Pixfer for Pocket PC is no longer supported
Unfortunately, the options for large storage on Pocket PC devices have diminished over time. There are rumors of future devices that support solid USB host functionality, but at this time, Pixfer for Pocket PC is no longer a viable product. The information here about Pixfer for Pocket PC is maintained for use with the free license key included with every copy of PocketLoupe. The only way to purchase Pixfer for Pocket PC is to purchase PocketLoupe. If you purchased a Pixfer for Pocket PC license key in the past, we will attempt to provide technical support, but are no longer producing bug fixes or new versions.
Of course, Pixfer for Windows XP is still fully supported.
Pixfer is a Pocket PC program that transfers images from expensive storage cards to inexpensive hard disks. If you aren't familiar with the Pocket PC platform, full details on equipment selection can be found in our Pocket PC Digital Photography Resources article. Or, for an example of Pixfer in action, read this article about a trip to Seattle, including five days of hiking and camping with a Nikon D1x digital camera.
The main screen, shown below, provides status on the progress of the transfer, indicating how many total files have been transferred and how many remain. The top dropdown selects the storage card that contains the pictures you want to transfer. The bottom dropdown selects the storage card that you want to hold the pictures when the transfer is complete. A transfer can be stopped at any time if you need to use the card.
Any storage type that appears as a standard storage card in your Pocket PC can be used with Pixfer. See this article for some specific storage ideas. Pixfer's advantages include:
- SAVES MONEY: Pixfer can quickly pay for itself by efficiently transferring pictures from expensive memory cards to less expensive storage using your Pocket PC. Instead of buying a stack of Compact Flash cards, you can add additional storage capacity through purchasing PCMCIA hard drives, which can be many times less expensive per MB. (e.g. $150 for a 512MB Compact Flash card vs $149 for a Toshiba 5GB PCMCIA drive or $55 for an IBM Travelstar 8E 8.1GB external hard drive with a PCMCIA connector.)
- EASY TO USE: Instead of copying and pasting files to transfer them, simply select the card you want to transfer from and the one you want to transfer to, hit the start button, and Pixfer immediately begins transferring images.
- TRANSFERS QUICKLY: In most cases, Pixfer transfers large digital camera files at least twice as fast as the built-in File Explorer application. Not only does this save you time - it helps to stretch your battery life for more downloads. For example, using cut/paste in File Explorer to transfer 23MB of Nikon NEF images takes 2:15 on a Compaq iPaq 3650. Using Pixfer, the same transfer takes 55 seconds. Users report significantly faster times on later iPaq devices.
- SAVES POWER: Pixfer can power off the screen while it is running and completely shut down your device once the transfer is completed. This allows you to start a transfer and put the device in your pocket without worrying about shutting down manually to save power. When the battery gets very low, Pixfer automatically stops transferring to preserve your Pocket PC data.
- TRANSFERS RELATED VOICE RECORDINGS AND NOTES: If you use the Pocket PC's built-in Notes application to make voice recordings or other notes in a "PixferNotes" directory, they are automatically transferred along with your digital camera files. If you have renaming turned on, they are renamed to the file's time/date stamp, and sort intermixed with the camera files they are related to.
- KEEPS DATA SAFE<: An image is not deleted from the memory card until the entire file has been successfully transferred. If anything goes wrong during the transfer, the original file is left intact. If you only want to copy data, Pixfer can be set to leave the original files alone and not delete them. You can also set Pixfer to verify that each copied file is identical to the original before it is deleted.
- PROVIDES STATUS & NOTIFICATIONS: Progress meters show how many files are completed/pending as well as progress for each individual file. In addition, Pixfer can beep when transfer is complete, letting you know the card is ready for more pictures. There is no need to constantly check the display to monitor progress.
- SUMMARIZES KEY INFORMATION: Pixfer displays the total/free/used space for each card, as well as battery life remaining. This information is updated as the transfer progresses, showing how much space is being freed on your card.
- ORGANIZES FILES BY DATE/TIME STAMP: Pixfer automatically organizes digital camera files into directories based on the date the image was taken. In addition, Pixfer optionally reads the EXIF time/date stamp from JPEG and various RAW format files and renames them accordingly, e.g. 2002-08-26@14-23-02.jpg instead of DSC_1038.jpg. If the file contains subsecond information, it is added as well, which is useful for high-end cameras that can shoot more than a one frame per second.
- CLEARS CARDS AUTOMATICALLY: Pixfer deletes each picture off the memory card as soon as it is fully transferred, so even if you stop a transfer before it is complete, you will have freed space on your memory card. Pixfer will continue transferring the next time it is started. If you want to make absolutely sure the card is ready-to-go again, Pixfer can also format it to ensure it is fully clear.
- REPAIRS CORRUPTED CARDS: As discussed in Rob Galbraith's Ultimate Photo Recovery Kit article, camera storage cards can sometimes become corrupted in a way that makes them unusable even when reformatted in the camera. Pixfer can wipe cards by writing zeros to every available sector, fixing this problem and allowing you to reformat your card successfully. Of course, this will not recover the images from the card - but it will make the card usable again. Note that this is only functional on Pocket PC 2002 devices, not on earlier versions.
For more information on how to actually use Pixfer, see the help file. For more information about speed, battery life, and other specific questions, see the Pixfer FAQ.