4 & 8GB SD Cards

[cliff04]

I understand that the Lifedrive cannot handle a SD card larger than 4GB (I currently have a 2GB but have been considering a 4GB one).

My question though relates to the 8GB card.

Would it be possible to partition a 8GB card into two 4GB partitions and use the full 8GB that way??? Probably not, but I haven't the foggiest, so I thought I would seek an asnwer from those with more knowledge about the matter.

Would the same hold true for the TX and other models?

[Dick Tracy]

8GB cards are of the SDHC standard, which is not compatible with the LifeDrive. I rather doubt it would work. To learn more about the standards visit the SD Card Association's website (http://www.sdcard.org/home).

[BrentDC]

I don't know if partitioning like that is even possible, but I know the Palm can't handle it if it was :(

[cliff04]

Didn't think so.

Thanks guys.

[brandon-wan]

that being said, is there a way to hack the card drivers so an 8 gb card can be accepted?

[BrentDC]

Technically the FAT 32 formatting can handle up to 2TB, but anything above 4GB's now is SDHC which the Palm Lifedrive and TX can't handle (I think only some of the late model Treos can). Dmitry said he was trying to backport the Driver from the Treo 680 (for the TX), but later on he said he "Ran into a wall", so I think he gave up that project. So no, as of now SDHC is not an option :(

[cliff04]

You said a SDHC card cannot be used in the Lifedrive, does that include the "smaller" cards of 4GB and 2GB?

Do we have to use just the 4GB SD (not the 4GB SDHC)?

[BrentDC]

Usually most 4GB and almost all 2GB are regular SD which the LD can handle. When you are buying SD cards for your LD, make sure to buy plain "SD" and not "SDHC", do that, and you'll be fine :-)

[potter]

It has been my understanding that the SDHC standard starts at 4GB; there should be no 2GB SDHC. However, even if there is such a thing, the SDHC cards use a different addressing schema than the SD cards. This is what prevents the Lifedrive from using them, without a new slot driver.

[BrentDC]

I've never heard of 2GB SDHC either, I just said "Almost all 2GB are SD" because I didn't know for certain if there are no SDHC available at that size ;)

[cliff04]

OK, so avoid the SDHC cards and stick with the "regular" SD cards.
...

But, where does the Ultra II card stack up? It is a non-SDHC card. There is also an Extreme III SD non-SDHC card.

SanDisk Ultra II card features a minimum write speed of 9 megabytes per second (MB/sec.) and a minimum read speed of 10MB/sec.

The SanDisk Extreme III cards, which range in capacity between one and four gigabytes (GB), have essentially double the performance speeds, boasting read/write speeds of 20MB/sec.

The Sandisk web site says both the Ultra II and Extreme III will work in the Palm.

The standard SD seems to work fine for most of my apps. Would the faster ones be more advantageous for playing MP3s (maybe fewer skips)? Or some other task?

[potter]

According to SanDisk's web site (http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Catalog(1039)-SanDisk_SD_Cards.aspx) they make Standard, Ultra II, Ultra II Plus, and Extreme III in both the SD and SDHC variety. All of their 4GB and greater cards are SDHC and all of their 2GB and smaller cards are SD.

Technically speaking a 4GB non-SDHC does not follow the SD specifications. However many manufacturers have made such anyways.