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October 12, 2005
2GB Secure Digital Cards Not Universally Compatible (Yet)
I purchased a Patriot 2GB Secure Digital card for a little over $100 and was pretty excited about it. That was until I found out that it requires any SD reader to have updated firmware. A Patriot representative said the 2GB cards now coming out used some "new technology" in it and told me that if the card wasn't recognized by a particular card reader, or it reported the card as having 1GB or less capacity, then that card reader will need a new driver to access the full 2GB.
So now I'm desperately trying to get drivers for my Panasonic laptop (integrated SD slot, about 18 months old), SanDisk 8-in-1 USB2.0 flash card reader (less than a year old), and some generic POS flash card reader (yeah, good luck). My Treo 650 supposedly supports the card by virtue of having recently updated firmware, but the card is only recognized perhaps 50% of the time it's inserted. Maybe it's faulty...hard to tell.
Update (10/19/05): It seems that 2GB cards of speeds 60X and slower seem to work much more universally than do the faster cards, like the 133X speed one from Patriot I got. So if you're having trouble, try a slower card (yes, it pains me to recommend that).