What kind of SD chip should I buy?

[MigratedGamecock]

Hello, I have just so many questions but first of all, I'd like to know what kind of memory card should I buy.

Thanks to this board, I was able to locate the secret slot under the mysterious panel, sigh... why did they design it that way?

I am looking to get a 32 GB card. From Wiki, I understand the differences of class (write) and “x” factor (read). But Amazon has SDHC, SDXC, and SDHC Ultra cards, which does my tablet support?

Thanks,
MG

 

[doomboss]

You need Micro SD Card, not the regular size SD card. The number of class is up to you, but i would recommend class 10 or better. Well a class 6 is not bad for just normal use. I think 32gb is the largest you can have (Someone correct me if i am wrong). So start to look around on Amazon, and buy it when you think it is the best price. I bought a 32gb Class 10 UHS-I Micro SD card for $26 before during a sale(Amazon.com: Lexar microSDHC 300x 32GB UHS-I Flash Memory Card LSDMI32GBBNL300R: Computers & Accessories) and i saw SanDisk has a Class 10 Micro SD card for sale for a price below $20 too (Amazon.com: SanDisk Ultra 32 GB microSDHC Class 10 UHS-1 Memory Card 30MB/s with Adapter SDSDQUA-032G-U46A: Electronics). Just letting you know it as a reference.

 

[flashallthetime]

Yes 32 GB is as big as what is recognized but with a custom kernel you could thereotically go up to 64 GB micro sdcard, my first computer had a 2 GB hard drive LOL

Sent from my IdeaTabA2109A using Tapatalk HD

 

[Spoon3er]

Yes 32 GB is as big as what is recognized but with a custom kernel you could thereotically go up to 64 GB micro sdcard, my first computer had a 2 GB hard drive LOL

Sent from my IdeaTabA2109A using Tapatalk HD

Hmm, are you sure about the custom kernel? I read about format the sdcard as fat32 for 64GB. This should work for most devices. Anyway, we'll see when my card has arrived... :what:

Otherwise I have a project for you.

 

[Frederuco]

If you format the card for FAT32, you can go as big as you want.

However, M$ has made it so Windows will not natively format a SDXC or microSDXC (64 GB or larger) for FAT32. Only NTFS or exFAT.

I believe most tablets will read NTFS, but they may need an app like Paragon to do it read/write. Some tablets natively support exFAT.

IMO, try exFAT and NTFS. They are superior because FAT32 has a max individual file size of 4GB. Not an issue unless you are going to watch 1080p BluRay rips.

I know there are some 3rd party format tools that work. And, my Nikon D90 will format SD and microSD cards that are 64 GB for FAT32 and they work fine in the Android devices.

 

[MigratedGamecock]

I get the microSD part. My question is about the different variations such as
SD,
SDHC
SDXC, and
Ultra SDHC.

Wiki says different devices support different kind and that I am to find out what my device supports before I buy. I understand SD is limited to 2G so it is out of the question. The manual doens't say which type A2109 supports and that's what I am hoping to find out.

doomboss, I get SDXC is not suitable for me then, since you only listed SDHC? do you think the brand (lexsar or SanDisk) matters? What extra feature does the word "Ultra" bring?

My useage will be mainly for books and offline map storage. Would class 6 suffice? I am pretty sure my kernel is standard unless HomeDepot did something to it.

Thanks,
MG

 

[flashallthetime]

Hmm, are you sure about the custom kernel? I read about format the sdcard as fat32 for 64GB. This should work for most devices. Anyway, we'll see when my card has arrived... :what:

Otherwise I have a project for you.

You might be able to do it without a custom kernel, let us know, as for kernels, no way I am going t start compiling a kernel, way too much of a headache. Camera drivers, bluetooth, wifi drivers, make 1 tiny mistake and you'll be spinning around in circles

Sent from my IdeaTabA2109A using Tapatalk HD

 

[Frederuco]

Class 10 and ULTRA talk about the WRITE speeds. If you are watching movies, you will probably want a class 10, but class 6 will work too.

As far as SD, SDHC and SDXC, here is a breakdown:

	Size	Format
SD	≥ 2GB	FAT
SDHC	4 GB - 32 GB	FAT32
SDXC	< 32 GB	exFAT

In order for a device manufacturer to advertise that it is FULLY SDXC capable, it MUST read exFAT. If not, they can only advertise SDHC.

However, if you format the larger cards using a 3rd party utility for FAT32, there is NO REASON they will not work.

I have use 1 TB external drives (formatted FAT32) with my Android tablet with no issues.

Also, to point out the ULTRA and EXTREME are kinda pointless, they apply only to that brand and are trying to make it sound better. Granted an ULTRA Class 10 vs a regular Class 10 may have a speed difference, but the industry has not set any classes for speeds higher than class 10 so it is hard to judge.

 

[arbarnhart]

Yes 32 GB is as big as what is recognized but with a custom kernel you could thereotically go up to 64 GB micro sdcard, my first computer had a 2 GB hard drive LOL

Sent from my IdeaTabA2109A using Tapatalk HD

Dang I'm old. My first computer used a cassette tape for storage. The first micro I developed on professionally used 180K 10" floppy disks and ran CP/M because DOS didn't exist yet. A few months into development I was able to convince management to invest in a hard drive that held a whopping 5M...

