512mb,256mb memory carda... for gamecube???

Dunno, but a 251 is really all you need. I've been using mine for years and I've never had to delete anything. Interesting, though. I always thought the SD memory card adapter was a cool idea.

 

After a quick calculation I came to the result that it should be around 32608 blocks. Some games take up to 60 blocks or more, that's why the cheap 59-block cards were useless for some games. Now at an average of 2 savestates per game for around 400 GameCube titles and unrealistic 30 blocks per game... there'd still be 10,000 blocks free LOL.

 

I saw some 64MB ones for the PS2 some time time ago, along with some GC ones that had "512 block" written on them. Almost unlimited space, huh?

 

I wouldn't trust it after having saves wiped from a 3rd party GC memory card.

 

I got a 128 MB PS2 one back in 2008 and put Free McBoot on it. It would sometimes fail to boot FMCB and sometimes games were unable to detect it, but I bought another one last year and this one works perfectly, other than the fact that it is a bit slow to access and for some games to save to. But it is perfect for the purpose that I purchased it for: homebrew storage for Free McBoot.

 

I think GC has the 59, 251, 1019. I have a 59 and a 251. Usually didn't have much trouble with just those. If I really needed more the 1019 should be plenty, especially if you had 2. Plus I'd rather Nintendo made than pirate stuff.

 

Well, considering 8MB original cards cost 50 bucks where I live, and these 32/64 mb are dirt cheap(like 15 bucks), they are really popular.

 

i actually have one of the white 512 ones. It has a button and switches between 2 banks. I don't trust it at all though, any game i try and load a save with will only detect the save after trying to reload a bunch of times.

 

Yeah, had one of those kill all its stored data when written to regularly, a grey 8MB one from Joytech. Just play a game that auto-saves after each level, say Sonic Adventure 2 Battle or something, and after a few stages the card gets corrupted.

Got a Bigben memory card afterwards then finally an official 59 and 251 block card each, and never had problems with either of them.

 

Yeah, I agree. 251 is a lot, really. Although I think the PS2 memory card was actually larger. I'd really like to get one of the official SD adapters and put a 1GB SD card in it. That could last a lifetime.

 

You'll notice that all of the official memory cards hold (2^n) - 5 blocks, so 5 blocks seem to always be used for the filesystem, etc. That leaves us with 64 - 5 = 59, 256 - 5 = 251, 1024 - 5 = 1019 and although not officially released, but officially supported, a 2048 - 5 = 2043 block card. Each block holds 64kb/8kB.

This means that the largest addressable card (I think), the 2043, holds 2048 * 64kb = 128Mb, or 16MB. Anything past this will have to use bank switching.

If a card were truly 512MB, it would have to have 32 banks of 16MB, and I think it is much more likely that by MB they actually mean Mb, for a total of 4 * 16MB banks or 8 * 8MB, depending on how each bank appears to the Gamecube (1019 or 2043).

I see that aesop frock says that he has a 512 that switches between 2 banks. Perhaps the Gamecube does support a 4091 block card [2 banks * (4091 + 5) blocks * 64kb/block] for 512Mb on the card, or the card doesn't even hold 512Mb.

Using MB incorrectly in place of Mb is pretty common in dodgy 3rd party stuff. It is exceedingly unlikely that the memory cards initially pictured actually hold 256MB and 512MB respectively.

 

I hardly understand maths, but I completely understood your post. Well written!

So I'm guessing the same applies for all memory cards like for Playstation 2 and Playstation that had over 8MB memory by using 'bank switching'.

Would it also be possible to even find out if they have true 512MB memory? It could be put onto a relay confusing the system to think it has 512MB like fake USB Memory sticks we see being shat out from China's ass?

 

You are mistaken unfortunately. The SD adapter is not for game saves, only one or two specific games use the SD adapter for saving images or something. You can't save games like Metroid or Zelda to SD card with the adapter, official or not. The primary use of the SD adapter really is to use SDLOAD with Action Replay. I'm glad I imported the SD adapter cause it was a big improvement over older ways of loading homebrew.

 

Hell, how many people even know the difference between MB and Mb, and how many pay attention to it? Even on official stuff, it's not uncommon to see this kind of mix-up...

 

Don't even get me started on the difference between kibibyte/kilobyte, mebibyte/megabyte, etc.

 

Can't speak to the PS1, but the PS2 fully supports higher capacity cards even though Sony only officially sold 8MB cards. My favorite third-party cards are Datel's Max Memory cards, as I've heard a lot of horror stories regarding third-party cards, but my 16MB Max Memory has been rock solid (for official games and homebrew usage). No bankswitching, card shows full capacity in the PS2 browser, card HAS successfully been filled up and data is properly written (unlike many large knockoff cards where I understand everything's fine until you start getting past 8/16MB or so). Not sure what the cap is for PS2 MCs but I know that Datel also sold 32MB versions at retail but I've never tested them.

 

I wonder if those cards use compression, like the old PSX 120 Block Memory Carts.

 

I've had my PS2 memory card since I bought my PS2, which was like '03 or '04, and I've never had to delete anything. The 59 block GC card is pretty restrictive, but the 251 one is nice.

It'd be cool if they could include memory in game discs, like they used to do with cartridges. They could have a very small rewritable area on the disc, and the system would burn the data to that area. Or it could use a magnetic strip.