SanDisk Ultra® II 60x (2 GB) SD Card (SDSDH-2048-902)

Whenever I get nostalgic about the evolution of movable data storage from tapes, to floppies, to tiny SD memory cards, I think: Baby, you've come a long way! Kind of funny how floppy disks went the way of the the 8-track tape...

Description: Many digital cameras use SD cards, also known as secure digital or flash memory cards, to store photos and videos. This little card is 1.2 x 0.9 inches.  My Pentax Optio digital camera uses SD memory, and I've had no problems whatsoever transferring and retrieving images stored on SanDisk Ultra II 2GB flash memory cards. I've had a pack of 4 cards for over a year, now, and the cards have been very stable and reliable. Not only do I keep a card in my camera, can access the images from the disk in several ways. One way is to connect my camera to my computer using a USB cable. My preferred method is to simply remove the SD memory card and insert it into the SD Memory Slot right on my Sony Vaio Notebook computer.

Usage: Whenever I insert a SanDisk Ultra SD 2 GB Card in my computer, the card is instantly recognized as a memory device with 1.89 Gigabytes of available data. In case you're wondering why it's not 2.0 gigabytes, the discrepancy has to do with the way that computers store information in bytes and kilobytes, which is not a decimal based system (despite sounding like one). The value of a kilobyte is 1,024 bytes and not 1,000 bytes, which means you need more than 1,000 bytes to actually equal 1 kilobyte of storage (for more detailed explanation, see the comments on my Western Digital External Drive review).

My photos are about 1 Megabyte each. Currently, my archived SD 2 GB disk holds about 964 photos (files), totalling 1.57 gigabytes. The disk makes it easy to store, access, transfer and share files between computers, cameras and people. It acts like any other flash memory device, like my Kingston DataTraveler (which I reviewed on Shopping.com). Your computer will assign a unique letter to the drive.

Note for Windows 7 Users: One of the very cool uses for my SanDisk Ultra II is adding extra RAM to my computer, via ReadyBoost, a feature of Windows 7 OS. Basically, I activate ReadyBoost when I insert a reserved SanDisk flash card into my computer. This adds 2 GB to my computer's RAM, making more operating memory available for running graphics intensive programs and watching YouTube videos. As soon as I eject the card, the memory just vanishes, but the process is seamlessly integrated and very smooth.

For those who yearn for statistical analysis and technical data, here are the gnarly properties of my SanDisk Ultra II Removable Disk, when used as ReadyBoost memory.

File System: FAT  |  Used Space: 2,024,800,256 bytes  1.88 GB | Free Space:  6,160,384 bytes   5.87 MB | Capacity: 2,030,960,640 bytes 1.89 GB.

The disk can be dismounted as ReadyBoost memory by clicking on "Properties" and "ReadyBoost" and unchecking the box for "Dedicate this device to ReadyBoost." It's that easy!

Sandisk Ultra SD flash cards have a little button on the side for creating "read only" disks that can't be erased or overwritten.

Summing Up: I've used these SanDisk 2 GB flash drive cards for several years and never had a single error or problem with their data handling capabilities. They come in several sizes, up to 32 GB. However, it's important to check your camera's specifications for memory cards, as it may not recognize cards over a certain capacity.  The only negatives I see for these disks are that 1) they're easy to misplace; and 2) they are black and don't have any space on the label for recording their contents. After I fill them up with image files, I save the disks as archives, and I wish they were easier to label. But other than that, these are terrific for camera enthusiasts or just as small memory cards for sharing or transferring files.