On the OP's question, I bought one of these:
Amazon.com: SanDisk 32 GB Mobile microSDHC Flash Memory Card SDSDQ-032G-AFFP: Electronics
when it was on sale for $15. It is a class 4, but read the top review (pasting the first few lines in case it is bumped from the top):

5.0 out of 5 stars This Sandisk 'class-4' micro-SDHC card is faster than a PNY 'class-10' December 2, 2011
By NLee the Engineer HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWER
Product Packaging:Retail|Size Name:32 GB
I purchased a SanDisk 32 GB microSDHC Flash Memory Card SDSDQM-032G nearly two months ago, for use in my VIZIO 8-Inch Tablet VTAB1008. At the same time, I also purchased a higher-priced PNY 32 GB microSDHC Card (P-SDU32G10-EFS2) which is supposed to be a 'class-10'. My benchmark results, however, show that the Sandisk class-4 card is actually faster - most of the time.

I used two sets of benchmark programs. One is called 'Flash Memory Toolkit v2.0', which measures the random read/write speed of files between 1MB and 15MB. The other one is called 'H2testw v1.4', which measures the sequential read/write speed using 1GB files. Here are my results: (see my uploaded charts in 'Customer Images' section for details)

- For smaller files (1-5MB), the Sandisk class-4 card gives an amazing write speed of 15-17MB/s, while the PNY 'class-10' card can only get 1-6MB/s

- For larger files (10-15MB), the Sandisk and PNY cards are about equal at around 8MB/s for write

- For huge files (1GB), the PNY did better at 9.5MB/S, while the Sandisk dropped to 5.5MB/s

- The read speeds of both cards are equally high at around 18MB/S (this number may be limited by the maximum speed of my card reader used)

 

[arbarnhart]

Oh yeah, I never finished saying that the one I bought (referenced in post above) works fine and I never had to do anything but drop it in the tablet; the factory format was fine. Keep in mind that most of the time you will not be reading/writing huge files and when you are it will generally be downloads being written and videos being read. The speed of the chip is usually not the bottle neck in those situations. App2SD doesn't work on tablets, so app load speed is a non issue. I am not saying you shouldn't get a fast chip, but don't expect the chip speed to make much difference in performance.

 

[mcl630]

If you format the card for FAT32, you can go as big as you want.

However, M$ has made it so Windows will not natively format a SDXC or microSDXC (64 GB or larger) for FAT32. Only NTFS or exFAT.

I believe most tablets will read NTFS, but they may need an app like Paragon to do it read/write. Some tablets natively support exFAT.

IMO, try exFAT and NTFS. They are superior because FAT32 has a max individual file size of 4GB. Not an issue unless you are going to watch 1080p BluRay rips.

I know there are some 3rd party format tools that work. And, my Nikon D90 will format SD and microSD cards that are 64 GB for FAT32 and they work fine in the Android devices.

The A2109 definately does not support exFAT. I'm not sure about NTFS. You can definately get a 64GB card to work by reformatting it to FAT32. As Federuco said, you'd need a 3rd party tool to do it from Windows. It can also be done with gParted in Linux.

 

[FloRider]

If you format the card for FAT32, you can go as big as you want.

However, M$ has made it so Windows will not natively format a SDXC or microSDXC (64 GB or larger) for FAT32. Only NTFS or exFAT.

I believe most tablets will read NTFS, but they may need an app like Paragon to do it read/write. Some tablets natively support exFAT.

IMO, try exFAT and NTFS. They are superior because FAT32 has a max individual file size of 4GB. Not an issue unless you are going to watch 1080p BluRay rips.

I know there are some 3rd party format tools that work. And, my Nikon D90 will format SD and microSD cards that are 64 GB for FAT32 and they work fine in the Android devices.

Android will read NTFS but not really write. I read that files can only be modified, and they have to stay the same size. On our kernel, NTFS write isn't enabled anyway. I've seen some kernels that advertise NTFS write mode. I'm not sure how they manage that.

Sent from my IdeaTabA2109A using Tapatalk HD

 

[FloRider]

Of course, the card has to be microSD. The regular format is for cameras and video recorders, I believe. The micro cards usually come with an adapter for the larger format. And I don't think I've ever gotten a card that wasn't formatted first.

Sent from my IdeaTabA2109A using Tapatalk HD

 

[FloRider]

One more thing -- if you plan on copying files from your PC to the external card (via USB or a card writer, I suppose), the write speed is going to be very important. It can take half an hour to copy an HD movie over. When I use my tab as a movie server (with the HDMI port), I copy the files to a USB stick and attach it to my tablet instead.

Sent from my IdeaTabA2109A using Tapatalk HD

 

[Spoon3er]

Yesterday I received my 64GB sdcard. NTFS read is supported without any modifications. Fat32 rw works as well. With a little bit of Linux knowing it's no problem to mount the stick as ext. Parted with eg gparted you can mount several partitions fat32, NTFS and ext4 simultaneous.
Well everything as expected.



Gesendet von meinem IdeaTabA2109A mit Tapatalk 2