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SanDisk Spins SD/USB Flash Combo

Posted by timothy on Sat Jan 08, 2005 04:08 PM
from the but-where-fit-the-bits? dept.
Data Storage
An anonymous reader writes "Flash memory pioneer SanDisk has created an innovative memory card packaging technology that enables memory cards to plug into both SD card slots and USB ports. The new approach eliminates the need to use SD-to-USB adapters when accessing the contents of an SD card on a laptop, PC, or other system that lacks an integrated SD card slot."
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  • Really, really cool! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by BobPaul (710574) * on Saturday January 08 2005, @04:10PM (#11299181) Homepage Journal
    Wow! That is really cool!

    SanDisk just went from "Cheap with questionable performance" to "Inovitce product designer"

    Just goes to show you that the best ideas really are the simple ones.

    • Re:Really, really cool! (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      That is truly innovative. I wonder how long it will take for other formats (compact flash, memorytick) to have this capability. I also wonder if its patented technology not that it matters as much on the hardware side. Also, there must be a change in internal layout of the card, does this form factor come with considerably less capacity. 1GB SD (the size used in the article) is fairly cheap nowadays and am curious to see what capacities will be available when this ships. If it is competitively priced I

    • Re:Really, really cool! (Score:4, Informative)

      by Jeff DeMaagd (2015) on Saturday January 08 2005, @04:20PM (#11299276) Homepage Journal
      "Cheap with questionable performance"

      What are you referring to? I really haven't had problems with Sandisk.
      • What are you referring to? I really haven't had problems with Sandisk.

        They're SD memory tends to be a fair amount slower than come of the competition. Not a problem if you aren't taking pictures in quick succession, but very noticable on a Palm Pilot. By nature of being SD, they're still faster than the majority of MMC cards but this is a clear instance of "you get what you pay for"
        • Are you sure you are using their "Ultra" version? They are about $5-$10 more per card, but well worth the dramatic speed improvement...

          And their standard speed cards are a heck of a pricepoint, no matter what way you look, you can't expect the cheapest/most compatible card on the market to whizz by at flaming speeds... I think you are expecting too much out of them. You should be glad that the SanDisk SD cards are actually compatible with just about anything out there. And their availability is.. just abou
        • I agree. My T3 doesn't record right on my Sandisk SD card. i think it is because it can't transfer data quickly enough. (it's an old SD card, i'll admit)

    • PQI iStick (Score:3, Informative)

      by khrtt (701691)
      Ever heard of PQI iStick [google.com]? It's a memory card that plugs directly into a USB port. It's smaller than any other memory card but xD. The connector has the shaps of the inner part of the USB A-type plug, w/o the shield, so it can plug directly into a USB port. Internally, it's implemented in a way that allows it to work against either a full USB host, or a simplified interface circuit in a consumer device.

      Very nice design.

      They were about 2 years late to market. I don't know of any consumer devices tha

  • Cool, solves a problem (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Lindsay Lohan (847467) on Saturday January 08 2005, @04:12PM (#11299195) Homepage Journal
    The new approach eliminates the need to use SD-to-USB adapters
    I think this would be great after taking pics, when you've left your camera's cable somewhere else, and you want to email them from a notebook, PC, etc.
  • now can get rid of one more thing in my laptop bag! yeah

  • Uh? eh? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by zoftie (195518) on Saturday January 08 2005, @04:13PM (#11299207) Homepage
    About time? Seriously its pretty cool, except that canon cameras take compact.
    Oh well, others probably to follow suit.
    p.
    • except that canon cameras take compact.
      Oh well, others probably to follow suit.

      The newest compact flash memory is REALLY small and thin. I'm not sure this could be possible with the latest variety.
      • The newest compact flash memory is REALLY small and thin. I'm not sure this could be possible with the latest variety.


        Huh? Seriously, what are you talking about? Can you provide us a link to some pictures of this new "really small and thin" Compact Flash? The form factor is part of the standard, and is significantly larger than SD. Or are you just thinking of xD?

    • Some Canons take the SD media cards such as the PowerShot SD10.
    • You will get better performance on a laptop from a PC card adaptor. Once again, your choice of Canon and CF has done you well. Like CF in general, PC cards for CF are also cheaper than SD equivalents. I've got them both and I'm still happier with CF performance.

      At the same time, the folding design is interesting. Cool stuff scandisk.

