Hacking Which Micro SD's can work?

[DomaGB]

Well after a few days thnking, I finally decided to get the AceKard 2 from Deal Extreme. I decided not to get the AK2i because the chances of me owning a DSi are slim.

It's now time to prepare for the card. I have 3 Mini SuperCards already for my GBA's and therefore have several Mini SD's and Micro SD's. Not sure how many of each, but I know I have at least 1 if not more Micro's. All 2GB and non HC, just regular.

Can I use my 2G Micro SD's? Should I get some Micro HCSD's? and how high of Gigs can this puppy take?

It was rumored the SuperCard could take a 4GB, and found one, but it didn't take (that's a Mini, so I can't use it here). So how high can the AK2 take? I doubt I will go for higher than 2G, as I am a penny pincher, unless I can get higher for the same price somewhere. I been paying under $6.00 for the ones I been getting.

Will I have to get a HC reader/writer? I have 4 or 5 here. Not sure if they are HC compatible, are they usually? Got them all off Ebay looking for regular readers. And I have 3 types. And I have 2 more (of the same type) in the mail on the way from Ebay auctions right now.

 

[Masked Ranger]

MiniSD cards won't fit the AceKard (had to refresh my memory on the sizes). Your Micro SDHC card will work fine. Just remember to install the firmware (typically AceKard's but other people swear by Akaio) on each micro. Last time I checked, SDHC goes up to 32GB. Most cards that are greater than 4GB are SDHC. Dealextreme has no-name 4GB cards for $6.81 as of this post. Your current micro readers should be fine.

 

[Leonidas]

You will be fine with a 2GB microSD card. Currently I even use a 1GB Sandisk which works just fine. I don't think you really need SDHC cards. 2GB regular can hold up to 30 games, that should be enough, unless you want to run multimedia files (video, music). From what I recall, Acekard 2 supports up to 16GB msdhc cards.

 

[DomaGB]

Yeah I don't have any SDHC, and I knew I couldn't use my Mini's (just mentioned I had em, but I do have at least 3 Micro's.

Is there any advantage to using SDHC? I know the higher cards usualy are SDHC, but not always so. I know of 4 GB that are not, and some 2GB that are.

And the AK 2 supports up to 16G?

Thanks!

 

[Hakoda]

Yeah I don't have any SDHC, and I knew I couldn't use my Mini's (just mentioned I had em, but I do have at least 3 Micro's.

Is there any advantage to using SDHC? I know the higher cards usualy are SDHC, but not always so. I know of 4 GB that are not, and some 2GB that are.

And the AK 2 supports up to 16G?

Thanks!

SDHC have different classes which have different speeds. If you're going with SDHC card I suggest class 6 (fastest speed [6MB/s] available in SDHC cards). Some people have had problems getting 16GB SDHC Class 6 SDs to work but I think it based on their ignorance of formatting a card with the Panasonic SD Formatter (link in the AKAIO Wiki) Good Luck.

~ Jon

 

[CannonFoddr]

I'm not 100% sure about this - perhaps some1 more knowledgeable will confirm/deny this.

I believe SDHC cards have a speed rating on them (Class 2,3,4 etc) - the higher the number the faster the read/write speed (& of course the higher the price) while standard SD cards are (usually) all around the same speed (Some high quality manufacturers do have slightly faster read/write speeds - but how they achieve this I don't know)

Unless you're going to use video playback a lot I can't see the reason for using a faster speed SDHC, as the standard speed seems adequate enough.

 

[DomaGB]

Video is indeed very important to me. I have converted over 100 videos for my kids to watch on their GBA SP's with the SuperCard. They absolutely love watching on the GBA, even tho everyone says the quality is bad. How much more if the quality is better on the DS Lite?! So I took a peek around and found some 8Gb and 16GB. And see them pretty cheap. Unfortunately every Micro SD I looked at at Deal Extreme is sold out! So I am looking elsewhere.

So it sounds like 16GB is the max for the AK2. Folks said 4Gb is the max for the SuperCard, and most had problems with that, I did! I will try to use the 16 if I get one and see. I used a special formatter for my 4GB and it didn't work. But the issue with that was some were known to work with the SuperCards and others did not. I tried an untested one, I got cheap and took a chance.

 

[Leonidas]

SDHC means SD with High Capacity, all 4GB or higher cards should be SDHC by default now. Unlike regular SD cards, which are all class 2, the SDHC can be class 2,4 or 6, which determines their write speeds. Unfortunately what matter most is read speeds and random access times, so class doesn't necessarily mean a better card. You also need to consider, that having a larger capacity means you have more data on it, and it means more damage in case something goes wrong. That's why I prefer several smaller micro SD cards. Afterall, flashcarts are cheap chinese plastic, so you cannot expect high quality.