As there are flash cards rated for 300x speed, just asking if anyone had tried using for flash storage instead of flash drive. I bought a new "180x stated" flash drive, but it writes my data at about 1.5mbs. (My older 80x stated drive is actually a bit faster, surprisingly.) It's so slow partly because the data includes about 50% very small files... I've wondered whether a flash card designed for a camera might be faster in a card reader than today's flash drives.. Comments?
No direct experience, but I have been researching flash based HD camcorders and I have seen multiple references in product info to transfer rates of 17 and 24 mbps depending on video quality settings. I do not know if those rates would be achievable in non- video use. sony pro duo memory cards specifically mentioned those rates.
I was just in chat with Lexar.... they have UDMA 300x flash cards which they claim 45Mbs sustained write. However for camera use the camera would have to be UDMA compatible... also, to get those speeds you'd need a UDMA card reader... I think I'm going to give it a try..
I would consider where you intend to use it and if the drivers are in WinXP or if you need to carry drivers with it (on a thumb drive?). If it's just for you in your office/ operting environment and is plug and play I can't see any reason not to go for it. I have not tried any speed tests on writing/ reading on flash cards. I enjoy my simple little thumb drive which I carry around the US and overseas. It's amazing how much those things hold these days.
Drivers shouldn't be a problem... generic USB 2.0 on WinXP. They wouldn't be as durable as a flash drive for porting around, of course, but I thought I'd try it just to back up my MetaStock data folders... there are rebates on the cards right now and a really good deal. There is even a Firewire version of the reader if you've got Firewire on your rig... I haven't tried speed test on flash cards, but as these are primarily for cameras I was thinking they might write faster. My fastest flash drive writes at only about 1.5MBs on the MetaStock data... that's because half of the files are very small.
I would think you could go somewhere like Wikipedia to find out which style (type) of flash card writes at what speed.
You probably could, but likely the info would be dated. The Lexar 300x is a new high speed product... 4GB cards retail normally for $120... that's quite expensive for flash... so hopefully it really IS fast...