An SD card slot is for life, not just for Christmas

[MrGimper]

Remember people, you have an SD card slot that could become useful if you fill it with one of the flush-mounting SD cards available such as the PNY StorEDGE or Transcend JetDrive Lite.

Just posting this as a reminder due to the fact I've participated in a number of threads where people were concerned with having to purchase base models with lower capacity storage than they would possibly like.

It's a cheap way to boost storage, and from the threads I've seen, many new purchasers are oblivious to this as a viable option.

 

[L T]

I know it will be a touch slower than the internal SSD

But does it work just as well?

 

[MrGimper]

Its quite a bit slower. You just have to be sensible and not put speed reliant stuff on there. For example you can use it as your downloads folder, movie folder etc quite happily.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I know it will be a touch slower than the internal SSD

But does it work just as well?

They are just a bit better than a HDD, when at max speed (depending on brand). No where close to SSD.

 

[~~Hello~~]

Just started using my sd card slot. It's a bit of a pain because sometimes the macbook doesn't register that the sd card is in. It's really bad with the sd card lock. If it's set to unlocked it still says it's locked. Tried a few cards. The sweet point seems to be if you set it just off centre and then finally it says it's unlocked.

 

[BenTrovato]

I use them all the time. Nice little add on for anything. Love having the slot in my car too

 

[cherishzm]

I have a 2012 15" rMBP with 256GB flash storage. This is my only computer for work and personal use so 256GB fills up pretty quickly. I did buy a 128GB PNY StorEDGE SD card for $80 in March of last year and had no problems with it so far. It fits almost flush with my rMBP and it's great to use for my data storage needs. I always leave it in my SD card slot and I'm pretty happy with its performance so far.

Highly recommended! For those folks with 128GB flash storage, this will double your storage!

 

[dyt1983]

Remember people, you have an SD card slot that could become useful if you fill it with one of the flush-mounting SD cards available such as the PNY StorEDGE or Transcend JetDrive Lite.

Just posting this as a reminder due to the fact I've participated in a number of threads where people were concerned with having to purchase base models with lower capacity storage than they would possibly like.

It's a cheap way to boost storage, and from the threads I've seen, many new purchasers are oblivious to this as a viable option.

Remember that your rMBP will not go into hibernate mode if you leave the SD card inserted. Depending why you're using SD cards for storage and your usage patterns, this somewhat defeats the purpose of the flush-mounting SD cards, because they aren't as easy to remove and may be left in... using up battery power.

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202124

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1621757/

 

[avedis]

Remember that your rMBP will not go into hibernate mode if you leave the SD card inserted. Depending why you're using SD cards for storage and your usage patterns, this somewhat defeats the purpose of the flush-mounting SD cards, because they aren't as easy to remove and may be left in... using up battery power.

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202124

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1621757/

If you are buying JetDrive Lite, just make sure to download JetDrive toolbox which saves power by automatically eject your JetDrive Lite before the Mac enters Standby mode and remount it when the Mac wakes up. Only works for 10.7 or later though

http://www.transcend-info.com/Support/Software-181/

 

[Hieveryone]

That 64gb Samsung is legit!

 

[dyt1983]

If you are buying JetDrive Lite, just make sure to download JetDrive toolbox which saves power by automatically eject your JetDrive Lite before the Mac enters Standby mode and remount it when the Mac wakes up. Only works for 10.7 or later though

http://www.transcend-info.com/Support/Software-181/

The empirical evidence presented on MR (in the link I supplied and in other threads) suggests that leaving the SD in the slot, although unmounted/ejected, still prevents hibernation. Apple's document states "mounted" drives prevent hibernation. This statement may have lead Transcend to develop the automounter, but it turned out that others at MR have seen battery drain.

 

[Meister]

The empirical evidence presented on MR (in the link I supplied and in other threads) suggests that leaving the SD in the slot, although unmounted/ejected, still prevents hibernation. Apple's document states "mounted" drives prevent hibernation. This statement may have lead Transcend to develop the automounter, but it turned out that others at MR have seen battery drain.

I agree. I think leaving an SD in there as a permanent storage solution is not ideal.

 

[alex0002]

Previous thread...
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1613575/

I think I prefer the idea of a adapter for microSD that allows me to upgrade the storage as new microSD size/formats become available. Something like these:

http://hdcaddy.com/product.php?id_product=14
http://www.baseqi.com/

Plus these option offer the possibility of transferring the data on the microSD to many other devices, rather than only to another Mac with the same SD card depth.

