Support for Micro SD Card > 2 GB

Hi Chris,

The Netduino 3 family of development boards has recently been released.  I note from the Netduino 3 hardware specifications page that, under "Storage" (Micro SD Cards) the limitation continues to be 

"up to 2 GB"

 

(i.e. it is the same as for Netduino Plus 2).

This is a bit of a problem for me as I'm finding it more & more difficult to find Micro SD cards at this size given the progression of technology.  I'm finding that you can still get these low capacity cards but there is a price inversion and they are becoming more costly than 4 GB cards, given that scarcity has come into the equation.

I have seen a few other postings in the Netduino forums that at least mention this problem:

• http://forums.netdui...s-with-sd-cards
• http://forums.netdui...ss-the-sd-card/

In one of your responses (March 2013) you talked about the potential for upgrading capacity to > 2 GB in a future release.

I'd like to ask where things are with this?

My understanding is that there are (currently) 3 different SD family standards:

• (Original) SD Standard:  up to 2 GB using FAT12 & FAT16 filesystems
• SDHC Standard:  > 2 GB - 32 GB using FAT32 filesystem
• SDXC Standard:  > 32 GB - 2 TB using exFAT filesystem

So I guess what I'm really asking is "What is the potential for Netduino to support SDHC in the near future?"  Is this a hardware limitation or (I'm hoping) is it just Netduino firmware &/or the current NETMF implementation?

By the way - for my intended use (the irony of the situation), my data storage requirements are actually far less than any of the capacities mentioned.

Ian

Hi,

I am having the same issues and I cannot get any more 2GB SD cards in south africa. The only 2GB's that I can get is very expensive and have to import many to secure an order.

I tried a 4 and 8 but it just does not read. What is the status of this issue, can anybody recommend a work around to perhaps get the 4 or 8 Gb working?

Please, I am desperate. My company is growing and I now have 15 units running in production at various places in SA. I now need to deploy an additional 10 and only have 7 cards left....

Just as a note or comment, I LOVE this little product and it is working really really well under adverse conditions such as high temperatures.

Riaan

I wound up purchasing some no name (lesser name "Aura") 2 GB Micro SD cards on eBay back in September 2015.  I bought 3 of them for a total of $8.16 USD and I think that actually included the shipping as well.  They all work but I suspect they've undergone less testing than / may not be as reliable as the brand name alternatives.

With regard to support for modern Micro SD cards (i.e. SDHC / SDXC - those having capacities greater than 2 GB) on the Netduino, I do not at this point expect that to happen anytime soon.  From what I've read, it was limitations in the early implementations of the .NET Micro Framework (i.e. software, not hardware).  I don't know if perhaps they've addressed it in NETMF 4.4 but it's unclear whether NETMF 4.4 will ever be made available on the Netduino.