Have I bricked my Kobo Mini?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by bluepeter

I love the idea of a 32GB μSD card in a Mini, though 8GB would be more than enough for me if I was going to do that upgrade. However, as I said earlier, that job's beyond my capabilities.

I don't know for certain, but I think I've read that now, with the current firmware, your Mini will not reset back to original factory settings, it will just clear all your user information. But, if you're tempted to do that, definitely make sure before going forward. I may have misunderstood or misremembered what I read.

As for an 8GB microSD card instead of a 32GB one, it's pretty hard to find anything smaller than 32GBs now — maybe on Amazon or eBay, but locally 32GB seems to be the smallest you can find in stores. (Fred Meyer always has these on sale — one brand or another, for about $4 to $6.)

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I don't know for certain, but I think I've read that now, with the current firmware, your Mini will not reset back to original factory settings, it will just clear all your user information. But, if you're tempted to do that, definitely make sure before going forward. I may have misunderstood or misremembered what I read.

Noted, thanks. I don't think it an issue, though. Even if it does revert to original factory spec on reset, that won't be an issue. I can recreate what I did this afternoon easily enough. I've retained the instructions and the necessary downloads.

Originally Posted by rcentros

As for an 8GB microSD card instead of a 32GB one, it's pretty hard to find anything smaller than 32GBs now — maybe on Amazon or eBay, but locally 32GB seems to be the smallest you can find in stores. (Fred Meyer always has these on sale — one brand or another, for about $4 to $6.)

Yes, I expect you're right about μSD card availability. But if I was going to do it, I'd probably buy one from Amazon. I use them often enough that I could just tack one on to an order for something else. I don't have any spares here, and there aren't any local shops where I could buy one at a sensible price.

Fred Meyer? Never heard the name before - doesn't operate on this side of the Atlantic, AFAIK. I'm the thick end of 5,000 miles east of you.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I don't know for certain, but I think I've read that now, with the current firmware, your Mini will not reset back to original factory settings, it will just clear all your user information. But, if you're tempted to do that, definitely make sure before going forward. I may have misunderstood or misremembered what I read.

For Kobo's newer firmware, the Factory reset from the Settings => Device information does not revert to the factory firmware. If you enable Developer Mode, the Factory reset from the Developer options menu will still revert to the original factory firmware as will the manual factory reset procedure.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by bluepeter

Fred Meyer? Never heard the name before - doesn't operate on this side of the Atlantic, AFAIK. I'm the thick end of 5,000 miles east of you.

Fred Meyer is a northwest U.S. grocery/department store chain. Now owned by Kroger (Kroger has bought up a lot of grocery store chains). So you're probably closer to 5,000 miles away from the nearest Fred Myers.

In some ways I would rather have an 8GB (or 16GB) microSD for the Mini also — the waste wouldn't seem quite as "wasteful." But 32GB is what I had on hand, so that's what I used. (Honestly the original 2 GB was good enough, but I did want a backup image.)

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DNSB

For Kobo's newer firmware, the Factory reset from the Settings => Device information does not revert to the factory firmware. If you enable Developer Mode, the Factory reset from the Developer options menu will still revert to the original factory firmware as will the manual factory reset procedure.

Okay, thanks. This is what I thought I remembered reading. This means that, if I sell or give away my older Kobos, I can now do a non-developer reset and still be at the newest (or near newest) firmware. Which means the Kobo is working more like a Kindle or PocketBook in this regard now.

Again, thanks for the information.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DNSB

For Kobo's newer firmware, the Factory reset from the Settings => Device information does not revert to the factory firmware.

I should ask. At what firmware version did this change take place? Would 4.35.xxx be new enough?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by bluepeter

Yes, I expect you're right about μSD card availability. But if I was going to do it, I'd probably buy one from Amazon. I use them often enough that I could just tack one on to an order for something else. I don't have any spares here, and there aren't any local shops where I could buy one at a sensible price.

Yes. Tesco is about x4 price for the same thing.
I do like to buy from a local retailer, but of course Tesco is even less a local retailer in Ireland than UK. No Sainsburys so they closed Argos here once they started moving Argos inside their UK stores.
Most of the local SD card sellers are foreign chain stores selling with a crazy markup.

I get one of 3 brands from Amazon if having to order something else. I did order some very cheap 2G & 4G cards for a project a few years ago. A double waste on money as many are faulty and the project never happened.
Some old devices use 4G max. There are still things being sold that take 32G max.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Also SideloadedMode=true should now work in the conf file.

But the OP has not said he doesn't want to register. So please don't confuse the issue.

[bluepeter]

Of course, it had to happen, didn't it? After sleeping on it, I changed my mind and decided to give upgrading the storage a go. A bit more than 2GB would be useful, after all. At worst, I'd be a few pounds out of pocket but still able to replace the original SD card.

The cheapest decent quality (SanDisk) μSD card was a trivial £6 for 32GB from Argos (we do have a Sainsbury's here, and it has an Argos inside). 32GB is a massive overkill, but hardly a problem. A quick trip into town and the hardware side is sorted.

Making an image of the old card and copying it onto the new one was, as advertised, a simple job with the suggested software.

Next was the bit that I thought might be a problem: resizing the partition on the new card. I remembered having had trouble with the suggested tool (MiniTool Partition Wizard) last year. I don't recall exactly what I wanted to do then, beyond the fact that it was something to do with upgrading my home-built desktop PC from Windows 10 to 11. Whatever I was doing wasn't available in the free version, and I'd have had to pay a vast amount of money for the Pro version to do it. It was cheaper to buy a new hard drive.

Anyway, I'm pleased to say that I had no such difficulty today: resizing a partition is available in the free version. And it was pretty simple.

I now have a working 32GB Kobo Mini.

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But the OP has not said he doesn't want to register. So please don't confuse the issue.

Oh, so that's something to do with not registering, is it? Well, I had the Mini running unregistered yesterday, because that was the only way I could get ite to a usable state. But you're right: I'm perfectly happy to register and, now that I've got version 4 firmware installed, I've performed another factory reset and registered it to my Kobo account.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But the OP has not said he doesn't want to register. So please don't confuse the issue.

Interestingly, my Kobo has SideloadedMode=true, and still allows registration/logging in to Kobo, Adobe, Pocket, ...

So, who is confusing the issue.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by John F

Interestingly, my Kobo has SideloadedMode=true, and still allows registration/logging in to Kobo, Adobe, Pocket, ...

So, who is confusing the issue.

I register and then set SideloadedMode=true.
Makes the My Books be the Home page and removes discover.
Logging in again is simple via Settings, though that sets SideloadedMode=false rather than removing it and moves it in the list of features.

You can also enable menu item for text export of annotations etc, from holding finger on a book in the list.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by bluepeter

I now have a working 32GB Kobo Mini.

The Mini is still a very nice reader. it looks like yours is one of the newer ones with a Pearl screen.

[Quoth]

I'd like a mini, because the Kobo SW is better than Sony. I have the PRS-350 and I have to turn it on now with a map pin. On/Off plastic disintegrated.

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I'd like a mini, because the Kobo SW is better than Sony. I have the PRS-350 and I have to turn it on now with a map pin. On/Off plastic disintegrated.

Well, if you particularly want a Mini, I see that there are two or three currently being offered on eBay UK.