Of course the real problem here is that MBA and rMBP SSD prices are just so ridiculous, that people are coming up with stupid solutions to problems that should never exist. With most other notebooks, people would just upgrade the internal 2.5 inch, mSATA or M.2 SSD to a larger one.

Having said that, the 128GB Transcend JetDrive Lite appears to be quite good value for storing data that doesn't need super fast read/write speeds.

 

[MrGimper]

The empirical evidence presented on MR (in the link I supplied and in other threads) suggests that leaving the SD in the slot, although unmounted/ejected, still prevents hibernation. Apple's document states "mounted" drives prevent hibernation. This statement may have lead Transcend to develop the automounter, but it turned out that others at MR have seen battery drain.

I have my standbydelay set to 1 hour, and i have my jetdrive lite plugged in with the transcend toolbox installed.

I went to bed 8 hours ago with 42% battery remaining, I have just opened up my rMBP and I still have 42% battery remaining.

 

[cjmillsnun]

I'd rather get the storage and use the SD card slot as it was intended (transferring photos/videos from my camera). Even so, I find that 512 GB is usually enough. I use a pair of RAID 1 NAS setups. One for storage, and one to mirror the first one.

NB I didn't spec my rMBP it was a replacement for a 2012 under AppleCare. The 2012 came with 512GB storage, I never filled it.

 

[MrGimper]

I'd rather get the storage and use the SD card slot as it was intended (transferring photos/videos from my camera). Even so, I find that 512 GB is usually enough. I use a pair of RAID 1 NAS setups. One for storage, and one to mirror the first one.

NB I didn't spec my rMBP it was a replacement for a 2012 under AppleCare. The 2012 came with 512GB storage, I never filled it.

As would most people who could afford such a setup. As indicated in my OP this was to show it as an option for people who perhaps had to compromise on SSD

 

[maflynn]

I use my SD card slot all the time, its how I move my pictures from my camera to my computer.

As for a permanent disk solution, I saw in some thread (not sure if it was here), that running some apps, can cause it to heat up, do the high volume of read/writes Not sure if anyone has saw this issue.

 

[dyt1983]

edit: To remove personally identifying info not relevant to the conversation.

 

[cambookpro]

Silly question, but how do you get these flush SD card holders out of the SD card slot on the MBP?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Silly question, but how do you get these flush SD card holders out of the SD card slot on the MBP?

Some come with a fancy looking paperclip type tool, for manual extraction.

 

[Archer1440]

I suppose if you don't have a fingernail, you could snag it with a short length of dental floss. Otherwise a normal fingernail suffices.

I've used 128 GB flush mount cards in 2 MBA'S (PNY) and my rMBP (Transcend) and have never had any battery issues over the past year.

 

[TRC-WA]

I agree. I think leaving an SD in there as a permanent storage solution is not ideal.

Agreed...

I don't much care about the SSD size... my Air had 128GB that I used over a year and I doubled it with my Pro.

I still store all my data on my 2TB ATC... when that is full I'll buy an external HD and add it to my network.

I actually looked at the SD slot the other day when I bought my Pro and was like "I don't think I'll be needing this." LOL Maybe someday if I ever buy a camera...

 

[BoneDaddy]

I love mine. I have a 1TB PCIE drive and still use it. I like to have things that I would usually keep on my desktop, on the SD. I also use it for downloading.

The main reason why I looked into getting one, was on my 2010 Macbook Pro, dust would get into the port and I'd have to clean it before it would read well.

The one I have for my Retina is the Adam mDrive. It's the best I know of at the best price. I use a 64gb micro in that one. When I want to transfer it over to my 2010, I use a Nifty Minidrive alternative. It has a peace of tough tape like material to pull it out. Long enough to tuck away between my Mac and the bottom case. The other one is easily removed with even the shortest nail.

I have no battery or sleep issues. Being a musician, it's a great way to store my bounced files that I use to decide what to change in my music, family photos and videos that I like to have at all times, ebooks, all kinds of stuff. I don't like having it all on my main drive. Music libraries have me at over 600GB of space.

 

[0x100]

Problem with SD cards is that they aren't very reliable, at all.

 

[BoneDaddy]

Problem with SD cards is that they aren't very reliable, at all.

I've never had an SD card problem. I'd say they are very reliable. It depends on how often they are being handled, and what brands. I have almost all SD cards I have ever owned and they all work. I have one that I taped cause it split in half. Still works. Pro Duos I had for the first PSP also still work. Off the top of my head, that's about 25 different cards. The only one that ever broke, was a no name.

You've probably had different experiences with different factors involved, but there's no doubt that SD cards are very reliable without having to baby them.