[INFO] Micro SDHC 32GB Class 10

[Kianda]

Will they work on the Clip + ?

An example of what i'm looking for:
"Mustang Micro SDHC 32GB Class 10"

http://www.mustang-memory.de/en/products/020_SDHC%20Class10.html

Thanks for answers!

[JK98]

A class 10 card will work in the Clip+, however since a 32GB class 10 card is double the price of a 32GB class 4 card, the class 10 card seems like a waste of money. The class 10 card will load faster if you put it into an adapter then in your pc, but loading it though your Clip+ might not even be faster than using a class 4 card. Class 4 or class 6 might not be much higher than class 2 cards, but for 32GB cards class 10 cards are very costly.

[Kianda]

What about "refreshing media library" or "loading songs" or whatever... inside the Clip Plus? Will they be faster with a class 10 vs a class 4 or not?

Thanks!

EDIT: Found CLass 10 for 55€ and Class 4 at 44€! Think i'll go for C. 10!

[Mikerman]

A Class 10 will be faster for your computer's copying songs onto the card (whether in the player or the computer) and for deleting files, but it will not, from what I understand, change the refresh time.

[JK98]

It might be a bit faster, however from what I have read the circuitry within the Clip+ seems to be only around class 4, so you won't get the full benefit from the class 10 card. I have only used up to class 4 cards in my Clip+. 55 quid is a cheap price if it is really a class 10 card, but 44 quid for a 4GB card seems a bit high by US pricing standards. Is the class 10 card a good brand?

[Mikerman]

And actually, I thought that I read that the Clip's circuitry is at about the speed of a Class 2 card or below.

[Kianda]

Originally Posted by JK98

It might be a bit faster, however from what I have read the circuitry within the Clip+ seems to be only around class 4, so you won't get the full benefit from the class 10 card. I have only used up to class 4 cards in my Clip+. 55 quid is a cheap price if it is really a class 10 card, but 44 quid for a 4GB card seems a bit high by US pricing standards. Is the class 10 card a good brand?

32GB Class 10 is the Mustang (Silverstone) (see 1st post)
Found also a 32GB Class 2 (SanDisk) at 38€

So... it's all about the circuitry of the Clip+ !

[Mikerman]

Well, for the Clip's accessing of the card to play, etc. But for transferring to and off of the card (in the Clip or not), a higher Class card will result in faster transfers.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by Mikerman

a higher Class card will result in faster transfers.

This only applies if the card is in a dedicated card reader that is capable of the higher speeds, not if it is in the Clip+. If the card is in the Clip+ then loading speed is limited by the Clip+ internal reader, which dfkt tested to be just about Class 2 speeds.

[JK98]

"If the card is in the Clip+ then loading speed is limited by the Clip+ internal reader, which dfkt tested to be just about Class 2 speeds. "

Perhaps the very highest end of class 2. The other day I loaded a Sandisk class 2 4GB in my Clip+ and was getting transfer rates(writing to the card) around 3.8 MB/s. Using a Kingston 4GB class 4 card I only got around 3.55 MB/s. The Sandisk card was completely empty, while the Kingston card was mostly empty. Let's see if someone responds who actually tried a class 10 card in the Clip+.

I just tested writing to the Kingston 4GB class 4 card again with the same files, this time in my pc in an adapter. I got write speeds of around 4.9 MB/s for most of the transfer, so the reader in the Clip+ is definitely a limiting factor.

I say go for a class 4 card for use in the Clip+, as it is close enough in price to a class 2 card. While some class 2 cards are almost class 4, some could be at the low end of class 2. I was surprised that my 4GB Sandisk class 2 card is almost class 4, but not all Sandisk class 2 cards may be like this.

Of course these measures are for the Clip+ in MSC mode. Don't even think about writing to a card in the Clip+ in MTP mode, as that will probably lead to problems.

[JK98]

I don't know about the Mustang(Silverstone) brand. I have not seen it being sold in the US. I usually buy Kingston, Sandisk, or Micron(Lexar) cards. While some class 2 cards such as my Sandisk 4GB class 2 are almost class 4(it had 3.8MB/s transfers when writing to it in my Clip+), other might be at the lower end of class 2. I have decided to stop buying class 2 cards. I buy class 4 cards now.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by JK98

Let's see if someone responds who actually tried a class 10 card in the Clip+.

