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SD Card - Other than photography, cool uses?
- Thread starter Chevron
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I saw a post awhile ago where they recommended this
www.transcend-info.com
its quite slow though at 95mb/s but good for keeping larger files that you don't access often I suppose or can be used for Time Machine.
I always found the SD card slots on Mac temperamental and sometimes not always reading them so I wonder if this would have the same issues and if not if its permanently plugged in, could it wear itself out over time?
JetDrive Lite 130 | Expansion Cards for Mac - Transcend Information, Inc.
Transcend's JetDrive Lite 130 expansion card is water-resistant, a great storage expansion solution to add up to 256GB capacity to your MacBook Air.
its quite slow though at 95mb/s but good for keeping larger files that you don't access often I suppose or can be used for Time Machine.
I always found the SD card slots on Mac temperamental and sometimes not always reading them so I wonder if this would have the same issues and if not if its permanently plugged in, could it wear itself out over time?
Hi Chevron,
Since your post says that you don't transfer data from any other devices, then I don't know of another use, but I will explain a secure data transfer usage -- so, if you aren't interested, don't read further.
There are 1.5TB microSD cards available today. This is a significant storage amount, and thus often useful for transferring data, say for offsite backup purposes.
For instance, I have a shell script that gtars a directory tree, compresses the tar file, public key encrypts (4096 bit keys) the compressed tar, then splits the encrypted tar into smaller "sub-files", and checksums all of the resulting backup files. Another shell script rsyncs (does NOT use Apple's cp, tar, the Finder, Copy-n-Paste, AirDrop, Universal Control, Drag-n-Drop, etc. since Apple's GUI tools do not copy/move all files -- yes, that is correct, the Apple tools miss some files) these split, encrypted, compressed, tared backup files to a microSD card and verifies that they were copied correctly by verifying their checksums.
Being a microSD card, it can readily be taped inside a card and snail mailed across the country. At the receiver end, another shell script verifies the checksums, rsyncs the split, encrypted, compressed, tared files to another volume, then verifies the checksums on the new volume before merging the splits back into the original backup, decrypts the backup, decompresses and unpacks the tar file into a copy of the original directory tree.
This scheme has the advantage of sending a differential backup of sensitive data securely to an offsite location, albeit through the slow postal mail, but without any worries of the data being stolen since it is strongly encrypted with 4096 bit keys.
Solouki
P.S. By the way, I find the internal SD Card Reader on the Apple Silicon MBPs to transfer files to microSDXC (V30) cards at roughly half the speed as an external SanDisk PRO-Reader transferring files to the same microSDXC card.
Since your post says that you don't transfer data from any other devices, then I don't know of another use, but I will explain a secure data transfer usage -- so, if you aren't interested, don't read further.
There are 1.5TB microSD cards available today. This is a significant storage amount, and thus often useful for transferring data, say for offsite backup purposes.
For instance, I have a shell script that gtars a directory tree, compresses the tar file, public key encrypts (4096 bit keys) the compressed tar, then splits the encrypted tar into smaller "sub-files", and checksums all of the resulting backup files. Another shell script rsyncs (does NOT use Apple's cp, tar, the Finder, Copy-n-Paste, AirDrop, Universal Control, Drag-n-Drop, etc. since Apple's GUI tools do not copy/move all files -- yes, that is correct, the Apple tools miss some files) these split, encrypted, compressed, tared backup files to a microSD card and verifies that they were copied correctly by verifying their checksums.
Being a microSD card, it can readily be taped inside a card and snail mailed across the country. At the receiver end, another shell script verifies the checksums, rsyncs the split, encrypted, compressed, tared files to another volume, then verifies the checksums on the new volume before merging the splits back into the original backup, decrypts the backup, decompresses and unpacks the tar file into a copy of the original directory tree.
This scheme has the advantage of sending a differential backup of sensitive data securely to an offsite location, albeit through the slow postal mail, but without any worries of the data being stolen since it is strongly encrypted with 4096 bit keys.
