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So I just moved my entire User profile to an 8gd SD card to avoid unnecessary hits on my HDD (my previous HDD died out of spindle failure , so this was a safe than a sorry step)

Now , entire Cache, tmp folder, temp internet files, app data, roaming, locallow etc are on this 8gb SD card.

I noticed now that merely opening a browser is an arduous experience. FF tabs keep hanging and are slow and the same experience with MSIE & Chrome. I wonder if this has anything to do with the SD card housing all the browser app data or is it related to flash.

Even while typing this, I could not fill in the address bar or complete this paragraph without seeing the hour glassing hanging.

I am running in Intel i5, with 12GB ram

Is this related to the move or is it something flash related?

I just downgraded my flash player to 11.xxx and the problem is still present. I also deleted offline files & cache.

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    The average SD card will die a lot faster than the average HDD.
    – Daniel B
    May 8, 2014 at 11:23
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    If you are going to ask for help, please have the courtesy of writing your question using proper sentences, words, punctuation and grammar. We should not have to fix this for you.
    – Paul
    May 8, 2014 at 11:26
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    Move the profile back to the hdd and get a backup solution for your hard drive
    – imran
    May 8, 2014 at 11:46
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    My guess is that you expected that the SD (SanDisk) card would be as fast as an SSD (Solid State Drive)? It is not. SD cards are good for digital cameras and Raspberry Pies (which load the OS from the SD into their memory). Your SD card is limited by its own data rates, the data rates of the card reader and the data rates of your USB-connection
    – BlueCacti
    May 8, 2014 at 12:45
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    it is utterly futile. May 8, 2014 at 13:09

3 Answers 3

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Any SD card has a class-rating. It is printed on the card, usually prefixed by HC. Class 10 (HC10) is currently the standard for FAST SD cards.
Multiply Class by 1 MB/s to get the minimal transfer-speed. Class 10 is 10 MB/s. A normal (slow) sata HD can easily do 120 MB/s.
Conclusion: A SD card is so MUCH slower than the harddisk that comparing them is unreasonable.

And it most likely sits on a USB2 connection internally, even if it has it's own adapter card and it doesn't benefit from caching at all.

That's why everything is bloody slow.

Additionally: It will wear out and break, destroying your data, MUCH more quickly than a HD.
Think: Several WEEKS in stead of YEARS. SD cards are not designed for this type of usage.

Move back to the HD and make backups if you are worried about your data.

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    I remember my stinging disappointment when I first tried to run an entire Windows 7 VM from a USB flash drive. Fun was not had.
    – LawrenceC
    May 8, 2014 at 12:04
  • Well I converted the smart card reader to an extra SD card slot via an adapter , and thought it keep the Hard Disk from being rained on by I/O's. Apparently it did'nt quite turn out that useful. I have an SSD Cage sitting on my laptop on the right but I am going to get a Blue Ray Player , so that leaves me back with no drive isolation feature. How about if I install the browser on that same card so there isn't to and fro movement between browser program and the SD card. Or maybe just keep the temp internet and temp files on SD while leaving rest of the app data shop in the hard drive . May 8, 2014 at 12:55
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    Move back to the HD and make backups if you are worried about your data - or move to a raid 1/5 to handle drive failures. Or raid AND external backup. Or...
    – WernerCD
    May 8, 2014 at 16:58
  • Agree with WernerCD - ALL HARD DRIVES WILL FAIL. And a Flash card will ALMOST CERTAINLY die LONG before a hard drive. If the data is important, you BACKUP. You use RAID. Otherwise, what you're trying to do is shooting yourself in the foot to get rid of a wart. It'll work, but you'll have bigger problems. May 9, 2014 at 5:49
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You have completely misunderstood how SD cards, hard drives and computers work.

SD cards are normally expected to last for 100,000 writes. I would imagine that hitting temp files on your card will be producing many writes per second (if we say 1 write/second) then you can expect your card to start dying after only a day.

60 * 60 * 24 = 86,000.

Secondly not only is your throughput going to lousy (probably <15MB/s), you're going to see lots of latency:

application => kernel => CPU => PCI bus => usb controller => SD card controller => read file => SD card controller => usb controller => PCI bus => etc

vs for a hard disk:

application => kernel => cpu => sata bus => hd controller => read => hd controller => sata bus etc...

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It appears you may be confused between an SSD (Solid-state disk) and SD-Card. The latter is intended for use in mobile devices and transferring data to them, not for use in a desktop/laptop computer.

Flash player is unrelated to types of drives or memory that bear the name 'flash'.

If you wish to speed up your PC through use of an SSD, consider installing windows on that SSD drive as a whole, that will help it boot up faster too.

If you're concerned about the durability of your HD, consider checking out which manufacturers have drives that last longer than others. From memory, I recall WD scoring pretty well, with some others scoring relatively ba(d.

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  • HDD's that blow off in the past were Seagate and WD. I learnt from experience NEVER to trust a HDD made in China , esp. those 2 above . Samsung ( where it says Korea ) or some others made in Thailand are more reliable.So far they have lent to the rule than exception. May 8, 2014 at 13:09
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    Thinking about the core of the issue here: you're afraid of losing personal data? The best way to avoid data loss is to back it up regularly. Consider setting up a scheduled task maybe, or look into data-backup/redundancy solutions that fit your preference and scenario?
    – Joeppie
    May 8, 2014 at 13:11

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