Very right there
Was shooting next to some very loaded rich bugger once (he even brought a camping stool to sit on while I had to kneel on gravel
) bursting away on his D3x like anyone's business while my camera was choking trying to keep my 6fps up 
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the SD card slot...
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Very right there
Was shooting next to some very loaded rich bugger once (he even brought a camping stool to sit on while I had to kneel on gravel
) bursting away on his D3x like anyone's business while my camera was choking trying to keep my 6fps up I would think the speed of the SD slot would be much greater than what any SD card can handle right now. Given the SDs I work with start at around 45MB/s, which is already quicker than the 22-30 I get out of my Late-06 whitebook's hdd.
It's all about convenience even if just a little. In fact, the built-in card reader reads/writes faster than normal card reader out in the market. I would hate to have a cable hanging around when i can just put it in the SD card slot.
Thread Hijack
Sorry.
Am I missing something?
Why can't I share my iMac's SD slot with my MBA to import pics to that?
Sorry.
Am I missing something?
Why can't I share my iMac's SD slot with my MBA to import pics to that?
A bit of a thread revival here, but I have a few SD card slot questions for those who have been putting them to good use for a few years now:
1. It seems that the most logical and practical application is for transferring images from DSLRs - is this still the case?
2. I believe that the SD card slot is connected by PCIe, and SDXC cards (Class 10, UHS-3) reach speeds of 95MB/s - what sort of real life transfer speeds could one expect at this rate?
3. Although they are crazy expensive, I have found 512GB cards - does anyone use cards this large or simply multiple 64GB cards, for example, which seem to be relatively good value?
4. Is it feasible to run/boot Windows (whatever version) from an SDXC card?
5. Can I compare the 95MB/s speed to, say, a typical 5400rpm HDD which may transfer at ~100MB/s or am I comparing apples and oranges?
Ultimately I'd just like to make more use out of an unused slot, but also wondering if it would make any sense to use spend $ on an SDXC solution, or say just spend the ~$200 on a 2TB internal HDD for my optibay?
And for what its worth, I think it would be great if an SD card 3G unit existed to turn our laptops into 3G etc. capable devices without the need for USB dongles, iPhone hotspots, or the like.
Thanks in advance!
1. It seems that the most logical and practical application is for transferring images from DSLRs - is this still the case?
2. I believe that the SD card slot is connected by PCIe, and SDXC cards (Class 10, UHS-3) reach speeds of 95MB/s - what sort of real life transfer speeds could one expect at this rate?
3. Although they are crazy expensive, I have found 512GB cards - does anyone use cards this large or simply multiple 64GB cards, for example, which seem to be relatively good value?
4. Is it feasible to run/boot Windows (whatever version) from an SDXC card?
5. Can I compare the 95MB/s speed to, say, a typical 5400rpm HDD which may transfer at ~100MB/s or am I comparing apples and oranges?
Ultimately I'd just like to make more use out of an unused slot, but also wondering if it would make any sense to use spend $ on an SDXC solution, or say just spend the ~$200 on a 2TB internal HDD for my optibay?
And for what its worth, I think it would be great if an SD card 3G unit existed to turn our laptops into 3G etc. capable devices without the need for USB dongles, iPhone hotspots, or the like.
Thanks in advance!
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Also for expanding internal storage with cards that sit flush, either just for most storage space or for backups.
I don't own a Mac that is new enough to have a PCIe connected card slot, however some people have reported speeds of around 80MB/s read with a UHS-3 Class 10. This only applies to modern Macs though as on older ones it is connected via USB.
If you are using it for something like storing a large iTunes library or for backing up then a 512GB card may be worth it, or if you simply don't want to have to swap cards regularly.
Maybe, but from the internal PCIe connected SD card reader, maybe not due to either Windows not being able to boot from the PCIe connected storage or the UEFI not supporting it anyway.
You can compare them, however note that those speeds are for sequential transfers. So for example just reading/writing writing a single file.
A more important test is the random access which has a larger impact if you are running an OS off the drive, that said an average SD card I think will perform similarly to a hard drive in this respect as they aren't really designed for this.
If you have the option of an optibay then running an SSD and a HDD is a better solution, with your OS(s) on the SSD and media and other things on the HDD. Alternatively you can create a DIY Fusion Drive.
