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    Any short SD card options available

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by RobotDoctor, Aug 25, 2015.

  1. RobotDoctor

    RobotDoctor Notebook Consultant

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    I am looking for options for a short SD card for my Dell XPS 13 Infinity. I know there are some options for a micro SD card reader but I would prefer an option like the Transcend Jet Drive or PNY StorEdge. I am also looking at 256Gb (or greater when that becomes available). It seems like these devices are meant for Macbook computers and the length is not quite enough. I did try a friend's Transcend Jet Drive for his Macbook Air 15 but the length wasn't long enough. Yes, I tried the one that was longer. Thanks in advance.
     
    RobotDoctor, Aug 25, 2015
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  2. kent1146

    kent1146 Notebook Prophet

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    If you already tried the short SD cards intended for Macbooks, then you're probably out of luck. Since it sounds like embedded SD card readers are so variable in depth, it's already a niche market to try and design one intended for a Macbook. It is highly unlikely that anybody is going to design an even-more-niche SD card length intended for a Dell XPS 13. Especially when it is entirely feasible to just buy a new M.2 SSD with the capacity you need.

    But if you're dead-set on SD card, your best bet would be microSD card adapter.
     
    kent1146, Aug 25, 2015
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  3. mva5580

    mva5580 Notebook Geek

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    mva5580, Aug 26, 2015
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  4. JimmyCfl

    JimmyCfl Notebook Guru

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    Last edited: Aug 26, 2015
    JimmyCfl, Aug 26, 2015
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  5. RobotDoctor

    RobotDoctor Notebook Consultant

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    What is the long term reliability of micro SD cards? I have no issue using them but the SD device must be reliable. I will not be removing this card as this is an alternative storage source for files I don't really want to load on the system SSD. Thanks in advance.
     
    RobotDoctor, Aug 28, 2015
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  6. kent1146

    kent1146 Notebook Prophet

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    Not fantastic. Flash memory is not intended to be used for highly frequent and always-on access. It's not uncommon at all for flash memory to fail after a period of time (months or a few years), for both SD cards and USB flash drives. SD cards also have pretty weak transfer rates. Their read / write rates are significantly lower than a USB 3.0 flash drive (and even a USB 2.0 flash drive in some cases) for sequential read/write, and they have abysmal random read/write rates.

    I understand why you'd want to have an extra 128GB or 256GB of storage on your XPS 13... makes total sense. But given the limitations of the format, I'd recommend that you avoid running any kind of application off of the SD card. Use the SD card only for bulk media storage (music, movies, photos, pr0n, etc) that you don't care about if the data gets lost.
     
    kent1146, Aug 28, 2015
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  7. RobotDoctor

    RobotDoctor Notebook Consultant

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    I definitely agree. I intend to store reference documentation that I have stored on external hard drives. I have around 70Gb of technical product manuals, circuit diagrams, technical reference manuals, etc that I use for my work. While I can store it on my ssd, I would rather store that on a SD card. I regularly back up to several external hard drives so my information remains current. Thanks for the reply!
     
    RobotDoctor, Aug 28, 2015
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  8. hmscott

    hmscott Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Most media today has a short life expectancy, there really is no substitute for constantly curating and migration of data to multiple fresh media solutions.

    Keeping Data For A Long Time
    http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomcoughlin/2014/06/29/keeping-data-for-a-long-time/

    "The JEDEC JESD218A endurance specification states that if flash power off temperature is at 25 degrees C then retention is 101 weeks—that isn’t quite 2 years. So it appears conventional flash memory may not have good media archive life and should only be used for storing transitory data."

    There are many new technologies that promise 100-1000 year data retention, but who is going to collect on the warranty / guarantee if it should come up short? ;)

    M-DISC offers up to 1,000 years of data storage on a DVD compatible disc
    http://www.gizmag.com/m-disc-permanent-optical-disc-storage/19534/

    That article was from 4 years ago... now the China Lake Study, the underpinnings of their claims, is missing from their web site:

    http://www.mdisc.com/uploads/ M- DISC_1sheet_ChinaLake_vF. pdf

    But the article relying on the study is still online and still references the missing document.

    Digital Preservation Means You Must Become Your Own Curator
    http://www.mdisc.com/digital-preservation-means-you-must-become-your-own-curator/

    If the data is important, review it constantly for degradation, and duplicate it forward in an an intelligent matrix of differing media redundancy :)
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2015
    hmscott, Aug 28, 2015
    #8