32GB microSD card

I saw this very affordable 32GB microSD card and thought perhaps I should get it for my PogoPLug Pro. TBH, I don't have much experience with any microSD and/or SD cards. I sure would appreciate if anyone out here can give some pros and cons about using this microSD card to be used as a rootfs partition on a PogoPlug Pro.

Do you mean Pogoplug v4? I'm not aware if other Pogplugs have a card slot like that, although v3 Pro has a wireless mPCIe that an adapter would fit, but you shouldn't be able to boot from it.

I too wonder, not only this one, but seems to me bodhi mentioned some SanDisk 64GB (don't know if that's USB-only) have the same wear leveling controller as SSDs. Begs a lot of questions.

At first glance that Sony looks like something I'd try - consumer-level SanDisk 8GB costs the same at the drugstore here.

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I cant comment directly on the brand you are showing, as i only use Sandisk uSD cards with adaptors on my plugs
I have used uSD cards in uSD to USB adaptors (if that helps you) and to date have not had any issues.

For others who may stumble across the page i would like to mention the following

Points to watch out for (and i am sure you are aware of)
Try and limit the amount of wrtes that the system makes to the uSD, they do tend to wear out over time and DonCharisma reported that one of his did - however he did have it set up as IIRC a swap partition so with that kind of activity it really isnt surprising.

Use the uSD as a boot device and keep all storage and swap partitions on other types of medium.

This will allow the following benefits longer life of the uSD card and also the ability to prepare another uSD card for when and if you ever need to swap/upgrade the OS, on another device.

JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
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> Do you mean Pogoplug v4?
>

No, but I meant to use it on a PogoPlug Pro using a USB3 microSD card reader. Also, perhaps to use the microSD card on this ZSUN Wifi Wireless Smart Card Reader.

That adapter looks neat Gravelrash, another something to try on my next ebay mission. I'm probably nutz for asking, but do you set an OS to operate read-only using a secure card? I only ask because I've heard of read-only OS's but it's beyond my skill set.

@ habibie attached is a screenshot of the link you provided. I haven't had a picture of my sister in ages so I'll print the lady on the left in the meantime.

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I received my order for the 32GB microSD card. I did some tests using this Fight Flash Fraud (F3) utility with a USB2 microSD adapter on a USB2 port and found the average R/W throughput is about 17.43/6.76 MBps with a 30 GB verified capacity as shown below. AFAICT, this 32 GB microSD card isn't really bad for its price.

[debian@debian:/opt/openwrt-git-trunk 46%] ~ f3write /media/9016-4EF8/
Free space: 30.00 GB
Creating file 1.h2w ... OK!                          
Creating file 2.h2w ... OK!                          
Creating file 3.h2w ... OK!                        
Creating file 4.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 5.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 6.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 7.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 8.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 9.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 10.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 11.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 12.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 13.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 14.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 15.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 16.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 17.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 18.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 19.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 20.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 21.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 22.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 23.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 24.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 25.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 26.h2w ... OK!                         
Creating file 27.h2w ... OK!                        
Creating file 28.h2w ... OK!                        
Creating file 29.h2w ... OK!                        
Creating file 30.h2w ... OK!                        
Creating file 31.h2w ... OK!
Free space: 0.00 Byte
Average writing speed: 6.76 MB/s
67.496u+169.926s=1:22:11.31e(4.8%) TDSavg=0k+0k+0k max=1228k 2015+62966848io 0pf+0sw
[debian@debian:/opt/openwrt-git-trunk 47%] ~ f3read /media/9016-4EF8/
                  SECTORS      ok/corrupted/changed/overwritten
Validating file 1.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 2.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 3.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 4.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 5.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 6.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 7.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 8.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 9.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 10.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 11.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 12.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 13.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 14.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 15.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 16.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 17.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 18.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 19.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 20.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 21.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 22.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 23.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 24.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 25.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 26.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 27.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 28.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 29.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 30.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 31.h2w ...    6080/        0/      0/      0

