SD Card Organisation options?

[ClockworkCoder]

One thing I'm wondering, especially with the Pyra's preponderance of SD card slots, was how to better organise my SD cards (i.e. into categories such as roms, backups, music, projects, 3D prints, system installations, etc)

I think many people start to collect SD cards, and usually smaller ones come with full size adapters, so it would only need to accommodate full sized cards.

Back in the day, CDs and DVDs were perfect for labeling and filing (especially fitted in plastic sleeves for ring-bound files), but SD cards are too small to effectively label. Regularly I find myself checking a few cards before I find one I can use for a specific purpose.

So, what do you use for organising backups / media cards? Is there any system you know of that works well? I wish I could find something that's easy to label, not necessarily portable, and with plenty of space for lots of cards.

 

[levi]

I had big plans for setting up my SD cards on my Pandora, but the way SD capacities ramped up during those years, I ended up just buying a 64GB one and that's covered me for roms, music and executables. Maybe the Pyra's better ability to play videos will mean I use it for more for that, but that remains to be seen. And if it ends up supporting PS2 and gamecube then those ISOs will take up a it more space. Still, I'm not anticipating the need for multiple SD cards yet.

My only actual sorting solution currently is a little box which contains all of my obsolete flash cards. Once upon a time it had a majority of usable and unused cards, but as time has gone on even those that are still unused have generally become too small to be bothered with.

I don't think I've ever labelled more than three cards. Two that I managed to screw up by formatting, and are labelled 'DUFF' and one that's a shrunken down Arch install on a 4GB card for theoretical system recovery which I think I labelled 'MINIARCH' or something. Like you say there's very little you can get on those labels.

 

[elw3]

With the growth in size i dont see a need of ever switching them.
But if anyone knows its probably the photo and video nerds.
Check some photo shops for premade solutions i would say.

 

[λ the β-Redex Reducer]

You could put them in something and label that. Or buy a case with multiple pockets for them and label the pockets.

 

[spud42]

there are these on ebay... plus about a million more of different types .

 

[Kev2442]

Usually by size and brand I remember which is which. But for my camera I've got a pair, and with what I think was the grip came tiny stickers (to translate the moulded labels), both in French and what I suppose is Japanese. So now my cards are labeled OUI and NON
Color dots would also be appropriate I guess. Or masking tape along with a sharp marker.

SD cards are big enough to write and paste paper on it within the thickness tolerances. Micro SD cards I'm not so sure.

 

[Kyodraken]

Funny, I thought about a new way to organize my cards a few days ago as well. Personally I am thinking about purchasing something like this

Edit:
I also like the idea to store SD Cards with the help of some inlays within a CD case:

 

[levi]

there are these on ebay... plus about a million more of different types .

Yeah, but where do you put the labels? I suppose you could cut thin card labels and stuff them in the same pocket either in front or backwards in reverse by preference, but the frosting of the pockets means you'd have to write in fairly big type.

 

[ClockworkCoder]

This is one I got recently, which can apparently fit in a photo sized pocket sleeve:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bilora-SD-Card-Organizer-160-SD-Card/362646315233

Or I just found a couple of business card sized SD card holders
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DiMeCard...ard-Holder-Case-BLUE-credit-card/123843744845
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BANDC-2p...arrying-Storage-holder-protector/352631271610

These could potentially fit in any kind of business card holder, and there would be room for labels. They're just a bit expensive, so I may try to see if I can 3D print something similar.

Incidentally, I have used a similar system for organising small components in a ring-bound file and it works well.



However, @levi I feel you're right about the capacity of them making it less of an issue - however, I still feel that I would like to also categorise them by use...
[doublepost=1563661179,1563661089][/doublepost]@Kyodraken that's really neat with the CD cases... can I ask where you found them?

 

[Kyodraken]

@Kyodraken that's really neat with the CD cases... can I ask where you found them?

Unfortunately I didn’t find a DIY way which would definitely be much cheaper, given that CD cases are very cheap and lots of people have probably even still tons of them lying around (I know I do ). But you can order them from Pearl, which is a German mail-order company. I don’t think they have the best reputation though. They’re also selling through Amazon Germany. I don’t know if you can get the case from other countries as well.

(Set of three, for a total of 24 cards)
https://www.pearl.de/a-PX1702-1400.shtml
https://www.amazon.de/General-Office-Karten-Album-SD-Speicherkarten-Album/dp/B008OQ756Y/

 

[FBnil]

I used to use stickers (just a A4 sticker paper you print out), but I had to peel the old paper out first, or they wouldn't fit the Pandora. And the paper got stuck when I removed the SD card... I don't use that anymore.
Here's more about that technique:
https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/threads/floppy-disk-labels-for-sd-cards.75839/

 

[lukey]

You could number each card and document what actually is on it in a Textfile or via git-annex's location tracking.

 

[Kev2442]

You could number each card and document what actually is on it in a Textfile or via git-annex's location tracking.

...and store the file on one of the SD cards

 

[mati]

For the labeling: Some shops offer custom designs printed on the SD card, but most of them demand ordering a minimum amount of cards with the same design:
https://www.customusb.com/sd-secure-digital-memory-card/
https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/custom-logo-micro-sd-card.html

So this doesn't really help labeling each card individually. But I think it would be nice if the dragonbox shop would sell SD cards with a special Pyra logo (if one of those shops offers reliable cards). At least this would help me to know which card contains my Pyra stuff.

 

[spud42]

i found this on thingiverse if you have access to a 3d printer...
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:633436

 

[TrashyMG]

I'll just use my old Gamestop brand DS Phat case the cartridge pockets work well with SD cards.

 

[Askarus]

I have one of those credit card sized ones form my micro SD-Cards.
My car's music player can only read up to 32GB SDHC cards, so I need multiple cards.
It's small and easy to use.
I like it.
Maybe the cards might get loose if used frequently. But for now it works fine.

 

[Grench]

My car's music player can only read up to 32GB SDHC cards, so I need multiple cards.

Hmm...
Is it card size or format restricted? Have you tried a larger card reformatted to Fat32?

 

[ClockworkCoder]

i found this on thingiverse if you have access to a 3d printer...
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:633436

I have actually been using my printer a bit recently, and I do like the business card sized SD card holders I found (in the picture) as I can also put labels on them. The toaster I've had for a while and use for the MiST as the BBC Micro image needed to be specially created, and another image contains an Amiga workbench image.

I also printed the PCMCIA slot cartridge recently which I think is useful to have cards handy for backups.

The other two (octopus and other desk tidy) are good, but not as useful as I'd hoped - they tend to feel cluttered and are only useful to have items to hand on an ad-hoc basis.