Question CompactFlash vs SD (Secure Digital)

[mikeymikec]

The usage scenario is a tad unusual: My Amiga 1200 currently has an 850MB HDD and I can get an adapter so the 2.5" IDE board header can handle either CF or SD. I'm wondering which might be best. There's sufficient room for either adapter so I don't think the physical size of the card is relevant.

In most scenarios I'd go for SD as it's less risky if you're unplugging/replugging due to the exposed and fragile pins in CF slots, but the adapter won't have to take many reconnections; the HDD in my Amiga maybe has been disconnected once.

Longevity: I'm wondering if CompactFlash's future (in terms of how long it will be produced) is less than SD's. According to wiki the last revision/enhancement of CF was in 2010 whereas SD is still ongoing.

Performance: My A1200 knowledge is rusty but IIRC the onboard IDE system can't even do DMA, but maybe there's still an IO argument between CF and SD.

Capacity: The 850MB HDD is not anywhere near capacity IIRC so this isn't really important. I'm aware that the SD adapter will handle SDHC cards (IIRC upper limit 32GB).

AmigaOS 3.1 can only handle a max 4GB storage device but I intend to update to a newer version without that particular limit. I haven't researched what the upper storage limits for subsequent AmigaOS versions are.

 

[solidsnake1298]

If this was a newer device, I would say SD all the way. Newer SD cards have much higher throughput and, more importantly as an OS disk, decent random IOPs. But for an older card reader using older SD cards, I think CF had a significant advantage compared to early SD cards.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

One advantage of CF is that it's IDE internally. This means you only need a passive adaptor, unlike an SD card, which requires some form of cardreader-to-IDE interface. I doubt performance will be an issue with an Amiga.

The reason CompactFlash hasn't been updated is simply that it has been superseded by first CFast, then XQD and finally CFexpress.

 

[TheELF]

The ide to sd adaptor is pretty cheap and you can use it in many older devices.
You can also have a bunch of sd cards each for different OS or scenarios.

But yeah, there is no way to go wrong, both will work the same, if you have a good source for cheap CF cards that is, old sd cards are cheap. Just ask all of your friends to ask all of their friends to look in their old cameras/smartphones/tablets/whatnot and give you old 2/4Gb sd cards.