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Micro SD cards have finally reached 1TB

NEWS – Yep, you read that title correctly:  You can buy a micro SD card that’s 1 TB in size.  SanDisk recently revealed that you can buy the first ever 1 TB card directly from their online store or from Amazon.  As of today, it’s out of stock in both locations, but when it’s available, it will set you back a cool $450.  Read speeds are up to 160 MB/s and write 90 MB/s, assuming you have a gadget capable of reaching such impressive speeds.  Who would need (and being willing to pay) for such a card?  Drone operators come to mind as someone who might want to capture video for as long as possible before having to land and switch cards, or maybe an athlete with a GoPro catching a long ride.  In fact, anyone using a device in harsh conditions may want to check this out, as SanDisk says this Extreme card is “temperature proof, waterproof, shock proof, and x-ray proof.”  If you can think of any other great applications for such a large card, or if you can find a store where it’s in stock, let us know in the comments below.

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Micro SD cards have finally reached 1TB originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 31, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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Kingston DataTraveler Bolt Duo review

REVIEW – Phones and even tablets often serve as the most-used, or even the only, camera that most people have these days.  The cameras on most of these devices take great pictures, so they are a good, convenient method of documenting your daily life.  The problem with relying on a mobile device as your camera is that there isn’t unlimited space to store your pictures plus the apps and other data you need.  There isn’t always an easy method of transferring your photos to another device so that you can delete some images to free up space again.  In the past, I have reviewed a flash drive that allowed you to transfer images from your mobile device to a computer, but that device had some problems.  (It worked great, but it turned out to rely on an app that wasn’t written for it nor supported for it.)  There are no such problems that I encountered when I was reviewing the Kingston DataTraveler Bolt Duo flash drive for Apple mobile devices.  Let’s give it a closer look.

The Kingston DataTraveler Bolt Duo (seen at the top in an image from Kingston, but all others are my own images) is a flash drive with a Lightning connector on one end and a USB 3.1 plug on the other.  It’s Apple® certified, so it’s designed to work with most models of the iPhone and iPad.

Please forgive the dust and lint on the silicone sleeve.  It is a dust magnet!

Hardware specs

  • Connections: 1 Lightning, 1 USB 3.1 Gen 1
  • Dimensions: 1.6″ x 0.48″ x 0.26″ alone; 2.6″ x 0.79″ x 0.43″ in keychain accessory
  • Weight: 0.25 ounces alone; 0.51 ounces in keychain accessory
  • Compatible with:  iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6+, iPhone, 6s, iPhone SE, iPhone 6s+, iPhone 7, iPhone 7+, iPhone 8, iPhone 8+, iPhone X, iPad (4th generation), iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad (2017), iPad Mini, iPad Mini 2, iPad Mini 3, iPad Mini 4, iPad Pro (1st generation), iPad Pro (2nd generation)
  • OS support:  iOS 9.0 and newer
  • Warranty:  2-year warranty with free technical support
  • Capacity:  32GB with storage for up to 8000 photos or two hours of video; 64GB with storage for 16,000 photos or 4 hours video; or 128GB with storage for 32,000 photos and 8 hours of video

Setup

Setup couldn’t be simpler.  You plug the Bolt Duo into your iPhone or iPad and follow the prompt to install the app from Apple’s App Store.

Once it’s installed, you’ll see options and the capacity of your Bolt Duo.  You’ll see that I received the 64GB drive.

The app has three options:

  • Transfer photos or videos to the Bolt drive
  • Capture photos or videos using the Apple device’s camera and microphone directly to the Bolt drive
  • View the contents of the Bolt drive on the Apple device

Each time you plug the Bolt into the iPhone or iPad, you’ll be prompted to allow the app to access the Bolt device.  You’ll also be asked to allow the app to access the device’s camera and/or microphone when you want to capture images or videos directly to the Bolt.

Performance

Of course, I started out by transferring images from my iPad to the Bolt Duo.  It took at least five minutes to transfer the 2000 images and videos I have on my iPad to the flash drive.

You can choose to copy over all photos and videos, only photos, only videos, only things in a Favorites album, or you can select only certain images/videos to transfer.  You can also keep everything on the iPad/iPhone or you can choose to delete them as they copy.  I retained all mine on the iPad.

After the transfer was complete, I used the app to View the contents of the flash drive.  Without looking at each and every one of the 2000 items on my iPad, it seemed that everything was copied to the Bolt.

I used the Capture option to store a photo directly on the Bolt.  After allowing the app to access the camera and mic, taking a picture with the app was as easy as taking a picture directly on the iPad.  There are only three camera modes in the app, though.  You can take a regular photo, a square photo, or a video.  Once the photo was snapped, it showed up on the Bolt in a new album, called Bolt Camera.  There was no appreciable delay in saving the image to the flash drive.

