Home Forums Peripherals & Multimedia Peripherals Micro SD card question

I've never used a micro SD card. My Garmin GPS needs one because their maps have gotten too big for my unit. Garmin says to use a 32 mb micro SD card to accommodate the maps, but from what I've read, they are not that big as to take up to mb yet.

My question is if I get one that says 32 sd but it can go up to 100 mb, can I use that as long as I don't put any data on it over 32 mb? I think the answer is yes, but I just wanted to make sure before I buy one. Some come with adaptors, but I don't quite understand that either.

I can't answer your question about going up to 100 MB, but I also have a Garmin that requires a 32 MB micro SD card. It did not require an adaptor; there is a slot in the GPS that accepts it. You will have to format it for Windows via Disk Utility before you can use it, however. Make sure that the Garmin shows up in your computer and launch DU. DU should show the micro SD card, although you won't see it on the desktop. Select it, click Erase, and follow the prompts to format it for Windows (FAT 32). After formatting, it will appear on your desktop.

One caveat: When you eject the Garmin, you will have to eject the SD card separately. They will not eject at the same time.

Thank you! I wouldn't have known all that. I need to know how to eject the Garmin from my Mac and, I guess, the SD card. I just unplugged it and it says I didn't eject it correctly. Is it in the Finder? I think that's where I found my external HD to eject it properly.

SD cards come in 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB capacities, (that is GigaBytes not MegaBytes where one Gigabyte equals 1024 MB). Check your instructions and I suspect a 32 GB SD card is what they recommend. SD cards come from the factory formatted FAT or more likely EXFAT either of which is compatible with your Mac and your Garmin, so leave it at that.

When inserted into the SD card reader SD cards mount on the desktop the same as any other drive, volume, or device image (dmg), and just like any other drive or volume they should be dismounted (by dragging the icon to the trash) before physically removing the card from the reader or there is a small but finite, risk of leaving the card with a damaged and unreadable file system.

FWIW, my micro SD card was not pre-formatted, so I had to do it manually. And, thanks for making the correction to GB from the erroneous MB. You were right about the recommendation of 32 B. Like Rita, I found that the requisite card could only be found in 32 GB.

Drives can also be ejected by selecting them in Finder and either going to File > Eject or pressing Command-E.

Yikes! For some reason, I'm having problems finding just a 32mb card on eBay. It says 32 mb then goes onto say up to 100mb. That's why I am confused. See here: SD card

If I follow your link and click on "Select," I get a 32/64 option.

It IS confusing. Just select 32 and go from there.

That bottom text has no effect on what you select up top. In fact, I've been amazed by some of the stuff I've seen at the bottom as it relates to what shows on top.

But there's certainly no harm in satisfying yourself.

You keep saying 32 MB (MegaByte) but the link you provided was for 32 GB (GigaByte) SD card with 1024 times more capacity. As far as I can tell 32 MB cards are no longer manufactured but I did find this and this on EBay. Of the two, I would go with the one that is still in the sealed anti-static envelope.

If your Garmin really requires a 32 MB card it may be limited to the FAT file format. A 32 GB SD card will most likely be formatted EX FAT and might have to be reformatted to work in your Garmin.

I agree with Artie's interpretation of the site, and I agree with you that the site is a bit confusing.

A recurring problem with eBay is that many sellers use templates and fail to change all of the info in the bottom text when they change the product at the top.

The top item as described invariably governs, though.

Is this probably what I am looking for? MicroSD Card

The devil is in the details and this happens to be a pretty good sized detail. The last GPS update I performed supposedly worked on a 32GB SD card, but after several failed attempts I tried one more time with a 64GB card and it worked!! I never figured out why the 32GB card failed. Now my GPS updates come over the air generally in the middle of the night while the car is charging.

Expanding...

The eBay Guarantee covers pretty much all tangible items (some exclusions being cars and construction equipment) and guarantees that you will receive the item listed at the top of the page, in the described condition, or reimbursement, and nothing said at the bottom of the page negates that, nor does the seller's not accepting returns.

If you buy based on the bottom of the page but get what's listed at the top, it's on you, and you're out of luck unless you get lucky with an accommodating seller.

So, in your instance, if you wanted a 32 GB card you'd be covered, but if you wanted a 100 GB card you'd be out of luck.

Conversely, sellers sometimes update the bottoms but forget to update the tops, so it does pay to ask if they're different.

I bought this micro SD card from BH. Although the adapter is included, I don't need it. It has worked fine, as far as I can tell. Here are some other choices. I don't understand why it would be necessary to buy from eBay; the price is cheap enough.

The "up to 100 MB/s" is a reference to the transfer speed of the card—up to 100 MB of data can be transferred per second. It does not relate to the capacity; that is 32 GB, or whatever.