SD Cards In MacBook Air.

The specs for the MBA are here.

I use SanDisk 32GB (30MB/s) SDHC cards in my current MBA and iMacs though other makes will no doubt be just as usable. I've no desire to use 64GB cards.

No idea about your point 3 but I rather doubt it.

1. Macbook Air mid 2012 13" User Guide is not available from the Apple site yet, but the MBA mid 2011 SD card slot can accept an SD or SDXC card. MBA 2012 should be the same.

2. None. You could use a 32GB, 64GB or even 128GB card, formatted as Fat32. Fat32 has some limitations vis-vis HFS+ (e.g., no file > 4GB)

3. Yes. It is storage. However, just like USB sticks, SD cards are intended for temporary storage and transfer of data. I would not use an SD card as a permanent storage solution any more than I would use a USB stick for permanent storage.

The SD slot is primarily meant for ease of transferring photos but a fast data card can be used for additional storage - but I'd not recommend keeping the card in the computer on a regular basis. For example, my 256GB drive is sufficient for everyday work but when I travel I want to carry more music and video. I have a fast 64GB card that I use to store the extra music and video on. I have a 128GB card that serves as an emergency system and applications drive. I've never had to use it but in an emergency I could boot with that card, and perhaps repair the SSD or if need be use it as a clone so I could limp along until I got home.

But I do not use either card to acually augment my internal SSD as one might add a second drive to a desktop computer.

dwb, how do you create an emergency system and applications drive on an SD card? I know this is off topic, but i am very curious and would like to do the same thing. Do you do a clone?

I downloaded Lion. When the download is complete the installer automatically launches. You can quit it and make a copy. Having done that, I simply double clicked the Lion installer and then pointed to the SD Card - mine is 128GB. It boots up somewhat more slowly than normal...and then I installed my programs. Haven't gotten around to doing it with Mt Lion yet but the processs should be the same.

I don't make it with a clone because my boot drives are all larger than the SD card (and too full) but if I did have a hard drive that had say 80GB or less of stuff on it I could go the clone route.

Why not use sd as second drive and backup via time

Machine to external

So, in order to use the SDXC card like 64GB, the card must format in FAT32, and the card won't work on other formats such as ExFat or MacOS Extended Journal? I bought a 64GB Patriot SDXC card, when I formatted in ExFat, the Air won't recognized card. I tried on other Macbook Pros, ExFat worked.

Hi! How are you? The reason why I'm here is to find out more about SDXC support/compatibility info on the macbook air 2012 and how to fix this nagging issue if it's fixable.

I had just bought a Sandisk extreme pro 64GB rated at 95mb/s for my Nikon DSLR. Unfortunately, MBA struggles to detect or mount my card, after a few sweats, it would mount, but then very slow to process and preview the images as "Thumbnail preview". Then, after a few more sweats, you can scroll through the thumbnails smoothly.

Streaming HD videos straight from the SD Slot is butcher chopping the beef. Video lags, stutters, chops, in otherwords, USELESS and a pain in the neck. So you just want to copy all the files to your macbook, and play from there. Copying files from SDXC to my macbook takes forever; writing is also another issue that take much more than forever!

I have a top of the line macbook air 2012 (i7, 8GB, 512) and I always thought it's a versatile reliable computer but now I'm very disappointed. On the other hand, doing the same things on my macbook pro 2010 is seamless. I also tested on my windows 8 desktop to be flawless as well.

Therefore, the memory card is not the problem. It's macbook air's sd slot that's a failure. I never thought spending $2,199 for a super computer would make me stress like this. In addition, the magsafe 2 is another failure in design. It always disconnects just by moving my macbook air from one spot of the table to another. Having it charged while on my lap gets on my nerves when it keeps getting disconnected! I hate Apple for doing this. If only there was a Windows notebook that surpasses Apple's design, I would never EVER buy Apple products EVER again.

Hi! How are you? The reason why I'm here is to find out more about SDXC support/compatibility info on the macbook air 2012 and how to fix this nagging issue if it's fixable.

I had just bought a Sandisk extreme pro 64GB rated at 95mb/s for my Nikon DSLR. Unfortunately, MBA struggles to detect or mount my card, after a few sweats, it would mount, but then very slow to process and preview the images as "Thumbnail preview". Then, after a few more sweats, you can scroll through the thumbnails smoothly.

Streaming HD videos straight from the SD Slot is butcher chopping the beef. Video lags, stutters, chops, in otherwords, USELESS and a pain in the neck. So you just want to copy all the files to your macbook, and play from there. Copying files from SDXC to my macbook takes forever; writing is also another issue that take much more than forever!

I have a top of the line macbook air 2012 (i7, 8GB, 512) and I always thought it's a versatile reliable computer but now I'm very disappointed. On the other hand, doing the same things on my macbook pro 2010 is seamless. I also tested on my windows 8 desktop to be flawless as well.

Therefore, the memory card is not the problem. It's macbook air's sd slot that's a failure. I never thought spending $2,199 for a super computer would make me stress like this. In addition, the magsafe 2 is another failure in design. It always disconnects just by moving my macbook air from one spot of the table to another. Having it charged while on my lap gets on my nerves when it keeps getting disconnected! I hate Apple for doing this. If only there was a Windows notebook that surpasses Apple's design, I would never EVER buy Apple products EVER again.

Thanks for your usefull information, chiobes.

Hello -

I just inserted a Transcend JetDrive Lite 130 128GB into my MacBook Air 13". How do I go about seeing this drive (and its contents) in the Finder?

Confirming that an 256GB SD card will work with the latest macbook air and previous generation as well. Because they aren't cheap, I was hesitant to purchase this size. The built in slot reads it just find. The only draw back is that it sticks out a 5cm, so it's not ideal to leave in for long travel.

Lexar Professional 600x 256GB SDXC UHS-I Flash Memory Card

My SanDisk 64gb SDXC card runs just fine with OSX Extended Journaled formatting. I just leave it in the computer. No issues in four years, so it works fine as "permanent" storage. Writes very quickly, usually a few seconds lag to read the drive initially, then it works fine. Going up to either a 256gb this week, or the Transcend ones designed to not stick out from the side of the Air.

I wanted to ask you, do you have issues with maximum file sizes, using the extended, journaled settings with your 64GB Sandisk card?

I was thinking about getting away from the FAT settings?

Also, Does it write large files fairly fast?