Report in - x36HP SD Card Problems/Corruption

[stingray327]

stingray327,

The 48 MB & 80 MB is the cards bus/interface max transfer rate.

The SD speed/load time debate is going on in both the GRE/Whistler and Uniden camps. The real question as to how fast is most likely dependent on the rated speed of the SD interface in the scanner.

There are two speed ratings, Class and Bus. Class ratings are minimums so Class 10 is a rating of a minimum of 10 MB/s. The Bus ratings (today) are maximums listed as UHS.

UHS 25MB/s
UHS-I 50MB/s with a 4 bit bus
UHS-II 156MB/s with a 4 lane bus

Look for the Roman Numerals I or II next to the SD card logo.

Last but not least there's the USB data transfer rate which is listed as megabits per second. So USB 2 is capable of 480 Mb/s which is roughly equal to 48 MB/s (megabytes).

I haven't seen any information regarding the SD Bus interface speeds for scanners. If I had to take a guess I would say USB 2 speeds 480 Mb/s (a.k.a. 48 MB/s), since a USB 2 cable is provided by the scanner manufacturers.

So at this time the max for these Uniden scanners are 32 GB Class 10 with 90 or 95 MB which are the most up to date SD memory cards you can get that will make a big difference from any other 32 GB SD memory card.

 

[budevans]

So at this time the max for these Uniden scanners are 32 GB Class 10 with 90 or 95 MB which are the most up to date SD memory cards you can get that will make a big difference from any other 32 GB SD memory card.

Technically the 50 MB card would be the upper speed limit. Getting a faster rated card than 50 MB won't show any additional speed increase when the card is in the scanner.

It always comes down to the slowest part/connection in the chain. In this case it's the USB 2 cable. USB 2 cable speed max is 480 megabits per second which equals 48 Megabytes per second. So the Uniden or Whister/GRE will max out at 48 MB/s.

That's why when you take some (faster rated) SD cards out of the scanner and use a USB 3 card reader/writer it transfers data faster.

 

[stingray327]

Technically the 50 MB card would be the upper speed limit. Getting a faster rated card than 50 MB won't show any additional speed increase when the card is in the scanner.

It always comes down to the slowest part/connection in the chain. In this case it's the USB 2 cable. USB 2 cable speed max is 480 megabits per second which equals 48 Megabytes per second. So the Uniden or Whister/GRE will max out at 48 MB/s.

That's why when you take some (faster rated) SD cards out of the scanner and use a USB 3 card reader/writer it transfers data faster.

So what sandDisc card would I get to perform better than the 32 GB 48MB Sandisc memory card I currently have in unit?

 

[budevans]

So what sandDisc card would I get to perform better than the 32 GB 48MB Sandisc memory card I currently have in unit?

???????, What makes you think you have a speed problem writing or reading from the SD card?

 

[stingray327]

???????, What makes you think you have a speed problem writing or reading from the SD card?

I don't have a speed problem I just want more faster loading time.

 

[Voyager]

I don't have a speed problem I just want more faster loading time.

Wonder if that would fly with the highway patrol... :wink:

 

[drdiesel1]

On to card #3 now... glad to hear updates on Uniden attempting to figure out and solving the reasons this thread exists.

On my third card as well. Last one that died was a Sandisk 32G class 10, lasted about 4 months, and I do no recording. Scanner is DC powered 24-7, death was not caused by abrupt power disruption.

 

[jonwienke]

On my third card as well. Last one that died was a Sandisk 32G class 10, lasted about 4 months, and I do no recording.

No. You're ALWAYS recording with an x36 scanner. That's how the Replay feature works. The interval you set only changes how long the scanner waits before deleting the automatically-recorded files. But there isn't any way to run the scanner without the audio being recorded to the SD card (at least temporarily).

 

[budevans]

I don't have a speed problem I just want more faster loading time.

By loading do you means the time it takes from pressing the On/Off Light button till it starts to scan?

For my scanner (436) it takes about 6 seconds (or a little less).
1. Press and hold the On/Off button until it beeps (roughly 3 seconds).
2. The LCD turns on, the loading bar graphs slides from left to right (roughly 3 seconds).
The scanning starts.

How long does it take your scanner to do the above?

 

[Voyager]

Takes mine 20 seconds, but I load a lot of things. Most are disabled via Quick Keys, but I want them available without having to wait for a load update. It's always taken that long, and upgrading the card might have shaved 10% off that figure at most.

 

[AE7Q]

Speed vs. reliability

I don't have a speed problem I just want more faster loading time.

