Crazy SD Memory Prices!

[Janak Parekh]

Looking to buy SD memory? Now might be the right time. :D<br /><li> PPCT member Goldkey wrote in to let us know that Amazon is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000AKVJC/ref=ase_jasondunn-20">selling Sandisk's 512MB SD cards for $39.94</a> after rebates. 8O [Affiliate]<br /><li> PPCT member Gremmie noticed over on <a href="http://www.slickdeals.net">Slickdeals.net</a> that J&amp;R is <a href="http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=3960168">selling Sandisk's 1GB SD cards for $69.88</a> after rebates. 8O 8O Unfortunately, they're out of stock. How quickly can prices continue to drop!?

[OSUKid7]

Nice! Think this is the time to use my $10 Amazon gift certificate. :D Now I only wish I could use the extra space to store my Napster music. :roll: lol...but that's been discussed. :wink:

[NeutrinoQ]

Does anyone know if you can make a Dell Axim x5 or x30 work like a usb thumbdrive on a windows PC? In other words, is there any software out there that enable a pocket pc connected to a computer using a usb cable to show up as a physical or removable drive without the use of Activesync.

I would love to use the 1GB SD card in my Axim as well as use it as a portable drive to ferry files from home, school and work (like a usb drive, w/o the need for activesync)

Thanks :)

[OSUKid7]

Does anyone know if you can make a Dell Axim x5 or x30 work like a usb thumbdrive on a windows PC? In other words, is there any software out there that enable a pocket pc connected to a computer using a usb cable to show up as a physical or removable drive without the use of Activesync.

I would love to use the 1GB SD card in my Axim as well as use it as a portable drive to ferry files from home, school and work (like a usb drive, w/o the need for activesync)

Thanks :)Nope, unfortunately you can't. This seems to be being asked a lot recently...maybe Microsoft will do something like that in time for Longhorn.

[rudolph]

The 2 GB SD cards are coming out soon. That must be why the 1GB is becoming so cheap now. The 2GB SD cards will have usb 2.0 speeds and although it won't make them much faster in Pocket PCs, it should make it faster to copy files onto the SD from your desktop (assuming you have a usb 2.0 card reader).

I was going to buy one but meh, I can live with my 256mb sd + 1gb cf. I'll get a 1GB sd or maybe 2gb sd (if they aren't expensive) when I get a VGA ppc later on.

[Silencer]

Nice offer, but the problem is that they are SanDisks and therefore known not to work properly or only very slow in most PPCs. We made lot´s of tests in our german ppc-community, SanDisk always lacked performance.

Currently I´m holding my eyes on the Transcend 1 GB SD - almost as fast as Lexar (the ones from Japan) or the SanDisk Ultra II.

[Shuushin]

SD prices have been dropping like greased PPC's - I expect them to continue to do so, especially with the larger caps coming out.

I expect most enthusiasts will have 128's, 256's and eventually 512's pretty much just collecting dust - SO

I HAVE AN INVENTION IDEA

IF you are smart, you will steal it and be rich.

Why can't there be such a thing that fits into an SD slot that is essentially an SD drive bay? One male tab into the PPC (etc.) and 3 or four female slots connected to that. Certainly must be a way to make a driver that will allow the various other cards to total up and become one virtual storage location.

What you think??

[GoldKey]

Here are some cheap CF prices

SanDisk 1GB CompactFlash Card
SAVE $618.00
FREE SHIPPING!
Buy.com price: $81.99
List price: $699.99
http://enews.buy.com/cgi-bin5/DM/y/ebCb0Iman0Epf0BhaE0Ce


SanDisk 2GB CompactFlash Card Type 1
SAVE $306.60
FREE SHIPPING!
Buy.com price: $136.99
List price: $443.59
http://enews.buy.com/cgi-bin5/DM/y/ebCb0Iman0Epf0BhaF0Cf

[nuka_t]

Does anyone know if you can make a Dell Axim x5 or x30 work like a usb thumbdrive on a windows PC? In other words, is there any software out there that enable a pocket pc connected to a computer using a usb cable to show up as a physical or removable drive without the use of Activesync.

I would love to use the 1GB SD card in my Axim as well as use it as a portable drive to ferry files from home, school and work (like a usb drive, w/o the need for activesync)

Thanks :)

buy a card reader, if i understand what you mean

in other news, im soooooooooo getting ithe 512. :lol: 8O

Edit: i bouth a 1 gig cf(which i will return in favour of the 512mb sd, cause my axim kinda sorta dosent have a cf slot, and neither does my camera) from costco for 67 dollars.

