Noobie SD/CF cards questions...

[FRANTIC]

1) which of these cards (1 SD, 1 CF) do you guys recommend? i can't decied between the ATP and Lexar cards.

1GB CF (for pix, documents)
ATP - Compact Flash Pro Card (60x)
Lexar - Compact Flash Pro (80x)
Lexar - Professional Series 80X CompactFlash Card with Write Acceleration
SanDisk - Ultra 2 CompactFlash Card
Kingston - Elite Pro 80X Compact Flash

1GB SD - (for programs/apps)
ATP - Super High-Speed SD*Card (60x)
KingMax - 60X Secure Digital (SD)*Card
Kodak - Premium Secure Digital Card
Lexar - 32x High-Speed SD


2) are card readers specific to SD or CF? or can they read both?


3) what exactly is mini-SD? is it different than pure SD? any better/worse?



thanks!

[NiwRoC]

Here is some info to help answer your questions.

Here is some tests that have been done by members on various cards.

http://www.choirguy.com/memory.pdf

For me, I would go with the ATP for both CF and SD. You can go with a slower card if you are only going to use it with your Axim.

I have a card reader that can read 12 different cards. You can buy them almost anywhere that sells cameras or search online.

Not sure about question 3. I will have to do some research on this.

Welcome to Aximsite and have fun.

[FRANTIC]

yeah, i've seen choirguy's pdf on write/read speed, that's why i'm leaning more towards the ATP cards.

do the ATP cards work well with the x50-mid, though?

Welcome to Aximsite and have fun.

thanks.

[jpmarth]

Something to keep in mind is that Lexar's standard 1GB SD cards are really 32X cards sold at a lower price. You will get the same card for less if you go that route.

[Choirguy]

From personal experience, and being one of the lucky ones with a bad 1 GB Sandisk card (from Dell, in October of 2004), my recommendation is to go with Lexar for performance and price in an Axim.

I recommend ATP as well, because they are actually here on Aximsite, interested in making their product work with our devices.

For dollar per GB, however, I have to recommend the Hitachi 4GB retail drive. I bought one, and although power is used less efficiently, with the money you'll save, you could easily buy 2 additional batteries at Aximcases or Lion Battery.

[tommietaco]

Does it matter if a CF card is type I or type II? I have an Axim X50v.

[socpsy]

I agree with those who suggested Lexar. I have 4 Lexar card with nary a problem. Cost was pretty good too!

You can probably pick up a 6-in-1 or 7-in-1 reader for less than $20 at most online electronics stores or local discount stores.

[Astounded EEG]

3) what exactly is mini-SD? is it different than pure SD? any better/worse?

Mini-SD is more or less what the name implies, a smaller form-factor SD card. These cards have been predicted to overtake SD in a few years and become by far the dominant format in like 2007 or so.

MiniSD has a footprint roughly 50% smaller than regular SD, but so far most mini-SD cards are sold with SD adapters, i.e. little SD card shells. I know of almost no consumer devices in the United States that use miniSD at this point, but I believe they are targeted for usage in the cell phone market and are currently much more common in Japan than in the United States. Speed should be comparable if not better than standard SD considering mini-SD is a next-generation card format.

A mini-SD card by itself will not fit into an axim or any standard SD slot without an adapter.

[axzilla]

Yeah mini sd is intended for cellphones. There is no difference in performance they are just smaller so they can try and keep the size and weight of the new cell phones as small as possible. The axim can use both type 1 and type 2 cf cards.