SD Cards

[MotionMan]

What is the difference between the following SD cards?:

1. Ultra II.
2. HC 10;
3. HC 10 (20 MB/s);
4. HC I (and a 'U' with a '1' in it).

MotionMan

 

[blankslate]

The main differences appear to be default file formats FAT 16 or FAT 32 then capacities and transfer speeds.


http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2520/~/sd/sdhc/sdxc-specifications-and-compatibility

not listed in your post is the original SD card specification which was capped at 4 gb capacities.

That is the one that SD card readers on laptops made before 2010 probably use and they may have problems reading the newer SD cards.

Check the documentation for your computer or device if that's why you asked.



....

 

[MotionMan]

Check the documentation for your computer or device if that's why you asked.

There was a deal on SD cards on Amazon on Monday, so I bought a couple 16GB cards to replace the 2GB and 8GB cards I had in my camera and video camera.

As I went through my collection of cards, I realized I did not know the differences between them.

MotionMan

 

[Colt45]

a C with a number in it is the speed

4 for example is shit

10 is better

U with a one in it is ultra, better than class 10.

 

[MotionMan]

U with a one in it is ultra, better than class 10.

What about the "Ultra II"? I think that is actually the oldest one I have.

MotionMan

 

[Colt45]

yeah, U is for ultra high speed bus.

sandisk "ultra II" is unrelated. I think it was fast then, but not sure how it compares now... probably poorly

googling looks like they are class 2 or 4 (class = MB/s [read or write, i forget]), aka molasses.

 

[Scarpozzi]

SD technology is funny because the larger the card, the slower it is (when filled). With traditional storage devices like hard drives, you have RAM cache providing buffering and the mechanics provide faster seek time.

Defragging the card, if possible helps a lot, but I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of newer faster technologies in this space in the next 15 years.

 

[destrekor]

SD technology is funny because the larger the card, the slower it is (when filled). With traditional storage devices like hard drives, you have RAM cache providing buffering and the mechanics provide faster seek time.

Defragging the card, if possible helps a lot, but I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of newer faster technologies in this space in the next 15 years.

It's not really an SD card issue, more of a flash memory issue. You see it with phones too (it was really bad before Android incorporated TRIM).

I'm not sure if SD cards get any kind of TRIM support through a host OS, but they should if not.

It's still somewhat of an issue with SSDs. Leave them with little free storage space, and overall performance gets pretty bad.

 

[alkemyst]

You need a card over 9000 or it's utter crap.

 

[TemjinGold]

Off-topic but if I'm looking to replace the 4gb SD card that came with my 3DS XL, what is the best thing I can get? I'm assuming Nintendo's branded SD cards are a huge ripoff.