# what you do with your old memory cards?



## migles (Dec 23, 2016)

lately i started to think of a first world problem...
i have several devices that use sd cards, which bigger sizes are becoming cheaper and cheaper..
so  cheaper i may as well i just throw a couple bucks and upgrade my devices with the maximum storage they allow (for example, 32gb card on my ds flashcart)

and then i realized, i own several 1-2-4-8 gb micro sd cards and when i upgrade i will have some more in that box where i keep them, which also make me realized i am also hoarding adapters for whatever reason...

of course i will keep the legacy ones MINI SD card, some NON HC cards (there could be one day one has a very old wii which i need a 2gb card to update, or a cool old nokia that accepts mini sd cards)

but starting to own more than 2 of each type just makes me think i am starting to earn some kind of compulsive hoarding disease lol..
i really hate to throw stuff away, stuff that works, that is in good condition, stuff that could have a purpose, but theese things you can get them for 1 or 2 bucks on ebay, or even cents... pratically free, selling them would be more problematic than the cents i can get from them (i am a lazy person ok?)...


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## FAST6191 (Dec 23, 2016)

Just memory cards? They take up no space. If you have more than a shoe box full then you might have gone wrong somewhere.

Also you can get things for cheap "now", 10 years is a different matter. Or if you prefer see all the fun and games people had trying to find legit miniSD cards for the EZ4 before they moved on to microSD. If you do want to flog them then maybe bundle them -- people like me buy in bundles of old stuff all the time.

8 gig cards are still a useful size for a lot of things -- stick them in a phone which might lack storage and it is either a decent amount of music or enough for someone to take photos on*, and if you don't care about losing them then you can give them to people with videos on them. 4 gigs are not outside the realm of usability either.

*if you only need to take photos of serial numbers of general arrangements of things, or colours of wires then it helps. Many times I have set such things up for people working trades.

Also you can never have enough adapters, bonus is they also make nice things to solder to if SD adapters are hard to find.


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## migles (Dec 23, 2016)

FAST6191 said:


> Just memory cards? They take up no space. If you have more than a shoe box full then you might have gone wrong somewhere.


just memory cards, of any kind, either sd, CF, XD etc... there are loads of them...



FAST6191 said:


> Also you can get things for cheap "now", 10 years is a different matter. Or if you prefer see all the fun and games people had trying to find legit miniSD cards for the EZ4 before they moved on to microSD. If you do want to flog them then maybe bundle them -- people like me buy in bundles of old stuff all the time.


i was one of them, IIRC it was in 2013 or 2014, got a MINI sd card for 1 euro, my ez iv stop detecting it after the SDHC update, now i have a mini to micro sd adapter with a 2gb card



FAST6191 said:


> *if you only need to take photos of serial numbers of general arrangements of things, or colours of wires then it helps. Many times I have set such things up for people working trades.


this is actually a cool idea!. if you use a a dedicated device for this
i had been taking pictures of stuff like position of wires on old computer motherboards (where it's easier than trying to figure out where they belong to) with my phone..

actually this is the main reason i have too many memory cards that i can get use for. in the old days i had a mp3 player, a phone, a camera.. now i just do everything with my phone, have a big micro sd card on it, which i just use 20 percent of it anyway (rarely take pictures or videos, music via streaming cuz data subscription, only play about 3-4 games on it, gps only takes a small portion)


one idea i am thinking, is searching for some kind of adapter that lets me put several micro sd cards on it and use it as a single memory block..
kinda like thoose dual micro sd to memory stick for the PSP..
with luck i can even find such a device with card failing protection where if one of them starts to fail, i can easily swap another with no data being lost


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## gnmmarechal (Dec 23, 2016)

I keep my memory cards. Especially ones like Mini SDs and non SDHC Micro SDs/SDs as I like using older tech that uses them old standards.


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## FAST6191 (Dec 23, 2016)

One day I might have to look into this music streaming lark, or not as I only tend to listen to anything in front of my computer or in range of my LAN. 

Regarding failure detection then USB RAID has been done for years
http://cs.joensuu.fi/~mmeri/usbraid/
I know some have done little poor man's NAS servers with rasp pis as well so that might be an option.
All that said I imagine it is still loss/theft that is the bigger issue in all this so how useful it would be, other than being a fantastic learning opportunity, compared to a more convention backup USB and online folders somewhere.

