Adding a hard drive CF or SD ?

Toryglen-boy · 23 February 2017, 23:18

Howdy

Have a few Sandisk CF cards as internal drives in my Amigas, same as everyone else really!! but i notice there are some SD card adapters to, and i was wonderin' what experience anyone has of using them, faster throughput speeds? better compatability? just .... easier to buy an SD card than a CF card?

thanks

Jope · 24 February 2017, 08:01

They are no faster than a CF card and you add a second layer of compatibility issues..

With a CF card, the adapters are dumb, most compatibility issues are down to the card not working with an Amiga.

With an SD -> IDE adapter, you first need an adapter that works with the Amiga (most do) and then you need a card that works with the adapter (again, most do). :-)

So, not much to be afraid of, but you should be prepared for a certain amount of experimentation/extra cost. Unfortunately it is very difficult to know which adapter you're really getting when you're buying these, there are so many minute variations between the cards. Even two identical SD -> IDE adapters may be running a different firmware, one works, the other doesn't.

McTrinsic · 24 February 2017, 17:08

You can always use an sd2cf adapter and have best of both worlds.

You can use SD and microSD cards and whatever hc,xc variant it only depends on the adapter.
And you could still use CF cards and if there is a compatibility issue you just take another adapter.

Nobby_UK · 24 February 2017, 20:29

I switched to SD because they are cheaper
(though the Interface is more expensive)
+ easier to find, also nearly all of my CF cards
are now dead (no SD card has died --- Yet !).

Bear in mind most SD cards 4GB > are
SDHC (or SDXC) and may prove trouble-some

idrougge · 24 February 2017, 22:20

Others have the opposite experience — SD cards dying one after the other.

fgh · 25 February 2017, 00:45

Back in 2012 or so I tested 15 different sd cards, and had no problems with any of them in my a600. I've had a few since as well.
My experience is that SD cards have less issues and variations than CF cards.
The two revisions (SDHC vs SDXC capable) of the most popular/cheap sd adapter both work, (ref:Jope) but they behave slightly differently. (See the link in my signature for more) SDHC is 4-32GB so it's not like you need SDXC support.
Many of the pcmcia-sd adapters are SD only (max 2G) though.
I'd say once you have an adapter that works, more SD cards are compatible than CF cards

Retrofan · 25 February 2017, 00:59

My experience is that a microsd card with a CF adapter is the best solution:

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=78652

Zippy Zapp · 01 March 2017, 17:40

For what it is worth I have been using a SD to IDE adapter for years now and haven't run into anything major other then forgetting to change the setting during drive setup that caused corruption later... I use it with a 2GB card.

23 February 2017, 23:18	#1
Toryglen-boy Registered User Join Date: Jan 2017 Location: Glesga Posts: 265	Adding a hard drive CF or SD ? Howdy Have a few Sandisk CF cards as internal drives in my Amigas, same as everyone else really!! but i notice there are some SD card adapters to, and i was wonderin' what experience anyone has of using them, faster throughput speeds? better compatability? just .... easier to buy an SD card than a CF card? thanks

24 February 2017, 20:29	#4
Nobby_UK Registered User Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Liverpool Posts: 2,598	I switched to SD because they are cheaper (though the Interface is more expensive) + easier to find, also nearly all of my CF cards are now dead (no SD card has died --- Yet !). Bear in mind most SD cards 4GB > are SDHC (or SDXC) and may prove trouble-some Last edited by Nobby_UK; 24 February 2017 at 20:35.

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24 February 2017, 08:01	#2
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,863	They are no faster than a CF card and you add a second layer of compatibility issues.. With a CF card, the adapters are dumb, most compatibility issues are down to the card not working with an Amiga. With an SD -> IDE adapter, you first need an adapter that works with the Amiga (most do) and then you need a card that works with the adapter (again, most do). :-) So, not much to be afraid of, but you should be prepared for a certain amount of experimentation/extra cost. Unfortunately it is very difficult to know which adapter you're really getting when you're buying these, there are so many minute variations between the cards. Even two identical SD -> IDE adapters may be running a different firmware, one works, the other doesn't.

24 February 2017, 17:08	#3
McTrinsic Registered User Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Germany Posts: 527	You can always use an sd2cf adapter and have best of both worlds. You can use SD and microSD cards and whatever hc,xc variant it only depends on the adapter. And you could still use CF cards and if there is a compatibility issue you just take another adapter.

24 February 2017, 22:20	#5
idrougge Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Stockholm Posts: 4,337	Others have the opposite experience — SD cards dying one after the other.

25 February 2017, 00:45	#6
fgh Registered User Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Norway Posts: 819	Back in 2012 or so I tested 15 different sd cards, and had no problems with any of them in my a600. I've had a few since as well. My experience is that SD cards have less issues and variations than CF cards. The two revisions (SDHC vs SDXC capable) of the most popular/cheap sd adapter both work, (ref:Jope) but they behave slightly differently. (See the link in my signature for more) SDHC is 4-32GB so it's not like you need SDXC support. Many of the pcmcia-sd adapters are SD only (max 2G) though. I'd say once you have an adapter that works, more SD cards are compatible than CF cards

25 February 2017, 00:59	#7
Retrofan Ruler of the Universe Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Lanzarote/Spain Posts: 6,189	My experience is that a microsd card with a CF adapter is the best solution: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=78652

01 March 2017, 17:40	#8
Zippy Zapp Registered User Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: CA/USA Posts: 346	For what it is worth I have been using a SD to IDE adapter for years now and haven't run into anything major other then forgetting to change the setting during drive setup that caused corruption later... I use it with a 2GB card.

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