SanDisk 512 MB Type H xD-Picture Card (SDXDH-512-A10, Retail Package) – Customer Reviews
Faster than Type M xD cards
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The xD "Picture Card" flash card comes in three flavors: standard (up to 512MB), Type M (512MB, 1GB, 2GB), and Type H (512MB or 1GB).The "H" stands for "high speed" and is the latest format allowing in theory for reads and writes up to 3 times as fast as Type M cards.Interestingly, Type M xD cards are 20% slower than "standard" 256MB or 512MB xD cards.For capacity 512MB or above, you won't find any more standard xD's; you'll find only M or H ones.
To see if your Fujifilm or Olympus camera is compatible with an M or H card, go to their websites and check out the compatibility charts.(Amazon doesn't allow links so I can't include them here but you can e-mail me if you can't find the compatibility charts.)
The SanDisk 512MB "H" card, which I use in my excellent Fuji F30 camera, is quite reliable (but see caveat below).It's definitely faster than the old Sandisk 512MB "M" card I had but I doubt it's even twice as fast.The problem with xD cards greater than 256MB is both "M" and "H" cards compress data which explain the slowness relative to high-speed Secure Digital, Memory Stick Duo and Compact Flash cards.For most applications xD cards are still plenty fast; occasionally, when you shoot in continuous mode, you might experience some problems.
When you buy a Sandisk (or Fujifilm or Olympus) in store, be sure to get a package that's marked "Made in Japan."Only two companies actually manufacture the xD cards: Toshiba of Japan and Samsung of South Korea.Samsung cards, in my experience, have serious quality problems and *WILL* fail sooner rather than later.Toshiba ones are much more reliable; none of my Toshiba-made cards have failed even under heavy usage.Therefore, you should never trust xD cards that are marked "Made in S. Korea."Be sure to shop around until you find Toshiba ("made in Japan") cards.This tip will save you lots of precious memories and from lots of headaches later on.Unfortuantely, this verification is hard to do when you shop on Amazon or online; I can only say "good luck"!At least you have 30 days to return or exchange when you buy from Amazon.10/16/2006 12:00 AM | Rating:
