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Data Storage

SanDisk Spins SD/USB Flash Combo 188

Posted by timothy from the but-where-fit-the-bits? dept.
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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SanDisk Spins SD/USB Flash Combo More

SanDisk Spins SD/USB Flash Combo

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  • Really, really cool! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by BobPaul ( 710574 ) * on Saturday January 08, 2005 @05:10PM (#11299181) 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 @05:20PM (#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)
        • SanDisk Ultra2 is basically the fastest CF card you can buy. I imagine the SD version is equally impressive.

    • the best ideas really are the simple ones

      According to the NYU School of Journalism [nyu.edu], the "Top Ten Ideas for 2004" are as follows:

      1. The Legacy Media.

      2. He said, she said, we said.

      3. What the printing press did to the Catholic Church the blogging press does to the media church.

      4. Open Source Journalism, or: "My readers know more than I do." (Dec. 28)

      5. News turns from a lecture to a conversation. (Dec. 29)

      6. "Content will be more important than its container." (Jan. 1)

      7. "What once was good--or goo

    • 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

    • As DpReview [dpreview.com] pointed out, they were not first [everythingusb.com]
      • No, they weren't the first. But they were the first to make it fit in an SD package... Digimaster's solution is an SD Card with a usb plug hanging out. This means you'll have to leave the door open on most camera's as there's an extra piece extending from the side...

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

    by Lindsay Lohan ( 847467 ) on Saturday January 08, 2005 @05:12PM (#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 @05:13PM (#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?

    • My Canon SD300 takes SD memory :)

      JOhn
    • Some Canons take the SD media cards such as the PowerShot SD10.

    • PC card better anyway. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by twitter ( 104583 )
      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

    • About time? Seriously its pretty cool, except that canon cameras take compact.

      Last I looked, Canon were not the only manufacturers of digital cameras - though I have no doubt the Canon fanboi's will argue they're the best.

      The SD format is used in Palm devices as well as cameras from a variety [dcresource.com] of manufacturers (including Canon). There are also a few MP3 players which use it.

      This is a good move on Sandisks part, and depending on capacity/price could effectively kill the market for "low" end flash drives
    • Most compact Canons (and in fact, most compacts from any manufacturer) use SD. The Canon DSLRs on the other hand to take CF, thankfully. It's cheaper, faster and more reliable.

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

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 08, 2005 @05:13PM (#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 @06:05PM (#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.
    • I always use a cheap little USB SD adapter to copy my pictures to my computer - hooking the cable up to my camera draws power from it. It's also very convenient to do it this way, for me, as I have a couple of chips/cards, and I have a case for them, in which I also keep the adapter - and I don't have to take the camera to the computer. The only nuisance is taking the chip out of the camera, but that's not a big deal - the power savings far outweighs this little negative.
      • Would you mind giving me a brand/model #? And how much you actually paid for it? Is it SD/MMC only? And what do you mean by "small"? I've got a Zaurus, and I use the SD card for primary storage. Carrying around a little tiny SD adapter would be musch more convenient than carrying the 7-format adapter I currently have. Thanks.
        • I was going to say, "It's a no-name item," but then I saw part number, and Googled it.
          It's a "cr-v7-ud"

          http://www.teksave.com/detail.aspx?ID=1126

          This is what mine looks like, though:
          http://www.globalsources.com/gsol/I/PC-c a rd-manufa cturers/p/2000000011008/3000000171745/8835068415.h tm

          The thing is, I bought mine at OfficeMax for $9.99 with a $9.99 mail-in-rebate, so it ultimately cost me whatever the tax was, the $0.37 to send in the rebate form, the interest lost on that money, and the small amount of
    • camera battery life is the main one. card readers are also smaller and less annoying than having to carry around yet another cable.

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

    by way2trivial ( 601132 ) on Saturday January 08, 2005 @05:17PM (#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.
      • X's Drive [xs-drive.com] is a product that basically allows this, but without an external power source, and the advantages of still being able to use flash cards. Just get a couple of flash cards for your camera, and carry the hard drive around and it is unlikely you will run out of space.
      • 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

      • If the camera's memory card slot is just a USB port, why not plug an external hard drive in?

        Let's see: Size, power, reliablity? Perhaps because the camera would crash when it detects a multi-gigabyte card attached?

        Or maybe filesystem incompatibility. Since few cards are bigger than 2GBs, most cameras just use a FAT16 filesystem, which won't work on your 250GB hard drive.

        I have a question for you... If you want to attach a hard drive to a camera, why don't you do it with current cameras, rather than w

    • Re:which begs the question, (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      When flash makers started putting out their standards, USB was only just coming into vogue, and they all hoped for their standard to reach a monopoly status, as that would mean that everyone would just provide readers for the card, making it cheaper for them.

      Since that hasn't happened...well...
    • 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 @05:39PM (#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.
      • OK, it's a great idea. I still don't think it warrants "super-awesome".
      • ...until this year...

        PQI iStick has been on the market for a few years now. Maybe 4 years or so. They went from USB1 to USB2. "This year" started a week ago.

