Using SDHC cards with an HPC

As most of have learned, HPCs do not support SDHC cards...it is a hardware thing.

However, on the Mobilepro 900C, and I would imagine this holds true for the Sig III, SB G-138, and the Psion NB Pro...I have discovered that I can use a SDHC card if I use an adapter.

The adapter I used was the Targus SDHC adapter that cost $8.88 USD from WalMart and connects via the USB slot. Here is a picture of it and my 900C desktop showing the properties of my SD card. I mentioned in an earlier post that I bought the 8gb SD card for $16 total and with the adapter, the total cost is about $25.







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I should say it's a hardware thing. Most of my devices don't even _have_ an SD card reader.

Well, the only reason I say it is a hardware thing is that you cannot use an SDHC card with the standard CF or PCMCIA adapter on an HPC. The differences between SD and SDHC is a hardware difference. But what you say is also true...boy it would be cool to have an SDIO slot on my Mobilepro instead of the CF slot.

Nice to hear there's a simple solution for this. I bet it would work with older USB-enabled H/PCs as well, since they can handle other types of mass storage drives (using the Clik! driver). I'm guessing the needed hardware is in the USB SD card reader. (I'm gonna pick up one of those adapters and an SDHC card or two and test that theory.)

afaik it is a software difference, that you can't expect to have in a simple pcmcia reader.

Well, I was right. All my USB-enabled H/PC 2000 and H/PC Pro devices are able to read SDHC cards through the USB adapter using the Clik! driver. (I tested this with an 8 GB SDHC card, and all these devices recognized the full capacity of the card.) Less luck with my CE .net devices thus far. (I'm not aware of a USB mass storage driver for the Airpanel/NETA 980, so I may go with the Clik! driver on my Airpanel as well.)

Edited by CE Geek 2009-01-13 3:24 AM

Let us know how it goes CE Geek!

Also, has anyone tried SD to CF adapters?

Cheers

A normal SD to CF adapters works ok, but Rich is talking about SDHC.....I've never tried one of those cards.

Okay, the secret's out - Rich and I are the same person (in two different time zones).

No luck on any CE .net devices thus far. Tried it on my Sig 3 (with the Sig 3 USB mass storage driver), Netbook Pro, and NEC 900C (with Cmonex 2.0) with no success. (Not sure if the latest ROM image for the NB Pro includes a USB mass storage driver.) Having a small hardware issue with the USB port on my Airpanel, which I'm trying to correct.

Now that's really weird.. I'd expect .net machines to be able to use mass storage devices out of the box. USB sticks were standard in 2004 already..

I'll repeat: I am using an USB to SD card adapter, and the adapter supports SDHC as well. I am using Cmonex v2 on my 900C with no problems whatsoever....

CEGeek, it must be the time zone that doesn't allow it to work on your 900C.

Half-Saint: The 900C does use USB memory sticks out of the box. But an SDHC adapter is a different bird....

Rich

Okay, I think I see the problem. I actually have two different SDHC-to-USB adapters - one that came with the 8 GB SDHC card, and one I got on eBay. The one that came with the card is the one that works fine with the Clik! driver on the older devices, but not on the CE .net devices. The one I got on eBay is recognized correctly by the 900C out of the box, as well as by the Sig 3 and the Netbook Pro. Obviously a hardware difference.

Edited by CE Geek 2009-01-13 8:03 PM

Your 8GB SDHC card wouldn't happen to be from Sandisk?

No, those were out of stock.

Wow! I'd love to be able to use SDHC cards on my Psion NB Pro! CE Geek, you say you got a SDHC-to-USB adapter off of eBay that worked with your Netbook Pro. Please give us a picture of it with details/spec.'s. Thank you!