      The scandisk SD to PC card adaptor I have works well enough, but I've had problems fdisking a 512 SD card. It worked but it hurt. Cfdisk could not deal with it so I had

  • Nice idea, but at what cost? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 08 2005, @04:13PM (#11299209)
    How much more expensive are these going to be than normal cards? USB reader dongles can be had for next to nothing these days!

    • Re:Nice idea, but at what cost? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Bishop (4500) on Saturday January 08 2005, @05:05PM (#11299592)
      That was my first impression but after thinking about it I changed my mind. Most users are only going to have a few SD cards. Usually just the one they have in their camera and maybe a spare. For these users having an integrated usb reader is very convinient especially if you are on the road and want to transfer pictures to a friend's computer. With regards to cost as you pointed out USB readers are pretty cheap. It probably costs next to nothing to add the USB bit. (A quick check of a local shop shows SanDisk SD cards are just slighly more expensive then similar USB drives.) I would guess that there will be a higher markup for the convinience factor, then the cost of adding the USB.

      If these USB/SD cards become popular I predict that some camera maker will drop the USB interface from their cameras.

      Don't discount the convinience factor. For a few bucks extra I would by a device like this. If only so that I didn't have to remember to bring the card reader.
  • my camera already has a usb cable, from which I can pull files off the SD card.

    I mean it's a neato little feature/design, but I don't get it *shrug*

    e.
    • When you share photos with a friend, do you want to give them your camera? Sure you can e-mail them, but it's often easier just to loan them your SD card, especially if they're still on dialup.

    • Re:I don't get it... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      maybe b/c you don't travel much...

      I can't remember how many times I've taken pictures on vacations and remote locations, and forget to bring the cable with me. I end up juggling which photos I want to keep and which ones I'm willing to sacrafice. Especially helpful when a friend wants the photo as well, you can upload it to them right there without the hassle of having to get the cable.

      Sure this is great for the camera, but I'm thinking about using this to replace my USB key. so much smaller, I could p
    • Yes, and you need to carry that cable around, you may lose it on your trip, etc.

      If you get a camera that works with AA batteries and SD (like the Ricoh R1), this means that all you ever need to carry is the camera itself: no cables, no chargers, nothing. Now, that's travel convenience.

  • which begs the question, (Score:5, Interesting)

    by way2trivial (601132) on Saturday January 08 2005, @04:17PM (#11299245) Homepage Journal
    Why isn't there a memory card format that's just a USB stub, and a small bit of chip- like a thumbdrive or a diskkey or usb drive or whatever they are called this week.

    how large does a usb key have to be- could it be made to go within a camera?

    • Which would bring another interesting application: If the camera's memory card slot is just a USB port, why not plug an external hard drive in? You'd obviously have to find an external power source for the HD, but after that, you've got gobs of storage for your pictures.
      • i've always wondered about that. given the proliferation of thumb drives, etc....why hasnt someone developed a camera/mp3 player/whatever that accepts storage in the form of a usb thumbdrive?

        i've often thought of a smallish mp3 player, with a screen, minimal built in memory (for the OS) and a usb connect to plug in any usb removable storage device

        opens up a lot of possibilities
        • This would be an option when you're not too concerned about having a compact camera. You could keep the drive and power supply in a backback, for example. Or, if you're taking pictures from your car, you just plug in to the 12 VDC.
    • Damn, meant to put this in my last post... shows me to use Preview.

      how large does a usb key have to be- could it be made to go within a camera?

      See the iStick [google.com]. 1 5/8 inches long, 5/8 across. 1/16 deep. (actual size [yimg.com]) I have a 128 MB stick. It's great. It even came with a credit card-sized holder so I can keep the thing in my wallet.

      (Just a satisfied customer here.)

    • Re:which begs the question, (Score:5, Informative)

      by Spy Hunter (317220) on Saturday January 08 2005, @04:39PM (#11299417) Journal
      Because until this year, nobody realized that you could make a thin plastic USB connector. If you think about a normal USB connector, it is actually much thicker than your average memory card, with its (relatively) giant metal rectangle. This year, a company called PQI realized that the metal part isn't actually necessary for the plug, and removed it. The result was this [brando.com.hk]. Suddenly USB drives are actually smaller than and just as thin as regular memory cards! It's one of those great ideas that is obvious in retrospect. PQI has patented this design, and I imagine SanDisk has had to license it to create this super-awesome combined card.
    • Why isn't there a memory card format that's just a USB stub, and a small bit of chip

      There is [findarticles.com], it just hasn't caught on.

      c.

