Time for a new Memory Stick?
source: gamespot
The Test Subjects
The 32MB memory stick included in the Sony PSP package may be large enough for saved games and a couple of pictures, but you’ll need to get a higher capacity memory stick if you want to get movies or a large MP3 music collection onto your PSP. Memory stick capacity can range from 32MB all the way up to 2GB, but the most popular sizes have to be the 512MB and 1GB models. You can compress a movie to fit onto a 512MB stick just fine, but a 1GB stick will give you more room for better quality video and additional space for other media files.
Note that “512MB” and “1GB” memory cards don’t actually have 512MB and 1GB of software storage capacity respectively. Cards marketed as “512MB” actually only have 468MB of usable memory and “1GB” cards only have 969MB due to formatting overhead and differing definitions of what “megabyte” actually means. According to the storage manufacturer a MB is 1,000,000 bytes, but for software, a MB is 1,048,576 bytes. Don’t be surprised when you can’t fit that 500MB movie onto your 512MB card.
There aren’t a whole lot of major memory stick manufacturers out there. You’ll find Sony, SanDisk, and Lexar branded sticks in retail and online stores. You can get a 1GB stick for about $100, but manufacturers also make “High Speed” versions that can cost much more than the normal models. We wanted to see if there is actually a difference in transfer speeds, so we gathered together a selection of 512MB and 1GB memory sticks from Sony and SanDisk to see how fast we could move files onto each stick.
We compared the 512MB and 1GB models from SanDisk’s “gaming” line against a normal 512MB Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo and a 1GB “High Speed” Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo. We first transferred a 384MB file to and from the memory sticks using a SanDisk USB 2.0 12-in-1 ImageMate flash card reader/writer, and we then conducted the same transfer tests writing to and from our memory sticks using a Sony PSP and a USB cable. We also put the 1GB sticks through an additional test using a larger 769MB file.
Write Speed Test – 394MB – (MB/s) (Higher is better)
Write Speed Test – 769MB – (MB/s) (Higher is better)
-Test System: Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz CPU, 1GB (512MB x 2) Samsung PC3200 Memory, 200GB Seagate Barracuda ST3120026AS HD, Windows XP Professional.
–Memory transfer devices: Sony PSP, SanDisk USB 2.0 ImageMate 12-in-1 Reader/Writer.
-Memory cards: Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo 512MB, Sony High Speed Memory Stick Pro Duo 1GB, SanDisk Memory Stick Pro Duo 512MB, SanDisk Memory Stick Pro Duo 1GB.
And the winner is…
SanDisk came out as the clear winner in all of the transfer speed tests. We were able to move our 394MB file onto the 512MB SanDisk stick in 1:11 minutes, but the same transfer took over three and a half minutes on the 512MB Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo. The 1GB SanDisk also beat the “High Speed” 1GB Sony Memory Stick by a large margin in the 769MB file transfer test. Using the USB card reader, we were able to get the file onto the 1GB SanDisk stick in 2:26 minutes compared to 6:12 minutes for the Sony. The transfer time using the PSP was 3:17 for the SanDisk and 7:00 minutes flat for the Sony. Yes, this is the same 1GB SanDisk memory stick that you can find for $100-140 online, and we also used the same Sony “High Speed” 1GB Memory Stick Pro Duo that retails for $150-$300.
We found that transferring data to the memory card was much faster using our dedicated flash card reader/writer, as using the PSP to write directly to the card lengthened transfer times by about 30 seconds in the 394MB file transfer and almost a minute in the 769MB file transfer.
The SanDisk memory sticks still outperformed the Sony models even with the PSP file transfer overhead. Aside from the transfer speed differences, we didn’t notice much of a difference between the cards while using them for normal media playback or saving games on the PSP. Judging by the test results, if you’re looking for a fast and affordable memory stick, we’d pick the SanDisk over Sony any day.
