[PigVenus]

Please note that portions of the following information has been copied from various locations - such as Amazon and Photofast's website.

Product Description:
Converts your MicroSD or MicroSDHC Card into a MS Pro Duo Card for use with Pro Duo enabled devices, including PSP. The device contains two MicroSDHC memory slots each with a capacity of up to 16GB for a total capacity of 32GB.

Formatting:
- Format MicroSD cards with the CR-5400 adapter before using the card. DO NOT FORMAT by PC!
- Keep Micro SD cards in the CR-5400 adapter at all times during data transfer. DO NOT transfer data from Micro SD cards without the CR-5400 adapter to any other device (such as a PC). In other words, do not remove the MicroSD cards from the adapter and try to transfer data to/from them. It will cause data corruption.
- Many card readers DO NOT support high capacity Memory Stick (Duo) memory cards. Use the USB cable to transfer data to/from the PSP
- PSP system software version 2.80 or earlier do not correctly recognize high-capacity Memory Stick PRO DuoTM with more than 4 GB of free (recordable) memory space. Update your firmware.

Note: From personal experience, I have found that several steps must be taken to recover your microSD cards from the dual CD-5400 configuration (i.e. before normal devices can use them again). First, I used the Panasonic SDFormatter tool to perform a format with wipe and 'format size adjustment' turned on. Then I had to do a Windows format because Windows still wouldn't see it (neither would the PSP). Finally, I formatted it with the PSP. Now they work just find. Interestingly, the 2nd card in the CR-5400 showed up as a 16GB card in the SDFormatter tool. Of course after reformatting it showed up as the expected 8GB size again.

My personal experience:
I am using 2 x 8GB A-Data Class 6 microSD cards with my CR-5400. I have found that the transfer rates are at least 2x as fast as a memory stick duo pro (tested a SanDisk 2.0GB and a Sony 1.0GB). The XMB loads in about 1/2 the time as before. I highly recommend that you use the fastest microSD cards that you can (Class 6).

Performance Tests:
This are just some informal tests I conducted just to get an idea of how much performance is gained/lost. I copied a 597MB file to and from each of the listed configurations. Note that the configurations listed as "microSD adapter to USB" are not using the PSP at all - they are my raw speed tests (these should give the maximum performance of the microSD card). All microSD cards are A-Data Class 6 cards (2 x 8GB and 1 x 16GB). Interestingly, although both 8GB and 16GB cards are listed as Class 6, the performance of the 8GB cards is better. Both the Transcend MS Pro Duo Adapter and the CR-5400 w(ith a single card) performed as good as the Sony MagicGate Pro Duo card (within statistical variation). The most interesting lesson from all these tests is.... the CR-5400 showed significant speed increases when using 2 cards instead of just one - especially in reading .

Read Write Notes
1:36 1:57 Sony MagicGate Pro Duo (1GB)

0:26 1:01 microSD adapter to USB (8GB)
1:44 1:46 Transcend MS Pro Duo Adapter (8GB)
1:10 1:40 CR-5400 (1 x 8GB)

0:34 1:17 microSD adapter to USB (16GB)
0:57 1:35 CR-5400 (2 x 8GB)
1:30 1:58 Transcend MS Pro Duo Adapter (16GB)
1:27 1:53 CR-5400 (1 x 16GB)

(I apologize for the table formatting, HTML code doesn't work.)

Other Notes:
Just did some further research... according to Wiki, Memory Stick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and Secure Digital card - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia the memory stick pro duo has a theoretical transfer speed of 20MB/sec (yeah, in your pipe dream, Sony!) and a maximum size of 32GB although 2TB is supposedly possible. (However, that does not mean that the PSP device necessarily supports those sizes - for instance old Sony PDAs only support up to 2GB.) The max capacity of of microSD cards is 32GB -- does this mean that the Photofast could use 2 x 32GB = 64GB? I don't know -- (1) I've never seen any 32GB microSD cards, (2) I've never heard of anyone trying it, and (3) Photofast only claims 2 x 16 = 32GB capacity. As far as speed is concerned, if you look in the SD Card link... a Class 6 card only guarantees 40x (6MB/sec) transfer rates or higher. These ratings are not independently verified so your mileage may vary. As I said in the previous paragraph, my Class6 A-Data cards are at least 150% faster than my memory stick pro duo in real-world use.

