Swapping SD Cards; General SD/CF Questions (x51v)

[bellyman]

Own an Axim x51v.
Currently have a 1GB SD card (install programs there). Will be buying a 4-8GB CF card.

I want to buy a digital camera - most come with SD cards. The big picture idea I have is - when I am on the road, and want to move pictures off the SD card, I would insert it into the Axim, and then move to the CF card.

Questions:
(1) Never tried, but generally are both cards hot swappable on the Axim?

(2) If I install programs on the SD card - and then I swap out - put the Camera card in then change back - is there any problem doing so? Assume that I don't run any programs on the Axim that would require the "programs" SD card.

(3) Is it safe to assume that I can install programs on the CF card like I do on the SD card? Are there any major speed differences? I would be using the Sandisk Ultra II CF card. (I have a Sandisk - standard blue SD card now).
(I would prefer to keep the CF card free from "programs" and use it mainly for storage)

(4) I know the CF cards have the 200-300,000 cycle stuff - are SD cards also the same?

When I look at the cameras the memory sticks vary -- but I figured if I could marry the two, it would help me decide on what camera would be the best choice.

thanks
belly

I do just that. When Travelling, I use my 4GB CF card in my Axim to hold/view my photos.

My wife and I take a cruise with friends every year. Before dinner, I will sometimes copy the day's pictures from my camera's SD card to the CF card in the Axim. Then during dinner, I startup XNView in slide show mode, and pass the Axim around so everyone can see the photos on the VGA screen.

Yeah, all flash based cards have a life rating of X write cycles. The number will vary based on the age of the card, the technology used, the brand, etc. But as inexpensive as these cards are today, replacing them is no big deal.

Since I use SD cards in my laptop, camera, and phone (MicroSD), I use the CF card for storing larger programs like GPS maps, databases, mail messages, etc. That leaves me the SD card to use as a swappable media. Using the SD card like this gives me greater flexibility and interoperability between the devices I use.

Speed differences vary by brand, model, etc. Search the forums here to locate comparisons.

HTH :approve:

[ThundaAx]

The camera could throw a monkey wrench into your plans. Be sure to know what the maximum card capacity it can handle. I bought a camera a few years ago, and it can only take a maximum of 512 mb SD. Also, you may want to consider getting a high speed SD card as it will tend to make the camera perform a little better.

[Mokubai]

1) The Axim actually prefers the cards to be swapped when the unit is on, in my experience at least. If I swap the cards with the unit off then it often does not detect the change and so I have to take the card back out and put it in again...

2) I've installed a load of programs on SD before and swapped cards, sure you can't access the program but I've never had any bad experience with doing it. You just get a complaint about the missing program if you try and run it...

3) You can install programs on SD or CF and it will be fine. Don't know of any real speed differences, my SD and CF are about the same but YMMV with "Fast" cards....

4) These days SD and CF are generally using very similar technology, it's just the controllers are different, I would expect that they both have very similar lifetimes. These days some of the high quality cards assure you "at least 1,000,000 write cycles" but even 300,000 is going to be a lot more than a casual user is likely to use. It would mean rewriting the entire cards data several times a day for a couple of years to reach that number... Newer cards are likely to have longer lifetimes as Maximum Dude said.