SD or microSD ? Here are my thoughts...

Cluso99

I thought I would share my reasoning for the choice of microSD.

See the attached photo....

The top left is a USB adapter with an 8GB microSD inserted (you can see the "8"). The top right is an SD adapter without the·microSD inserted (you can see the slight recess at the bottom where·the microSD card to plugs into it·and is completely protected). The bottom is obviously the microSD card.

There is virtually no difference in price. For the time being, only use 2GB or less (a FAT16 formatting issue). The only issue is that SPI, which is what we use to access the card, is not mandatory for microSD. There have been reports that some microSD's do not support SPI although I have not found any to date.

I have a slot in one of my Laptops that takes a full-sized SD card, so I just pop the microSD into the SD adapter. Otherwise, I pop it into the USB adapter. Windoze can access the card FAT16 file system, so you can copyfiles to and from the SD/microSD card.



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Post Edited (Cluso99) : 4/8/2009 12:14:28 PM GMT

Dr_Acula

Good choice. Programmers are cheap (I got one on ebay for $5 including shipping). On the latest board I'm working on (which has been kind of rendered irrelevant by the triblade zicog!!) I chose microSD because it was the first Eagle library sd part I could find. Then I realised it uses less board real estate, and that means a smaller and cheaper PCB.

Bill Drummond

I drop stuff a lot and they're too hard to find.

Rayman

I started with uSD for the board I'm currently working with.·

But, soon decided that it's much easier to work with full size SD cards.

So, I switched to full size.· I suppose it really depends on how much space you have available...

If you have space, I would recommend using full size SD.

Duffer

One thing to keep in mind, depending on how you intend to use either a uSD or SD card, is that the uSD/TransFlash card is not as robust as the SD card. You will sometimes see the term "semi-removable" accociated with the uSD card. It is intended to be inserted in a device like a digital camera, cell phone, music player, etc and not removed.

By frequently·inserting and removing the uSD card from its·socket, you run the risk of damaging or destroying the card. I've had two uSD cards fail. Both failed in much the same way; they simply broke in half across the width of the card. uSD cards just don't have the enough material to retain their shape and stiffness like a full-sized SD card if handled too much.

Duffer

kwinn

I prefer the SD card size. With the uSD adapters readily available you can use either size, and SD is large enough to work with comfortably.

hinv

I prefer the uSD cards because they are awesome tiny!. I remember my first hard drive. It was 674MB, 5.25" full size. By comparison, uSD is just amazing.

Well aside from that, I have a few Sony notebooks around that don't have an SDcard slot. But with a memory stick adapter, I can house 2 of the microSD without taking up a precious USB port.

shop.ebay.com/items/__memory-stick-micro-sd?_nkw=memory+stick+micro+sd+&_cqr=true&_ipg=50&_nkwusc=sitck+microSD&_rdc=1

Board real estate is important to me also....if I ever get my project off the ground.

Just my 10 bits worth.


Doug

mynet43

Good question, interesting answers.

I use both.

For my own use and the small cards I design, I use the uSD, since it doesn't take up much space.

However, I have a product in the field, that needs occasional firmware updates. For that application, I use the full size SD/SDHC cards. It's just asking too much for the customers to work with and keep track of the uSD for this kind of usage.

Jim

P.S. With the new fsrw (see today's thread), it's no longer necessary to limit the cards to 2GB. It works fine with my 8GB uSDHC card.