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14 Posts
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178134
iDRAC vFlash card
Hello,
I would like to ask about the difference between Dell vFlash card and normal SDHC memory card. I bought the one from link below however the system (iDRAC) can see only 256MB. Please advise.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000Y9TZ9Y
Regards
DELL-Steve R
62 Posts
1
November 15th, 2011 01:00
Hi, a vFlash SD card can have a partition size of up to 4GB with a maximum card size of 8GB, a standard SD/SDHC card can only have a partition size of 256MB but you can use any size of card. If you have any other questions let us know.
Steve
skylarking
548 Posts
0
June 28th, 2013 06:00
From the Dell DRAC wik:
"To take advantage of storage greater than 256 MB on the iDRAC6 enterprise, Dell requires that a vFlash SD card be procured through Dell channels. As of December 2011, Dell vFlash SD cards differ from consumer SD cards by being overprovisioned by 100% for increased write endurance and performance. While there are no other known functional differences between a Dell-branded vFlash SD and a class 2 or greater SDHC card, the use of non-Dell media prevents the use of extended capacities and functions."
Dell also states the similar in this pdf.
So, Dell has used a proprietary mod (likely an ID string in their SD cards firmware) to limit features when using third party SD cards rather than selling it's own products on their merits. While 100% overprovisioning is great, it may not be worth twice the cost of O.T.S 8G SD cards to some, if indeed the cost difference is only x2.
Just like the fiasco where PERC firmware limited HDD to Dell branded units, until mass objection led to new firmware providing a warning if using non Dell HDD were used, so should Dell update the DRAC firmware and remove this restriction thus allowing consumer SD cards should someone not require such endurance...
DELL-Steve R
62 Posts
0
November 15th, 2011 02:00
Forgot to mention the vFlash card can support up to 16 partitions where-as on the standard SD it only allows one. For a full list of features check out the whitepaper on this link, en.community.dell.com/.../dell-vflash-feature-on-idrac.aspx
Steve
HTF_1d1e4f
14 Posts
0
November 15th, 2011 03:00
Hello,
Thank you for the information. All is clear now.
Regards
Dev Mgr
9.3K Posts
1
November 15th, 2011 11:00
I have a standard 16GB SDHC card in my car stereo (loaded it up on my home PC and then put into my car stereo) that came from Best Buy this way. It has a single 16GB partition (FAT32).
There may be something unique to the way Dell preps the vFlash SDHC cards, but it's not because "a standard SD/SDHC can only have a partition size of 256MB".
DELL-Steve R
62 Posts
0
November 16th, 2011 00:00
Yeah maybe I wasn't clear enough, I was only meaning in terms of the iDRAC. It limits a standard SD card to only 1 partition of 256MB. For full functionality you will need to use a vFlash card.
Steve
jgarland79
1 Message
0
June 26th, 2013 17:00
Where can I purchase a Dell vFlash card? I couldn't find them anywhere so I ordered a 16GB Sandisk SD card instead, but now I only see 256MB which is not useful since most CDROM iso images are ~ 700MB