Solouki
P.S. By the way, I find the internal SD Card Reader on the Apple Silicon MBPs to transfer files to microSDXC (V30) cards at roughly half the speed as an external SanDisk PRO-Reader transferring files to the same microSDXC card.
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I saw a post awhile ago where they recommended this
JetDrive Lite 130 | Expansion Cards for Mac - Transcend Information, Inc.
Transcend's JetDrive Lite 130 expansion card is water-resistant, a great storage expansion solution to add up to 256GB capacity to your MacBook Air.
its quite slow though at 95mb/s but good for keeping larger files that you don't access often I suppose or can be used for Time Machine.
I always found the SD card slots on Mac temperamental and sometimes not always reading them so I wonder if this would have the same issues and if not if its permanently plugged in, could it wear itself out over time?
Thank you, and good information to know.
Thank you kindly, that is also good information to know.
Or you could just place the files in Dropbox, Onedrive, or any of several other online storage locations and have the files transferred quickly.
Hi raythompsontn,
Yes, you are right...thanks.
But I don't have many TBs of space in Dropbox, Onedrive, Box, iCloud, etc. Also, if I wanted the data to actually be secure, then I'd still have to securely encrypt the directories with 4096 bit keys before uploading to the Cloud services and then decrypt them on the other end after downloading from the Cloud (several Cloud storage systems have been hacked in the past). And even if I paid for enough Cloud storage, how long does it take to upload/download TBs of data? My Internet access is not all that fast and the Cloud storage that I do use is not all that fast (it would take days to upload/download TBs of encrypted data to the Cloud).
So, in a nutshell, to be certain of not losing sensitive data, I do in fact use the scheme that I discussed in my earlier posting, sending via postal mail the microSDXC cards to three separate locations.
Solouki
Probably less time than sending through the mail.
Since your data is encrypted, uploading to a cloud service the data would still be secure. I have less faith in the postal service than in the cloud services.
Then more power to you. Find what works, what you like, what you trust, and be happy. If your system works for you, excellent.
Hi raythompsontn,
Certainly true that postal mail takes a longer time, but then the time is not relevant for my purpose, the offsite secure redundant storage is my goal.
And yes, since I do strong encryption (4096 bit keys) of these data files, they are safe whether they are in the Cloud or sent by postal mail. They can be stolen from either mode of transfer, but they cannot be decrypted with today's technology, not even by governments. (I also attempt to protect from prying eyes on my machines so no secret keys are lost.)
I was just pointing out another possible use of the SD Card Reader to the OP, nothing more.
Solouki
I’d probably use it to store a music library. Probably also want it backed up somewhere else since SD cards are volatile memory. But one of the large-capacity ones (512-1000GB) would be perfect for a big music library that would otherwise take up too much space on the internal drive. Since it will generally be read only as far as playing back the music files, speeds shouldn’t be too bad.
Hi Makisupa Policeman,
This is a perfect use for an SDXC card -- the latest SDXC cards, say the SanDisk Extreme and Extreme PRO cards, are plenty fast for playing both music as well as HD videos from them, in my experience.
When I send my "encrypted backups" on microSDXC cards to other locations, a shell script then copies the "encrypted backups" to more permanent volumes (and decrypts and unpacks the archive if desired). In other words, I don't rely on the SDXC cards for backup storage, only for transferring backups.
Solouki
I use a MicroSD in a mini adaptor on my MBP as a backup - CCC writes files to it on a regular basis to ensure I have a backup. I suppose I could also use it for QRecall archiving but I have a 2TB Samsung Touch for that.
I also use one to transfer files to my 3d printer.
They fit very well in ones wallet.
I put playlists on sd cards and play them in my vehicles. The stereos have an SD slot. 99% of the time Im playing off those SDs - hi fidelity, no stupid chit chat, no brain numbing commercials, no crappy music - just the tunes I like, curated by me.
Highly recommended.
I put playlists on sd cards and play them in my vehicles. The stereos have an SD slot. 99% of the time Im playing off those SDs - hi fidelity, no stupid chit chat, no brain numbing commercials, no crappy music - just the tunes I like, curated by me.
Highly recommended.