Thanks; I tried it, but fsck didn't find any problems. In the end, I think it's some level of incompatibility between svn and FAT16. The solution for me was to re-format the card with a 2G FAT16 partition (needed sometimes for transferring files to mac and W&*@#) and a 6G ext3 (I know this isn't generally recommended because journaling can 'wear out' a card; I'd still prefer to have the security, and to buy a new card now and then).