Sony Memory Stick Help

I posted this over on the camera board, but I don't think there are too many Sony guys over there.

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new Sony H10 ultrazoom digital camera. I read on Sony's website that the "fine 30fps" video mode is only available if I use a MS Pro Duo, but it doesn't say anything about the camera being compatible with the Pro-HG Duo or the Pro Duo High Speed. I'm sure the camera will function with either of those cards, but does anyone know if it can take advantage of the faster speed? Also, does anyone know the difference between the HG and the High Speed? I know the HG was co-developed with SanDisk, but everything I've read about it just says it's a high speed MS that is up to 3x as fast as the Pro Duo. Is it faster than the Pro Duo High Speed or is it just a renamed Pro Duo High Speed? Any info on this would be much appreciated. My new camera should be here early next week and I'd like to order a memory card before then.

 

The difference between the models will only be read, write and access speed. Just buy the correct type.

 

This got me thinking and I decided to run some tests. Is it really worth spend extra on higher speed / grade cards. Not if the camera and / or card readers are unable to take full advantage of the card speeds.

For my tests I used a 4GB Sony MS Pro Duo and HD Tach 4.0.3.0.

The card only has 400MB free and. There are around 30 video files on the card. I don't think that makes a difference as HD Tach write's it own test file to the card to read back, I might be wrong. I've only tested read speed as it's the camera which will be writing data to the card. I'm only interested in how quickly I can get the photos off the card using the VAIO SZ.

I tested the card in the SZ built-in MS reader, the Express card reader (VGP-MCA20A) and an external SanDisk 8-in-1 USB2 reader. Note - the Express and external USB reader both required the use of the MS Duo Adaptor as the MS Pro Duo is too short for the slot. This is the reason for the 3rd test to see of the Adpator makes a difference.


Each test was repeated 3 times.

SZ card Reader
Random Accessms 1.7 1.7 1.7
CPU Util % 22 23 22
Avg Read MB/s 4.2 3.6 3.6


SZ Express Card Reader
Random Accessms 3.2 3.2 3.2
CPU Util % 9 8 8
Avg Read MB/s 8.2 8.2 8.2


External USB card Reader
Random Accessms 3.3 3.3 3.3
CPU Util % 2 0 0
Avg Read MB/s 1.4 1.4 1.4

I was suprised to see the built in reader perform worse than the Express card reader. It did just perform worse, the read speeds were 50% slower !!!

The external SanDisk USB reader was a big disappointment. First time I've used a Memory Stick in it. Never tested the performance of my old SD and CF cards but I'm sure they weren't this slow.

Below is a table which show what speeds manufacturers use. Most manufacturers including Sony don't advertise their speeds, you might have to look deeper in data sheets.

4x: 600 KB/s
16x: 2.4 MB/s
40x: 6.0 MB/s
66x: 10MB/s
133x: 20MB/s

From the tests and table above it looks like the Sony MS Pro Duo I have is a 40x or 66x card.

I have a 2GB SanDisk Ultra II card which I'll test in the next few days.

But I hope the above gives you an idea what to look for when choosing your next card.

 

You've been repped.

Thanks for the post.