MBA and SD Cards...

JoelBC · Dec 18, 2012

I am new to mac...I have been setting up and running my MBA for the last 2 to 3 weeks...

I need to have an SD card permanently connected to my MBA as i have a lot of sensitive data that needs regular backups throughout the day when i am not connected to my network backup device...

I took my SD card out of my Windows laptop, inserted it into my MBA only to discover that it does not go in all the way...this will not work for me as I will definitely break the SD card at some point during the day / week as I travel from client to client...

Therefore, does anybody know / have a way of keeping a micro-SD card [as clearly and SD card will not fit] into a MBA such that it can be left in on a "permanent" basis.

Thanks in advance,

Joel

cragmr · Dec 18, 2012

http://theniftyminidrive.com/

It isn't out yet though.

million7 · Dec 18, 2012

cragmr said:
http://theniftyminidrive.com/

It isn't out yet though.

It's times like these I wish the MBA 11" had an SD card slot!

jmoore5196 · Dec 18, 2012

million7 said:
It's times like these I wish the MBA 11" had an SD card slot!

I have frequently considered switching back to the 13" version for just that fact! No doubt a month after I do, Apple will introduce an 11" model with an SD card slot.

JoelBC · Dec 18, 2012

cragmr said:
http://theniftyminidrive.com/

It isn't out yet though.

Appreciate the URL that is exactly what I need...at least January is not that far off...hopefully there will not be any delays...

Joel

Ahmahzahn · Dec 18, 2012

JoelBC said:
Appreciate the URL that is exactly what I need...at least January is not that far off...hopefully there will not be any delays...

Joel

There have been a few weeks worth of delays already while the manufacturing process was being sorted out... they originally asked for $11,000 if I remember right, but received somewhere along the lines of $380,000. Steve and Piers(sp?) have been very upfront with the delay issues and have ironed out all the wrinkles. They could have started shipping at the end of this month if they wanted but with the holidays approaching, they didn't want to complicate logistics apparently.

JoelBC · Dec 19, 2012

Ahmahzahn said:
There have been a few weeks worth of delays already while the manufacturing process was being sorted out... they originally asked for $11,000 if I remember right, but received somewhere along the lines of $380,000. Steve and Piers(sp?) have been very upfront with the delay issues and have ironed out all the wrinkles. They could have started shipping at the end of this month if they wanted but with the holidays approaching, they didn't want to complicate logistics apparently.

Thanks...I am going to place an order as this seems like a must have to me...

53x12 · Dec 19, 2012

Looking at microSDXC storage, seems like 64GB runs ~$50-60. Does that sound about right? Throw in $35 for the nifty mini drive and that is a great method to increase the storage on the MBA for a fairly reasonable price. Obviously you could go external USB 3, but that wouldn't be as sleek as this route.

Lindsford · Dec 19, 2012

Maybe a silly question, is it possible to run games from the SD card?

JoelBC · Dec 20, 2012

53x12 said:
Looking at microSDXC storage, seems like 64GB runs ~$50-60. Does that sound about right? Throw in $35 for the nifty mini drive and that is a great method to increase the storage on the MBA for a fairly reasonable price. Obviously you could go external USB 3, but that wouldn't be as sleek as this route.

Agreed though the key issue is not sleekness but rather portability and the Nifty Mini Drive fits the bill...

53x12 · Dec 20, 2012

JoelBC said:
Agreed though the key issue is not sleekness but rather portability and the Nifty Mini Drive fits the bill...

Agreed. I meant sleek being both sleek and not having to drag an external drive around and having other cords connected to the MBA.

53x12 · Dec 21, 2012

Lindsford said:
Maybe a silly question, is it possible to run games from the SD card?

I can't answer that directly as I have no experience with that. However it is worth nothing that a high speed micro sdhc card is only going to get you ~30-35 MB/s from what I have seen (class 10). I have also seen extreme class 10 that get ~45-50 MB/s. A typical hard drive is going to get you around 140-150 MB/s and a SSD 250-500 MB/s. So can you run a game off a SD card that gets you 30-50 MB/s? I would say probably not as the SD cards were never designed for that. Better to use the SD card for extended storage and pull the files off to your MBA when you need to use them/access them.

