Choosing the right memory card

[eMilk]

Hi fellow 'droiders

I was wondering what the right choice is in terms of a high-end memory card for the HTC Hero.

I've read on several websites that the class 6 memory card is the best.
Does anyone have any experience, or opinions, with the 16 GB Transcend Micro SD HC card?

Any advice appreciated.

/ eMilk

 

[Slug]

Does anyone have any experience, or opinions, with the 16 GB Transcend Micro SD HC card?

Yup, I'm using one of those right now. No issues with the Hero at all.

/Al

 

[eMilk]

Yup, I'm using one of those right now. No issues with the Hero at all.

/Al

Thanks Slug, I'll order one of those then.

 

[nafe]

Damn, that's no fair. You guys get it for 68 bucks and here in the UK we get that same card for about the same but in pounds sterling. At current exchange rate it should be about 40 quid :\.

 

[Slug]

At current exchange rate it should be about 40 quid :\.

Check www.allmemorycards.co.uk. I picked mine up from there for

 

[mani5ha]

try blagging one from tmob, they gave me a free class 6 8gb one!

 

[Jace]

Does anyone have any experience, or opinions, with the 16 GB Transcend Micro SD HC card?

Thanks. I've just bought I from ebay, allmemorycards.co.uk have sold out.

Cheers.

 

[marka87uk]

try blagging one from tmob, they gave me a free class 6 8gb one!

Ahh how did you manage that? I've bought one now anyway but could always do with a spare...

 

[huey85]

Paid 128$AUD for my Transcend 16GB Class6. Quite costly, but working perfectly

 

[Slug]

Quite costly, but working perfectly

Oh yes, no complaints with performance here. I've spent much of today transcoding video files and testing them on the Hero, and they're playing as smooth as the PC originals.

 

[Plexus]

Sorry guys , but reading your posts I realize that I really don't know poop about mem cards.
How do I recognize a class 6 cards from ...haem... another class?
In my Hero I just slamed in an old 8GB I had in an old Sam Omnia (i900) I got rid of some months ago and it seems OK but I would ike something larger,so I have these 3 questions troubling my sleep right now:
1) how many gigs would the Hero tolerate?
2) Are there counterindications against large storage cards? Someone told me that cards more than 16 gigs corrupt files, ad have all sorts of problems; is this true?
3) Are class 6 cards the best of the best?
I stick those cards in all sort of places (within the limits of decency): my Onkyo ampli, my car stereo, my iGala + another custom built uber-digiframe, 3 cell phones (N97, Hero and TouchHD), TVs, videocam and into lots of other stuff too, so I would like something quite large and extremely durable and reliable.

Could I ask your suggestions?
I have learned (the ard way)to mistrust every word coming out the mouths of salesclerks.
Cheers

 

[nafe]

Check www.allmemorycards.co.uk. I picked mine up from there for

 

[FADviral]

Can you simply copy the files from the old memory card to the new one, insert it, switch on, and the phone will continue to operate as normal? Or are you likely to run into problems?

 

[Slug]

How do I recognize a class 6 cards from ...haem... another class?

Class 6 cards have a small (6) printed on them. Or should have. A good illustration can be found here.

how many gigs would the Hero tolerate?

16GB definitely 'cos many are already using that capacity. I've read reviews stating that caps up to 32GB are supported but HTC's own specs don't actually state the fact.

Are there counterindications against large storage cards? Someone told me that cards more than 16 gigs corrupt files, ad have all sorts of problems; is this true?

The cards themselves shouldn't (if not malfunctioning) cause any corruption. I could see it happening in devices that either didn't fully support the capacity in question or were defective. Higher capacity/faster cars may actually be less prone to errors due to better error correction logic and longer MTTF.

3) Are class 6 cards the best of the best?

Afaik, yes. I couldn't find anything above Class 6 in microSDHC, although Panasonic offer Class 10 full-size SD cards. The SD Association themselves only specify Classes 2/4/6.

I stick those cards in all sort of places (within the limits of decency): my Onkyo ampli, my car stereo, my iGala + another custom built uber-digiframe, 3 cell phones (N97, Hero and TouchHD), TVs, videocam and into lots of other stuff too, so I would like something quite large and extremely durable and reliable.

I'd be wary of using a card in multiple r/w devices, tbh. Better to treat them as dedicated drives and transfer data between them using a computer and/or card reader. Just my opinion, based on good ol' paranoia.

Can you simply copy the files from the old memory card to the new one, insert it, switch on, and the phone will continue to operate as normal?

Should work, as the card will be pre-formatted. However check that it's formatted FAT32 - I dunno if the Hero would have problems with vanilla FAT but as that's how it formats cards itself better safe than sorry. Maybe someone with more experience can give a definitive answer?