Also while you were busy shrinking your device list I was upping mine, mainly as I do not have a phone and don't really want one. That said I still leave it all at home and don't even have a thing to tell the time with beyond the sun. Bonus for you though is while people still like big boy cameras they can't give away the little compact cameras and they take fine photos for a lot of purposes, and often have something resembling a real zoom on them. If it has a nice case with it then it should go just fine in the bag of screwdrivers.


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## Deleted User (Dec 23, 2016)

Well, I keep them. But I only have very few memory cards. I have dedicated memory cards for each of my things. But flash drives on the other hand I have tons of. I have a metal jar full of them. They are mostly recovery disks or Distros of Linux whenever I need them.


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## Duo8 (Dec 23, 2016)

Out of all the cards I have...

One 4GB mSD in my DS flashcard. (Another 4GB like that I used to use in my phone. It had 256MB RAM so I had to enable swap and that killed the card pretty much)
One 512MB mSD. I use it when I need to get a small boot image on it and ran out of cards.
One 1GB SD. Arch ISO for whenever I need to repair my installation.
One 4GB SD. Used to store the OS for my BPi.
One 32GB SD. In my 3DS.
One 32GB mSD. In my DAP.
I think I also have a 2GB that came with my 3DS but I can't remember where it is.


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## VinsCool (Dec 23, 2016)

I keep them all. Always useful someday.


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## DaFixer (Dec 23, 2016)

I keep my old memory cards and i like those blue SD cards.
I use a 1GB Compact Flash card (from my old digicamera) for my ZX Spectrum.
Using a DivIDE cartridge and that 1GB CF to store all the games/tools/demos ever made for the ZX Spectrum home computer.
For my Commodore Amiga 500 I use a blue 2GB SD card with one off those USB Floppy Emulators, with a 2GB I store all the games/demos for that computer.
And I use a blue 256MB SD card for my Commodore C64 with one off those SD2IEC devices, I only store the games/one file demo's/music I want to load.

For my 2 Rapberry Pi's (with Kodi) I use the best 8GB sd cards, becase those cards work best.
It's always smart to keep to those old sd card's, if you planning buying a GB everdrive, a 2GB can hold all the shit that is ever made for that handheld.


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## YugamiSekai (Dec 23, 2016)

With me, no memory goes lost


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## DinohScene (Dec 23, 2016)

I've got a small pouch which hold all me unused SD cards.
I just upgrade the devices that can't take more then 2GB to 2GB, ones that can't take XC I'll give 32 etc.

Edit:
Got SD cards of 512MB, 1GB 2GB 4GB 8GB 16GB 32 GB and a shit load of 64GB


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## Deleted member 377734 (Dec 23, 2016)

don't have any unused . if it can store stuff , I use it .


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## The Catboy (Dec 23, 2016)

I just use them until they die. I mostly use them to install different OS's that can fit on them.


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## Ev1l0rd (Dec 23, 2016)

Let's see, I have a few unused 2GB cards from my original 3DS, my brothers old 3DS and my sisters 2DS, which I all replaced with 16GB cards (exception: My o3ds which got a 4GB). I also have 2 spare 4GB cards (one of whom is used in my o3ds) that were delivered with the n3DS.

I mostly leave the spares around and lose track of them occasionally.

I am covered in microSD card adapters though, which is annoying as fuck, since all of the microSD cards come with an adapter these days, and after you get the adapters for the o3ds and the 2ds, you only really need one after that.

tl;dr no memory card problem, but have an adapter problem.


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## BARNWEY (Dec 23, 2016)

Ev1l0rd said:


> Let's see, I have a few unused 2GB cards from my original 3DS, my brothers old 3DS and my sisters 2DS, which I all replaced with 16GB cards (exception: My o3ds which got a 4GB). I also have 2 spare 4GB cards (one of whom is used in my o3ds) that were delivered with the n3DS)
> 
> I mostly leave the spares around and lose track of them occasionally.
> 
> ...


Same here, except my adapters include USB cords, micro to USB cords, USB to Micro Cords, etc. I have a whole container full of cords and adapters...