  • Great (Score:5, Funny)

    by earthloop (449575) on Saturday January 08 2005, @04:17PM (#11299250) Homepage
    Two days after I buy a new laptop with built in SD/MMC slot!

  • Snap! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by lxt (724570) on Saturday January 08 2005, @04:19PM (#11299261) Journal
    I saw this a few days back on The Register - it's a very neat design, and eliminates this USB reader I've got on my desktop at the moment. The one thing I would be concerned about is how fragile it might be - I can imagine plugging this into my laptop and the connector snapping away from the card, especially given it doesn't have the surrounding metal case around the USB plug. ...still, I suppose that's a risk with most of the USB dongles I carry around, and it hasn't happened yet.

  • More inforamtional pictures: (Score:4, Informative)

    by zoftie (195518) on Saturday January 08 2005, @04:19PM (#11299262) Homepage
    http://www.sandisk.com/pressrelease/20050106a.htm [sandisk.com]

  • How many USB ports would this actually fit? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Great idea, but USB ports are often bang-next to other ports, so the other plugs could obstruct it, and front-panel recessed ones may be too near the edge of the recess to fit the extra width of this gizmo.
  • ... innovative memory card packaging technology ...

    Umm... no, not really "technology". Innovative? Definitely. New technology? Not really.

  • Looks fragile (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Doppler00 (534739) on Saturday January 08 2005, @04:37PM (#11299407) Homepage Journal
    I don't know, but when you start introducing mechanical components to memory devices you're asking for trouble. This device looks pretty fragile, the hinges look like plastic, how long could something like this possibly last?

    This looks more like a solution looking for a problem. How difficult is it really to plug a memory card into a USB adapter?

  • Its been done... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Ojamin (455410) on Saturday January 08 2005, @04:47PM (#11299470)
    Its been done before.

    http://www.pdalive.com/showarticle.php?threadid= 77 39

  • SD == DRM (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 08 2005, @04:47PM (#11299472)
    Avoid SD cards at any cost. The wide adoption of SD (which means Secure Digital, and not SanDisk) is the next step towards putting DRM control around our data.
    More info are contained in the official SD and SDIO complete reference, which -surprise- is neither open nor free, and costs big bucks/NDA signing to get.

    My answer is thanks but no thanks, I'll stick with more versatile, cheap and open supports such as Compact Flash.

    • Re:It's a cartel (Score:5, Informative)

      by Migraineman (632203) on Saturday January 08 2005, @05:45PM (#11299914)
      The SDA [sdcard.org] is a cartel, plain and simple. The Host/Anciliary License Agreement (pdf) [sdcard.org] is truely draconian. In addition to paying the annual extortion fee, you have to agree to license any new developments back into the cartel. You're also prohibited from disclosing any details about SD cards. So once you're a member of the cartel, you pretty much can't work on any open-source SD-related projects. There are even "antitrust guidelines" published by SDA because they're dangerously close to crossing the line.

    • Re:SD == DRM (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Ridiculous statement. 99% of all card readers can not even access the secure area of the SD card. There are less than a handfull of products out there which are even using the secure area of an SD card. One of which is for mobile phones, the other I know if was for some RealAudio product.

      A generic SD card can typically have a much higher throughput than a CF card.

      If you want to reject DRM :) reject the subscription services, not the SD cards.

    • Rubbish (Score:3, Informative)

      by roesti (531884)

      The wide adoption of SD (which means Secure Digital, and not SanDisk) is the next step towards putting DRM control around our data.

      This is totally incorrect. If you're referring to the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), they gave up on DRM about four years ago when their watermarking scheme was ruthlessly cracked. The group has been totally inactive since May 2001.

      Nowadays, lots of devices use Secure Digital cards, but mostly because of the "cool" factor: they're a lot smaller than Compact Flash ca

  • It looks really cool and I want one but they are so small I would worry about losing it unlike my jump drive that takes SD cards.
  • but it must be with my xD or mini SD card, and operate in the same way or I'm not buying! :)

  • Will it fit? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Phoex (412808)
    One problem I've noticed, especially with the 'designer' PC cases is that the front USB ports are impossible to plug anything except a cord into.

    • Re:pendrive (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Luddite (808273) on Saturday January 08 2005, @04:19PM (#11299265)
      >> woo. a pen drive, how innovative.

      a pen drive the size of a fricken postage stamp that happens to fit right inside my camera.

      I'm impressed. and looking forward to owning this - I find myself transferring pictures directly from the camera to a PC often, and it wastes charge on my batteries. This won't.

      So yeah, it is innovative.

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