Well, I can't try it....the only Class 10 cards I have are full size SDHC cards.

[Mikerman]

I'd kill (well, maybe not that far) for a 32GB Class 10 microSD card, to ease transfers to the card--but not at the typical price for the cards. A Class 4 card is fine enough.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by Mikerman

I'd kill (well, maybe not that far) for a 32GB Class 10 microSD card, to ease transfers to the card--but not at the typical price for the cards. A Class 4 card is fine enough.

I have no need of a 32GB microsdhc, thankfully. I have a 16GB card in my Clip+, and given it is an 8GB player, that's enough for the typical situations where I use the Clip+.

I have a 32GB card in my D2 (plus my Touch is 32GB), so my high-capacity needs are served there.

[E36/8]

I have a 16Go class 10 Sandisk, just tested it with an unfragmented file, from a SATA disk, it gave 5400 ko/s in the Clip+, instead of 10400ko/s in a card reader
(2x less time to load your music is rather interesting on large volume)

[JK98]

Originally Posted by E36/8

I have a 16Go class 10 Sandisk, just tested it with an unfragmented file, from a SATA disk, it gave 5400 ko/s in the Clip+, instead of 10400ko/s in a card reader
(2x less time to load your music is rather interesting on large volume)

ko/s? Do you mean 5,400,000 bytes per second? That is still 5.15 MB/s. If the reader in the Clip+ can go over 5 MB/s, then it should at least be able to match the 4.9 MB/s that my class 4 card gets when it is in my pc in adapter.

[E36/8]

Yeah sorry, I meant kB (forgot to translate octet (french) into byte)

[Mikerman]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

I have no need of a 32GB microsdhc, thankfully. I have a 16GB card in my Clip+, and given it is an 8GB player, that's enough for the typical situations where I use the Clip+.

I have a 32GB card in my D2 (plus my Touch is 32GB), so my high-capacity needs are served there.

When I got my first player, an iRiver HP-140, it held all my music (plus some) on its 40GB drive. I later swapped in a 60GB drive, so I could continue to carry all my music. Since then, I've been waiting for new solutions to come out, so all my music can continue to come with me--most preferably, players with 80+ (preferably, 120GB) of flash memory built in.

Any takers, you manufacturers out there?

[JK98]

I bought a Kingston 8GB class 10 microSDHC card today, as I am curious about class 10 cards, and thought it might be nice for backups. it was under $20, and only a few dollars more than a class 4 card. I tried it in the Clip+, and only got transfer rates around 4.35 MB/s for most of the transfer. In an adapter in the pc in the SD slot, the same files were transferring around 8.6 MB/s most of the time, and in a usb reader in the pc it was transferring at 7.9 MB/s most of the time. This was for an empty card transferring around 1GB of data, average file length 16MB. With Files averaging around 4MB, I got transfer rates of around 3.9 MB/s to the card in the Clip+, and around 7.7 MB/s to the card in the pc in an adapter. I am not sure why I am not getting higher transfer rates in an adaper in the pc. Could it be that I was transferring around 80 files around 16 meg each, and transferring a small number of much larger files would be so much faster? A reviewer said he got rates around 14 MB/s testing a Kinston 16GB class 10 card.

My conclusion remains the same. Get a class 4 card to use in the Clip+ unless you plan to load the songs with the card in an adapter in the pc card reader or in a usb card reader, and a class 10 card is only slightly more expensive than class 4. I did get around double the load speed for files averaging 4MB using a class 10 card in an adapter in a card reader built into my pc, rather than using a class 4 card in the Clip+ to write the files. Using a class 10 rather than a class 4 card in the clip+ only gave a write speed increase of around 20%. This does seem odd though, as the class 4 card in the reader in my pc wrote the card faster than it wrote a class 10 card in the Clip+.

For larger cards such as 16GB and 32 GB, the price difference between Kingston class 4 and class 10 cards is much greater, with the 16 GB being around $55 vs around $27, and around $110 vs around $55 for the 32 GB.

Are there any differences in reliability between class 4 and class 10 cards? Could the class 4 cards be more reliable?

[Mikerman]

Thanks for the great info.! I do wonder if SanDisk cards would provide the same data--in my experience, they have run faster (in the same class) than cards from some other manufacturers. (Of course, they also tend to be more expensive.)