Hardware SD interface really slow ?

[pachura]

Isn't it a bit strange that all the operations involving reading/writing to SD card seem to be really slow ?

E.g. 3DS startup time is already quite long, and even after the main menu shows up, you still have to wait a second or two until icons for downloaded titles appear...

The same for Nintendo Video. When you start this application, it displays "Checking SD card..." for a few good seconds. But c'mon, all it needs to do is merely check existence of 4 downloaded files on the SD card. It should take microseconds.

One explanation might be that they've intentionally crippled the SD interface on the hardware level so it could not be used for pirating retail games - i.e., so data could never be transferred from SD card as fast as from a game card.

 

[BoxmanWTF]

well considering that they all load at once, it's not that bad.
Now if they loaded one at a time each one taking longer for the file size...THAT would be a problem

 

[Seaking]

i donno about you, but my SD loading time is pretty fast.... i did put in my 4GB sd card when i got my 3DS, class 4 i think though.

 

[pachura]

well considering that they all load at once, it's not that bad.
Now if they loaded one at a time each one taking longer for the file size...THAT would be a problem

What file size ? They are only loading game icons, not full games.
The same goes for Nintendo Video - only 4 thumbnails of 4 videos are loaded, not full videos. So why the hell does it take so (relatively) long ?

 

[DiscostewSM]

It isn't just reading the SD card. It has to analyze the data to make sure they are valid. They are signed after all.

 

[Beige]

i donno about you, but my SD loading time is pretty fast.... i did put in my 4GB sd card when i got my 3DS, class 4 i think though.

Not every card is the same, though. They may list their class speed, but not every card will match. I got two 16GB Class 4 cards from the same batch and the same company. Both cards have a noticeable difference in storage and speed. One typically formats to 15.9GB and one goes to 15.1GB.