        I don't know if they managed to patent a shieldless USB connector - after all the idea of not installing a shield on a shielded connector is not new, as anyone who has messed with serial D-type connectors will tell you.

        BTW, early PQI iSticks used to sell with an adapter that replaced the missing USB shield, and also served as a protective case, h
    • 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.

    • Same reason MS won't make Office documents compatible with OpenSource XML document formats.
    • My guess is this is what your talking about in your post. Give it two years and we should be seeing these coming out and all the other formats going by the wayside.

      http://www.lexar.com/newsroom/press/press_12_13_ 04 .html
      http://www.lexar.com/image/UFC_penny.jpg
    • could it be made to go within a camera?

      It could be made PHYSICALLY small enough, but the camera then has to be much more complex, becomming practically a full-fledged computer just so it can host USB devices.

      USB isn't peer-to-peer like Firewire. It requires a complex central host to manage everything, probably designed that way by Intel so computers remain a requirement, and "devices" can't operate independant of computers.

  • Great (Score:5, Funny)

    by earthloop ( 449575 ) on Saturday January 08, 2005 @05:17PM (#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 @05:19PM (#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.
    • The extra clearance required beneath the USB port for the folded-down part of this card could be annoying in many cases -- e.g., I have USB ports on my keyboard that have enough room beneath them for a typical USB key, but it looks like one of these SD cards wouldn't fit; I'd think many laptops would have the same problem.

  • 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.
    • IIRC, the USB spec prohibits shieldless connectors and dictates how large a device may be in the immediate area of the connector, so this thing is probably in technical violation of the spec on two counts. I'm guessing that the product wouldn't pass compliance testing and hence the packaging doesn't bear the official USB logo.
  • ... innovative memory card packaging technology ...

    Umm... no, not really "technology". Innovative? Definitely. New technology? Not really.
  • Remember those old cassette tape players in cars? You'd have to buy the cassette-cd adapter thing in order to plug your CD player onto the car's sound system.

    Same general thing here for us folks who don't have those 57-in-1 media card readers. It all sounds like an interim solution until everyone eventually gets those readers built-in, the same way tape decks in cars have now been replaced with CD players.

    Cool product and all, but I think of it as transitional until we all get those media card readers b

  • PQI (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This is what PQI tried with the Intelligent Stick [pqi.com.tw] - theirs wasn't SD or MS etc but some new format that they were pushing to camera/mp3 player manufacturers. Didn't really take off but It's gotta be the smallest flash drive on the market.

  • Looks fragile (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Doppler00 ( 534739 ) on Saturday January 08, 2005 @05:37PM (#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 @05:47PM (#11299470)
    Its been done before.

    http://www.pdalive.com/showarticle.php?threadid= 77 39
    • hmmm....but that one won't fit in SD based devices that expect the length to be fixed.

      My camera has the SD slot behind the battery door, so I'd have to leave that open while using one of those - wheras the SanDisk one is the same shape as a standard SD card until you want to use it in a USB port.

      • Re:Its been done... (Score:1)
        by mabinogi (74033) Neutral on Saturday January ...but that one won't fit in SD based devices that expect the length to be fixed.

        It sure looks like it's the same length as a regular SD card: in fact it looks like it's exactly the same design as the Sandisk one, except instead off a fragile hinged frame around the USB part of the card (that will make it hard to fit the card into some USB sockets where there's little clearance) it's just got a couple of notches to narrow the upp

  • SD == DRM (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 08, 2005 @05:47PM (#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 @06:45PM (#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.
      • A generic SD card can typically have a much higher throughput than a CF card.

        People who continue to make this type of statement really confound me. Generally speaking, there are various companies out there who make flash memory and another set of companies that buy flash memory and produce memory cards in various form factors. It's one thing to say that a specific interface's maximum throughput is theoretcially better than another's (and I'm not actually sure whether or not the SD interface allows higher

    • MMC == SD – DRM (Score:2, Informative)

      by Hal XP ( 807364 )
      [Then try MMC]

    • 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

    • Honestly, read other replies to this nonsense.

      No wonder the post was as an AC...

  • Looks cool but, (Score:2, Insightful)

    by aka_big_wurm ( 757512 )
    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.
  • Damn it... I had that idea a year ago, though my hinged one folded back a full 180 degrees. My patent is still *pending*. Sad that money can affect our patent system... I guess SanDisk just got there's approved first... kind of like M$ keeps doing. !@#$%^

    What really gets me is how SanDisk can fit a USB2 capable port in there, but those idiots at OQO could only put USB1 in their first device "due to size constraints". WTF?

  • It would be nice (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Jozer99 ( 693146 )
    It would be nice if they released cards like this in other formats, like CompactFlash.
  • This is actually something I'll buy once the price settles down. I use an SD card in my Palm (and wife's Pocket PC), but I use a USB thumbdrive on my laptops and desktops (far too many of those). I need to consolidate all my stuff onto one device, so I'm going to go to a Lexmark Jumpdrive Trio [electronicsoutfitter.com], which until Sandisk's new toy was the smallest USB SD card reader. Just a little bigger than a slim thumbdrive, but this new toy means I don't need to carry anything extra.

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