Thanks to our user Pacote for the info!
source: gamespot
The Test Subjects
The 32MB memory stick included in the Sony PSP package may be large enough for saved games and a couple of pictures, but you’ll need to get a higher capacity memory stick if you want to get movies or a large MP3 music collection onto your PSP. Memory stick capacity can range from 32MB all the way up to 2GB, but the most popular sizes have to be the 512MB and 1GB models. You can compress a movie to fit onto a 512MB stick just fine, but a 1GB stick will give you more room for better quality video and additional space for other media files.
Note that “512MB” and “1GB” memory cards don’t actually have 512MB and 1GB of software storage capacity respectively. Cards marketed as “512MB” actually only have 468MB of usable memory and “1GB” cards only have 969MB due to formatting overhead and differing definitions of what “megabyte” actually means. According to the storage manufacturer a MB is 1,000,000 bytes, but for software, a MB is 1,048,576 bytes. Don’t be surprised when you can’t fit that 500MB movie onto your 512MB card.
There aren’t a whole lot of major memory stick manufacturers out there. You’ll find Sony, SanDisk, and Lexar branded sticks in retail and online stores. You can get a 1GB stick for about $100, but manufacturers also make “High Speed” versions that can cost much more than the normal models. We wanted to see if there is actually a difference in transfer speeds, so we gathered together a selection of 512MB and 1GB memory sticks from Sony and SanDisk to see how fast we could move files onto each stick.
We compared the 512MB and 1GB models from SanDisk’s “gaming” line against a normal 512MB Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo and a 1GB “High Speed” Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo. We first transferred a 384MB file to and from the memory sticks using a SanDisk USB 2.0 12-in-1 ImageMate flash card reader/writer, and we then conducted the same transfer tests writing to and from our memory sticks using a Sony PSP and a USB cable. We also put the 1GB sticks through an additional test using a larger 769MB file.
Write Speed Test – 394MB – (MB/s) (Higher is better)
Write Speed Test – 769MB – (MB/s) (Higher is better)
-Test System: Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz CPU, 1GB (512MB x 2) Samsung PC3200 Memory, 200GB Seagate Barracuda ST3120026AS HD, Windows XP Professional.
–Memory transfer devices: Sony PSP, SanDisk USB 2.0 ImageMate 12-in-1 Reader/Writer.
-Memory cards: Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo 512MB, Sony High Speed Memory Stick Pro Duo 1GB, SanDisk Memory Stick Pro Duo 512MB, SanDisk Memory Stick Pro Duo 1GB.
And the winner is…
SanDisk came out as the clear winner in all of the transfer speed tests. We were able to move our 394MB file onto the 512MB SanDisk stick in 1:11 minutes, but the same transfer took over three and a half minutes on the 512MB Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo. The 1GB SanDisk also beat the “High Speed” 1GB Sony Memory Stick by a large margin in the 769MB file transfer test. Using the USB card reader, we were able to get the file onto the 1GB SanDisk stick in 2:26 minutes compared to 6:12 minutes for the Sony. The transfer time using the PSP was 3:17 for the SanDisk and 7:00 minutes flat for the Sony. Yes, this is the same 1GB SanDisk memory stick that you can find for $100-140 online, and we also used the same Sony “High Speed” 1GB Memory Stick Pro Duo that retails for $150-$300.
We found that transferring data to the memory card was much faster using our dedicated flash card reader/writer, as using the PSP to write directly to the card lengthened transfer times by about 30 seconds in the 394MB file transfer and almost a minute in the 769MB file transfer.
The SanDisk memory sticks still outperformed the Sony models even with the PSP file transfer overhead. Aside from the transfer speed differences, we didn’t notice much of a difference between the cards while using them for normal media playback or saving games on the PSP. Judging by the test results, if you’re looking for a fast and affordable memory stick, we’d pick the SanDisk over Sony any day.
Thanks to our user Pacote for the info!
About The Author