  Data OK: 30.00 GB (62920640 sectors)
Data LOST: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
	       Corrupted: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
	Slightly changed: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
	     Overwritten: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
Average reading speed: 17.43 MB/s
84.265u+31.393s=29:22.44e(6.5%) TDSavg=0k+0k+0k max=1228k 62920968+0io 0pf+0sw
[debian@debian:/opt/openwrt-git-trunk 48%] ~ 

I mentioned that to the manager at Best Buy today thought it to be quite a clever idea. I've had an incomplete thought developing, to have a separate USB stick for swap, label it SWAP and let that be hammered into oblivion. To that end, if I were to switch over to SD cards/adapter, I'd have plenty of 8GB sticks for re purposing.

What cool little computers though, I can't get over it.

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As an afterthought, on one hand we're dealing with Linux, an operating system with zero tolerance for an undotted i or an uncrossed t.
And on the other hand, the read/write specs of storage medium is quite eccentric.

If they say 70 MB/sec reads and you're only getting 17 MB/sec, and most of my sticks are 12 MB/sec reads tops...

Put it this way, in the world of USB sticks and SD cards, what storage is highest to USB 2.0's real world limit, any idea?

I'm really close to having an Aha! moment, but it's not here yet. Still, for $8 not a bad deal for that 32GB h. My last USB stick was $8 for half that size and half that speed, so you're the one to watch habibie :-)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2016 09:49PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
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> Put it this way, in the world of USB sticks and SD
> cards, what storage is highest to USB 2.0's real
> world limit, any idea?

In the world of storage medium, its not unusual for many manufacturers to quote the buffered capability of the device as opposed to the raw speed of the device........ its rather like when a mahufacturer quotes capacity.

1GB in manufacturing speak is not the same as 1GB in geek speak.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2016 06:49AM by Gravelrash.

Now, there are more vendors selling 32/64 GB (micro)SD cards under $8 - $30.

1. 32GB Sony Class 10 70MB/s SDHC Memory Card $7.99
2. 2-Pack 32GB Sony SDHC Class 10 UHS-1 Memory Cards $13.99
3. 32GB Sony Class 10 UHS-1 Micro SDHC 70MB/s Memory Card $8.49
4. 2-Pack 32GB Sony microSDHC Class 10 UHS-1 Memory Cards $15.99
5. 64GB Sony 70MB/s Class 10 SDXC Memory Card $15.99
6. 2-Pack 64GB Sony SDXC Class 10 UHS-1 Memory Cards $24.99
7. 64GB Sony SDXC CLASS 10 UHS-1 R95 Memory Card $29.99

I don't meant to contradict anyone, but I thought Don Charisma had a blowout on a SanDisk Fit, which is so tiny it pretty much fits IN the USB jack, and is hard to dig out without a little lanyard. The reason I bring that up, is I have three 16GB PNY USB 2.0 clones, that are on the slow side but get quite hot in a Pogoplug USB port. I wondered if it's just plain hot in there and a conventional USB stick has more metal that conducts heat away from the circuit board? Mine felt like 150 degrees F so I never tried that again.

But what's the actual advantage of SD cards then, they read fast and reliable but aren't so good at multiple writes?

You'll notice I'm obsessed with the weakest links in a system because of good results over the years in various areas.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2016 10:51PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

Gents, did you know, concerning SD Cards:

"All cards incorporate DRM copy-protection. Roughly 10% of the storage capacity of an SD card is a "Protected Area" not available to the user, but is used by the on-card processor to verify the identity of an application program that it then allows to read protected content. The card prohibits other accesses, such as users trying to make copies of protected files. (Reformatting an SD card may erase this Protected Area...)"
SOURCE:

I'm not sure what to think after reading that. But that Wikipedia page is a good read. You wonder if Snort picks up stuff like that or if there's web interactions. It even makes me wonder if hard drives are programmed to fail if there's pirated stuff all over the place? You're forced to swap drives for a replacement, and The Man™ sees your drive contains black-listed copyrighted material such as a YouTube video before they pulled it for copyright violation. And 600,000 more like it. But I ramble...

