SD Memory cards that we have tested

[NewIT_Marcus]

These are the SD cards that we've tested. Please feel free to add comments regarding SD cards that you have tested, or if you want to know if a particular model works. We can't guarantee that we can locate and test all, but if we can find it at the right price, we may give it a go.

Manufacturer	Model	Marketing Capacity	Measured Capacity	Comment
play.com	?	2G	?	External storage: success. not tested for booting
Sandisk	Class 2 SDHC	4G	3,965,190,144 bytes	SD boot: success
Sandisk	Class 2 SDHC	8G	?	SD boot: success
Kingston	Class 6 SDHC	4G	4,016,046,080 bytes	SD boot: success.

The Kingston 4G Class 6 SDHC cards are the ones that we include when selling a pre-configured SD-booting SheevaPlug.

2009-11-23:
Modified to incorporate an actual capacity column.

We realised (better late than never) that if we are going to be working with SD card image files, that we would have problems copying (using dd an oversized image to an undersized card).

There are at least two strategies that we could use to alleviate the problem:

• Stick to the same model of SD card all the time
• Use small cards for development / testing, then make an image from this "small" card and if we then copy to a larger card for customers, then at least the image will fit (at the cost of wasting a portion of the capacity)

We prefer the second strategy, since we expect to end up with a few images as we continue to work on different configurations.

Therefore the actual capacity of each card is of great interest and relvance. We'll try to remember to add and improve the information in this table.

[akc42]

I am using a Lexar "Premium Series" 4G SDHC 60x class 4

Works perfectly

[Percival P Plugsley]

Kingston 8GB Class 6 NOT working -
mmc0: error -110 whilst initialising SD card

I had a quick look at the plugcomputer forum but the comments are over 6 months old, so I'm loathe to do any kernel changes - does anyone at NewIT have any ideas?

Additional info - I have the Ubuntu 9.04 non-SD pre-install.
The card was less than 13 quid from Amazon - bizarrely half the price of the 4GB version but now worthless 

[NewIT_Marcus]

It seems that some cards work and some don't. Actually, I've yet to find a card that doesn't work; I guess we've just been lucky. But if you look around on the plugcomputer.org forum, you'll discover that many have found incompatible cards.

We really should add info about the Integral cards we're currently supplying (Ultima Pro Class 6).

[Percival P Plugsley]

Thanks, Marcus - I should have done a bit more research, I suppose - I can always use the 8 gigger for ReadyBoost on the wife's laptop.

Just to confirm - will this be OK? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Integral-4GB-Ultima-Card-SDHC/dp/B001M0O2CO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1262420356&sr=8-2

[NewIT_Marcus]

That looks identical to the ones we're using.

[Percival P Plugsley]

OK so after long snow-break, my Integral 4GB Ultima Pro card finally arrived but it doesn't work in the plug 

I can read it OK on my Ubuntu PC and formatted it to ext2 but when I insert it into the plug it reports:

Code:

end_request: I/O error, dev mmcblk0, sector 7
Buffer I/O error on device mmcblk0, logical block 0
mmcblk0: retrying using single block read
mmcblk0: error -110 sending read/write command, response 0x400b00, card status 0x400b00

repeatedly for various sectors and I can't mount the card.

Given that this is the 2nd card I've tried and both work on other machines, does this indicate a fault with the plug card socket or is there some additional debugging I can try?

[NewIT_Marcus]

In a test, these are the messages spewed when inserting an (ext2) formatted SD card into an already up & running plug:

Code:

error -110 whilst initialising SD card
mmc0: error -110 whilst initialising SD card
mmc0: error -110 whilst initialising SD card
mmc0: error -110 whilst initialising SD card
mmc0: error -110 whilst initialising SD card
mmc0: error -110 whilst initialising SD card
mmc0: error -110 whilst initialising SD card
mmc0: error -84 whilst initialising SD card

Once it settles down (around 5 seconds), mounting becomes possible:

Code:

mkdir /mnt/sd-test
mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/sd-test

After unmounting and removing the card, the mmc0: error -110 (etc) error messages are not re-sent, and re-mounting is again straightforward.

I don't have any blank / unformatted cards here right now, so I can't test for "normal" messages in response to insertion of such a card.

