does the built-in flash reader support SDHC ?

Hi,

Does anyone if the built-in 6-in-1 reader(the typical Ricoh stuff) supports SDHC(i.e. > 2G SD) ?

 

I was told by someone that built-in flash reader does support SDHC, but I hope to be able to check for myself within a few days because I have just ordered a 4GB SDHC card (just to be on the safe side I have also ordered a USB SDHC reader).

John

 

btw... may i know what is SD-HC ? cause i'm not sure if my 2Gb SD card is a SCHC or not... but seems like its read with no problem...

 

secure digital high capacity.

SD has a max limit of 2G per the spec. Then there are some vendor invented > 2G SD card. <= 2G is standard SD that any reader can read.

SDHC is a common agreed new standard for > 2G SD but not all readers know about how to read them.

 

I see okay... then meaning i don't have such card then...
the most i got currently only 2G card... which is not the SDHC...
will wait for your result too John....

 

I'm running a 4gb sdhc card on my x60 plus as a windows ready boost card and it works very well. The machine no-longer runs through treacle once a day when it gets a few things to do at once.

 

OK, I've now got a 4GB "Danelec" SDHC card from 7dayshop. I got this one because it is class 4. Most are a slower class 2.

I have tested three scenarios and the results are:

1. X60plus running XP Pro : No card detected

2. Q35 running XP Pro : No card detected

3. Q35 running Vista Business : Card automatically detected and OK for reading / writing

For XP I tried rebooting with the card in. No difference. I installed the latest drivers I could find (V 1.0.2.4). No difference.

It appears to me that the Ricoh card read used by Samsung is compatible with SDHC if it has the right drivers. Vista has something (either in Vista itself or in Samsung's MC software) which works with SDHC while XP is lacking something.

Can anyone who has success in using SDHC in a recent Samsung notebook report whether they are using XP or Vista. If XP, how did you make it work?

The speed of that SDHC card is good. Using Sandra's removable storage benchmark test, the SDHC is equal or faster than my 2GB Sandisk Extreme III SD card.

John

 

Thanks for the thorough test, yet another reason to run Vista over XP.

What is the measured speed ? My understanding is that class 4 should get at least 4MB/s but not sure if there would be some pleasant surprise to see faster real world throughput.

 

I attach Sandra's test result for the Danelec 4GB SDHC. Sandra carries out tests for different file sizes. To get a data transfer rate you need to multiply number of operations x file size and then divide by 60. You will get an answer above 2MB/s.

PC Pro Issue 154 carried out some tests on memory card transfer speeds based on writing / reading five x 5MB files and one x 50MB file.

The fastest card was Lexar Professional 133x SD with write 8.2MB/s and read 8.9MB/s.

Then Kingston 120x SD with 7.9 / 8.7, followed by

Sandisk Extreme III SD with 7.8 / 8.7
Fujifilm 60x SD with 7.4 / 8.7
Transcend 150x SD with 7.2 / 8.5
PNY standard SD with 7.1 / 7.9
Sandisk Ultra II SD with 6.7 / 8.8
Fijifilm 133x SD with 5.7 / 8.9
Fujifilm Standard SD with 4.3 / 8.6
Kingston Standard SD with 4.1 / 8.6
Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo with 3 / 8.4

So the read speeds (which is what will affect ReadyBoost performance) are all fairly similar but the faster cards have better write speeds.

John

 

Hi,
I am curious about the Linux support. Does a Q35 running Linux (e.g. Debian, Ubuntu) support SDHC? I would like to install the OS on a 8GB-SDHC-card to mute the noisy harddrive. Thanks!

 

That's an interesting idea to run the OS from SDHC. However, you would probably find the data transfer rate for SDHC to be too slow for loading an OS (assuming the BIOS supports booting from this device, which it probably does not - check BIOS boot options). Some of the solid state storage devices are slow - read about the Transcend SSD in the hardware forum.

If your HDD is noisy then it is probably Hitachi, in which case get and run the Feature Tool and adjust the acoustic management to quiet mode. You won't notice the difference in performance.

John

 

Thanks for your answer! My hardware retailer advertised a 44€ priced class-6-card which allegedly supports 13 mb/s for reading and 23 mb/s for writing. However, more serious information in Wikipedia state that class 6 means around 6 mb/s for both reading and writing - although this could be still enough.

I fiddled with the AAM settings of my harddrive via hdparm, but the results don't come as near as to a powered off drive with no cpu fan spinning. Of course, this changes once you give the CPU something to chew, but it comes very handy when working through a large script!

John, do you still have that SDHC card you used for testing? I am curious whether the BIOS shows a connected USB-device when you boot with the inserted SDHC card. You don't need to change boot priorities, the BIOS will show a list with bootable devices upon every boot.

 

The Q35 went to a new home so I can't try the SDHC + Vista.

However, I tried a normal SD card in my X60 plus running XP. The boot device options are HDD; ODD and Removable Devices. I tried Removable Devices with a SD card in the slot but the computer went straight to the HDD. I doubt if the BIOS supports the card reader - removable devices probably only covers USB.

Your other fix for the noisy HDD is to change to a quieter one. Samsung's own HDDs are among the quietest, but they never put them in their own notebooks. They also make a hybrid HDD.

John

 

Thanks for testing, John! Unfortunately the solid state disks are a bit pricey at the moment, ranging from 170€ for 8 mere gigabytes upwards.

If I find a solution I'll post it here.

 

Yes, SSDs have a price premium. I was just thinking that changing the HDD to something like the Samsung 160GB would reduce the noise to a small hum - I did this change (Hitachi >> Samsung) in my X60 and the noise reduction was very noticeable. That model I linked to is the new one with 160GB on 1 platter so the performance is very good. Note, however, that some Q35s have the PATA (IDE) interface and others have SATA.

John

PS: The cheapest SSD seems to be Transcend, which has a performance problem and should be avoided.

 

KB934428 - "Hotfix for Windows XP that adds support for SDHC cards that have a capacity of more than 4 GB".

Since this hotfix includes the same files as KB923293 ("adds support for SD High Capacity memory cards in Windows XP") which was never released publicly AFAICT, maybe this is the official "SDHC support for XP" hotfix...

 

For Windows XP try this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934428

for Vista:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936825