Edit Edit: oops, the cf is only 512mb.

[sponge]

Does anyone know if you can make a Dell Axim x5 or x30 work like a usb thumbdrive on a windows PC? In other words, is there any software out there that enable a pocket pc connected to a computer using a usb cable to show up as a physical or removable drive without the use of Activesync.

I would love to use the 1GB SD card in my Axim as well as use it as a portable drive to ferry files from home, school and work (like a usb drive, w/o the need for activesync)

Thanks :)Nope, unfortunately you can't. This seems to be being asked a lot recently...maybe Microsoft will do something like that in time for Longhorn.

No Longhorn needed - Palms have an app called Card Export which does exactly this, and shows up as a mass storage device. It's just a matter of software on the PPC.

[mscdex]

Just to let you all know.... Buy.com has the SanDisk 1GB for $81.99 with free shipping.

Linky (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10318746)

[Rob Alexander]

I love when prices fall like this... until I actually buy. I just bought a 512MB Kingston SD for $55 a week and a half ago and already I've paid $15 more than I could today. Oh well, if I bought today it would just be cheaper again tomorrow. I love having the extra space and that's what really matters.

[Prevost]

Is there a NOTICEABLE difference in speed of this SD card compared to those "high speed" ones from, say, Lexar or Panasonic???

[ricksfiona]

This is just amazing! $69 for 1GB SD? I'm currently using my 512MB SD and have easily filled up 200MB worth. This includes only about 15 MP3 files. :(

If 2GB SD is going to cost in the $100 - $130 range when it comes out, I'm SOOO there! Otherwise , as hard as it may be, I will probably wait. :(

[Jonathan1]

If 2GB SD is going to cost in the $100 - $130 range when it comes out, I'm SOOO there! Otherwise , as hard as it may be, I will probably wait. :(


Don't bet on it being THAT cheap. My guess? $1,000 for a month or two. Then I'll drop to $500 and hover around $300 until the next cap increase occures. *shrugs* Just a guess thought.

Ya know. About the time I get my next PPC is going to be when I can afford a 1GB SD card. Ahhh good times. Good times. :)

[Sacre_Bleu]

Does anyone know when these mad prices will reach the rest of us (people in Europe) ? :cry:
A 512 mb Kingston card is currently priced at $77 here in Denmark (cheapest i could find)

It's just not fair

//Sacre_Bleu

[mrkablooey]

Is there a NOTICEABLE difference in speed of this SD card compared to those "high speed" ones from, say, Lexar or Panasonic???

YES.

I used a SanDisk SD card with Mapopolis and looking up addresses, rerouting, etc were all terribly slow. Put in a Panasonic card and noticed the diff immediately. Running other programs from the card (games, etc.) was painful. If you're just storing files, SanDisk might be ok for you, but I don't plan to buy one again unless it's high-speed.

You may read about SanDisk cards failing, but mine is still working. I replaced my Panasonic after about 8 months of hard use. :? Have a Lexar in there now. Doesn't mean Panasonic is prone to failure, just one person's experience.

[Rob Loach]

Is there a NOTICEABLE difference in speed of this SD card compared to those "high speed" ones from, say, Lexar or Panasonic???

YES.

I used a SanDisk SD card with Mapopolis and looking up addresses, rerouting, etc were all terribly slow. Put in a Panasonic card and noticed the diff immediately. Running other programs from the card (games, etc.) was painful. If you're just storing files, SanDisk might be ok for you, but I don't plan to buy one again unless it's high-speed.

You may read about SanDisk cards failing, but mine is still working. I replaced my Panasonic after about 8 months of hard use. :? Have a Lexar in there now. Doesn't mean Panasonic is prone to failure, just one person's experience.So you'd recommend Lexar SD cards over all others?

[mrkablooey]

I really liked the Panasonic, it was very fast. Not sure WHAT happened to it, but the Lexar has been in use for only 1.5 months. See how it goes. :)

[Kurt Hunciker]

I can only talk about my own experiences with SanDisk.