Fake or real? How to spot the difference:
From Photofast's website:




Here is what my Photofast CR-5400 looks like. It has been working perfectly - never a problem and passes the tests above. Hopefully yours looks like this also.




UPDATED: 5/08/2009: Updated "My Personal Experience" with some information regarding memory specifications.
5/20/2009: Added "Performance Tests" section. Updated "Formatting" section.

[Sirblahblah]

very nice post...

[Omega_redest]

Thanx... but it's too late now.. mine was a fake and melted..

[PigVenus]

Omega_redest> Sounds like you had the "if you leave it in it gets too hot problem" that I've seen posted about before. Am I right?

Geesh. The authentic/fake tests are nice, but unfortunately you can figure it out until after you get the 5400 and of course by then it's too late. I guess the best we can do is post where we got authentic 5400s - hopefully those suppliers will stay consistent.

BTW I got my good 5400 from DealExtreme about 2 months ago or so.

i bought from this guy so i' will see if its fake or not when i get it

[DarkFoxSniper]

Bought mine form this seller on Ebay:ic_pro

This was what he sold me:

SanDisk 2 x 8GB = 16GB microSD + PhotoFast CR-5400 PSP - eBay (item 330306187131 end time May-07-09 22:00:52 PDT)

So far they are superb and I know why there is a slight slowdown(Class 2 Mirco SDHC cards) when booting or exiting to XMB but nothing too drastic...have not noticed any overheating or even any abnormal heat near the slot.Fast shipping and was very accurate with the description.

[danos]

oh crap my sister just told me the photofast adapter she got was black.

[berniemac]

quick question who long do these usaly last like 1 year 2 or so im keeping mine pretty much in the psp

[PigVenus]

Well, if you have an authentic 5400 then you shouldn't have any of those odd overheating problems. It should last indefinitely - no reason for it not too. It just a solid state piece of hardware.

As far as wearing out the flash memory (microSD)... that's practically impossible. I figured it up once - if you assume that flash memory has a lifecycle of about 10,000 writes (which is what most manufacturers claim), then it would take about 13.6 years at 2/times per day to "wear it out." This problem is not limited to just microSD, but to all current flash-based technology (including SSD harddrives - that is why they employ sophisticated drive-levelling software to try to spread the writes out evenly).

[toda7873]

got my real one from dealextreme also

[berniemac]

Originally Posted by PigVenus

Well, if you have an authentic 5400 then you shouldn't have any of those odd overheating problems. It should last indefinitely - no reason for it not too. It just a solid state piece of hardware.

As far as wearing out the flash memory (microSD)... that's practically impossible. I figured it up once - if you assume that flash memory has a lifecycle of about 10,000 writes (which is what most manufacturers claim), then it would take about 13.6 years at 2/times per day to "wear it out." This problem is not limited to just microSD, but to all current flash-based technology (including SSD harddrives - that is why they employ sophisticated drive-levelling software to try to spread the writes out evenly).

oh nice thanx alot

[danos]

pigvenus and dfs and anyone else who has a perfectly functioning photofast cr5400 adapter i would like you to look at your photofast and see if it really looks like the #5 picture precisely the part with the red circles. because my sis sent me pics of the ones she got and it passed test 2-1,2-2 and 4 but #5 not so much

[DarkFoxSniper]

This is what it should look like.

[danos]

Originally Posted by DarkFoxSniper

This is what it should look like.

thanks alot man mine look exactly like that

[PigVenus]

Originally Posted by danos

pigvenus and dfs and anyone else who has a perfectly functioning photofast cr5400 adapter i would like you to look at your photofast and see if it really looks like the #5 picture precisely the part with the red circles. because my sis sent me pics of the ones she got and it passed test 2-1,2-2 and 4 but #5 not so much

I added an image of my 5400 in the first post.