In the end, SD stands for Secure Digital. And my two WD Passport Ultras have a dedicates chip to encrypt stuff, but SD cards, if they're killing transfer speeds to serve interests of -=not the owner of the card=- , that's darn near close to crossing the line.

So do you reckon that's another reason Ext3 read-write speeds are faster than NTFS?

Tell me what you reckon.

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JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gents, did you know, concerning SD Cards:
>
> "All cards incorporate DRM copy-protection.
> Roughly 10% of the storage capacity of an SD card
> is a "Protected Area" not available to the user,
> but is used by the on-card processor to verify the
> identity of an application program that it then
> allows to read protected content. The card
> prohibits other accesses, such as users trying to
> make copies of protected files. (Reformatting an
> SD card may erase this Protected Area...)"
> [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital#
> Real-world_performance]SOURCE:[/url]
>
Does this mean I can download copyrighted song and can play it?

Legally yes, so long as the content is copyrighted in your name or you have permission.

The fact that everything from Government to Medical has been compromised despite these "protections" is.... commonplace.

I struggle to remember, was it the late 90's, and it was first announced someone invented a copyright protection that was un-compromisable, and the next day second announcement said a professor noticed if you hit the Insert key at the right time it bypassed the protections.

Some people encrypt their whole Linux installations, that might be a great idea, I'm not saying all protections are bad, but not at the point where my data transfers, I don't want Wall Street internally throttling my LAN transfers, right?

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2016 03:06PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

How will the program know if the file is illegal?

No clue here, nor if it's a Wikipedia urban legend in the making. My first impulse ws to think someone is confusing the NTFS file system and how some stuff is off limits, but I know Windows by default has a Service running in the background that deals with portable devices for the purpose of DRM. I always turn that off anyway, but I don't know if this applies at all to Linux, nor if a full format wipes out any form of Linux DRM???

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IC.

@both

fdisk and repartitioning in Linux, generally tends to eliminate all manufacture placed software and software based limitations/emhancements.

Note: software as in filesystem based restrictions, not firmware.






EDIT 2 : NM



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2016 04:53PM by Gravelrash.

SD card reader speed depends from various factors:
-SD card flash speed (class 10 in your case, should be higher than 10 MB/s),
-from SD-adapter interface (the SD can go up to UHS-I interface, again higher than 10 MB/s)
-USB speed (top USB2.0 speed in real world is 30 MB/s, it's awesome if something can go beyond 25 MB/s).
-inherent crappyness of adapter

From my experience, people always fails to give the proper importance to the SD-to-adapter interface.
Read here https://www.sdcard.org/developers/overview/bus_speed/

That is, cheapo USB 2.0 adapters don't have UHS-I interface (or are not that good themselves), so the speeds are meh even if the card itself could do much more.

If you want to be sure your adapter isn't garbage, get a USB 3.0 one, or one that plainly states that it supports UHS-I interface.

I got one of these for my NSA325v2 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trust-High-Speed-Micro-Reader/dp/B00K3HFB0Y

>But what's the actual advantage of SD cards then, they read fast and reliable but aren't so good at multiple writes?

SD cards are basically the same as a USB flash drive without the usb controller, designed to be placed in embedded devices that don't feel the need/space/power to place/control a USB interface for them. Neither lasts long under many writes, but they do have some wear-leveling and nowadays the do last quite long if you don't write GBs to them daily (like for example Openmediavault does, and the drives die within a year).

With a good reader, they perform like a USB flash drive. I've even seen "usb flash drives" that under the plastic cover were actually a micro usb SD card reader with a SD card soldered on it.

>I have three 16GB PNY USB 2.0 clones, that are on the slow side but get quite hot in a Pogoplug USB port.

I have 2x 32GB PNY USB2.0 that are slow (also ridicolous mount times, something like 7 seconds after I insert them they finally show up as storage devices) and overheat A LOT as well. I assume they are total garbage as even my old 1GB kingston flash drive is faster.

