SDS200,100 maximum SD card size

[K5mow]

Good afternoon everyone

Bought some new micro SD cards. I did not think of what size cards to get until after I read some emails that the very large ones don’t work. I actually purchased 32 GB. To my understanding that is the largest you should get for the SDS200,100. Is this correct will 32 GB card work fine for 100,200.

thank you Roger

 

[doctordialtone]

Good afternoon everyone

Bought some new micro SD cards. I did not think of what size cards to get until after I read some emails that the very large ones don’t work. I actually purchased 32 GB. To my understanding that is the largest you should get for the SDS200,100. Is this correct will 32 GB card work fine for 100,200.

thank you Roger

Yes

 

[Listener1440]

This is good to know. Thanks

 

[K5mow]

Thank you for the quick replies.

Roger

 

[doctordialtone]

Thank you for the quick replies.

Roger

You're welcome 😊

 

[fxdscon]

Good afternoon everyone

Bought some new micro SD cards. I did not think of what size cards to get until after I read some emails that the very large ones don’t work. I actually purchased 32 GB. To my understanding that is the largest you should get for the SDS200,100. Is this correct will 32 GB card work fine for 100,200.

thank you Roger

Both the SDS100 and the SDS200 owner's manuals state that 32 GB is the largest card supported, but there have been posts from time to time with users having no problems with larger cards.

 

[nessnet]

You can partition a larger card with a 32Gb partition.......

 

[tvengr]

Both the SDS100 and the SDS200 owner's manuals state that 32 GB is the largest card supported, but there have been posts from time to time with users having no problems with larger cards.

If my memory serves me correctly, Joe Bearcat said he has used 128GB SD cards without any problems even though the manuals give a 32GB limit.

 

[buddrousa]

UPMan always stated 32GB max I have not seen the post talking about 128GB.

 

[Ubbe]

Joe mentioned sometime ago that he successfully tried 128GB. As I understand up to 32GB SD's have exact specifications to be followed but over that size there are none. The controller in the SD card has to do page flipping, changing from one 32GB block to the next, and that flipping are not exactly specified how quick it should go and other similar things. So it will depend on the brand if buffer memory are needed and how it is handled. That's why most companies do not guarantee that there devices will work with SD cards above a 32GB size as there's no minimum specs for it.

/Ubbe

 

[fxdscon]

Joe mentioned the 128GB card here:

SDS200: Help...strange new issue - analog signals only

I recall Paul Opitz mentioning that the SDS series scanners had to pause for occasional internal "house keeping" as he put it. That might be related.

forums.radioreference.com

 

[JoeBearcat]

Still using that 128 GB card. But yes 32 GB is the largest officially supported.

(one partition, not multiple - formatted as FAT32)

 

[m25man]

FAT32 has limitations with volume and file sizes so “certain” operating systems will default larger cards to alternative formats.
This issue isn’t Uniden specific it affects all sorts of devices such as audio, cctv and cameras etc and as cards become bigger and cheaper it’s easier and more attractive to buy a 6 pack of 256gb than it is a single 4gb nowadays.

Use the formatting tool provided here,

SD Memory Card Formatter for Windows/Mac | SD Association

www.sdcard.org

to ensure FAT32 compliance.
I’ve used a 256gb in an SDS no problem with this formatter.

 

[K5mow]

FAT32 has limitations with volume and file sizes so “certain” operating systems will default larger cards to alternative formats.
This issue isn’t Uniden specific it affects all sorts of devices such as audio, cctv and cameras etc and as cards become bigger and cheaper it’s easier and more attractive to buy a 6 pack of 256gb than it is a single 4gb nowadays.

Use the formatting tool provided here,

SD Memory Card Formatter for Windows/Mac | SD Association

www.sdcard.org

to ensure FAT32 compliance.
I’ve used a 256gb in an SDS no problem with this formatter.

Yes this is the formatter I always use.

thank you Roger

 

[StoliRaz]

Would it even be possible to fill a 128 or 256gb card with RR data? Seems like there would be a lot of wasted space. Would it be better to focus on read/write speed rather than size?