I next plugged the Bolt Duo into my MacBook Pro and checked out the contents of the Bolt using Finder.

You can can see the drive shows up in Finder as KINGSTON.  You’ll also notice there are two folders – one for the images captured directly onto the Bolt and one for my iPad’s images.  When I opened the iPad folder, placeholders were quickly populated for the images, but it was slow actually drawing the images.

I tried copying a picture from my computer to the Bolt, then transferring it to my iPad Pro.  It worked flawlessly.  You use the iPad’s “share” button to save the image to the tablet.

Since there was still a lot of free space on the Bolt drive, I downloaded the app to my iPhone and plugged the drive into my phone.  I was able to copy all my phone images to the Bolt Duo without having to first remove the images from the iPad.  There are now three albums on the Bolt, as you can see from the screen capture from my iPhone.

What I like

  • Small form-factor that can be easily carried with you
  • App is simple and easy to use
  • Quickly backs up images from the Apple device to the Bolt Duo
  • Can skip using the device’s storage and save images or videos directly to the flash drive
  • Didn’t require a driver to use the Bolt on my MacBook Pro

What needs to be improved

  • Nothing

Final thoughts

The Kingston DataTraveler Bolt Duo is a great way to transfer images from a mobile device to your computer so you can free up space on the Apple device – or just as a backup, even if you don’t need to save space on your mobile device.  You can also use the Bolt to transfer pictures back to the mobile device, if needed.  And you can store images and videos directly to the Bolt without using any space on your iPhone or iPad.  The app is simple and easy to use on both iPad and iPhone.  And you can backup both your iPhone and your iPad, or even your family’s devices, to the same Bolt Duo.  It may be perfect for its intended functions.

Price: $44.99 for the 64GB model reviewed here
Where to buy: Kingston or Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Kingston

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Kingston DataTraveler Bolt Duo review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 17, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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Wow, you can buy a 400GB microSD card for less than $180 right now

This is crazy… I can still remember my first PC which was a used IBM model something or other with a whopping… wait for it… 10MB hard drive. Yes, you read that correctly, 10 megabytes. Whoo, I thought I was the ultimate nerd with that kind of storage space. Fast forward about 30 years and now we can buy a SanDisk 400GB (that’s gigabytes) microSD card for $179.99. It’s amazing how we can store so much data on a tiny fingernail-sized flash card.

If you want to upgrade your storage, this 400GB SanDisk Class 10 microSD card should do the trick with up to 100MB/s transfer speeds, you can copy images and video in seconds. Just make sure your device can support this size card before you order one for $179.99 on Amazon.

The post Wow, you can buy a 400GB microSD card for less than $180 right now appeared first on The Gadgeteer.

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Wow, you can buy a 400GB microSD card for less than $180 right now originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 12, 2018 at 9:30 am.

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SanDisk announces world’s fastest UHS-I microSD card

Recently at Mobile World Congress 2018, Western Digital announced its newest microSDXC card that it touts as “the world’s fastest UHS-I flash memory card” – the 400GB SanDisk Extreme UHS-I microSDXC card.

The card features super-fast read speeds up to 160MB/s, write speeds up to 90MB/s, UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) rating, and a Video Speed Class 30 (V30) rating, which means this card lets you capture uninterrupted 4k Ultra HD video.

All SanDisk Extreme cards are shockproof, temperature-proof, waterproof, and X-ray-proof, making them ideal for all conditions.

Although I use SanDisk Compact Flash cards as my primary memory card, I always have a SanDisk SD card in my camera’s second slot and in my second camera – they’re the only cards I have never had a problem with.

Pricing and availability are not listed yet, rumors say that it will be in the $300 price range.

Source: SanDisk

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SanDisk announces world’s fastest UHS-I microSD card originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 11, 2018 at 8:00 am.

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Always be ready to share your files with the Gigs 2 Go biodegradable flash drives!

If you’re always looking for a flash drive to share large files, you might want to take a peek at these. The Gigs 2 Go flash drive pack offers four breakaway flash drives in a credit-card-sized package that fits in your wallet. These ultra-thin USB chips are not only shockproof and waterproof, but they’re also packaged in a biodegradable casing made from recycled paper and recycled plastic that you can write on. They’re perfect for photographers, salespeople, or anyone who shares big files on a regular basis.

Gigs 2 Go offers 4 Gig, 8 Gig and 16 gig variations starting at $24.95 a pack. They also offer services for preloading them with your files or adding custom printing on the casing. Check them out at the Gigs 2 Go web site!

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Always be ready to share your files with the Gigs 2 Go biodegradable flash drives! originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 3, 2017 at 8:28 am.

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