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USB vs SD Card

Discussion in 'General Questions' started by Harry, Jul 14, 2015.

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USB or SD Card

  1. SD Card

    3 vote(s)
    16.7%

  2. USB Thumb Drive

    15 vote(s)
    83.3%
  1. Harry

    Harry Team ROBO 3D
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    We are discussing with the new line of machines whether users will want a USB port or SD Card port. What do you guys want/prefer and why?
     
    #1 Harry, Jul 14, 2015
  2. Harry

    Harry Team ROBO 3D
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    This is for what you are printing from. A USB Thumb drive or SD Card to load your prints too and print. If you had to pick one which would it be.
     
    #2 Harry, Jul 14, 2015
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Ah, I was confused :) Thumb drive versus SD card -- that I get.
     
    #3 mark tomlinson, Jul 14, 2015
  4. jtn7040

    jtn7040 Active Member

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    A thumb drive because not everyone's computers have sdcard readers. But why not both?

    Sent from my SM-N915T using Tapatalk
     
    #4 jtn7040, Jul 14, 2015
  5. jbigler1986

    jbigler1986 Active Member

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    Kind of depends. If the new printer will have a lcd screen with it then thumb drive. If it does not come with one I say SD card since that will be used with a lcd screen.
     
    #5 jbigler1986, Jul 14, 2015
  6. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    3rd Option, customized Octoprint installation that allows the user to load files via Wifi. :p

    But seriously, it would depend entirely on whether there will be an LCD controller present to run things.

    EDIT to clarify: I cannot begin to describe in family-safe language how much I hated running programs off of a USB cable and the juggling hassle of getting a program started via PC connection and then unplugging the USB cable once the print started (sometimes the slicer software would take control again, and Matter Control wasn't very good at doing this the couple times I tried it any way).

    A built-on LCD controller would really be the best "upgrade" that would make an SD card vs. USB thumb drive debate moot.

    Voting for the SD card because while I've had issues with cheap USB thumb drives randomly losing data, I've never had a single issue with a proper SD card ever.
     
    #6 daniel871, Jul 14, 2015
  7. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    I prefer USB thumb drives to SD
     
    #7 Mike Kelly, Jul 14, 2015
    Mike Glass likes this.
  8. jtn7040

    jtn7040 Active Member

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    But your comparison is a little skued because you're comparing a cheap USB drive to a proper sd card. I've had plenty of cheap sd cards crap out on me and have never had any issues with my nicer USB sticks

    Sent from my SM-N915T using Tapatalk
     
    #8 jtn7040, Jul 14, 2015
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Or much of anything, really.

    ;)
     
    #9 mark tomlinson, Jul 14, 2015
    Printed Solid likes this.
  10. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    The point there is that a big driving point for USB over SD cards would be costs.

    You get what you pay for on data storage hardware.
     
    #10 daniel871, Jul 14, 2015
  11. jtn7040

    jtn7040 Active Member

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    I was thinking it was more ease and accessibility. Cost for these I feel are negligible... Not like you need 10 gigs of files to print. If you were using a LCD controller and you had that many it would take you longer to find a file than to print it

    Sent from my SM-N915T using Tapatalk
     
    #11 jtn7040, Jul 14, 2015
    mark tomlinson likes this.
  12. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    I voted USB port, as a thumb drive is infinitely more portable and doesn't self destruct as easily as an SD card. Besides who uses SD cards anymore, nearly every device I have uses microSD, Not interested in buying old tech SD cards.

    That said, I now never drag a file on any media over to the printer, just drop it on the network attached Raspberry Pi running OctoPi (OctoPrint fork). I don't use that micro PC for anything else other than serving the Robo. Future iterations will allow serving multiple printers.
     
    #12 WheresWaldo, Jul 14, 2015
  13. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    So basically copy the Craftbot feature set?
     
    #13 daniel871, Jul 14, 2015
  14. bamhm182

    bamhm182 Active Member

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    #14 bamhm182, Jul 14, 2015
  15. Harry

    Harry Team ROBO 3D
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    Thanks all for your feedback! It's looking like people may prefer to use a USB Thumb drive than a SD Card..please share this so we can get as much feedback as possible! Thank you!
    - Harry
     
    #15 Harry, Jul 15, 2015
  16. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    All the computers have a USB port, the printer one I had to add a card reader* :)
    Just... sayin'



    *(a USB one at that)
     
    #16 mark tomlinson, Jul 15, 2015
  17. Rescue35

    Rescue35 New Member

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    USB Thumb Drive! Sd Cards are not nearly as durable or reliable.
     
    #17 Rescue35, Jul 26, 2015

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