TopRam 32GB SDHC Class 6

[John Hedgecoe]

I just bought this off Amazon.com for $105, complete with an SDHC card reader.

Amazon.com: TOPRAM 32GB CLASS 6 SDHC HIGH SPEED FLASH MEMORY CARD + USB 2.0 SDHC FLASH CARD READER #R3: Electronics

I am currently in Florida, while my EX1, 16GB Transcend cards and MxR adapters are in Bangkok, so I cannot test this... yet!

But I have curious results from the Crystal DiskMark v2.2 utility...

A: Put card into card reader and plug into USB port of computer and run DiskMark....

Seq Read: 19.90 Write: 11.59 MB/s
512K Read: 19.45 Write: 1.950 MB/s
4K Read: 3.245 Write: 0.018 MB/s


B: Same as A, but FULL format of card in computer BEFORE running DiskMark...

Seq Read: 50.00 Write: 39.57 MB/s
512K Read: 30.42 Write: 25.30 MB/s
4K Read: 0.564 Write: 1.330 MB/s

C: Same as A, but QUICK format of card in computer BEFORE running DiskMark...

Seq Read: 19.91 Write: 11.56 MB/s
512K Read: 19.47 Write: 1.940 MB/s
4K Read: 3.220 Write: 0.018 MB/s


These numbers, especially B, are very very repeatable.
Doing a full format, dismounting the card reader and remounting yields B results.
Note: not dismounting properly yields A results.

Can anyone explain what is going on?

The only conclusion I can draw from this is... format in camera prior to each use (which I do anyway). But why is B so dramatically faster than A or C?

Based on the numbers, it looks like the TopRam 32GB SDHC Class 6 card *should* work in the EX1. Guess I'll find out when I get back to Bangkok in April.

Has anyone tried these cards in the EX1/3?

Thanks.

John

[James Venturi]

I picked up 2 from amazon. I'll let you know how they do.

[John Hedgecoe]

Thanks. It took about a week and a half for mine to arrive. I am also debating if I should buy a second card. If they don't work in the EX1 I guess I can always use them in my digital cameras.

[Ted OMalley]

Originally Posted by John Hedgecoe

If they don't work in the EX1 I guess I can always use them in my digital cameras.

Ha! You'll never need to empty them - they'll easily hold over 100,000 pics!! (Okay, maybe 50,000 if you shoot RAW)

[Ross Herewini]

Originally Posted by John Hedgecoe

Thanks. It took about a week and a half for mine to arrive. I am also debating if I should buy a second card. If they don't work in the EX1 I guess I can always use them in my digital cameras.

Hi John,

I did try the 16GB TOPRAM, and they weren't recognised by the MxR card.

I then tried reformatting it like you did, and tried again, still no luck.

It's a pity, because they are reasonably priced cards.

That is a curious result with the speed tests. When you did a full format how long did it take? I wonder if the card is building up a bad, or slow sector list as it goes.

I wonder how long it could keep those data rates up for of nearly 40MB/s?

[James Venturi]

I just picked up 2 of these cards from Amazon at a heafty $272 each. I will let you know the results.

Jim

[Craig Seeman]

I bought two 32GB Sandisk Ultra II SDHC cards at $150 each. They work fine. I can understand experimenting because something might be less expensive but I can't see paying more to take that risk.

BTW the place that I bought them at for $150 now has them for $129 but they're temporarily out of stock.

I'm posting the link because unfortunately the DVinfo sponsors I checked do not carry the card.
Sandisk SDSDRH-032G-A11 Ultra II SDHC 32GB High Performance Card in Secure Digital Memory Cards at JR.com

[James Venturi]

No one has them. They are out everywhere.

[Craig Seeman]

In stock at $219... YOUCH! UK and EU sales too apparently though.
Sandisk 32GB Ultra II SDHC High Performance Secure Digital SD Card: Pre-Order Now and be the first one to receive It (Estmated Release Date 3/7/09)

Even Sandisk doesn't have them in stock. Some places showing an apparent ship date of around March 7.

