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the SD card slot...

fisherking

fisherking

macrumors G4
Original poster
Jul 16, 2010
11,262
5,581
ny somewhere
am moving to a new macbook pro next week. the SD card slot is new for me.
at the moment, seems unnecessary to me, but...wondering what people here use it for.

does anyone use it, and for what purpose(s)??

thx!
 
1. Quick, easy removeable storage.

2. Offloading photos and video shot on a digital camera to the MBP hard drive.
 
Digital media, specifically cameras, are the main thing SD cards are used for. I've only used my slot a few times. The actual operation of it is like a USB flash drive. You insert it and eject it when finished.
 
i just plug my camera in to usb, and transfer pictures; have my camera cable permanently plugged into a hub, so...simple.

guess i'm wondering if there are other good uses for it.

a flash drive works for me, carrying files around; lots of people i work with DON'T have an SD card slot.

anyone else?
 
i'm looking forward to having an sd card slot on my next machine - i can just pop the card out of my dslr and upload instead of worrying/carrying a cable everywhere.
 
Like a lot of the people who have already posted, I use the SD slot (well as it's a 17" I have an express card to SD adapter) for importing photos from my camera.

No cables and no need to have the camera switched on wasting battery power and its more convenient when away from home.
 
There isn't too much for me since SD card is a little more to 'consumer' than 'professional'. P2 and CF cards don't fit in there unfortunately, but since the machines I work with are typically work machines and not my leisure machines, I store my recreational stuff on there since I can quickly eject it all in one go whilst still maintaining a fully operational, professional-environment machine.
P.S Sandisk Extremes for the win :)
 
My normal use for the SD card slot is different and many people would think it was a crazy way to do things. :D

For school work I do dual booting with Windows 7, and choose not to install software to make the other partition writable. All my current school work is saved on a 1 GB RS-MMC (card) that is semi-permanently left in the slot. Because the RS-MMC cards have a detachable extender, that can be removed while the card stays in the slot, nothing sticks outside of the computer to get bumped or broken during travels. These cards are discontinued but you can still find some on a few online stores.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MultiMediaCard#Reduced-Size_MultiMediaCard_.28RS-MMC.29

It is also included in my backup-plan just like any other drive with important files.

So there is another (strange) usage for the SD slot. :p
 
I use it to off load videos from my GoPros; otherwise it's pretty useless to me as my DSLR uses CF cards.

I have not used it, but the SD slot is bootable for OS X.
 
ShinyDren said:
My normal use for the SD card slot is different and many people would think it was a crazy way to do things. :D

For school work I do dual booting with Windows 7, and choose not to install software to make the other partition writable. All my current school work is saved on a 1 GB RS-MMC (card) that is semi-permanently left in the slot. Because the RS-MMC cards have a detachable extender, that can be removed while the card stays in the slot, nothing sticks outside of the computer to get bumped or broken during travels. These cards are discontinued but you can still find some on a few online stores.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MultiMediaCard#Reduced-Size_MultiMediaCard_.28RS-MMC.29

It is also included in my backup-plan just like any other drive with important files.

So there is another (strange) usage for the SD slot. :p
Click to expand...

Booting an OS off SD. Meh :eek:
 
i guess when i'm traveling, i COULD leave my camera cable home (not that it takes up much space).

i don't really see why apple put the slot there; would prefer a second FW port or another USB port personally, but...so it goes.

thanx all for replies.
 
Spadoinkles said:
There isn't too much for me since SD card is a little more to 'consumer' than 'professional'. P2 and CF cards don't fit in there unfortunately, but since the machines I work with are typically work machines and not my leisure machines, I store my recreational stuff on there since I can quickly eject it all in one go whilst still maintaining a fully operational, professional-environment machine.
P.S Sandisk Extremes for the win :)
Click to expand...

A CF adapter for SD cards works great, and you can use Class 10 SDHC cards in them. That's what I use in my dSLR.
 
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IllIllIll said:
http://www.amazon.com/SD-CF-II-Type-Adapter-Supports/dp/B000YZGCIU

Not sure what you mean about USB or firewire card reader transfer. I put the SD card in the adapter, and everything goes in the camera. When I want to transfer photos to a MBP I just pull the SD card out of the adapter and put it in the SD card slot.
Click to expand...

I think I've misunderstood. I thought there was an adapter that would allow a Compact Flash Card to be read from the SD card slot on the Macbook Pro.

What I meant about the card reader, is the transfer to the computer faster using the slot vs an external USB or Firewire card reader?
 
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Ant.honey said:
I think I've misunderstood. I thought there was an adapter that would allow a Compact Flash Card to be read from the SD card slot on the Macbook Pro.
Click to expand...
You're talking about a CF-to-SD card adapter. I haven't ever seen something like that. But if you have a SD-to-CF adapter like the one I referenced, you won't really need a CF-to-SD adapter.
 
I use it every now and again for taking pictures off a camera memory card. I'd rather have an HDMI port though, I could get more use out of that.
 
fisherking said:
am moving to a new macbook pro next week. the SD card slot is new for me.
at the moment, seems unnecessary to me, but...wondering what people here use it for.

does anyone use it, and for what purpose(s)??

thx!
Click to expand...

I record audio tracks onto it. It's plenty fast enough for two tracks at 44100 sample rate. It's my micro mini recording drive, I love it.
 
IllIllIll said:
A CF adapter for SD cards works great, and you can use Class 10 SDHC cards in them. That's what I use in my dSLR.
Click to expand...

Haha. I'm bad with small objects like SD cards though. I'll somehow snap them or even crack them in half, if they don't break they're lost :p

I love fat stuff. Anything that's fat keeps me going (except the ladies)

Class 10 cards wouldn't really be quicker than some sweet CFs too will they?
 
Spadoinkles said:
Haha. I'm bad with small objects like SD cards though. I'll somehow snap them or even crack them in half, if they don't break they're lost :p

I love fat stuff. Anything that's fat keeps me going (except the ladies)

Class 10 cards wouldn't really be quicker than some sweet CFs too will they?
Click to expand...

You are correct. Class 10 SDHC cards only support a minimum 10MB/s transfer rate, which is about the equivalent of a 66x CF card. For single shots, they're fine. For high speed burst shooting, especially in RAW, and shooting video you still would want a nice 400x UDMA CF card.
 
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