/Al

 

[Plexus]

Thank you Slug, for a really complete and exaustive reply.
Now at least I know what to buy.
Just one more thing: is it possible to see how much space I have left in the card (and/or in the phone's memory) without plugging it into the PC?
I have'nt yet managed to find a way, did you?

 

[Slug]

Just one more thing: is it possible to see how much space I have left in the card (and/or in the phone's memory) without plugging it into the PC?

Menu - Settings - SD Card & Phone Storage.

/Al

 

[Plexus]

Yep , thanx .
Jeez , youre fast dude!
I'm starting to really love my Hero.
Next monday , when it will get its new 16GB, class 6 (whatever that means) memo, it will be ready to kick some serious ass.
Now forgive me if I'm wandering outside the boundaries of this thread, but you seem the kind of guys that could maybe be able to help me in my "Heroic" quest for the killer app.

You must know that I have 2 more phones: my trusty, old, pimped-up & much loved HTC touchHD (win mob 6.1); and a nearly new Nokia N97 (which after heavy decrappyfyng and tweaking, and multiple downloads of themes, apps, updates,and other tedious operations, turned out to be the awesome piece of engeneering which was not when it came out the box).

The only thing that I miss in the Hero is a decent voice dialing app, the lack of which, for people who like me, spend most of their waking time driving a car , is avery serious handicap.
Atm I'm forced to go around whith two phones : the Hero (of course) and one of the other two to make and receive calls while driving.
I'd be ready to pay for it and surely I would'nt be the only one, but among the 1000s of apps 'n craps available for android devices, it seems that nobody thought of writing the only really important app that the Hero sorely lacks.
I know that the G1 came whith a decent voice app, do you think that it would work also on the Hero?
I wonder why it has been so unceremoniously ditched.
Or alternatively do you (or anybody else know of an app that would fill this huge, gaping hole in the Hero's package?

 

[FADviral]

Should work, as the card will be pre-formatted. However check that it's formatted FAT32 - I dunno if the Hero would have problems with vanilla FAT but as that's how it formats cards itself better safe than sorry. Maybe someone with more experience can give a definitive answer?

/Al

Thanks. I asked because with at least one old Nokia, I had to give the new microSD card the same name as the old one. Which was a bit annoying if the name of the old one was something like SANDISK2GB, and the new one had 8GB of storage.

But even that didn't work with a more recent phone because Nokia used copy protection on the original microsd to prevent some free n-gage games being copied to a new card. :/

 

[Slug]

Jeez , youre fast dude!

Nah, I just couldn't sleep.

The only thing that I miss in the Hero is a decent voice dialing app

+1 on that. I've not come across anything but it might be an idea to pop up to the "Applications" forum and ask there. Someone there may be able to help.

Btw, glad to hear the N97 was salvageable. It deserved better than the way Nokia rushed it out.

/Al

 

[Slug]

I asked because with at least one old Nokia, I had to give the new microSD card the same name as the old one.

No such restrictions on the Hero. My 16GB card doesn't have a name/label, and the Hero is also perfectly happy reading the 8GB one from my N95, even with it labelled "N95_music".

 

[FADviral]

No such restrictions on the Hero. My 16GB card doesn't have a name/label, and the Hero is also perfectly happy reading the 8GB one from my N95, even with it labelled "N95_music".

So you copied the files from your old Hero microsd, to the new, larger microsd, and there were no problems? My question was more about ensuring apps still worked correctly than it being readable.

 

[Slug]

My question was more about ensuring apps still worked correctly than it being readable.

Ahh, have you rooted your handset and moved apps to a partition on the SD card, or moved your cache directories likewise? If not then there's only user data i.e. stuff you saved on the card. A straight copy will work just fine.

Al/

 

[Plexus]

Ahh, have you rooted your handset and moved apps to a partition on the SD card, or moved your cache directories likewise? If not then there's only user data i.e. stuff you saved on the card. A straight copy will work just fine.

Al/

I beg to disagree.
On the puny 2GB card that HTC offensively provided us with, are written quite a few things by default.
Among them: the old version of HTC sync (which apparently is the best one to use with XP) and all its drivers; 2 pdf files: the QSG, and the huge 215 pages user manual; a presentation video and probably some other assorted crap of which I now forget the exact details.
Apart for the presentation vid , I'm gonna copy everything on my new card just for safety.

 

[techobsessive]

Has anyone been able to find a MicroSDHC 32GB card? Or are they still being manufactured? I know they exist, it's just a matter of finding one

 

[Slug]

I beg to disagree.
On the puny 2GB card that HTC offensively provided us with, are written quite a few things by default.

The handset however is not dependant on any of them to function, which was FADviral's query. None of them are read from or written to by any apps, therefore a straight copy to a new card is perfectly safe.

FYI, the latest version (2.0.4) of HTCSync has no issues with XP SP3 here.

/Al