newb ?: sdxc card instead of 2nd drive?

[foofan]

i noticed a lot of people install a 2nd HD in the mini. they also deal with having to install it without screwing up and/or trying to decide if it should be a an HD,fusion or ssd.

Whats wrong with just using the sdxc card slot? I believe i read these cards go up to 2 tb. it seems to me to be much easier to just use these cards since they come in different sizes and no need to open the mini.

[paulrbeers]

Originally Posted by foofan

i noticed a lot of people install a 2nd HD in the mini. they also deal with having to install it without screwing up and/or trying to decide if it should be a an HD,fusion or ssd.

Whats wrong with just using the sdxc card slot? I believe i read these cards go up to 2 tb. it seems to me to be much easier to just use these cards since they come in different sizes and no need to open the mini.

Speed. These cards are slow compared to a mechanical drive and no where near an SSD. Fine for some basic data storage but I wouldn't use it long term.

[philipma1957]

Originally Posted by paulrbeers

Speed. These cards are slow compared to a mechanical drive and no where near an SSD. Fine for some basic data storage but I wouldn't use it long term.

you can get a fast one but the price is too high

the one below reads and writes about 140MB/s but it is 300 dollars and is small 64gb

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...mory_Card.html

if you want that route of doing external the lacie rugged t-bolt is 256gbssd 4x the size and 3x the speed for 349



http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...underbolt.html


comes with cables

[paulrbeers]

Originally Posted by philipma1957

you can get a fast one but the price is too high

the one below reads and writes about 140MB/s but it is 300 dollars and is small 64gb

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...mory_Card.html

if you want that route of doing external the lacie rugged t-bolt is 256gbssd 4x the size and 3x the speed for 349



http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...underbolt.html


comes with cables

However, generally the SD card slot is "attached" to the computer via USB. I haven't looked at the 2012, but traditionally they are hooked to a USB 2.0 port which means they top out at about 32Mb/s regardless of the card speed. Not at home to check kind to see what the new ones are hooked to...

Edit: At least for the Macbook Pro, the SD Card is attached via the PCIE bus so then it would be a matter of how fast the card is. Although as pointed out fast SD cards are rediculously expensive.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1385807

[hasenpfeffer]

Originally Posted by paulrbeers

However, generally the SD card slot is "attached" to the computer via USB. I haven't looked at the 2012, but traditionally they are hooked to a USB 2.0 port which means they top out at about 32Mb/s regardless of the card speed. Not at home to check kind to see what the new ones are hooked to...

Edit: At least for the Macbook Pro, the SD Card is attached via the PCIE bus so then it would be a matter of how fast the card is. Although as pointed out fast SD cards are rediculously expensive.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1385807

Mac mini 2012,

Built in SD Card Reader:

Vendor ID: 0x14e4
Device ID: 0x16bc
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x14e4
Subsystem ID: 0x0000
Revision: 0x0001
Link Width: x1
Link Speed: 2.5 GT/s

I'm thinking this also indicates it's attached to PCIe in the Mac mini 2012.

[jpxdude]

Found this from a quick google search:

2.5 GT/s on PCI-Express = 250MB/s

This is how that's worked out... note 'b' = bits, 'B' = bytes, 8b = 1B.

2.5 GT/s = 2.5 Gb/s = 312.5 MB/s... then you've got 8b/10b overhead so 312.5 * 0.8 = 250 MB/s.

Not too shabby!

[paulrbeers]

Originally Posted by hasenpfeffer

Mac mini 2012,

Built in SD Card Reader:

Vendor ID: 0x14e4
Device ID: 0x16bc
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x14e4
Subsystem ID: 0x0000
Revision: 0x0001
Link Width: x1
Link Speed: 2.5 GT/s

I'm thinking this also indicates it's attached to PCIe in the Mac mini 2012.

Yep looks like it is attached to a single PCIE lane same as the Macbook Pro. Very interesting. I still wouldn't use it for long term/bulk storage as it is just too expensive for what "little" performance you get (comparing to a normal SSD that is).

[Giuly]

Originally Posted by philipma1957

if you want that route of doing external the lacie rugged t-bolt is 256gbssd 4x the size and 3x the speed for 349

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...underbolt.html

It's SATA-II, and not really future-proof. The Akitio Neutrino Thunderbolt Edition on the other hand is (the only bus-powered single 2.5" with) SATA 6Gbit/s and the drive is easily accessible, so it runs a OCZ Vector, the Intel 330 that's included or one of those Asian SSDs full speed.