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SD Card


Karg
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Hello all,

 

I just finished assembling the first version of my Midibox Seq 4 (STM32F4 score), and I wanted to equip it with a fast enough SD card. I got from the forum that 100x speed should be appropriate and 4GB is the largest size that will work but smaller sizes will most likely also not impose any usage limitations.

Since cards are cheap, I went for a Transcend 4GB class 10 card.  Unfortunately it is not recognised by my Midibox and even causes it to constantly hang when the card is inserted.

Do you have any suggestions which alternative card will work well?

Thanks a lot in advance.

, Karg

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13 minutes ago, EsotericLabs said:

why to try formatting the card first?

type sdcard_format in the MIOS Studio command line.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I just tried, and get the following messages: "Formatting failed with error code: 12"

 

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8 hours ago, EsotericLabs said:

sometimes it helps to format your card on a computer (FAT32), then on the midi box. I have good experiences with Kingston though.

Yes, that was the first thing I did. Even took an SD image from a working (although very slow) card and mirrored it on the Transcend, no change.

However, what I figured by now, the new card works well if I boot the Midibox without a card, and then only insert it when it is running already. Any other card I use does not cause similar problems.

However, since all my other cards at home are class 4 only, there is a significant interruption each time the card is accessed :(

That is why I was asking for the experience of people. You say Kingston works well? Can you point me to a specific model?

What is the experience of others?

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Hi. 

I'm not an expert on this,  but I did read up on this the other day. 

SD cards are optimized for image and video,  and the newer and faster cards cause problems for other types of usage.  Try to get a class 4 card. 

My 2 Cents anyway :) 

Sorry,  didn't see first that you already have class 4 cards

Edited by eptheca
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  • 4 weeks later...
Do we have a "list of compatible/tested cards"? 

 

Have tried a lot of cards and not had real issues, some were slow, but all worked... it would probably be better to create a blacklist of known-problematic ones instead of a whitelist listing all :-) But even the blacklist should probably also be validated by other users, as very often there might be some build problems, e.g. unstable power supply, bad soldering, etc...

Many greets,

Peter

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WORKED for STM32F4 and LPC Cores @ Reichelt.de:

INTENSO SDHC 4GB

 

NOT WORKED!!!!  I bougt @ conrad 4x that (dont do that!!!!)

Transcend "microSD ADAPTER": I have no MicroSDto Card that work with that adapter, it is difficult to get it working on LINUX, because of the BAD contact  from MicroSD to SD internal, LINUX get many connects and less USER-Made disconnects ... thats a problem under linux because - if you dont Remove the SD-Software side, it can happen that no new SD card will shown up... restart and so on...that is a sign that the Contacts have not enough pressure to ensure a good contact.

When you moove a microSD Card in, it feels like "that should fall out from earth-gravity"

and on a STM32F4 it can be seen by my application, but when i start to write or load from that sources it hung up.

DONT USE  THAT TRANSCEND ADAPTERS: PREMIUM CLASS WTF?

Edited by Phatline
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TK. and I agreed that I'll send him my problematic card for analysis.

However, in the process, I moved flats and all my DIY stuff had to rest for a moment. I am getting back on track now, but have not found the SD card yet (of course I packed it in a "special" place so that I can directly bring it to the post office). Sorry for the delay from my side...

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On 4/15/2016 at 10:45 AM, Hawkeye said:

Do we have a "list of compatible/tested cards"? 

 

Have tried a lot of cards and not had real issues, some were slow, but all worked... it would probably be better to create a blacklist of known-problematic ones instead of a whitelist listing all :-) But even the blacklist should probably also be validated by other users, as very often there might be some build problems, e.g. unstable power supply, bad soldering, etc...

Many greets,

Peter

Thanks Peter,

 

 Can I ask you to recommend a fast one?

I'm currently using a Kingston x4 (4GB) but it is pretty slow, it takes around 2 minutes to create a new session.

Is this normal?

Thanks a lot!

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1 hour ago, jzurd0 said:

 Can I ask you to recommend a fast one?

I'm currently using a Kingston x4 (4GB) but it is pretty slow, it takes around 2 minutes to create a new session.

Is this normal?

 

Hi there,

experienced a lot of slowness with older cards, it is normal/no problem from the hardware viewpoint, They are slow, when creating "randomly" written blocks, so the speed information on the card itself (e.g. 15MB/s or 30MB/s) is never reached, that is read speed in the best case.

I can recommend Sandisk Ultra in low capacities (SD, or SDHC) somewhere from 2-8GB, these are also cheap (5-8 $/EUR), just make sure you get an original, not a clone :-).
I have been using a Sandisk Ultra 2GB (then a SD, not SDHC "class 4", which says nothing much, as that random write speed counts) in the main sequencer since many years - it is very reliable, easily large enough for lots of SEQ sessions and is a lot faster than others. So, I'd recommend to get an Ultra up to 16GB,  please report back, if you experience a speed increase (which I think you should). Also, just as Phatline said, a reliable recommendation is this (cheapest) SD-card from Reichelt:
http://www.reichelt.de/INTENSO-SDHC4G/3/index.html?&ACTION=3&LA=446&ARTICLE=83725&artnr=INTENSO+SDHC4G&SEARCH=sd+4gb

It is sufficiently fast (SEQv4 create session not near 2 minutes, at max 20-30 seconds on a STM32F4) and I am using it in all other MIDIboxes (1x SEQ, 1x SEQ lite,1 x MBNG, 1x "Loopa") with no problems at all. I have not tested (or would recommended) SDXC (32GB+) cards, as the offered capacity is almost never needed.

Many greets and enjoy!

Peter

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Hi Peter,

Tested a Sandisk Ultra 8Gb (Class 10) and it took 29 seconds to create a new session!

That was measured starting to count at the very moment you press the 'create' button until it finishes the files creation process.

Fast enough for me.

Thanks !

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