Which memory reader is faster? Internal or External
 

I was just wondering which memory reader in the N800 is faster? The internal or the external. Or do they both read and write data at the same transfer rates?

TIA

Re: Which memory reader is faster? Internal or External
 

They seem to be the same. The only difference is that the external slot supports a wider range of voltages and may be better choice if you've got a very low voltage card, but otherwise both slots appear the same in terms of transfer performance.

Re: Which memory reader is faster? Internal or External
 

Thanks for the reply.

To be truthful, I am not worried about different voltage cards. I just buy them off the shelf and see if they have the right storage capacity. For me, the N800 is something nice to have but not a must have. It is in the gadget range for the most part. I just want to make sure that if I put a few movies on the card, it will not be hampered buy slow transfer rates which could muck up a video stream.

Re: Which memory reader is faster? Internal or External
 

The transfer performance will be determined almost entirely by the card you buy.

As you know the official kernel has no support for SDHC, but the most recent unofficial kernel added SDHC, low-voltage and also high-speed support however not all SD/SDHC cards support the high-speed mode.

Out of the various cards I have available to me, Transcend SDHC cards (both 4GB & 8GB) do support high-speed, but a SanDisk 4GB SDHC card does not. The kernel author also reports that a SanDisk microSD (ie. non-SDHC) card fails the high-speed test, so it might be wise to avoid SanDisk cards if top performance is important to you.

During testing I obtained 12MB/s read speed with the Transcend 8GB card (high-speed SDHC) but only 7.5MB/s read speed with the SanDisk 4GB card (low-speed SDHC).

Re: Which memory reader is faster? Internal or External
 

Cool, but as I use this thing more and more, I realize that it is just a cool thing that is not ready for a production environment. When I purchased it, I had high hopes as it was new and innovative but more and more I see it as just another thing that will go into my cool but useless draw. I did learn some pretty cool stuff though. I probably will continue to check things out here from time to time.

Once again, thanks for the info. If you ever need strategic satellite help (60 to 100 meter dishs) let me know. :)

Re: Which memory reader is faster? Internal or External
 

@Milhouse: Thanks for the explicit message about the difference between those two SDHC types. I had read most of the threads but somehow that important information escaped me -- but now I'll know what card to look for when I upgrade to SDHC. :D 12MB/s is a very decent speed for flash cards on a hand-held device, IMO.

Re: Which memory reader is faster? Internal or External
 

Hi

If the 2 slots behave similarlym then I have a question on the side for those who would have an idea:

what was the purpose in the device design to have one internal slot and one external?
Or more specifically: why an internal slot and not 2 external?

THX,

Seb

Re: Which memory reader is faster? Internal or External
 

I guess the external need more space and cannot be located anywhere so it is harder to design such device and manufacturing cost would be higher. Also you would have one more slot door to break and return your device for repair :-)

I guess the internal slot is a bonus because they had some spare space left (and OMAP chips support two slots).

Re: Which memory reader is faster? Internal or External
 

Thank you, Fanoush.
I had in mind that an internal slot would ideally suit a card with a specific built in function, such as GPS module, or HSDPA module, or WiMax module...
But maybe I am dreaming :-)
S

Re: Which memory reader is faster? Internal or External
 

Well, I guess the specific builtin function they had in mind is 'memory' - i.e. additional stuff you want in device all the time which does not fit in internal flash memory (like maps for nokia GPS navigation software). SDIO cards probably won't be supported anytime soon and such cards are larger so they won't fit inside anyway.