Does Passport wireless work with SDXC and other high capacity cards?
Hello,
The user manual does not mention this. I recommend you contact support and ask the same question. Or lets see if another user has tried this already and can share his experience with us.
I’ll go out on a limb and say:
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I would hope WD incorporated an SD card reader that can handle anything to date, seeing as this is a new device pitched to those with hi-tech cameras.
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Just try it, and see if it works! Be sure to copy/save contents to a PC or another drive with another card reader – just in case.
Yes, it does!
64GB and 128GB have been used with it without any issues. Not rich enough for 256GB.
Enjoy!
1 Like
Hamlet wrote:
Hello,
The user manual does not mention this. I recommend you contact support and ask the same question. Or lets see if another user has tried this already and can share his experience with us.
Actually it does, indirectly.
Both the User Manual and Data Sheet state that the SD Card Reader interface complies with “SD 2.0 up to 25MB/s”.
SD 2.00 includes SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards. Therefore the reader should handle all SDXC card sizes.
What it doesn’t support is UHS-I and UHS-II read and write speeds. I believe that UHS cards are backward compatible in that they will work at the lower non-UHS speeds.
RoderickGI wrote:
SD 2.00 includes SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards.
Really? I find no mention of the SDXC in the SD 2.0 specifications. SD2.0 “caps out” with SDHC — up to 32GB.
SDXC was ratified in SD 3.01.
Even so it works with SDXC as I have those.
TonyPh12345 wrote:
RoderickGI wrote:
SD 2.00 includes SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards.
Really? I find no mention of the SDXC in the SD 2.0 specifications. SD2.0 “caps out” with SDHC — up to 32GB.
SDXC was ratified in SD 3.01.
Yes, really.
RoderickGI wrote:> Yes, really.
That’s not what that table is saying. That table is only describing the various bus speeds the devices may handle, not what specifications cover the devices themselves. So it’s not saying that SDXC is SD 2.0 compliant… Using the same logic, then that table says that SDXC is SD 1.01 compliant, which is the first published version of SD specifications.
You need to examine the actual specification documents.
For example, with respect to the Physical Host Controller:
Here’s the Host Controller spec for SD 2.0: https://www.sdcard.org/developers/overview/host_controller/simple_spec/Simplified_SD_Host_Controller_Spec.pdf
No mention of SDXC.
Here’s the same document for SD 3.0:
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/pls/simplified_specs/archive/partA2_300.pdf
… SDXC is described in that document.
Question: Does Passport wireless work with SDXC cards?
Answer:Â Â Â Yes.
I wasn’t saying that an SD 2.00 Host Device supported an SDXC card.
I was saying that an SDXC card will work in a SD 2.00 Host Device.
There is a significant difference. What I take from that table is that an SDXC card will operate at SD 2.00 speeds of 25MB/s.
I used a simplified table to demonstrate the point, rather than point someone to a 146 page detailed specification document. Particularly when the document is about Host Devices, and not about backward compatibility of the cards themselves.
Mind you, the SD Association don’t help their cause much by publishing this information: https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/sdxc_capabilities/using_sdxc/ But I suspect that is a little out of date and was intended to inform consumers when SDXC card and devices first came out.
Whatever the reason, SDXC cards do work in the MPW, and the MPW Host Device is SD 2.00 compliant, according to WD. So either WD is wrong and the MPW isn’t just SD 2.00 compliant, but is at least SD 3.01 compliant, or SDXC cards are backward compatible to SD 2.00 devices at least.
If the MPW is, in fact, SD 3.01 capable, it begs the question as to why WD have constrained it to only 25MB/s bus and transfer speed.
Of course, compatibility of SDxx cards are all over the place, and the only way to really be sure of anything is to test it.
Feel free to dig out the SDXC card specification. But please do try to quote a particular page as relevant.
RoderickGI wrote:
Whatever the reason, SDXC cards do work in the MPW, and the MPW Host Device is SD 2.00 compliant, according to WD. So either WD is wrong and the MPW isn’t just SD 2.00 compliant, but is at least SD 3.01 compliant, or SDXC cards are backward compatible to SD 2.00 devices at least.