Just my opinion, but given the problems reported here, you should be selecting the most RELIABLE card you can find, not the fastest one

 

[stingray327]

Just my opinion, but given the problems reported here, you should be selecting the most RELIABLE card you can find, not the fastest one

That would easily be the SanDisk brand.

 

[stingray327]

By loading do you means the time it takes from pressing the On/Off Light button till it starts to scan?

For my scanner (436) it takes about 6 seconds (or a little less).
1. Press and hold the On/Off button until it beeps (roughly 3 seconds).
2. The LCD turns on, the loading bar graphs slides from left to right (roughly 3 seconds).
The scanning starts.

How long does it take your scanner to do the above?

Try loading the nationwide data base.

 

[budevans]

Try loading the nationwide data base.

Why????
FYI: I do have the nationwide database on my scanner. But I don't load it to working memory.

I have Favorites Lists, 20 currently (loaded) in active use. Besides the County I live in (Cuyahoga, one of the most populated in the country) I also monitor the 6 surrounding County's.

I'll stop here. There's no point in providing a lonnngggg list of what I am monitor that's in the 20 Favorites Lists.

The bottom line, I understand there are uses for the entire database. That's a personal choice. But that choice impacts the loading time. So you might consider other setup options that don't require extended loading times, like using Favorites Lists.

 

[AE7Q]

Why????
FYI: I do have the nationwide database on my scanner. But I don't load it to working memory.

I have Favorites Lists, 20 currently (loaded) in active use. ....

The bottom line, I understand there are uses for the entire database. That's a personal choice. But that choice impacts the loading time. So you might consider other setup options that don't require extended loading times, like using Favorites Lists.

I agree. I keep the national database up to date. but I have never used it for scanning. I manually review the local portion national database from time to time, to make sure my favorites are up to date, and then I use exclusively the latter.

Why? Because I really, REALLY like the ability to display a color associated with a frequency or talk group, and so far that I have seen, the national database is completely devoid of any color settings (and there has never been any commitment that I have seen to have otherwise).

This is in fact one of the reasons that I moved to the BCD536HP from the BCD996XT. The latter also had colors, but they were implemented as a background color, which left the display nearly unreadable for some colors (eg, blue).

 

[budevans]

Can Replay be turned off?

Regarding SD cards there is one issue that I haven't seen addressed. The simple fact is SD cards are not replacements for hard drives or SSD drives.

Wikipedia
Secure Digital Article

Problems with using an SD card as the primary hard disk include the speed of the card, and that intensive writes to the card reduce its rated lifespan.

Using the Replay function (which is always on) is an obvious factor in the reduced life of SD cards.

UPMan, I would like to request that an option to Turn off Replay be added to a future Firmware update for the X36 series.

 

[troymail]

UPMan, I would like to request that an option to Turn off Replay be added to a future Firmware update for the X36 series.

I think that's a valid request.

I've been thinking the response would be "that's a problem because it would make the REPLAY button seem to be non-functional since nothing was being recorded". However, that's not a valid argument because if you are full time "user recording" (FUNC-REPLAY), when you press the REPLAY button it already tells you that option is not available do to some the user setting of full time user recording.

 

[stingray327]

I think that's a valid request.

I've been thinking the response would be "that's a problem because it would make the REPLAY button seem to be non-functional since nothing was being recorded". However, that's not a valid argument because if you are full time "user recording" (FUNC-REPLAY), when you press the REPLAY button it already tells you that option is not available do to some the user setting of full time user recording.

MY Understanding is that whether you record or not it will still be recording so won't that take up space? How do you delete and clear all of those recordings? Is it automatic? Will you not run out of space eventually since it records everything whether you use that feature or not?

 

[stingray327]

Why????
FYI: I do have the nationwide database on my scanner. But I don't load it to working memory.

I have Favorites Lists, 20 currently (loaded) in active use. Besides the County I live in (Cuyahoga, one of the most populated in the country) I also monitor the 6 surrounding County's.

I'll stop here. There's no point in providing a lonnngggg list of what I am monitor that's in the 20 Favorites Lists.

The bottom line, I understand there are uses for the entire database. That's a personal choice. But that choice impacts the loading time. So you might consider other setup options that don't require extended loading times, like using Favorites Lists.

As I add more favorite lists I find loading times get longer so if you keep increasing your favorites list the faster SD card will load up faster.

 

[troymail]

MY Understanding is that whether you record or not it will still be recording so won't that take up space? How do you delete and clear all of those recordings? Is it automatic? Will you not run out of space eventually since it records everything whether you use that feature or not?

The replay feature manages a small buffer based on what you set it to. The lowest is 30 seconds. The radio automatic deletes the files that are older than that setting.