What do I need to know about SD cards but never ask?

[Grady Clay]

I searched Pelican and only came up with this:
Computer Guys - need help with SD card

An overwhelming amount of info is here:
Secure Digital - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My question is how to best organize and preserve my SD info.
My cameras use the standard 2GB or 4GB cards.
I have my 8M camera set to 1200x1600, more than adequate for my current use.
They are so inexpensive ($2) that I simply use a new card when one gets full.
All the images are downloaded to both my laptop and desktop (which has a backup external drive.)

Do I need to periodically ‘refresh’ or transfer the data from/to cards to maintain the integrity of the data?
Is there a program that helps check/correct data errors?

Is it useful to format my new cards? http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter_3/ from sdcard.org.

I don’t even know what kind of card is in my cell.
I want to try a HD video recorder.

At what point do cards with ∞ high-TB capacity, SDXC and Class 10+ come into play?
It appears that standard SD, miniSD and microSD differ only in physical size but are data-interchangeable.
Clearly some devices (HD TV @ 120HZ) should require a high data transfer rate.
The Class 10 (66x) seems to be 10 MB/sec while a (600x) 90 MB/sec version is listed.

Is there a brand difference when considering the high-end cards?
I see a wide range of $/GB on Amazon, not necessarily related to capacity.


With electronics, I’m very much a “somewhere above mid-point but not at the extreme of the technology” type buyer.
My intent is to have long useful life while not pushing the limits of current technology or price.

So … let the SD card discussion begin.

Best,
Grady

hp RPN uber alles.

[red-beard]

SDHC are higher capacity cards. They are used by a lot of devices these days. The Micro-SD cards are SDHC with a smaller form factor. Usually they come with an adapter so you can use a standard size reader.

SDXC are above 32GB cards and are not used by many devices (yet). My HP Slate 500 is SDXC which means with a 64GB card, I doubled the storage capacity.

High speed cards read and write faster. Look at the GB/s. Some of the older devices will not be able to transfer as fast as the card can take.

[stomachmonkey]

I think you are over thinking it.

All you really need to worry about is compatibility in terms of largest size the device will address and access speed.

If you are backing the cards up to 2 other machines I would not worry about data integrity.

The only thing you may want to think about is off site back up in case of fire/flood/theft.

Scott

[Joeaksa]

These cards are not the most reliable. Please copy the data on them to another source and save both.

I was taking some photos of a antique airplane fly-in several years ago and had to leave my camera in the car for a bit. The sun shifted and caught the camera sitting on the seat. I returned to the car and found that the heat had made about half of the images unreadable and were lost forever...

[GH85Carrera]

Long term storage is a problem. In 40 years will your kids be able to view the images?

I have a lot of old photos of my childhood on good old paper prints.

Anyone looking at one of your "antique" cards 20 or 30 years from now will wonder what was on it and wish they could read that format of file. Try to get someone to read a 5.25 inch floppy now days.

[island911]

Basically - If your camera takes SD cards it may not take SDHC or SDXC. ...they will physically fit, but it's about unseen 'standards.' --somewhere, someone thought "having one standard is good, so having even more standards must be better."

Anyway, the newer standards may or may not play well w/ your older devices.

edit, ...but newer devices can take the older SD standards (backwrd compatible)

[Joeaksa]

Go to a store having a Christmas sale and get a USB external drive. These days you can get a 1 Terrabyte drive that will hold millions of files and make a backup there. Then put the drive in a safe or whatever and its done.

[andrew15]

I just went through this buying some micro SD cards for my contour+ camera for track use.
Some things I took away from the experience were:

1) Buy a brand name card from a well known retail store - there are a lot of fakes and counterfits out there and they are not of the highest quality.

2) The higher classes are usually required for HD video recording - if you are planning on something like this, check your video camera requirements before buying the cards.

3) back everything up - get an external hard drive if required. Even the best cards are usually a thin plastic chell and can be easily damaged

Good luck!
Andrew M

[Nine9six]

Originally Posted by red-beard

SDHC are higher capacity cards. They are used by a lot of devices these days. The Micro-SD cards are SDHC with a smaller form factor. Usually they come with an adapter so you can use a standard size reader.

SDXC are above 32GB cards and are not used by many devices (yet). My HP Slate 500 is SDXC which means with a 64GB card, I doubled the storage capacity.

High speed cards read and write faster. Look at the GB/s. Some of the older devices will not be able to transfer as fast as the card can take.

Downloading your photos to your computers' HD is a good idea. Backing up to an external USB drive is excellent advice. As far as speed goes; your transfer rate will only be as fast as the slowest bottleneck of your computer system.

[RWebb]

SD Card Refresh, etc.:

ask your camera manf.

I had lots of trouble with a D70s and Nkion Techs. told me to erase the card each time I put it back in the body.

[RWebb]

Speed:

recent DSLRs have pretty big buffers now, so the speed of the card is less important than it used to be; also all the cards are faster now

I don't think a DSLR will have a problem unless you are shooting video, Grady.

I am not so sure about a Point & Shoot type cameras - I have a couple of those and have not had any problems -- my speed is usually limited on those by the lack of an optical viewfinder, shutter delay & handling issues.

What 8 M camera are you using?

I don't think the speed to the computer is too critical.

[Grady Clay]

I’m still no closer.
The range of (Amazon) prices seem inappropriate for the same spec cards.
I’ll stop by the camera shops. I’ll report back.

Thanks all.

Best,
Grady

[LeeH]

I just bought a new Olympus TG-310 14mp camera and was bummed that the internal memory will only hold 5 pics! Just doesn't seem right that I need to buy a $50 memory card so I can use my $100 camera!

[Grady Clay]

Originally Posted by LeeH

I just bought a new Olympus TG-310 14mp camera and was bummed that the internal memory will only hold 5 pics! Just doesn't seem right that I need to buy a $50 memory card so I can use my $100 camera!

Sorta like buying a new ink-jet printer and finding the new ink cartridge will only print four pages.

Best,
Grady

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Grady Clay

I’m still no closer.
The range of (Amazon) prices seem inappropriate for the same spec cards.
I’ll stop by the camera shops. I’ll report back.

Thanks all.

Best,
Grady

Grady,

The camera shops will be very expensive as well.

I use Fry's Electronics and as long as you buy the brand name memory the quality is fine.

Fry's Electronics | Flash Media

They do not have any stores in your area so mail order with this firm is your only option.

Joe A