Upgrading SD slots to read SDHC

jawsy · 06-22-2009, 05:07 AM

This post is for anyone who has been unsuccessful in turning an SD card reader into an SDHC reader. I recently replaced my SD card with a 4GB SDHC for my K20D. I am not tech savvy.

My Toshiba notebook has an SD slot which wouldn't read the SDHC card. After getting mixed advice as to whether the card reader could be upgraded I spent all weekend downloading XP service packs and Toshiba driver updates, all to no avail.

An electrical engineer at work gave me a tip off which led to the solution. After manually going into drive management options and selecting the SD card reader properties it was possible to manually point the card controller to the folder containing the new driver using the 'update driver' advanced options. I pointed to the folder where the XP service packs and Toshiba driver updates ended up being saved.

Once this was done, the slot read the SDHC card without an issue.

So, to anyone who has experienced the same frustrating process, give this one a go.

Peter Zack · 06-22-2009, 05:13 AM

Great tip and I'll have to give that a go on my Dell.

nanok · 06-22-2009, 06:54 AM

interesting. i have a friend who just went through this (xp service pack and all), with no luck. your explanation might help him. let me point some things out first, though:

a card reader which is not designed to read sdhc might not be capable of doing that, whatever you do (i think this applies mostly to usb based card readers, i think the integrated ones are different, more flexible in that respect, in short, i think they have some sort of firmware, contained in the driver, which can be updated).

windows xp seems to be very special in this respect, in the cases mentioned, where this worked, the card reader is actually plenty capable of reading sdhc, it's windows xp which seems to be flawed (in it's initial design), though i am not sure how they managed that. my friend is running linux as well, it works perfectly for him without any fuss (so a simple way to test if there is "any hope" might be to just get something like an ubuntu livecd, boot that and see if you can read sdhc, if you can, you know it should definetly be worth it trying to get it to work on windows xp, if it doesn't, and smaller cards (non"HC") do work in linux too, you are probbaly out of luck -- but not necesarilly -- as usual, ymmv)

GeneV · 06-22-2009, 11:15 AM

I downloaded a new driver for the card reader on my Fuji notebooks, and they work fine with SDHC.

Ratmagiclady · 06-22-2009, 12:16 PM

Cool.

My computers are way too old to even have SD slots, so we just have some cheapo external ones. I'm still not even using SDHC yet, (too many eggs in a teeny basket for comfort, anyway) but the last five-dollar jobbie I got reads SDHC.

)

Tom S. · 06-22-2009, 01:31 PM

Your problem was software related - in specific driver related, and is/was a known XP problem. This solution will not work with a SD reader that is not SDHC compatible.

GeneV · 06-22-2009, 01:34 PM

Originally posted by Ratmagiclady

Cool.

My computers are way too old to even have SD slots, so we just have some cheapo external ones. I'm still not even using SDHC yet, (too many eggs in a teeny basket for comfort, anyway) but the last five-dollar jobbie I got reads SDHC.

)

I carry one of those in my bag. It's no bigger than a usb flash drive and works on every computer I've tried.

Edvinas · 06-27-2009, 07:05 AM

It's just a matter of firmware/drivers. There are no hardware changes required for SD card reader to become SDHC or SDXC card reader.

06-22-2009, 05:07 AM	#1
jawsy Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 422	Upgrading SD slots to read SDHC This post is for anyone who has been unsuccessful in turning an SD card reader into an SDHC reader. I recently replaced my SD card with a 4GB SDHC for my K20D. I am not tech savvy. My Toshiba notebook has an SD slot which wouldn't read the SDHC card. After getting mixed advice as to whether the card reader could be upgraded I spent all weekend downloading XP service packs and Toshiba driver updates, all to no avail. An electrical engineer at work gave me a tip off which led to the solution. After manually going into drive management options and selecting the SD card reader properties it was possible to manually point the card controller to the folder containing the new driver using the 'update driver' advanced options. I pointed to the folder where the XP service packs and Toshiba driver updates ended up being saved. Once this was done, the slot read the SDHC card without an issue. So, to anyone who has experienced the same frustrating process, give this one a go.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Upgrading that 18-55.	chlen	Pentax SLR Lens Discussion	15	12-08-2008 02:55 PM
What to do first when upgrading?	kthung	Pentax SLR Lens Discussion	13	12-02-2008 10:31 AM
External Hard Drives with SD slots?	er1kksen	Pentax Camera and Field Accessories	37	11-08-2008 05:05 PM
upgrading already....	distorted_vision	Pentax DSLR Discussion	3	12-04-2007 07:10 AM
Read SDHC cards without card reader	ivoire	Pentax Camera and Field Accessories	0	08-12-2007 09:11 PM

06-22-2009, 05:13 AM	#2
Peter Zack Pentaxian Moderator Emeritus Join Date: May 2007 Location: Edmonton Alberta, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 10,643	Great tip and I'll have to give that a go on my Dell.

06-22-2009, 06:54 AM	#3
nanok Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Photos: Gallery Posts: 969	interesting. i have a friend who just went through this (xp service pack and all), with no luck. your explanation might help him. let me point some things out first, though: a card reader which is not designed to read sdhc might not be capable of doing that, whatever you do (i think this applies mostly to usb based card readers, i think the integrated ones are different, more flexible in that respect, in short, i think they have some sort of firmware, contained in the driver, which can be updated). windows xp seems to be very special in this respect, in the cases mentioned, where this worked, the card reader is actually plenty capable of reading sdhc, it's windows xp which seems to be flawed (in it's initial design), though i am not sure how they managed that. my friend is running linux as well, it works perfectly for him without any fuss (so a simple way to test if there is "any hope" might be to just get something like an ubuntu livecd, boot that and see if you can read sdhc, if you can, you know it should definetly be worth it trying to get it to work on windows xp, if it doesn't, and smaller cards (non"HC") do work in linux too, you are probbaly out of luck -- but not necesarilly -- as usual, ymmv)

06-22-2009, 11:15 AM	#4
GeneV Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Albuquerque NM Photos: Albums Posts: 9,830	I downloaded a new driver for the card reader on my Fuji notebooks, and they work fine with SDHC.

06-22-2009, 12:16 PM	#5
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563	Cool. My computers are way too old to even have SD slots, so we just have some cheapo external ones. I'm still not even using SDHC yet, (too many eggs in a teeny basket for comfort, anyway) but the last five-dollar jobbie I got reads SDHC. )

06-22-2009, 01:31 PM	#6
Tom S. Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: S.E. Michigan Photos: Albums Posts: 4,317	Your problem was software related - in specific driver related, and is/was a known XP problem. This solution will not work with a SD reader that is not SDHC compatible.

06-22-2009, 01:34 PM	#7
GeneV Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Albuquerque NM Photos: Albums Posts: 9,830	Originally posted by Ratmagiclady Cool. My computers are way too old to even have SD slots, so we just have some cheapo external ones. I'm still not even using SDHC yet, (too many eggs in a teeny basket for comfort, anyway) but the last five-dollar jobbie I got reads SDHC. ) I carry one of those in my bag. It's no bigger than a usb flash drive and works on every computer I've tried.

06-27-2009, 07:05 AM	#8
Edvinas Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Kaunas Posts: 1,458	It's just a matter of firmware/drivers. There are no hardware changes required for SD card reader to become SDHC or SDXC card reader.