Not All uSD cards support SPI

[ESPsupport]

All of 4D’s devices that support uSD cards require cards that support the SPI protocol.

It is not ‘mandatory’ for manufacturers to support this protocol, but most do.

Unfortunately the manufacturers that don’t support SPI, do not seem to explicitly say '‘does not support SPI’'. Neither do most of the cards manufacturers that do actually support SPI, explicitly say '‘does support SPI'’. So this can be a challenge when finding suitable cards.

This thread has been started so that users may report uSD cards that did NOT work for them in the hope that it might save some users from wasting time trying to figure out why their card(s) don't work.

[ESPsupport]

Here's a bit of an update to the question of working and non working uSD cards.

Attached is the cardinfo program that can be used to read the technical info to cleanly identify each card. It was written in the hope that dodgy cards could be easily identified, but as we shall see, it's not that simple.

Here's the details for some of the cards in my collection

External label, Manuf ID (Hex), Manuf ID (Text), OEM/Appl ID, PRoduct Name, Rev, Serial, Manuf Date
Kingston 2gb, 0x1B, Samsung, SM, 00000, 1.0, 0EB71E78, 12/2011
noname 1gb, 0x1B, Samsung, SM, 00000, 1.0, B1169098, 8/2008
Transcend 8gb, 0x74, Unknown, JE, USD, 1.0, 4E840E92, 10/2012
Transcend 2gb, 0x1B, Samsung, SM, 00000, 1.0 3762D0E0, 12/2012
KingMax 64mb, 0x13, Kingmax, KG, SD064, 1.0, 00014572, 9/2005
noname 2gb, 0x12, Unknown, Vx ASTC, 3.4, 00000000, 2/2002
Kingston 2gb, 0x02, Toshiba, TM, SD02G, 6.0, AB17ACA2, 6/2010
Kingston 4gb, 0xAA, Unknown, (null), (null), 0, EEC29C1C, 1/2011

Unfortunately the manufacturer IDs are not published anywhere, so the two 'unknown's could be OK, just not documented anywhere.

I'd be suspicious of any card with 0s for a serial number, as well as (null) fields and 0 revisions, indeed, the last 'Kingston' does not appear to work properly, as doesn't the 'noname 2gb'.

Both the Transcend cards fail. They also fail when I try to access them from Windows using an SPI mode reader (typically a 'tiny' USB - uSD adapter), they work fine with an SD type reader (either the internal SD card reader, or and external 'Media Reader'. Yet one of the Transcend cards has the same 'Internal information' as one of the Kingston cards that works, maybe it's just an issue with one of the 'glue' components?

So, what can you say? There does appear to be something worthwhile gained by knowing this information, but you need to take it with a suitable grain of salt.

(The formerly attached program is now included in Workshop under the tools Menu)

[ESPsupport]

A user has informed us that these cards work well.

External label, Manuf Hex, Manuf Text, OEM/Appl, Prod Name, Rev, Serial, Man Date, CSD Vers, Unit sz, Cap (Units)
anscend 1GB, 0x1B, Samsung, SM, 00000, 1.0, 03B29628, 9/2010, 0, 512, 1953792
swissbit 1GB, 0x5D, Unknown, SB, N1BN1, 0.6, 211982FD, 9/2013, Error reading CSD

The readCardInfo and the testUSD utilities have been merged and improved and will be available on the tools menu in the next release of Workshop.

[ESPsupport]

We have had a couple of users report issues with Kingston cards labelled as 4GB Class 10, specifically the 'model' labelled N0528-001.A01LF.

We contacted Kingston support who responded with this

"Please note that Kingston Technology does not manufacture and subsequently test its range of flash card products to be used for the purpose of being addressed under the SPI mode."

So, one would think, based on that that you should be not purchasing Kingston cards for use on our displays anymore.

4D Systems recommends Industrial Grade cards where possible, especially ones which support Read Disturb Prevention technology.
For more information, please refer to the microSD cards we sell. Volume users, please make contact with Sales for better pricing.
https://www.4dsystems.com.au/product...GB_Industrial/