Newb question about media card reader

[Peabody]

I have an eMachines T6524 from 2005 running XP MCE, and it has a
built-in 8-in-1 media card reader. I'm about to buy a digital
camera, and I'm just ignorant about what to expect of the card
reader with respect to:

Would it handle any size SD card?

What about SDHC cards?

I guess the question is whether the drivers for the reader, which
appear to be MS generic drivers, need to be, or can be, updated to
handle the larger sized cards available now. There are no such
drivers available on the eMachines site. It appears the reader is
connected to the USB bus.

Also, might there be a physical incompatibility between the reader
and SDHC cards (i.e. - different number of pins)?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Paul]

I have an eMachines T6524 from 2005 running XP MCE, and it has a
built-in 8-in-1 media card reader. I'm about to buy a digital
camera, and I'm just ignorant about what to expect of the card
reader with respect to:

Would it handle any size SD card?

What about SDHC cards?

I guess the question is whether the drivers for the reader, which
appear to be MS generic drivers, need to be, or can be, updated to
handle the larger sized cards available now. There are no such
drivers available on the eMachines site. It appears the reader is
connected to the USB bus.

Also, might there be a physical incompatibility between the reader
and SDHC cards (i.e. - different number of pins)?

Thanks for any help.

Wikipedia has an article on SDHC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital_card#SDHC

The Emachines page for your T6524 does not specifically
state SDHC support, so that probably means that the
large capacity cards would not be supported.

You can get separate USB2 devices that can operate
an SDHC. This one is $9. Chances are, it would be
best to look for a USB adapter, when you shop for
your SDHC memory device itself, so that you won't
get dinged for shipping twice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208454

Paul

 

[Peabody]

Wikipedia has an article on SDHC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital_card#SDHC

The Emachines page for your T6524 does not specifically
state SDHC support, so that probably means that the
large capacity cards would not be supported.

You can get separate USB2 devices that can operate
an SDHC. This one is $9. Chances are, it would be
best to look for a USB adapter, when you shop for
your SDHC memory device itself, so that you won't
get dinged for shipping twice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208454

Paul

Thanks very much for the response. If I understand
correctly, getting the old reader to recognize the newer
card formats would require new firmware for the reader, not
just a new driver, and that's highly unlikely to be
available (it is eMachines, after all). So a new reader
will probably be in order for anything above 2GB SD (I
assume the existing reader will at least do that).

It looks like the adapter you referenced works for SD and
microSD, but requires an adapter for miniSD. Is miniSD even
used now in new products? If not, this adapter looks like a
deal. Free shipping even.

Thanks again.

 

[smlunatick]

Thanks very much for the response.  If I understand
correctly, getting the old reader to recognize the newer
card formats would require new firmware for the reader, not
just a new driver, and that's highly unlikely to be
available (it is eMachines, after all).  So a new reader
will probably be in order for anything above 2GB SD (I
assume the existing reader will at least do that).

It looks like the adapter you referenced works for SD and
microSD, but requires an adapter for miniSD.  Is miniSD even
used now in new products?  If not, this adapter looks like a
deal.  Free shipping even.

Thanks again.

Both the SD and SDHC media card are the exact same physical size.
However, the card reader must have the electronics in it to read SDHC
card. This is no software driver update or firmware will convert a
SD reader to a SDHC one.

miniSD and microSD (aka TransFlash) are usually used for cellphones,
because of the small sizes.