happycheesecake

• Type 1 cards are basically secure versions of MMC cards - available up to 128mb.
• Type 2 cards are the ones we all know and love (to hate), the current SD cards available to you and me. They use a different memory paging to type 1's to get around the 128mb max limit.
• Type 3 are SDIO cards without any additional memory
• Type 4 are SDIO cards with extra memory.
• Type S are read only secure cards...

Anyone notice that the pre-Nov 2002 Sandisk cards hardly ever go wrong? They're mostly type 1 cards, with 6 character codes.

The N-series cards are V3 type 2s, there was a M-series card (V2 type 2s) available around June 2003 but they didn't last long as Palm users couldn't read/write to them...

There is a V4 type 2, its basically the 512mb+ card supporting up to 4Gb on a card (Can you imagine losing 4Gb of data?! Yikes)

BTW, there's a new version of MMC cards coming out soon that'll be faster and cheaper than SD cards..
Do you know why Fuji developed xD, and Sony developed MemoryStick rather than using SD cards? Its because neither company wanted to pay the licensing fee the SD Card Association demands...

jb22

I just want a card that will work! I actually appreciate the link to Scandisks replacement form. Now I'm thinking of actually getting a Scandisk since atleast if it doesn't work I know 100% that they will replace it (more importantly in Canada as well as the US). I email Lexar asking what their replacement policy was, still have to hear from them.

So if Scandisk has replacement cards, does that mean the newer Scandisk cards will work? And does this mean that the errors are the resault of cad cards and not a porblem wit hthe Axim itself?

happycheesecake

I assume if Sandisk say that they know of a problem with Axims (and yes that weblink says Axim, not Axim X5...) then if they're informed that the user has an X3 or X5 then they should supply a working card.

However at the moment both Axim X3s and Palm T3s (will you shoot me if I told you they're made by the same company!) can have destructive problems with Sandisk SD cards...

BTW, there's a way to get Lexar to replace an SD card - ring them! The email link is a bit of a waste of time and with the details of Sandisk's problems you can use that to get them to replace your card...

LkyOldSun

please excuse the noob question, but when you say destructive problems, you mean destructive to the SD card and not the ax, right?

thanks
(I bought a SanDisk 128 for $24 on friday after thanksgiving, and am awaiting dells replacement for my axim to show up b4 I can try it)

Quote:

Originally posted by happycheesecake I assume if Sandisk say that they know of a problem with Axims (and yes that weblink says Axim, not Axim X5...) then if they're informed that the user has an X3 or X5 then they should supply a working card. However at the moment both Axim X3s and Palm T3s (will you shoot me if I told you they're made by the same company!) can have destructive problems with Sandisk SD cards... BTW, there's a way to get Lexar to replace an SD card - ring them! The email link is a bit of a waste of time and with the details of Sandisk's problems you can use that to get them to replace your card...

happycheesecake

Thats right, the SD card is (nearly always) the device that gets nuked, not the PDA.

flanker82

which SD cards would u recomend then? (ok...no china products...)

happycheesecake

IMHO, I would suggest Simpletech. Japanese-made SD cards; fast read/write operations and good support.

Panasonic cards are fine too, but their warranty is only 90 days in some parts of the world as they judge SD cards as accessories. However Kingston & Viking use Panasonic too, and their warranty is a lot longer than 90 days...

Lexar cards are okay too, but in the past they used Sandisk. They don't at the moment, but have told me that they could again in the future.

I have the following working SD cards, used day 2 day:

1 x 512mb Panasonic
2 x 256mb Simpletech
2 x 256mb Lexar Japanese
2 x 128mb Lexar Japanese

451 assorted other SD cards!

Astounded EEG

hey HappyCC, have any major updates re: SD? I've noticed some people are starting to report weird serial numbers for new Sandisk SD without R's or N's in them.

Also, why do some of these China/Taiwan cards fail, exactly? Is it something the user does or are some of them just born crippled? Do you expect all of these cards to fail at some point in their lifetime?

and did you ever win that axim on ebay? :p

happycheesecake

I have news that Sandisk have brought SD card controller technology from another company - that might explain the new codes... (To do with X3 and Palm T3 owners being unable to *see* the SD card)

As for why Sandisks failed like hot cakes, well its all down to the buffer technology in SD cards. Sandisk played around with the buffer to attempt to make the card cheaper and it worked fine in all devices at the time (Oct 2002) but that's before devices appeared with a make of card slot controller that expected a better memory buffer than Sandisks... Corrupted buffer meant data is written all over the card, hence corruption. Only X5 users with that certain card slot controller have the problem, and there's only two ways to find that out - either the card gets corrupted or you take apart your X5.

And nope, still looking for a X5 and X3i going cheap(er)...

JmE

Quote:

Originally posted by happycheesecake and it worked fine in all devices at the time (Oct 2002) but that's before devices appeared with a make of card slot controller that expected a better memory buffer than Sandisks...

I know you know far more than myself on this SD issue, but I would like to point out that ScamDisk was having this problem on PamOS devices prior to the date mentioned. We avoided them for anything over 64MB because of the same issues. ScamDisk promised they were working on the problem even then, however, they apparently continued to produce the cards in the same way! Basically, they lied to us and continued to produce larger cards in the same way even though they were aware of problems.

With the history SanDisk has, I personally try to avoid their products.

-JmE-

happycheesecake

Quote:

Originally posted by JmE ... but I would like to point out that ScamDisk was having this problem on PamOS devices prior to the date mentioned. -JmE-

Yeah, sorry JmE. I should of written "and it worked fine in all Pocket PC devices at the time, apart from some Ipaq 3800 and 3900 series devices"...

And as for Oct 2002 date, that's the Sandisk cards manufacturing date (Thats up to AR0210 cards).

LkyOldSun

well, I just gathered the gusto to open my 256mb sandisk, and the numbers on the back = Ak0306LQ.
so since it is an older one (but mfg in june 03), I get to start the process of getting a working replacement even before my ax arrives.
BTW, I heard about wall mart having $25 no rebate 256mb SD cards.

edit: I guess I will have to wait until my ax gets here to test the card because I don't know if the card will fail right out of the package, or fail after a short while.

Astounded EEG

Quote:

Originally posted by LkyOldSun well, I just gathered the gusto to open my 256mb sandisk, and the numbers on the back = Ak0306LQ. so since it is an older one (but mfg in june 03), I get to start the process of getting a working replacement even before my ax arrives. BTW, I heard about wall mart having $25 no rebate 256mb SD cards. edit: I guess I will have to wait until my ax gets here to test the card because I don't know if the card will fail right out of the package, or fail after a short while.

it may make sense just to get it replaced now, if you have time. no use in having the card fail with important data on it.

as for the $25 SD card, it's a 128MB, not 256. (still a spanking good deal.)

LkyOldSun

DOH!

True, and the one I have is also a 128mb, not 256 as I said.

I would send it in right now if I just knew whether to choose on the submission form:
either
"card does not work out of the package"
or
"card fails after a short period of time"

Astounded EEG

i believe calling would be far more fruitful than email/online submission. people have had pretty good experiences with sandisk CS.