader that connects directly to their computers via a parallel, USB, SCSI, or ISA interface (see Screen 2). Prices for CF or MMC card readers start as low as $30 (see SanDisk ImageMate: www.sandisk.com or Microtech Zio: www.microtechint.com). Once I insert the CF card into my Macintosh, it shows up on my desktop display like any other disk. I can create folders on it; copy, move and delete items; and more. I can even use my Mac to initialize a CF card.

Screen 1: The smaller CompactFlash card slips into a CF adapter and can be used in the larger PCMCIA Card slot found in many notebook computers.

Screen 2: The USB version of SanDisk's ImageMate CompactFlash reader works with PCs and Macintosh computers (OS 8.6 and later) equipped with a USB port.

File transfer is fast! Moving 20 Mb of MP3 songs from my Mac to the CF card took less than one minute. I simply inserted the CF card into the adapter and inserted it into the card slot. Then I copied the songs to the card, removed it and put it back into my Jornada. Rich Hall tried the same thing using ActiveSync and a fast USB connection on a PC. It took him six minutes to move 20 Mb of MP3s from his Dell 733 MHz desktop PC to his iPAQ Pocket PC.

Data must be saved in "My Documents"

First of all, it's important to know where to put the files. Word, Excel, Media Player and other applications on the Pocket PC expect to find their data files in the "My Documents" folder. There can be two folders with this name: one in main memory and the other on a memory card. Pocket PC applications will "see" files in either. They may not be able to find files saved elsewhere.

All documents, MP3s, videos and other data files saved on a CF card should be stored in the My Documents folder of the card. If that folder doesn't exist, create it. You can also save files in subfolders in My Documents, but they can only be one level deep. For example, you can create a folder titled "MP3" within My Documents and save your music there. However, if you put a subfolder named "Rap" in the MP3 folder, and save music there, Windows Media Player will not be able to find the music files. (I've seen discussion on the Internet saying that the latest version of WMP does away with this limitation.)