SD Card Performance

[ChristopherTD]

I just purchased a Kingston 512MB SD Card and in an unscientific test it seems slightly quicker at reading than my HP 256MB SD Card, but it is very slow on writing.

Using Pocket PC Backup from Sprite I performed the same backup to 3 different cards

Fuji 128MB SD Card 32MB backed up in 2.5 minutes
HP 256MB SD Card 32MB backed up in 6.5 minutes
Kingston 512MB SD Card 32MB backed up in 7.5 minutes

All were formatted with FAT filesystem.

Is this variance to be expected? These timings are pretty consistent over several iterations.

FWIW, copying 128MB to the Kingston using my Belkin USB Card Reader on my Thinkpad took 32 minutes (around 4 Mb/min)

[WyattEarp]

Larger capacity cards usually have to have faster access times to compensate for the increased space it has to read from or write to.

I use Pocket Backup on my iPAQ h5555 and it takes about 11:30 (m/s) to backup about 47MB to my SanDisk 128MB SD card.

I also depends on what Pocket PC you're using (since all are not created equally) and which version of Pocket Backup you have. The latest version seems to be the fastest.

[ChristopherTD]

Hmmm, your performance seems roughly similar to mine (I also have iPaq 5550 and latest Pocket Backup).

Maybe the Fuji card is just a speed demon!

[WyattEarp]

Forgot that's a compressed backup file of about 80MB.

Hmmm, your performance seems roughly similar to mine (I also have iPaq 5550 and latest Pocket Backup).

Maybe the Fuji card is just a speed demon!

It maybe but do you have a larger capacity Fuji card to test?

[Constant Caffeine]

I purchased a Sandisk Ultra II 256MB card for my PPC. Sandisk claims it has 60x speed, 9MB second write and 10MB second read. I'm happy with mine; however, I wish the 512MB would come down in price.

[WyattEarp]

I purchased a Sandisk Ultra II 256MB card for my PPC. Sandisk claims it has 60x speed, 9MB second write and 10MB second read. I'm happy with mine; however, I wish the 512MB would come down in price.

How does it compare to other SD cards if you have?

[ChristopherTD]

Now here is something really odd.

I tried my 256MB HP Card in my "old" iPaq 5450 and the Backup proceeded at twice the speed of the 5550.

I am beginning to suspect that the 5550 SD performance is sub-par.

[Mark_Venture]

My SanDisk 256Meg SD card seemed slow, so I had asked about SD memory speeds HERE (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19753&highlight=). I was pointed to a thread on another site talking about various cards and speeds...

While they were all PALM users running an app that tests speeds and posting in that thread, I came away with the following....

1. Some SD cards ARE faster than others. Panasonic being one of the fastest if not THE FASTEST. Regular SanDisk SD seems to be one of the slowest. No mention of the Sandisk Ultra SD yet.
2. Processor of the device factors in on the speeds you will see.
3. Amount of space used on the card impacts the speed you will see.

At the end of last week I picked up a Lexar 256Meg SD card. In normal every day usage, it seems a lot faster than the SanDisk. Now I have not done any formal testing to back this up BUT using Avantgo, the pages do open noticably faster. With Ice Computing Shopping List 2.2 it is much quicker to open, display, edit the shopping lists. iPAQ Backup also seemed to complete faster.

The thread from those palm users says the Lexar SD memory labeled as made in Japan (stamped on the card itself) are OEM Panasonic and thus are VERY FAST. The Lexar cards made in China (stamped on the card itself) are OEM SanDisk and are really slow. My Lexar is made in Taiwan so I am not sure which it is supposed to be. However, my Sandisk is also made in Taiwan :?: but because of the noticable speed difference, I don't think the lexar I got is an OEM SanDisk.

[WyattEarp]

I have both Lexar and Sandisk SD cards and the difference is noticeable but not bad enough to stop using the Sandisk. Speed of the SD card also depends on what programs are running or installed and what you are accessing at the time and the PPC itself. Also some people like myself tweak out there device to get all the speed possible out of the device. Everything matters when it comes to computers and raw speed. And every device and every memory card are not duplicates of each other so performance will vary; some good some not so good. It's just luck of the draw :|

[hkboey]

Try changing to MMC, you will shock by the results, just like I do.

http://forum.mypdacafe.com/viewtopic.php?p=94834&highlight=#94834

[craigvalk]

That's not surprising.... there have been advances in the flash memory technology used in the cards, and there are increased write and read speeds now being produced compared to previous cards. It varies from vendor to vendor. Some applications for products other than PDA's and cameras require higher performance cards.

Craig

[hkboey]

After going through so many threads regarding SD or MMC on various forum... Im now pretty convinced and sure that SD card is very slow in writing speed, comparing to MMC regardless of brand.

Although all the manufacturer always claimed that SD is a few times faster than MMC, when tested out.... it is not the manufacturer always telling the truth. Well, perhaps it's truth, but it's just theoretically/scientifically fast, but not in the real world.

Im happy with my MMCs and going to get a 256MB soon.

[WyattEarp]

SD cards are a bit slower due to the built-in security that can be used with them. MMC cards don't have that overhead to deal with. But in either case you can't really go wrong just buy from a good manufacturer for better speed.

[shawnc]

Is there an advantage to the consumer of SD orver MMC? The term "Secure Digital" imples that your data is somehow safer, but all I'm looking for is something to store my MP3's on. I don't care about (read-don't want to pay extra for) "securing" my data. I just want to be able to open the occasional file and listen to music.

