Can I use Sandisk Compact 4GB Flash card on Cisco 2800 series Ro

opsecsecurity · ‎06-11-2012

Can I use Sandisk Compact 4GB Flash card on Cisco 2800 series Routers

Leo Laohoo · ‎06-11-2012

Can I use Sandisk Compact 4GB Flash card on Cisco 2800 series Routers

Official Cisco answer: NO, NO, NO and NO.

Un-official answer: Depends if your CF is supported. One way to find out is to stick this into a router which has already booted up to the IOS level.

Insert the CF in and do a "sh log" to see if there are any line like this:

Jun 12 07:57:51 AEST: %FILESYS-5-CF: CompactFlash inserted

If you get this line, then the next thing that you do is to format the CF using the command "format flash:".

And when this is complete, you can now copy the correct IOS into the new CF.

NOTE: Please let us know if you can get anything bigger than a 2Gb working. I've used 2 Gb CF cards extensively and I haven't met anyone who can confirm that a 4 Gb (or anything bigger) will work.

leechr · ‎06-23-2012

Yes can confirm the Sandisk Compact 4GB Flash Card works in 2800 series, the exact card above...

Initially I attempted to shrink the partition on the card to a 2GB FAT partition using the steps here http://timescience.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/how-to-downsize-a-4gb-compact-flash-card-to-2gb/

However when I inserted it into the router and tried a directory list it wouldn't have a bar of it...

*Jun 23 14:11:01.391: %FILESYS-5-CF: CompactFlash inserted

rtrvoip#dir flash:

%Error opening flash:/ (Invalid DOS media or no media in slot)

rtrvoip#format flash:

So I ended up running a format flash and voila, 4GB of flash memory no problems...

rtrvoip#format flash:

Format operation may take a while. Continue? [confirm]

Format operation will destroy all data in "flash:". Continue? [confirm]

Writing Monlib sectors....

Monlib write complete

Format: All system sectors written. OK...

Format: Total sectors in formatted partition: 7812945

Format: Total bytes in formatted partition: 4000227840

Format: Operation completed successfully.

Format of flash: complete

rtrvoip#dir flash:

Directory of flash:/

No files in directory

3999793152 bytes total (3999793152 bytes free)

Leo Laohoo · ‎06-23-2012

Cool! Thanks for the confirmation.

Let us know if you want to venture into the 8 Gb because I'm suspecting this is the maximum limit the hardware can support.

opsecsecurity · ‎06-26-2012

I tried with Sandisk 256MB CF. I formatted it and copied the latest version of IOS,

(I can see "Jun 26 10:18:15.546 EDT: %FILESYS-5-CF: CompactFlash inserted" as sh ver output)

After inserting the new CF , the router reboots and comes to the enable mode.

But there is no "sh flash"output and I am not able to ping the Router.

It is a Cisco 3800 Router.

"c3825-advipservicesk9-mz.124-16.bin", IOS is Running currently and I tried to upgrade to "c3825-advipservicesk9-mz.151-4.M4.bin"

Leo Laohoo · ‎06-26-2012

But there is no "sh flash"output and I am not able to ping the Router.

Hi Kyle,

The the simple command "dir".

opsecsecurity · ‎06-27-2012

what is the purpose of vlan.dat file on the flash. I accidently deleted the vlan.dat file and rebooted the router. Will that be an issue?

Leo Laohoo · ‎06-27-2012

what is the purpose of vlan.dat file on the flash. I accidently deleted the vlan.dat file and rebooted the router. Will that be an issue?

vlan.dat file contains your VLAN information: VLAN numbers, VTP mode, VTP password, VTP domain name, etc.

If you're not doing Layer 2 then it should be fine. You can replicate the information from the nearest switch. In some cases, copying the VLAN.dat from another appliance will work. I've done it successfully several times. Note, I said "In some cases".

DustinBAE · ‎03-05-2013

While the IOS of the 2800 ISR G1 can format and read the 4GB Compact Flash that you have shown above, the ROMMON (even latest version) can only read up 2GB. I know this because I got one cheap off ebay, and now I still can't get my ISR G1 to boot because ROMMON cannot read the large partition.

So, you are good as long as you don't have to reboot the router. I've seen others with the same issue, and I've not seen a single person confirm that a 4GB compact flash can be read by ROMMON on an ISR G1 as of 3/5/2013.

Thank you,

Dustin

JaredWood · ‎08-29-2013

I know this is an old post, but I noticed some unsupported information being stated. CF is documented as NOT hot swappable on a 2800, but is on a 3800 series. It has been stated so in other threads, but here is a Cisco document for reference.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/routers/ps5854/prod_qas0900aecd80169bd6.html

Do a search on the word "flash", and the 21st entry has the desired information.

Hope this helps,

Jared

Note: On my 2821, I decided to take the risk and pull out the CF card, put it into my windows machine, add a file to it (IOS upgrade, etc, after formatting via my 2821 because I didn't want to wait for the tftp file copy), and then popping it back in seems to work without any hitch/damage/etc. However, it is unsupported, as stated before, so this is a use at your own risk option.

Another note: If you format the CF card using windows (in order to wipe GUI files, other uploaded junk, etc, so you can add back a clean .bin image) it must be FAT16.

Jonathan Woods · ‎08-29-2013

I've connected 8GB+ flash drives via USB ports on 3750X's, etc...