Lindsford · Dec 21, 2012

53x12 said:
I can't answer that directly as I have no experience with that. However it is worth nothing that a high speed micro sdhc card is only going to get you ~30-35 MB/s from what I have seen (class 10). I have also seen extreme class 10 that get ~45-50 MB/s. A typical hard drive is going to get you around 140-150 MB/s and a SSD 250-500 MB/s. So can you run a game off a SD card that gets you 30-50 MB/s? I would say probably not as the SD cards were never designed for that. Better to use the SD card for extended storage and pull the files off to your MBA when you need to use them/access them.

Ah, I saw a video of someone running off USB pretty well, but i reckon USB 3.0 flash drive would most likely have a much higher transfer rate?

53x12 · Dec 21, 2012

Lindsford said:
Ah, I saw a video of someone running off USB pretty well, but i reckon USB 3.0 flash drive would most likely have a much higher transfer rate?

USB 3 is rated at 5 Gigabits per second which comes out to 640 MB/s. But I have heard real world numbers are closer to 250 MB/s. USB 3.0 is definitely faster than a SD card unless there are some newer SD cards that I have not heard about?

SnowLeopard2008 · Dec 21, 2012

53x12 said:
USB 3 is rated at 5 Gigabits per second which comes out to 640 MB/s. But I have heard real world numbers are closer to 250 MB/s. USB 3.0 is definitely faster than a SD card unless there are some newer SD cards that I have not heard about?

Correct, SDHC/SDXC cards have lower bound speed of 10 MB/s (Class 10). A subset of these SDHC/SDXC cards called UHS-I go to 50MB/s, UHS104 to 104 MB/s. Even the newest standard, UHS-II has a theoretical maximum of 312 MB/s which is slightly less than half of USB 3.0 theoretical maximum.

robvas · Dec 21, 2012

Lindsford said:
Maybe a silly question, is it possible to run games from the SD card?

I have some Sandisk Ultra class 10 SD cards and they only run about 15MB/s through the SD slot on my Mac

53x12 · Dec 21, 2012

SnowLeopard2008 said:
Correct, SDHC/SDXC cards have lower bound speed of 10 MB/s (Class 10). A subset of these SDHC/SDXC cards called UHS-I go to 50MB/s, UHS104 to 104 MB/s. Even the newest standard, UHS-II has a theoretical maximum of 312 MB/s which is slightly less than half of USB 3.0 theoretical maximum.

Interesting. Any idea what they run at in real world speeds?

robvas said:
I have some Sandisk Ultra class 10 SD cards and they only run about 15MB/s through the SD slot on my Mac

I think it just depends on the particular class 10 card as the speeds vary widely.

Lindsford · Dec 21, 2012

53x12 said:
USB 3 is rated at 5 Gigabits per second which comes out to 640 MB/s. But I have heard real world numbers are closer to 250 MB/s. USB 3.0 is definitely faster than a SD card unless there are some newer SD cards that I have not heard about?

Thanks for the info, figured as much.

SnowLeopard2008 · Dec 22, 2012

robvas said:
I have some Sandisk Ultra class 10 SD cards and they only run about 15MB/s through the SD slot on my Mac

53x12 said:
I think it just depends on the particular class 10 card as the speeds vary widely.

Class 10 means it is 10 MB/s minimum.

coldjeanzzz · Dec 22, 2012

So if speed is the bigger concern here rather than convenience it would be better to go with a usb 3.0 drive rather than an SD card?

Only problem is usb 3.0 drives seem to be quite expensive

53x12 · Dec 22, 2012

SnowLeopard2008 said:
Class 10 means it is 10 MB/s minimum.

Sure. I was just stating that within class 10 the speeds vary greatly. From what I have seen, the more reputable companies like SanDisk, PNY...etc. tend to have faster speeds than some cheaper not as well known offerings.

SnowLeopard2008 · Dec 22, 2012

53x12 said:
Sure. I was just stating that within class 10 the speeds vary greatly. From what I have seen, the more reputable companies like SanDisk, PNY...etc. tend to have faster speeds than some cheaper not as well known offerings.

Yup.

cpjr · Dec 30, 2012

a plastic adapter is available now...

just got mine, I paid $15, but looks like they are selling for $6.00 now.

www.theminidrive.com

THing is plastic, but gets the job done.

JoelBC · Dec 30, 2012

cpjr said:
just got mine, I paid $15, but looks like they are selling for $6.00 now.

www.theminidrive.com

THing is plastic, but gets the job done.

Thanks...I will order one later tonight / tomorrow...

Joel

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