>Put it this way, in the world of USB sticks and SD cards, what storage is highest to USB 2.0's real world limit, any idea?

With a Sony usb 3.0 16GB flash drive I get 100 MB/s read and 10-15 MB/s write (on USB3.0 of course), so, if you want a flash drive that can actually saturate USB 2.0, go for USB 3.0 ones and don't look back.

bobafetthotmail Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With a Sony usb 3.0 16GB flash drive I get 100
> MB/s read and 10-15 MB/s write (on USB3.0 of
> course), so, if you want a flash drive that can
> actually saturate USB 2.0, go for USB 3.0 ones and
> don't look back.
>

May be, this PNY Turbo 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive - P-FD64GTBOP-GE will do?

@ Gravelrash: point well taken!

@ bobafetthotmail: you exhaustively nailed it. Thanks!

@ habibie: that exact PNY Turbo 64GB is great for USB 2.0 for 1 1/2 years now. Tested using USBDeview it reads at 31.70 MB/Sec and writes at 19.04 MB/Sec. Happens to be the fastest USB stick I've ever tested on a USB 2.0 computer. My first ever USB 3.0 (PCIE) card should be in the mailbox tomorrow.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2016 02:57PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

Joey, thank you for the heads up.

Several friends already told me that using a USB3 microSD card reader on a USB2 port will tremendously improve the R/W throughputs. Can anyone confirm this? If so, I certainly don't mind to invest on this 5Gbps Super Speed USB 3.0 MicroSD card reader to use it on my PogoPlug 02 with the 32GB microSD card.

Based on the same idea as a USB 3 stick plugged-in, it looks that way in theory more than a reason not to.
You saw the numbers on my PNY Turbo, it's faster than one efficient, highly optimized Hitachi hard drive specified as USB 2.0.

Me? I say pull the trigger x2, you only live once. You'll probably use it anyway in the near future. THEN test those SD cards claiming 90 MB/s and see, maybe they're grounded in fact.

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> Several friends already told me that using a USB3 microSD card reader on a USB2 port will tremendously improve the R/W throughputs.

Yes. As said above, it's not the USB 3.0 but the fact that the reader is probably using UHS-I interface with SD card (and better overall quality of the controller), since it has to justify the use of a USB 3.0 interface/controller.

>I certainly don't mind to invest on this 5Gbps Super Speed USB 3.0 MicroSD card reader to use it on my PogoPlug 02 with the 32GB microSD card.

I'd say to stop buying non-branded stuff from aliexpress if you need decent performance. Seriously, you get what you paid for.

>it's faster than one efficient, highly optimized Hitachi hard drive specified as USB 2.0.

That's probably the enclosure's USB 2.0 controller fault (usb hits a hard limit around 30 mb/s). The hard drive inside can reach much more than that. Change the HDD enclosure with one that has a USB 3.0 port, and see how speed improves. Won't go better than high-end USB flash cards/usb.

I would try another enclosure but it's a G-Connect, and it's a better gamble to keep the onboard gigabit LAN and wireless intact. But then again the G-connect is the highest performing USB 2.0 device I have as well. Everything else has appalling transfer speeds. And why it is it takes USB 3.0-specified devices to hug the top end of USB 2.0's specifications? I don't know, but some of these things, we've got to put in perspective. I know of many people at the bars/night clubs right now, just throwing money to the wind and going to feel bad all day tomorrow. It's safe to say a $50 evening, give or take most of that.

So for us to experiment $5-50 at a time is a lot more rewarding me thinks. Even one of those Orange Pi $50 specials with 2GB RAM, Gigabit Ethernet and SATA II, compare how far that money will take a person vs arguing at the bar.

I'm getting off topic, but we shouldn't criticize people too badly for hands-in testing, after all they usually share the result and we all benefit.

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Holly Cow! Now, Rakuten is selling this Sony 32GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDHC up to 70MB/s Memory Card (SF32UY2) - SF32UY2/TQ for $5.99 + FREE S/H, too.