Which SD card?

ichilton · Regular Visitor Joined: Apr 09, 2004 Posts: 142

Hi,

Ah, ok - I noticed it didn't mention 32x which is why I didn't order it and posted here - good job I did! Smile

Going to order my GPS now, so I think i'll get a 32x card from ebay.

Thanks

--ian

Genie · Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 4:35 pm Post subject:

Anyone know of a tool to test the speed of your SD Card.

I recently got a 256Mb Kingston Card and would just like to see how it compares to others.

Copying a 100mb file over a wifi connection to my sd card in the ipaq took more than 5 minutes.

SteveW · Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 10:40 pm Post subject:

I have an Intergral 256mb SD card (recommended in other threads on this forum) in an iPaq 3850, and it takes just less than 4 mins to plan a route from Lands End to John O'groats. I have a 32x 256mb SD card, purchased from e-bay - link above and same route takes about 3.5 mins. - disappointed with that time, as I also have an Intergal CF card in a jacket that takes less than two minutes.

It's a mystery to me....... Confused

BBB · Regular Visitor Joined: Feb 24, 2004 Posts: 206

Am I correct in thinking that the x32, x40 or x60 (when given in specs) is a reflection of card speed. So the bigger x factor the faster card?

I suppose quite a lot of people know about it but just in case some don't, and it is: card reader.

Look for a USB 2.0 (if your computer supports it) card reader AND look for 8 in 1 (or even 9 in 1) That way you can use your CF, SD, MMC, memory stick as a pen drive with your computer.

You should be able to get a good USB 2 card reader/writer for less than £20. HINT: look for 8 in 1 by 4 which roughly means the reader will accept 8 different memory cards in one device having 4 slots.

My own CF 1 256MB card doubles up nicely as a file transfer between laptop, computer and iPAQ. Now all I need is a camera.

TTFN

BBB

DavidW · Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2004 8:38 pm Post subject:

Lexar cards that aren't 32x could be anything, including rebadged Sandisk. Lexar are undoubtedly amongst the best if not the best for CompactFlash, but their reputation in SD was tarnished by shipping duff Sandisk cards. I have no experience of the Lexar high speed (32x) SD cards, but I suspect they're more likely to be problem free.

The standard Sandisk cards can cause problems - later variants seem better than earlier ones, but I'm not sure any are problem free. The Ultra ones may be better, but it's still a bit of a chance.

SimpleTech is the brand that seems reliable in all Pocket PCs. Unfortunately eBuyer UK stopped supplying them for some reason - the double annoyance is that eBuyer US still supplies them. The only UK source I know of is Clove, which is not the cheapest prices, and the 512MB price hasn't changed in around a year.

I'm really in the market for a 512MB card now. When I get my Navigator 3 upgrade, that'll bump my map size up to 105MB. I've got 58MB of ebooks in various Laridian formats, about 5MB of Microsoft Reader ebooks, and a couple of 35-ish MB Sprite Backup files. Add that lot up, together with a few sundry bits and pieces (POI files and the like), and you'll see that my 256MB card is pretty much full - I have had to discard the last of my MP3s today to make sufficient space.

I fear I may have to save up for a 512MB SimpleTech card at Clove prices to get something reliable and fast. Crying or Very sad

To benchmark a card, Anton Tomov's Pocket Mechanic or Pocket PC Mark should do the job - neither are freeware, though.

David

Privateer · Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2004 9:07 pm Post subject:

Hi David,

Good to see you back in the forum. Smile

I’m in the same boat as you. TTNav3 will seriously eat into my 256MB Lexar SD especially if I install the MRE map as well. BTW my Lexar SD card has behaved impeccably (so far) in the last ten months that I’ve had the SatNav system.

I’ll be interested when you find a decent 512MB SD that’s fast and reliable. A decent low price would also be good! ;)

Regards,
_________________
Robert.
iPhone 6s Plus, iOS 14.0.1: iOS CamerAlert v2.0.7
TomTom GO Mobile iOS 2.3.1; TomTom (UK & ROI and Europe) iOS apps v1.29
Garmin Camper 770 LMT-D

DavidW · Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2004 9:26 pm Post subject:

My sporadic participation has been for reasons similar to those Dave posted in the M6 Toll thread - my chronic health problems have got worse, and I just didn't have the time and energy to keep up my involvement here, especially as I was having terrible problems with the ntl: web proxies and these forums that was just taking energy without achieving anything useful. That said, I finally reached my 1000th post earlier today!

In particular, the illness has got my breathing muscles now, which is leaving me in a lot of pain and far more tired than before. My GP is currently fighting to try to get me to a specialist neuromuscular unit - hopefully they'll be able to sort me out a bit better, as my current doctors are rather scared to change anything in my extensive medication regime that is no longer working that well.

One reason for wanting a bigger card is so that I can have some MP3s back on my Pocket PC in case I land up in hospital for a while (which is a distinct possibility).