Though regardless if you don't need the optical drive, then this would be the best way to go, both price wise, ease of setting it up and getting it all working (if you want to install Windows on it) and likely performance wise as well.
My mid-2009 MBP has a Nifty SDXC flush-fitting adaptor in it, with a 128GB micro SD card. It acts as my bootable Time Machine backup drive for everything apart from movies and music, as these are effectively backed-up elsewhere.
My real-world performance is a little over 19MB/s; whilst this is well below the headline grabbing figures it is easily fast enough for my purpose. I do occasionally backup to a USB HDD which I leave at home, but it is great to have a Time Machine backup wherever I go, with zero loss of portability.
When I look at others lugging a USB backup drive and a separate DVD drive with them (sheep dip) my old laptop looks like a miracle of design and portability!
My real-world performance is a little over 19MB/s; whilst this is well below the headline grabbing figures it is easily fast enough for my purpose. I do occasionally backup to a USB HDD which I leave at home, but it is great to have a Time Machine backup wherever I go, with zero loss of portability.
When I look at others lugging a USB backup drive and a separate DVD drive with them (sheep dip) my old laptop looks like a miracle of design and portability!
I just recently bought a new MacBook Pro which has replaced my Mac Mini as my primary computer. The Mini had a 750GB standard HD where as the MacBook Pro has a smaller 512GB SSD. Whilst I don't necessarily need the extra storage as there is still currently 200GB free on my MacBook Pro I like having the extra storage on the SD card and as the slot is there I thought I might as well use it. I have a Nifty Drive adapter that allows me to keep my microSD card flush in the slot without it sticking out so it's basically permanently in there although I can remove it if need be. At the moment I have a 32GB card in there which I had lying around spare but I may move up to a 128GB at some point.
Thanks for all the responses as it is good to hear how others use it....and special thanks to Dark Dragoon for the very detailed answers.
I already have my original 750GB HDD in my optibay which is used simply to store my Audio Library which currently sits at around 720GB, so I don't think it would be worth my while trying to use the SD card slot for that as audio does seem to run fine from the HDD.
I have a 2011 Macbook pro (fingers crossed the logic board doesn't die lol), so I gather this means I am connected by PCIe and not USB?
I am not interested in Time Machine as I don't have any crucial data which needs to be regularly backed up, but I am interested in the possibility of running Windows from the SD card as I'd like to keep it completely separate from my other drives. Not a critical issue, but if I could run it smoothly then I would be interested in giving it a try using one of those flush nifty drives.
As I did mention, the idea of a wireless 3G/4G card in the SD slot would be gold for me, although it isn't the end of the world to just use a wireless dongle.
It really seems the pre-retina machines which allow the ease of a second HD trump the practicality of the SD slot in many ways, but as the SD cards get cheaper I guess things may change.
Thanks again for the input!
I already have my original 750GB HDD in my optibay which is used simply to store my Audio Library which currently sits at around 720GB, so I don't think it would be worth my while trying to use the SD card slot for that as audio does seem to run fine from the HDD.
I have a 2011 Macbook pro (fingers crossed the logic board doesn't die lol), so I gather this means I am connected by PCIe and not USB?
I am not interested in Time Machine as I don't have any crucial data which needs to be regularly backed up, but I am interested in the possibility of running Windows from the SD card as I'd like to keep it completely separate from my other drives. Not a critical issue, but if I could run it smoothly then I would be interested in giving it a try using one of those flush nifty drives.
As I did mention, the idea of a wireless 3G/4G card in the SD slot would be gold for me, although it isn't the end of the world to just use a wireless dongle.
It really seems the pre-retina machines which allow the ease of a second HD trump the practicality of the SD slot in many ways, but as the SD cards get cheaper I guess things may change.
Thanks again for the input!
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
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?
CF cards are much more delicate than SD due to the tiny pins that can be bent when inserting. You can also find waterproof SD cards. Of course, these things don't help with losing them.
Looking at MacTracker, it shows SDXC support wasn't available until mid 2013. I have a mid 2012 MacBook Pro and it doesn't seem to work well with a 512GB SDXC. For example, I try to play MP4 files store on the SD card in Quicktime, and it doesn't recognize it as a compatible file. It had no problem reading the same files from USB memory stick. Anyone have any success with Large capacity SD cards on pre 2013 Macbooks?