So I installed XBMC on a generic 2GB SD card and put the storage on a USB 3.0 key and the UI is much snappier. I would just like to run everything off the SD card to free up the USB port so will i get the same or better performance if i where to get a SDHC SD card?
Running latest stable OpenELEC with Amber skin.
A 2GB card is too small to hold everything.
Go for an 8GB class 10 or better card.
I have a Sandisk Extreme Pro SDHC, and a Sandisk USB 3 flash drive. After testing both ways(2 days straight of use for each method), using the flash drive for storage is noticably faster than using just the SD card.
It depends on the SDHC card and the USB stick. Get a class 10 SDHC with good 4k read/writes (e.g. Noobs SD card) and you don't need a USB.
(2014-07-18, 09:48)Dimitriss Wrote: [ -> ]It depends on the SDHC card and the USB stick. Get a class 10 SDHC with good 4k read/writes (e.g. Noobs SD card) and you don't need a USB.
The Noobs SD card is a Class 4(some documented as Class 6), but it gets faster random read/write speeds than most Class 10's.
Ignore the class of sdcard. It just guarantees the sustained continuous write speed - something that is of no relevance for anything in xbmc (or generally on Pi).
You want fast random access 4K read and writes. (Reads being more important).
The NOOBS card is very good for this.
Not sure where to grab the card in Canada. What are the specs for the NOOBS card maybe I can get a comparable card from my local best buy.
What to look for in case the class does not give the information?
Is there some other designator that says that it is a high speed card (for reading)?
when you hit speeds of 0.4000 Mb/s you reach a plateu, thats what I've noticed with running the official Noobs card (which goes up to about 1.2-1.4) and a normal sandisk that does 0.400.
put it this way you wont notice unless side by side. after that the CPU is the limiting factor as far as I can see but I'm just using my eyes to test. But when the Noobs SD card is selling for £5 you can't beat that for performance price and guareentee that it'll do the job. and thanks to the awesome work of Popcornmix and others the SD card never corrupts and you dont need a USB3 anymore
ended up with a SDSDU-016G-U46 and the menu and everything is quick and no lag. I copied the database files and thumbnails from my PC so i didn't have to recache. Will try a few other to see if I can find one faster, but this card has good 4k read speeds horrible write speeds.
my SanDisk Extreme 30 MB/s Class10 8GB has 5.106/1.238 MB on 4K and 4.734/1.147 MB on 4KQD32 measured via USB2 card reader built into my notebook. Read speed of big chunks is with 21.46 MB a lot slower than the noobs card though. But I'm happy with my card.
Can I ask how much that cost da-anda? the cardis blisteringly fast no doubt but if it costs upwards of £10 then your paying alot more for not so much increase in speed. still say above 0.5 MB on 4k random is all you need and anymore desn't really do anything in terms of xbmc navigation performance
Ive bought the NOOBS card, and at the moment it seems to be causing problems, Previous setup was a 2GB Sandisk SD card and Sandisk Cruzer Blade 8GB USB, and the performance was rock solid. With the NOOBS card, I`ve not managed to go more than 12 hours without XBMC locking up. Im tempted to try it in a USB reader/writer and see if it makes it stable again.
IIRC I payed something like 12 € or so, but I don't remember where I bought that card.