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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: straycat on April 19, 2008, 11:08:32 PM

Title: Minimig loading speeds with different SD cards
Post by: straycat on April 19, 2008, 11:08:32 PM

Just tried a different memory card with my Minimig and noticed a real difference in speed! The floppy images 'insert' far quicker and even the programs seem to load a lot quicker, although I haven't timed it yet. I've been using an unbranded card up until now which has worked fine. But I decided to switch to a DaneElec 1Gb card for more space and wow! Has anyone else noticed differences between different cards and discovered a particularly good brand? I know Sandisk is recommended but I can't honestly say I've tried one yet.

Title: Re: Minimig loading speeds with different SD cards
Post by: ChuckT on April 20, 2008, 12:00:47 AM

If you live in the United States, I think you can get cards cheaper on tigerdirect.com and newegg.com (and maybe chiefvalue.com) but if you get cards at Target, Circuit City or Best Buy then you either have to buy around vacation time, Black Friday, or before and after school starts is when they have sales but Target has yesterday's prices on a lot of stuff and Best Buy and Circuit City are really full price.  If you register with Newegg you can get promotional codes for lower prices.

I'm only familiar with SD cards, thumbdrives and XD cards but the return policy with Sandisk is pretty horrible because I and others have had bad experiences with them.

(Edited so as to not cause confusion).

Title: Re: Minimig loading speeds with different SD cards
Post by: alexh on April 20, 2008, 12:44:38 AM

Erm, compact flash??

The MiniMig uses MMC/SD cards which are totally different

Title: Re: Minimig loading speeds with different SD cards
Post by: ChuckT on April 20, 2008, 02:24:54 AM

I edited my last message so as to not cause any further confusion.

I have a Canon camera that takes 2 GB SD cards and the manufacturer said that if I got faster cards that it wouldn't make picture taking any faster.

I bought a card from A-Data and I thought it worked okay.

There are also some new cards on the market.

Title: Re: Minimig loading speeds with different SD cards
Post by: freqmax on April 20, 2008, 11:04:43 PM

It can be that Minimig loads one block at a time. And thus latency plays a major role. The proper way is to run multi sector reads.

Title: Re: Minimig loading speeds with different SD cards
Post by: ChuckT on April 21, 2008, 03:06:09 PM

Are there any docs on how to read and write to these cards?

Title: Re: Minimig loading speeds with different SD cards
Post by: Andeda on April 21, 2008, 08:12:06 PM

This is a very interesting topic, i have to test my minmig with some more sd cards too. At the moment i use a sandisk ultra II sdcard.