Very slow transfer to SD card on Tungsten-E

May 22, 2005 6:35 PM

I recently purchased a Kingston 256MB SD card for my Tungsten-E. File transfer speeds are incredibly slow: it takes 15-30 minutes to transfer one measly MP3. I bought and installed a USB-2 card on my computer, but it doesn't seem to help much. Is this normal? Is there a problem with the SD-card or the handheld? Would buying a dedicated card reader help?
posted by signal to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

Assuming a "standard" 192 kbps MP3, that's very slow. Slower than what I would expect for USB 1.0. I regularly haul 2 gigs back and forth over USB 1.0 (Card->reader->Desktop PC), and it takes 30-45 minutes.

If you're talking about transfering the file from the card to the PC using the Tungsten as the reader, it sounds like there's a bottleneck somewhere. Can't you test a file transfer from the SD card to the Tungsten physical memory?

Kingston cards are not one of the more trusted brands of solid-state media, but performance varies from model to model (Card to card). Benchmarks from the manufacturer are often off the mark. Because cards sometimes have funny return policies, you might want to go down to a store that has SD cards on hand for demoing stuff. They might let you toss in their card for a second.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 8:08 PM on May 22, 2005

I have a Tungsten E myself and the transfers between the computer to the card are also slow. I don't believe that there is a problem with your unit, but I suggest that you use an external reader/writer to write those mp3's.

I have a 256 Sandisk SD card and it acts similarly as the Kingston card that you have.
posted by huy_le at 8:27 PM on May 22, 2005

I second huy_le, transferring files to the card while it's in your palm will be incredibly slow. You just need to pick up an external read/writer.
posted by cosmonaught at 8:38 PM on May 22, 2005

Response by poster: Ok, I'll get a reader.
Thanks, people.
posted by signal at 8:49 PM on May 22, 2005

The Palm is at heart a serial device. The USB channel is used to emulate a 9600 bps RS-232 connection. At least, this is how it used to be, and it sounds like they haven't changed it. This is why you buy a Pocket PC.
posted by kindall at 9:23 PM on May 22, 2005

Kindall: That simply isn't true. My PalmOne Treo 650 has no problems chucking data down its USB cable at USB 2.0 speeds - the speed of the card is usually the limiting factor. The whole "emulating serial" line simply isn't true - other than the fact that USB does stand for Universial Serial Bus.

This seems to be a design flaw unique to the Tungsten E.
posted by Mwongozi at 5:29 AM on May 23, 2005

Best answer: Instead of a reader, I suggest buying Softick Card Export, which lets you use your Tungsten as a USB card reader. It shows up in your Windows Explorer (no Mac version) as a drive letter, and the transfer speeds are just as fast as any other USB hard drive I've used.
posted by ewagoner at 6:43 AM on May 23, 2005

The first USB Palms did use a USB-to-serial converter internally; glad to see they've fixed it in the Treo. The Handspring Visors also had this limitation.
posted by kindall at 8:43 AM on May 23, 2005

Response by poster: Softick Card Export is amazing, and I can't believe it's not part of the standard Palm OS.
MP3s now take 5-10 seconds to transfer to the Tungsten.
Thanks, ewagoner.
posted by signal at 11:02 AM on May 23, 2005

Excellent recommendation on the Softick Card Export. It's a shame that Palm doesn't include this with the Palm. Your everyday users such as parents, students, etc. shouldn't be hindered by slow upload times. Great catch!
posted by huy_le at 4:08 PM on May 23, 2005