Vaio P with 32GB Memory Stick Pro Duo HG?

Just wanted to double check that this card is compatible with my Vaio P:
MSHX32A | 32GB Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo™ Media | Sony | Sony Style USA

Sony's website specifies these card readers built into my computer:
Multimedia Card Reader : One Memory Stick Duo™ media slot with MagicGate® functionality One Secure Digital (SD memory card) media slot

I'm not well versed on my Memory Card variants and just want to make sure the "Pro-HG Duo" is the same as whatever one is supported on my computer. I'm not sure if it's a slight nuance like SDXC vs SDHC etc.

Your input is appreciated, thanks!

 

This might help:
Memory Stick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basically, all memory stick duos are the same minus the doubled parallel lanes on the higher-end cards (which essentially is what allows for higher transfer speeds). Which means your P should handle any Duo card, regardless of type; Mark2, or HX or even the HG; and capacity.

Though that said, I recall (but don't remember where) a few driver updates from Sony addressing an issue where VAIOs were not detecting 32GB sized cards. Might wanna research that before dishing out for a rather expensive card.

And on the subject of expensive cards... Make sure you are getting a genuine card. If it's rather cheap and you're thinking it's too good to be true, then you are right on the mark. There are a horrendous amount of inferior fakes that sometimes look like the real deal:

eBay.co.uk Guides - FAKE Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo MagicGate Cards Exposed

The HG variants aren't covered there but you should be able to ask the seller the relevant questions using that guide.

The thing is, the Chinese fakes are extremely inferior. Yet fakes made in Korea, are rather good. Sure the Korean fakes have tell-tale fake packaging, yet since they use genuine Samsung chips (unlike no-brands being churned out in China), they're quite a decent bit more reliable. Though that's not to condone forgery; you should always for go the real deal if you deal with important stuff...

 

Thanks 5hushiMonster for such a thorough writeup. I noticed that Sony does have an XC format that was announced back in 09. I know there aren't any 64GB cards out yet in Memory Stick format, but I was wondering if my Z, or any device for that matter, even supports this standard.

I guess I'll have to look into the 32GB card for my P a little further. My plan was to get it from Sony, albeit not for $150.

 

IMO the memory stick pros are a little too expensive, I just got a PNY SDHC Class10 32GB card for my Z and I love it. It claims 20MB/s write speed but I benchmarked it and for me I see closer to 17.5MB/s which is pretty close.

$56 shipped from NewEgg. After a bad experience with a fake rebranded MicroSD I decided it was better to not risk it and go with somebody I felt I could trust.

Also if you want to make use of your Memory Stick Pro slot you could get 2x16GB MicroSCHC cards, class6 for about $33. each and put both of them in a Memory Stick Pro converter.

 

What do you use it for if I may ask....

 

I could only afford the 128GB SSD setup for my Z, since it was already crazy expensive. After installing all my 3D Softwares and Applications for school/work I only have about 45GB of space. I often work on Maya projects that are several GB each that I'd want on the HDD as well. I thought it would be nice to have an extra 32GB of junk space to put on music or other misc things I might want to access that wont take up my space. I have an external but having to offload projects to put on new ones is something I'd really like to not have to do. Also when I'm not as busy I might install a few games that would eat up space, but I wouldn't mind offloading that data to free up space.

The class 6 equivalent was only a buck less and the even slower cards didn't have great ratings so it didn't seem like a bad deal.

 

What happened to external hard drives, USB-sticks, express cards, etc. whi are all faster than that

 

I don't plan on using it to keep transferring files back and forth from, its just extra space that I can leave in my Z all the time and forget about.

I have a USB 3.0 express card for the big storage. I guess if it doesn't make sense to you I can't explain it

 

The XC standard has been standardised, and at the moment I would assume it's in the testing phase, as it is a joint innovation venture with Sandisk and Sony.

Sony's MagicGate memory cards have come a long way ever since I bought my first device (a DSC-P10 from Japan). That came with a 32MB, and only 9 or 10 years later we have the smaller Pro Duo with just over double the transfer speeds, with capacities hitting the format limit of 32GB.

The capacity growth rate is rather exponential; I wouldn't be surprised if 2TB cards are out before 2020. Heck, I know I want to wean myself off external HDDs as I have been a victim to data loss due to the fragile nature that is a hard drive...

Going back to the DSC-P10. Despite that now being 9 years old, it can read cards that are considered recent today. I've gotten it reading 4GB M2 cards (with the memory stick convertor / adapter).

Seeing that, I think your P will not have any issue reading the XC format when that comes out, unless of course Sony decide to change something major like the changes microSD underwent (to microSDHC). And provided you still have a VGN-P on you in 9 years time...