[WyattEarp]

Is there an advantage to the consumer of SD orver MMC? The term "Secure Digital" imples that your data is somehow safer, but all I'm looking for is something to store my MP3's on. I don't care about (read-don't want to pay extra for) "securing" my data. I just want to be able to open the occasional file and listen to music.

If write protection is no biggy then go for the MMC cards. If you want 512MB and up you may have to get SD since they available in larger capacities than MMC.

The only advantage is the security which can be done through software or hardware.

[shawnc]

Thanx Wyatt - I suspected as much. Unfortunately I need lots of memory for MP3's. Waiting for the 1GB of storage. My hunch is that if they EVER release one, it will be SD.

[WyattEarp]

Currently 1GB SD cards are available search PriceGrabber (http://www.pricegrabber.com), which you can also get to from this sites home page.

[shawnc]

Currently 1GB SD cards are available search PriceGrabber (http://www.pricegrabber.com), which you can also get to from this sites home page.

I couldn't find 1GB SD cards. CF only.

[WyattEarp]

Currently 1GB SD cards are available search PriceGrabber (http://www.pricegrabber.com), which you can also get to from this sites home page.

I couldn't find 1GB SD cards. CF only.

I know they're available, I'll do a check later and post it.

[shawnc]

I know they're available, I'll do a check later and post it.

I'm not so sure they are, but if you find something, let me know.

Thanx again,

[DTerryG]

Panasonic has announced a 1GB SD card but I have not seen an expected ship date or price. SanDisk was scheduled to have a 1GB SD card available in mid December. SanDisk's reply to an inquiry is below...

------------------------
There has been a slight delay. It looks like mid January for shipment.

The price I have is from the original press release. $329.99

http://www.sandisk.com/pressrelease/031303_sd512mb_1gb.htm


Best Regards,

Jerry

SanDisk Consumer Inquiries

-----------------------------------

I am moving from a Casio E115 to a IPAQ 4155. My old IBM 340MB CF micro drive dosen't fit well into an SD slot.

DTerryG

[WyattEarp]

After checking the usual suspects for the infamous 1GB SD card (Sandisk, Lexar, Kingston and a few others) it appears to only be available to OEMs...
...And expansys.com (http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=106470) has their own up for pre-order.

So I guess my search continues...

[mark_anderson_us]

Hi All

I was not able to find this info anywhere so I tested speeds myself when i bought my iPAQ 2200. I have 2 digital cameras so i would have used the Ultra II card anyway, and already had the 256MD SD (from my Palm)

Just before Xmas, I bought the iPAQ 2200. I have a SANDisk Ultra II 512MB CF card, an IBM MicroDrive 1GB and a SanDisk 256MB SD card.

The SD is REAL SLOW compared to CF. I did some copy speed comparisons between SD and CF’s. I think the internal architecture of iPAQ is one of the reasons for the slow speed, because on the desktop it isn’t as slow in comparison to CF.

I also installed TomTom on SD and it was really slow looking up addresses and calculating routes. It took 3.5 mins to calc route from Leicester to London. When I installed TomTom and maps on CF, same calculation to 30 secs! (7X faster)



iPAQ
Copy 10.1MB from iPAQ RAM

Mem - SANDisk 256MB SD 110 secs
Mem – 512MB SanDisk Ultra II 18 secs
Mem - 1GB MicroDrive 58 secs

Laptop
Copy 53MB from Laptop internal IDE to cards

Laptop IDE - CardBus32 1GB MicroDrive 45 secs
Laptop IDE - CardBus32 512MB SanDisk Ultra II CF 32 secs
Laptop IDE - Bonsai SANDisk 256MB 75 secs
Laptop IDE - Lexar Reader 1GB MicroDrive 42 secs
Laptop IDE - Lexar Reader 512MB SanDisk Ultra II CF N/A*
Laptop IDE - Lexar Reader SANDisk 256MB 75 secs

* San Ultra II CF doesn't work in LExar multi-card USB 2.0 reader

for the first two tests the Cf card was in a Delkin CardBus 32 adapter
for the 3rd the Sd card was in a Bonasai USB adapter
for the last 3 i used the lexar card reader

Hope this helps some of you who are required to choose between CF and SD

[Mark_Venture]

I just purchased a Kingston 512MB SD Card and in an unscientific test it seems slightly quicker at reading than my HP 256MB SD Card, but it is very slow on writing....
...

...Is this variance to be expected? These timings are pretty consistent over several iterations.

For what its worth... I just did speed tests with my two 256 Meg SD memory cards in my SanDisk USB 2.0 6-in-1 reader. (I dont have accurately test them in the iPAQ)

Using SiSoftware Sandra Standard... PC.. P4 2.66Ghz (533fsb), 512Meg ram, Asus P4P800DLX with built in USB 2.0 ports with the SanDisk reader/writer attached...

SD Cards... Lexar package labeled SD256-231, card has S256C on the back along with made in Taiwan. SanDisk (can't see model on it) its normal blue/red that you can by at Circuit City or Best Buy or other stores. has made in Taiwan on the back of it.

TEST................Lexar........SanDisk
Drive Index:........5337kB/s.....1195kB/s
Buffered Read:......6MB/s........1538kB/s
Sequential Read:....6MB/s........1565kB/s
Random Read:........6MB/s........967kB/s
Buffered Write:.....1501kB/s.....694kB/s
Sequential Write:...5MB/s........954kB/s
Random Write:.......1890kB/s.....252kB/s