I just ordered up a 32GB Sandisk Extreme for my 436hp, I'm hoping it'll load faster than the stock card. It was only 11 bucks so not much to lose. We'll see.

 

[hiegtx]

Would it even be possible to fill a 128 or 256gb card with RR data? Seems like there would be a lot of wasted space. Would it be better to focus on read/write speed rather than size?

I just ordered up a 32GB Sandisk Extreme for my 436hp, I'm hoping it'll load faster than the stock card. It was only 11 bucks so not much to lose. We'll see.

You're not going to 'fill up' a large card with RR data. Scanner related files, including the database & a small # of Favorites lists are less than 60mb. (I have ten Favorites lists, totaling under 1mb of space used).

Even with the max of 256 lists each at the maximum of 1mb each. you're not even threatening to get to 1 gig. The larger cards (over 32gb) just add to capacity for collecting & retaining audio files, Recordings can add up, but unless you are recording almost everything, and leaving on the SD card, it will not approach the size limit of most of the cards in common use.

As you've noted, better read/write speed is what to aim for, not maximum capacity.

 

[m25man]

Would it even be possible to fill a 128 or 256gb card with RR data? Seems like there would be a lot of wasted space. Would it be better to focus on read/write speed rather than size?

I just ordered up a 32GB Sandisk Extreme for my 436hp, I'm hoping it'll load faster than the stock card. It was only 11 bucks so not much to lose. We'll see.

The loading time is dependent on what you’ve selected I don’t think you’ll see any significant difference in the read speeds.
I think it’s all just down to supply & availability the demand is all for capacity nowadays how many photos and videos at 8k resolution can you squeeze onto an SD card…
Amazon is awash with high capacity cheap cards most unsuitable for scanners, the built in Format utilities were never expecting 1TB capacity so hence the failures.
Microsoft decided it would be a good idea to suddenly make all cards larger than 64gb default to ExFAT in an update and this is where I’ve come across several SDS users battling with card updates.

I do a lot of discovery and recording on the SDS (we don’t have the luxury of a compatible database in the UK) so we have to do it all the hard way! But I still couldn’t see myself ever using 32Gb anyway.

 

[JoeBearcat]

Would it even be possible to fill a 128 or 256gb card with RR data? Seems like there would be a lot of wasted space. Would it be better to focus on read/write speed rather than size?

I just ordered up a 32GB Sandisk Extreme for my 436hp, I'm hoping it'll load faster than the stock card. It was only 11 bucks so not much to lose. We'll see.

Fill it up with RR data? No. Fill it up with recordings? Yes. I've never actually filled up a very large card, but I have never run into limits yet.

The size of the card is not the speed-determining factor. It is the class of the card that is. Read/write speeds are usually posted on the packaging. The higher the class, the faster it will be (up to the limits the scanner can process). but this applies to PC reads/writes as well.

 

[StoliRaz]

Fill it up with RR data? No. Fill it up with recordings? Yes. I've never actually filled up a very large card, but I have never run into limits yet.

The size of the card is not the speed-determining factor. It is the class of the card that is. Read/write speeds are usually posted on the packaging. The higher the class, the faster it will be (up to the limits the scanner can process). but this applies to PC reads/writes as well.

I've actually never used the recording function so I didn't even think of that. If suppose if you record a lot, a higher capacity card would factor into decision. For someone like me where it doesn't, I'm more likely to value quality and speed over memory size. I didn't mean to imply the size factors into speed but rather PRICE. I didn't want to pay for 256GB when 32GB is plenty (they don't seem to bother even offering high end cards in 8GB or even 16GB much anymore from what I located on Amazon)

I really like my 436 but if I leave the full database selected when I shut down, load time at next startup is brutal. I can probably start my 346,15x and 246T in sequence faster than the one 436 😂

 

[Ubbe]

A Uniden scanner records at a 128kb/s rate. That's something like 12kB/s and 720kB/minute and 43MB per hour of constant recording. A full week of 24/7 recordings will require 7GB of memory. A 32GB SD card can hold one month of continuous recordings.

/Ubbe