If your plug consistently refuses to recognise any SD cards, write to sales@newit.co.uk and tell us the serial number of your plug and the models of cards that you have tested, what procedures you have used, and how you are trying to mount the card (you can use my example as a test that ought to work - /dev/mmcblk0p1 is partition #1 on an SD card and /dev/mmcblk0p2 is partition #2 (etc).

[raj123]

Does anybody know if Class 10 SD Card is working with Sheeva plug?

[drbob49]

Not sure if it's strictly relevant as it refers to Micro SD cards but it's an interesting article which makes the point that even big-name brands are not always what they seem:

http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=918

Bob

[alfon]

I have successfully tested the following cards in my plug. Both boot without problems:

- Verbatim SDHC class 6, 16 GB
Manufacturer:       0x27, OEM "PH"
Product name:       "SD16G", revision 2.0
Serial number:      2952794544
Manufacturing date: 1/2009
CRC:                0x00, b0 = 0

- Kingston SDHC class 4, 4 GB
Manufacturer:       0x02, OEM "TM"
Product name:       "SD04G", revision 5.1
Serial number:      3064348467
Manufacturing date: 11/2009
CRC:                0x00, b0 = 0

I have included the additional info, as shown by the plug at boot, in view of the article whose link drbob49 posted. If you are interested, I can also post total capacity, provided you tell me how you measure it (in order to have meaningful results, all cards should be measured in the same way, I guess).

Best regards,
Alf

[ubogdan]

KingMax SDHC 16 GB Class 6

Running ubuntu 9.04 on it as root file system . This is from /var/log/messages :

Jun 19 17:44:58 ubuntu kernel: mmc0: mvsdio driver initialized, lacking card detect (fall back to polling)
Jun 19 17:44:58 ubuntu kernel: mmc0: host does not support reading read-only switch. assuming write-enable.
Jun 19 17:44:58 ubuntu kernel: mmc0: new high speed SDHC card at address 0002
Jun 19 17:44:58 ubuntu kernel: mmcblk0: mmc0:0002 SD04G 15.4 GiB
Jun 19 17:44:58 ubuntu kernel:  mmcblk0: p1 p2

[NewIT_Marcus]

We've hit a snag with a recent batch of Integral Ultima class 6 SDHC cards. Although there is nothing to differentiate them in marketing, labelling or packaging from the previous batches we have received, they are not behaving well at all. Although performance of some operations (i.e. dd) appears to be as before, decompressing a rootfs to a mounted card was taking 40 minutes instead of about 6 minutes. Booting from these cards is about 10 seconds slower. We don't consider the performance of these cards to be acceptable and I am currently testing Transcend class 10 cards (with more success).

The other problem that has occurred with the Integral Ultima cards has been that the capacity has varied over the several batches that we have bought. We've adjusted the sizes of our SD card images whenever this has happened, and that's a pain. It remains to be seen, if we start using the Transcend cards, whether the capacity will be more stable.

[trampjuice]

Whats the update on the card situation?
I have bought a SDHC 'Traveller' High Speed 4GB Class 6 from the local ADLI.

I installed Debian Squeeze on it and everything appeared to work fine until I reboot and get loads of mmcblk0 errors -110, so i reinstall everything and it can be up for days but the minute I take it down and reboot its spewing errors again.

I should be getting a guruplug in a few days and have the same sort of questions about the microSD card in its slot.

[NewIT_Marcus]

Whats the update on the card situation?

An update on the Integral Ultimas? We are returning them to the supplier. None have been sent out to our customers.

Our current batch is Transcend class 10. They are noticeably faster than the cards we've used before.

I have bought a SDHC 'Traveller' High Speed 4GB Class 6 from the local ADLI.

I installed Debian Squeeze on it and everything appeared to work fine until I reboot and get loads of mmcblk0 errors -110, so i reinstall everything and it can be up for days but the minute I take it down and reboot its spewing errors again.

I should be getting a guruplug in a few days and have the same sort of questions about the microSD card in its slot.

We haven't tried any "Traveller" cards. When do you see the -110 errors? If it is when you are booting (and the SD card isn't read / recognised), try adding a delay to the boot process, to give U-Boot a better chance of finding the card.