SD Card Access Library

armcortex-mpicsdspi

I am accessing my SD card using SPI. But I've found this to be slow and I am also sad that when there is a faster protocol already supported by my SD card I am using a slower version.

Is there a C library that can be integrated to my C compiler which can be used to access my Sd much faster than SPI?

Best Answer

One way to access an SD card faster (up to 4x) than using the 1-bit serial SPI mode is to use the 4-bit parallel mode.

Unfortunately, this faster mode is proprietary to the SD Card Association. Just Google: "sd card 4-bit proprietary" and you will see a number of web sites that confirm this.

The SD Card Association has 1) not released the specifications for it (although some of it may have leaked), and 2) to legally use it in a product you must pay a hefty fee (a few thousand dollars). So even if you want to use it just for yourself, it is unlikely you will find a C library anywhere that supports this mode. But you can always look.

The SD Card Association has made the SPI protocol officially available which is way it is readily available, which you obviously are aware of.