SD-cards for zynthian V5

[jofemodo]

I would like to open this thread to discuss the SD-card subject and to centralize reports about SD-cards that works nicely, don’t work, have been counterfeited, etc.

To start the thread i have a first report about these 2 beauties that i just opened and burned with the intention of sending to several community members that have issues:

They seem good, right? Yes, i buy from amazon, from a “supposedly” trusted source. Indeed, i have ordered many sdcards from this merchant in the past and recently, including several 64GB sdcards in the same order.

I was surprised because of the white/grey combination, that i had not seem lately, but the real surprise has been when after burning, my zynthian V5 has refused to boot with both of them. I’ve repeated the burning. Nothing.

Then i opened this one and burned:

Same order and merchant. It worked like a charm at first try and i’m pretty sure it will work for years like the first days (i have some experience with this )

What is the difference? I couldn’t say. Of course, the color. The first ones are SDHC (32GB) and the second one is SDXC (64GB). But they all seems perfectly OK, both are UHS-1. Good quality packaging, good merchant, normal price. And both color combinations are legit.

I must admit that it’s been 3 years from the last time i bought “bad” sdcards, but i also must admit that i’ve been extremely picky and i’ve accepted to pay extra money to buy from trusted merchants.

Of course, I could do extra tests to the “bad” sdcards and spend a lot of time to know what the hell is happening, but the true is that such an effort wouldn’t improve my skills to not buying bad sdcards again. After years in the business, i’m still buying bad ones from time to time

All i can say is.

• Be picky. Choose trusted sources.
• Pay the price
• Be prepared to fail
• so … don’t put all eggs in the same basket. I mean, buy several sd-cards of different models and sizes. 32 or 64 GB. I rarely buy nothing but sandisk, but you could try samsung, or so.

And don’t blame your zynthian V5 without being sure your sd-card is not guilty!! Remember that:

SD-cards are the main vector of issues with new zynthians.

All the best luck!!

[fussl]

If you separate the two layers of the genuine SanDisk cardboard packaging completely, you will find inside a sticker with a serial number of a two year license for RescuePRO Deluxe by SanDisk RescuePRO Offer - LC Technology I guess the counterfeit will not have this, or if they have it, the code will be invalid if you try to register the software. Further information can be found on the SanDisk Safe Buying Guide | Sandisk There are other sites on the web, like How to spot the fake SanDisk Ultra microSD card without opening packag In reality, you may never be sure these sites have not been published by counterfeiters intentionally to legitimise their own products, so be careful with sites that are not published by the genuine manufacturer.

[tunagenes]

I think this YouTube video gives some relevant background information on this forum topic. The video title might make you think it is just about SSDs; But it’s really about SD cards and SSDs. I’ll summarize the points:
The compatibility with the Pi (and therefore Zynthian) depends on the chips used and the microcode-firmware present in the storage product. This can vary over time as the storage manufacturer changes suppliers based on availability, price, etc. So while a specific brand might help and provide some indication of quality, it can’t guarantee compatibility. Whew - I’m thankful we get this stuff to ever work at all!

Why did Raspberry Pi make their own SSD?

[jofemodo]

Very interesting! Following links about this subject I read here:

A2 microSD card Command Queueing support (for 2-3x faster random access)

One thing that’s actually implemented on the Pi 5 now—no need for a kernel patch review—is A2 microSD card Command Queueing.

To enable it on your Pi 5, make sure you’re on the latest update, and add dtparam=sd_cqe to /boot/firmware/config.txt and reboot.

If it’s working, and you have an A2 card (most older cards are either A1 or not rated at all), then you should see something like the following in dmesg logs:

mmc0: Command Queue Engine enabled, 31 tags

Have somebody tested this on the pi5? Or perhaps this is enabled by default currently? Now i’m enjoying a few days in the hospital, but i would like to check this and know if this could improve performance on zynthian with Pi5.

The best,

[HansR]

Hi @jofemodo ,

Two months ago I had trouble with my SD card (caused by a faulty cable). I then disabled CQE as a work around. See Log warnings with 64GB SanDisk Extreme .

So, short answer, it is enabled by default on a Pi 5.

Kind regards and all the best,

Hans.

[Lanfranco]

With the P5 I used this, with the P4 I used very low-quality SD cards, but I was lucky and never had any problems. But you have to keep in mind that I don’t really “squeeze” the Zynthian; I use it as an expander and therefore I don’t use it to its full potential.