I have owned a SanDisk 128MB SD card, a 256MB SD card, and a 512 MB CF card. (None of them were high speed.) The 128 MB SD card was fine; the 256MB SD card could not be used with my Axim X5 (the card would become unreadable and require re-formatting, and then would become unreadable again after a few days, etc.); and the 512MB CF card was unusable in my Canon S400 camera (with a large percentage of pictures, the camera reported that the images were unrecoverable due to corrupted image errors). :(

Since then, I have bought Lexar high speed cards (12X 512 MB CF and 32X 256 MB SD cards). I have had no problems whatsoever using the cards in my camera and my Axim. :)

[Len M.]

We've found SanDisk CF and SD cards to be very reliable.

And since the SD card speed bottleneck on PDAs is the SD card slot itself(around 1.4 MB/sec), even the standard SanDisk SD card is as fast as the PDA can manage.

See our Web page for benchmarks:

http://www.core-sound.com/CF-and-SD-mass-storage-comparison.html


Len Moskowitz
Core Sound
www.core-sound.com

[ghostppc]

Did they just raise the price at the J&R site? Because the 1 gig sd card says $89. Or did I miss a rebate?

[Underwater Mike]

Ditto with several Sandisk 256 SD cards. In fact, I have a replacement from Sandisk laying around somewhere, still in its blister pack. I decided that I'd rather spend the money on a new card than risk losing my data.

Now I use both Lexar and Dane-Elec SD cards. Nary a problem with either.

I can only talk about my own experiences with SanDisk.

I have owned a SanDisk 128MB SD card, a 256MB SD card, and a 512 MB CF card. (None of them were high speed.) The 128 MB SD card was fine; the 256MB SD card could not be used with my Axim X5 (the card would become unreadable and require re-formatting, and then would become unreadable again after a few days, etc.); and the 512MB CF card was unusable in my Canon S400 camera (with a large percentage of pictures, the camera reported that the images were unrecoverable due to corrupted image errors). :(

Since then, I have bought Lexar high speed cards (12X 512 MB CF and 32X 256 MB SD cards). I have had no problems whatsoever using the cards in my camera and my Axim. :)

[nuka_t]

here are some links to what *may* be better values, depending on what you want in the card. if you live in CA like me, the tax on the pre-rebate price of the sandisk 512 will kill it.

so, this is my 128mb "pick"

kingmax 10MBs http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-155-255&depa=0

23+1 dollars

256mb

pqi "high speed" (dont know what that means exactly) 30+1 dollars http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-214-206&depa=0

Adata 6MBs 27+1 dollars
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=20-211-307&DEPA=0

512mb

kingmax 10MBs 56+1 dollars http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-214-206&depa=0

so the price/storage ratios of these cards is as follows

128mb =0.1875
256mb(based on pqi)=0.12109375
512mb=0.11132812

so the 128mb is too expensive here, id go with either the 256 or the 512.

the 1gb pqi was 100 even BTW, but i i dont have a link.

[Sheena]

Does anyone know if you can make a Dell Axim x5 or x30 work like a usb thumbdrive on a windows PC? In other words, is there any software out there that enable a pocket pc connected to a computer using a usb cable to show up as a physical or removable drive without the use of Activesync.
I would love to use the 1GB SD card in my Axim as well as use it as a portable drive to ferry files from home, school and work (like a usb drive, w/o the need for activesync)
Thanks :)

Neutrino, forget about the handheld itself. A $20 or $30 card reader allows you to do all that & it will probably read several flash card formats, not only SD. I bought one to do quick backups of my CF cards (takes forever through ActiveSync!) & realized how useful they are for everything else. Now I have another at the office & they both read CF, SD, Sony memory stick & a couple more types I don't use. Everything can be copied directly, backups are lighting-fast & my iPaq is not even involved.

Tip: ActiveSync is set up to convert some files (ie: Word to Pocket Word, etc) and copying these types directly to the cards won't convert them, so be careful. I've solved this by defaulting all my 'mobile' Word files to .rtf & that way I can read/modify them on either the iPaq or the PC without conversion. If you have Word XP it can read the pocket format on the PC. For Excel this is not necessary anymore since the pocket version will read the standard format, but older handhelds might. Other file formats like .mp3 or .txt are not affected.

Tip2: I've seen USB keys with a single card reader built in. They look just like standard keys (may have a little memory of their own, can't remember), but have a slot for a card. This is probably my next buy, but I need something that takes both CF & SD or I'll have to buy 2. Prices are very cheap anyway.

Rosie