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## Ev1l0rd (Dec 23, 2016)

BARNWEY said:


> Same here, except my adapters include USB cords, micro to USB cords, USB to Micro Cords, etc. I have a whole container full of cords and adapters...


Ugh... me too! It's so annoying. Yes, there is supposed to be a universal port/cable (microusb to usb), but even the microUSB ports aren't always the same and have different plugability into certain devices. I have two boxes full of just cables, chargers, chargable batteries, chargers for battery chargers, earplugs and other tech junk I won't ever need, but can't throw away, because one product I own might just use it.


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## gnmmarechal (Dec 23, 2016)

Ev1l0rd said:


> Ugh... me too! It's so annoying. Yes, there is supposed to be a universal port/cable (microusb to usb), but even the microUSB ports aren't always the same and have different plugability into certain devices. I have two boxes full of just cables, chargers, chargable batteries, chargers for battery chargers, earplugs and other tech junk I won't ever need, but can't throw away, because one product I own might just use it.


I actually enjoy collecting them cables/adapters.


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## Deleted User (Dec 23, 2016)

i keep them. i have a 32MB and a 128MB SD card, 128MB one is in my wii, loader and small homebrew only


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## BARNWEY (Dec 23, 2016)

Ev1l0rd said:


> Ugh... me too! It's so annoying. Yes, there is supposed to be a universal port/cable (microusb to usb), but even the microUSB ports aren't always the same and have different plugability into certain devices. I have two boxes full of just cables, chargers, chargable batteries, chargers for battery chargers, earplugs and other tech junk I won't ever need, but can't throw away, because one product I own might just use it.





gnmmarechal said:


> I actually enjoy collecting them cables/adapters.


Same here. Plus, I no longer need to buy cables when I need them. Even though they get tangled often....


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## Ryccardo (Dec 23, 2016)

Non-HC cards (and even 4, 8 GB HC) have started to climb again (if you can find them). I know this the hard way having ordered an original R4 last month...

...and to be honest I don't even have that many of them. A 2GB that has been going since 2008 firmly in my old Wii, a 2GB in my Windows CE 5 tablet, the mentioned 2GB for 8 € in my DS (with flashme, ez-v 3in1, replaced shell, ...  ) and that's it, the other two ones I had burned out long ago

I do have plenty of low performance 4GB HC leftovers that were the factory original joke storage on many things from N3DS to ebook readers though!

also: about 3 summers ago, a large supermarket chain in my area was clearing out half and quarter-GB cards... at about 8 € each, I doubt they sold more than 5 out of the whole bin


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## monzamess (Dec 23, 2016)

I keep them because I like to mess around with older computers & consoles and I almost always end up digging out an old CF drive or tiny SD card for some purpose or another.


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## Hayleia (Dec 23, 2016)

I stack them into a pyramid. Post your own below


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## FAST6191 (Dec 23, 2016)

Forgot to say also.
I keep them so when I slip up and the filth work out where I am, kick down my front door and take all my computer gear, possibly after ripping up the carpet to get the ones hidden there, I then get to do denial of service on them as they have several hundred cards to fully fully image (I know about sector reallocation and can manually force it).

Also on adapters then I agree it is a heavy burden to own them. Fortunately I have younger siblings that try to relieve me of such burdens without me realising it. I guess I should be thankful at some level.


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## JeepX87 (Dec 24, 2016)

For most, I keep mine, sometime, I sold to GameStop if they accept, especially PSP memory card, so I keep all SD cards.


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## Pleng (Dec 24, 2016)

I generally lose mine


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## Sketchy1 (Jan 3, 2017)

I just slap mine into a raspberry pi 3 and play retro pi


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## sarkwalvein (Jan 3, 2017)

I am an idiot, so I keep losing the old ones or forgetting them in a pocket, then inside the washing machine and finally into the trash can.
I have achieved an ultimate rythm where I lose them at around the same pace I upgrade and get new ones, so in the end this is not a problem for me.

PS: I also hate how both my Raspberry Pi 1 and 3 don't seem to like some brands of SD cards, specifically Samsung Evo that is what I normally get for cheap, so in the end I can't use them for that.


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