[Craig Seeman]

$276 and they're not even in stock. This is the highest out of stock price I've seen.
Flash Memory Cards - SanDisk 32GB Ultra II Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) High Performance Card (Sandisk) - eCOST.com - electronics, computers, laptops, mp3 players

To heck with investing in gold. I taking all my loose change and getting as many of these as I can. They'll be up to $1000 each in no time. Looks like a great hedge against the bad economy. If this keeps up they'll be more expensive than SxS cards!

[John Hedgecoe]

Originally Posted by Craig Seeman

I bought two 32GB Sandisk Ultra II SDHC cards at $150 each. They work fine. I can understand experimenting because something might be less expensive but I can't see paying more to take that risk.

BTW the place that I bought them at for $150 now has them for $129 but they're temporarily out of stock.

I'm posting the link because unfortunately the DVinfo sponsors I checked do not carry the card.
Sandisk SDSDRH-032G-A11 Ultra II SDHC 32GB High Performance Card in Secure Digital Memory Cards at JR.com

That's a class 4 card. Will those work? I thought we needed a class 6 card.

[Craig Seeman]

Originally Posted by John Hedgecoe

That's a class 4 card. Will those work? I thought we needed a class 6 card.

It's been working. I've been using it for close to a couple of months. No problem. You really can't judge by "class" because there's marketing spin in there. In fact the Sandisk Ultra II 32GB is actually CLASS 2 according to Sandisk. They've lowered it since they were initially marketed. It's the sustained write times that mean something. In fact if Class 6 kept to Class 6 specs, they wouldn't work... and most don't. The write speeds have to be much higher than that. That's why so many Class 6 cards do NOT work with the EX. If you've been following this and other forums, Sandisk Ultra II is one of the very few that DO work.

It's Sandisk Ultra and Extreme (but no extra benefit to that), Transcend Class 6, supposedly Kingston Class 6 (although I haven't actually seen any posts by anyone using them). That's it.

Is there sense to listing the scores of others that don't?

That's why these "have you tried . . . " posts are frustrating. I have a hunch if someone HAD tried it would have been posted (given we're such a forward group). We can create a "have you tried" list that could fill an entire page of the forum, I suspect, there are so many cards out there. If no one is reporting success and/or you haven't tried yourself, it's safe to assume failure.

[Ross Herewini]

Originally Posted by Craig Seeman

It's been working. I've been using it for close to a couple of months. No problem. You really can't judge by "class" because there's marketing spin in there. In fact the Sandisk Ultra II 32GB is actually CLASS 2 according to Sandisk. They've lowered it since they were initially marketed. It's the sustained write times that mean something. In fact if Class 6 kept to Class 6 specs, they wouldn't work... and most don't. The write speeds have to be much higher than that. That's why so many Class 6 cards do NOT work with the EX. If you've been following this and other forums, Sandisk Ultra II is one of the very few that DO work.

It's Sandisk Ultra and Extreme (but no extra benefit to that), Transcend Class 6, supposedly Kingston Class 6 (although I haven't actually seen any posts by anyone using them). That's it.

Is there sense to listing the scores of others that don't?

That's why these "have you tried . . . " posts are frustrating. I have a hunch if someone HAD tried it would have been posted (given we're such a forward group). We can create a "have you tried" list that could fill an entire page of the forum, I suspect, there are so many cards out there. If no one is reporting success and/or you haven't tried yourself, it's safe to assume failure.

Hi Craig,

We have been working on a list of cards that do and don't work, and it came down to just a few that did.

I've loaded a PDF of the testing we did, not just on computers, but in real life on wedding shoots, and this is what we got.

What stands out is just how fast the SxS card is. No wonder it can write 720p x 60 frames on a fragmented card. But as they say, that's not the only show in town....

Just as a note, I had trouble getting the Photofast to be recognised, and it took a few formats to make it work. I was just about to throw it into the heap with the other costly mistakes, when I gave it one more go, Bingo! I've tested two and they work fine now, but hesitate to recommend others to risk it as well.

HTH

[James Venturi]

I tested ... No luck.

[John Hedgecoe]

Originally Posted by Ted OMalley

Ha! You'll never need to empty them - they'll easily hold over 100,000 pics!! (Okay, maybe 50,000 if you shoot RAW)

LOL...

Not quite, just over 900 as my camera generates 35MB raw files.