I suspect I may land up going for a SimpleTech card from Clove - it's a lot of money, but I'd rather pay up for something that I know is going to work than save 50-60 pounds but take a risk. I know I could probably put a bad card, if I got one, on eBay - but that's not my style.

You never know - this could finally make me make the time to go through my cupboard and put all my unwanted computer bits and pieces on eBay to raise some money! The frustrating thing is that it now seems quite possible to get decent brand 256MB SD cards for little money - I suppose 512MB has kept its premium price because nobody has really come up with 1GB cards yet (they've been promised for a long time, but nobody seems to have delivered - save that I did find a price for a Sandisk 1GB card, which was also out of stock).

I know someone who was given a 1GB SD card to test last year - he found it hopelessly unreliable. It didn't work at all in much of his equipment. He reported to me that the manufacturers would have to do much better before they could actually release the product.

David

BBB · Regular Visitor Joined: Feb 24, 2004 Posts: 206

Now here's a thing.

My CF 1 card 256 MB (an economy card) appears as a TOSHIBA when viewed from Windows XP and card reader

Rolling Eyes

MrT · Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 7:15 am Post subject:

One thing to remember about the speed of the SD cards is that the iPAQs 5000s can only sustain 15-20MBits per second (approx 2 Mbytes per second) and that is when they are not using their processing power doing something else. So there will be no increase in performance in the iPAQ with super high speed SD cards. There may well be an increase in performance in a separate card reader.

Lexar appear to have taken the CD speed reading of 150KB/s as 1x speed, so their 32X cards are 4800KB/s or 4.8MB/s. About twice the speed the iPAQ can perform at.

The SanDisk Ultra II offers 9-10MB/s and costs a lot less than the Lexar 32x, but having heard so many bad reports on SanDisk, I am reluctant to take the plunge.

DavidW · Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 9:57 am Post subject:

I agree with everything you write.

The iPAQs are limited as to how fast they can manipulate data on an SD card - the only thing is that the faster cards may be better designed and less likely to hit the problems that can so easily happen with standard Sandisk cards.

I, too, thought that the speed rating were based on CD speeds - which makes 1x 150KBytes/second. Unfortunately there are so many different speed rating based on multipliers these days - DVD speed rating are about 9.25x those of CD speeds (8x DVD writing is about 73.8x CD speed). DVD writing, by the way, is a wonderful technology for those of us who were really struggling with a maximum of 700MB per disc - but unfortunately writeable DVD media is still a bit variable in quality. Buying DVD media is a bit like buying SD cards, actually!

I suspect the Sandisk Ultra II is a better design than the ordinary Sandisk cards, but don't feel able to trust them - particularly at the price charged for a 512MB card. I suppose one test would be to get hold of a 256MB card and use it in place of my "Made in Japan" 256MB Lexar SD card - but even if the test succeeds, by the time I've bought a 512MB card, I'll probably have spent as much as just buying a SimpleTech 512MB card from Clove.

David

Mearns · Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2004 5:27 pm Post subject:

Hope this might help someone.....my Lexar 32X 256MB card has just arrived ready for my TTN3 upgrade. Journey planning from John O'Groats to Lands End on my Sandisk 128MB card with code letters AK0305LQ, Made in China, took 12 minutes 10 seconds.

With The Lexar 32X 256MB card, code letters D000 BK4AE023044, Made in Japan, does the same planning in 2 minute 50 seconds.

Looks like it was a good buy!! Thumbs Up

_________________
Tony
nuvi 2460LT plus Brodit mount

DavidW · Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2004 12:31 am Post subject:

The Sandisk card is old style Sandisk - the very worst sort. If the penultimate letter was an N, it would be new style Sandisk - which are better but not problem free.

The 32x Lexar is actually a Panasonic card - which, along with Toshiba cards are an excellent choice. SimpleTech tend to be one of these two (all the SimpleTech codes I've seen recently have been Panasonic). As a rule of thumb, "Made in Japan" cards are good - it doesn't always work, but usually does!

David

kartracer · Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2004 9:26 am Post subject:

On my iPaq 5550 & Sandisk 1Gb SD card the John O'Groats to Land's End route calculation took 9 minutes 10 seconds. Fortunately I normally use STPro V2 and this calculates the same route in 25 seconds on the same hardware. :D

DavidW · Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2004 1:24 pm Post subject:

That hints at the expensive Sandisk 1GB card being just as poor a performer as its cheaper brethren. I wouldn't be smiling if I'd paid so much for such a badly performing card.

SmartSt Pro uses the memory card in different ways to TomTom Navigator - so the difference in results is not surprising. It's known that TomTom Navigator is demanding on storage cards used with it, and your TomTom Navigator result being so bad hints at poor design in the Sandisk 1GB card (assuming that there's no difference in fragmentation between the two map sets on your card).

My advice to avoid Sandisk cards continues. I understand this is just one result, but it does fit with the pattern of Sandisk card performance. I wish someone would bring out a decent 1GB card (not least in the hope that the prices of 512MB may fall somewhat) - but there's no way I'd pay the price asked for a 1GB card that performs so poorly.

David

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