Could someone explain SD card speeds please?

[Papageoff]

What do they all mean 10x, 30x, 60x, etc? I mean, 60 times what, exactly? Also, how fast does the reader in the T5 work. I don't want to buy a stupid 60x card for $40 more when I can get a 10x that will be the same speed in the device.

[jjesusfreak01]

Handheld devices are generally very speed limited. Only the slowest cards will slow down transfer speeds because the handheld cant handle higher speeds.

[tungsten t5]

If you buy a card, just buy a normal one. Don't go for an extreme III or something.

Sandisk's are very slow. Lexar's are fairly cheap and a good speed. other than that they start to get expensive, but are still about the same speed as a lexar.

[Papageoff]

So, I should steer clear of the blue sandisk ones, and go for the Lexar? There is not much price diffrence in them ($74 vs. $79) for 1GB at sam's/walmart. But there is that much of a speed diff huh?

Newegg has the Sandisks for like $49 after rebate, I am glad you told me to stay away. I would have ordered that.

[tungsten t5]

yes, good luck. If your not going to put movies or anything on it, go for the sandisk. Mp3's would be just fine on any card. :)

[Papageoff]

Movies are exactly what I wanted it for. I guess I will have to get a higher speed one.

Thanx
Geoff

[Papageoff]

This is the speed Lexar has posted for SD cards. In case anyone wanted to know.


Performance:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sustained write capability (host to flash) 1X=150KB/sec. 32X=4.8MB/sec
Data transfer rate to/from host Up to 12 MB/sec. (burst)

[Cyker]

Didn't someone post some benchmarks on here a while back? Did a quick search but didn't find anything obvious...

Are there any numbers for the T|5's slot's rated speed?

[cyberdude]

we bought a 60/66x Secure digital card for our diigital/dv tape movie cam. You really need the fast write capability if you want decent digital movies. Although the DV tape is still better.

[Papageoff]

I somewhat vaugely remember such a topic. Alas, I was unable to find it as well. I also would like to know the rated speed for the said slot.

EDIT:

I sent palm an email and they told me the max speed for the SD slot is 10MB/sec.

[Zano2004]

I sent palm an email and they told me the max speed for the SD slot is 10MB/sec.This is probably why the SanDisk Extreme III, which is rated faster than the SanDisk Ultra II, isn't any faster than the Ultra II. Best thing about the Extreme III when it comes to use with a Palm PDA is the lifetime unconditional warranty.

[ackmondual]

I called Sandisk tech supp on time and asked, they said with Ultra and Extreme, one is for ultra fast speeds and the other is for extreme environments like HOT deserts or cold temp areas. Not sure which was which. The latter one would def. be a waste of $$ unless you really plan to use SD cards in those areas.

As for speeds, the only reason to get super fast SD cards (i think that's about 40x+?) is if u have a high speed high MP digicam. Taking 5 to 8MP pics is a joy with fast SD cards b/c u can shoot many in succession w/o long delays. If only for your handheld, i second Lexar 32x cards or so speeds.

As for Lexar, Lexar is simply a rebrand. In the US, only 3 manufacturers make SD cards. Sandisk is cheap but so-so, Panasonic is FAST but expensive, hence the reason Y ppl need to buy the cheaper rebrands of them and i forgot the third one, perhaps Toshiba. Over 6 months ago, PDA forum users were saying that Lexar was actually rebranded from both Sandisk and Panasonic. I believe that the majority of Lexar cards are rebranded Panasonic, but some users have reported they'v got Sandisk. Just an FYI.

Finally, i think the x in SD card speeds is similar to the X in DVD and CD read/write speeds. It's just a unit of transfer speed someone designated to be used for that medium, so for example 'X' for CDs would be 1.41Mbps while for DVDs would be 11.08Mbps

[Tombo]

SD Card Speeds are rated as follows...

1x = 0.15MB/s, 153.6KB/s, 157,286.4B/s

for those wanting bits instead of bytes...

1x = 1.2mb/s, 1,228.8kb/s, 1,258,291.2b/s

Therefore a 60x card is 10MB/s (0.15 * 60 = 10MB/s)

[Tombo]

The speeds I mentioned above also go for MMC & CF cards as well.