Because I don't know nothing about arguing, I'll answer the tech stuff.

Install fanoush's initfs. http://fanoush.wz.cz/maemo/#initfs
You can mount the rootfs and do whatever with it via ssh and telnet.

Cross compile a binary of 0xFFFF (I've got one somewhere) and you can backup the rootfs into a file which the Linux flasher-3.0 will restore. Or compile mtd-utils.

apt-get install sysklogd and you can see the logs in /var/log.
http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...88&postcount=2

^ will show what init process was the last to run.

If you know how, you can set up the framebuffer to give you the kernel and init messages right until the x-server starts like on a desktop. I took the time to set this up and now I'm rewarded with the messages on shutdown as well as startup:
http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ght=bootsplash

(Thanks to fanoush for 99.9% of this stuff )

Also, you can do a full level 0 backup in quite a number of ways.

I think not. The ITs are a very small subsection of the total N series devices. I can think of many people with N series phone, but only one other with an IT.

Add me, that makes 2 :-)
To the original poster: same usage and owner story like you, but never needed to reflash.

OTOH, I could start my one-week-on-holiday-with-N810-and-N82-big-disappointment rant in this thread Ok, I won't (some keywords: corrupt microSD card makes brandnew N82 pretty unusable; Maemo not flexible enough for this type of Hotel WiFi access so N810 stays offline...argh)

As a 26 year Unix veteran (remember V6?) i have to agree. I started another thread where i documented how my 16 GB SD on my n800 regularly gets corrupted. I'm running ext3. I want to be able to run apps from the SD card, and you can't do that from FAT. Since i get corruption, i was hoping that journaling would prevent that from happening.

I listen to podcasts. I have an iPod (original shuffle: 512 MB). I use it as primary, and use the n800 as backup, meaning, if the iPod runs out of material or power, i'll listen to the n800. The n800 isn't as good as the iPod at this. The volume can't go as high (important in the car), the skip forward and back does not have any kind of fine control (what did he say? Damn, i can only go back 3 minutes at a time!), it's big and clunky compared to the stick of gum, only lasts 4 hours on a charge, takes two hands and both eyes to adjust, and so on.) But the n800 has tons more space. So it never runs out of material.

I gather the content on my desktop. I have two folders (directories), Onpod, and Q. Onpod gets the stuff that's actually on the iPod. Both folders get copied to the n800. I have a folder on the n800 called "Pod" that gets everything. It's about 2 GB. When new stuff comes in, i copy it to the n800, then either put in in Onpod or Q as i see fit. But sometimes, i forget to update the n800, and i'll do this:

The following causes repeatable corruption:
1. From xterm, delete the 2 GB of files (50 or so) in Pod with 'rm'.
2. sync.
3. wait a bit.
4. Power down.
5. Power back up.
6. From xterm, gain root, and umount the SD card.
7. Run e2fsck on it. It reports various errors. File was deleted, but the inode wasn't cleared, etc.
8. Run e2fsck again - it's clean.
9. Reboot.
10. Note that some of the files have popped back into existence.

I have not determined if the 2 GB 50 file copy via sftp can cause corruption when going to an empty directory. Sometimes, it's quicker to copy everything that to figure out what hasn't been copied. That causes corruption, but probably because it must delete the old copy before replacing. More experiments are needed.

This is a 16 GB SDHC class 6 K Data card. I get the corruption in either slot. I've run extensive tests on the card while in the n800. For example, i ran badblocks for two or three days without any hint of an error.

I got similar errors on my 770 (before it died) on a 2 GB Kingston mmc card. However, i didn't have the updated drivers, and blamed my woes in that direction. Now, i'm not so sure.

The idea that more file stuff goes on with a NIT than other devices is silly. I regularly go through my iPod's 512 MB and replace it with fresh content. Does it have problems too? You bet. But not nearly as frequently. And, i've not come across anything repeatable.

By the way. I have a USB SD reader. This would let me mount the SD card on my desktop directly. However, my Linux desktop does not recognize the n800 ext3 filesystem. Very strange. I understand my desktop is an x86, while the n800 is an Arm. Do they have different byte orders? x86 is little endian. Arm is little endian. The only difference i can think of is that Arm has signed char by default. They should be compatible, but aren't. It would help if they were.

Is this not a card issue? I have only had card corruption on one card (not on an IT) but this was several times. On another card (lesser spec) in the same circumstances and equipment I never got corruption.
In the end I threw that card away, and I have never had card corruption again.

Some cards are just bad.

My ext3 is mounted without any problems in my card reader by openSUSE, reads and writes. Maybe there is something wrong with your partition?

Also, is it possible that the power down is not waiting for the data to get written on the SD, why do you need to power down?

And finally, do you have the wifi corruption bugfix (since you didn't mention which OS)?