If the MPW is, in fact, SD 3.01 capable, it begs the question as to why WD have constrained it to only 25MB/s bus and transfer speed.
I think WD is wrong (and they have done similar things by misrepresenting HDMI compatibility, for example) – but the SD 3.01 specifications prohibit SDXC from being backward compatible with non-SDXC hosts.
From the SD Associations FAQ:
What is the SDXC standard?
The SDXC standard is the newest SD standard. It supports memory capacities above 32GB up to 2TB. Devices that are compliant to the SD Physical Layer and File System 3.00 version specs can support SDXC memory cards as well as SDHC memory cards and SD memory cards.
Is the SDXC standard compatible with existing SD devices?
Existing SD devices and SDHC devices are not be compatible with new SDXC memory cards, but existing SD memory cards and SDHC memory cards will still continue to be offered by card manufacturers for the foreseeable future. Existing SD memory cards and SDHC memory cards will work in SDXC devices.
(Emphasis mine.)
So the MPW must be SD 3.0 compliant.
I’m having trouble finding any WD documentation that says the MPW is SD2.0 only. Can you point me in that direction?
Here in the PDF it say SD 2.0 up to 25 MB/s Link:Â http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/?id=461&type=49
but as we all know the manual or spec. aren’t true sometimes.
I and a few with me know it do transfer SDXC cards.
TonyPh12345 wrote:
I think WD is wrong
After submitting that last post I thought about it a bit more, and I agree with you. The MPW must be at least partially compliant with SD 3.01. Well, if the standard is of any value at all.
The trouble is, the information on the SD Association page, particularly the consumer level stuff, hasn’t changed in ages, and tends to be aimed at providing black and white answers to the public on basic issues. “Why won’t my 128GB, 90MB/s SDXC card work in my 2002 camera?” type questions. Also many products which claim compliance with the standard, and have been listed as so, still won’t work in some devices. So I read what is on their web site with a view to interpreting what they meant, not what they said. I also take into account that lots of time has passed since much of that information was published, and things do change, even when following standards.
So I believe that it is entirely possible for a manufacturer to build an essentially SD 2.00 compliant device, which also accepts SDXC cards up to SDXC capacities, but not comply with SDXC speed ratings or other elements of a later standard.
It is also entirely possible for a manufacturer to produce an SDXC card that will operate in an SD 2.00 device, despite the SD Association saying this won’t work. However in that instance it would be likely that the full capacity of the SDXC card wouldn’t be usable.
The SD Association just develops and publishes standards. It doesn’t tell manyfacturers what they can and can’t do.
From my understanding there is a limited number of chip manufacturers supplying chips for SD card readers, and they are all likely to be producing chips that comply with the latest standard, even if their customers choose not to implement that standard. So the hardware is probably SD 3.01 or greater compliant, but the software, and the bus speed to and from the reader may not meet that standard.
Hard to say what the truth is, unless WD fess up and tell us.
As Cekari already noted, the reference to the MPW being SD 2.0 compliant is in the Product Overview PDF, on the second page under “Operating Specifications”, and on page 59 of the User Manual, under “Appendix A. Technical Specifications” / “Interface”. Both downloadable from the Product Information page, Support tab, here: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1330
Interestingly, the Product Overview PDF isn’t available from the MPW’s “Support and Downloads” page, here: http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?wdc_lang=en&fid=wdsfMP_Wireless
Following on from this discussion, I found an interesting note on this Sandisk web page:
http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2520/related/1
“NOTE: Internal card readers on laptops from 2008 and prior may NOT support SDXC cards. SDXC cards will work in SDHC compatible readers (not SD readers) if the computer OS supports exFAT. For more information on exFat see: Operating Systems that support the exFAT File System”
So at least Sandisk SDXC cards will work in SDHC readers, although the note doesn’t appear to be Sandisk specific. Therefore it is possible that the MPW is using an SD 2.00 compliant SDHC card reader.
Maybe the standard is of little value after all.
