SD/MMC fits in floppy edge-connector

You can attach an SD camera memory card to any homebrew DIY project that has a few I/O pins,
using ordinary connectors you probably have right now.

For more details, how to obtain free mmc device drivers, and installing various open source Linux distros on WRT54G wireless routers (and other routers and devices), go here:

http://uanr.com/sdfloppy/

This is the finished "SD floppy" connector, which has been running flawlessly inside a friend's wireless router for 6 months now:

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Step 1: 01_floppy_cable.jpg

Here is the standard PC floppy cable we will use for this hardware hack, with an SD card for a size comparison.

als_liahona says: Nov 17, 2009. 11:00 PM

Brilliant idea! I just added a comment in my Instructable (Great idea, great Instructable! I just added a comment to my own Instructable (http://www.instructables.com/id/Digital-Window-Sticker-Arduino-Controlled/) recommending this as an alternative to the expensive SD Card breakout board I used!) suggesting this as a possible, lower-cost alternative to the SD Card breakout board I used. I'll be trying this out for future projects!

VirtualBoxer says: Dec 16, 2012. 1:16 PM

I never saw that kind of joke before, but I understand it.

VirtualBoxer says: Dec 16, 2012. 1:08 PM

I had guessed that it would fit, but I didn't assume that it would actually make a connection.

dognose says: Mar 11, 2007. 8:08 AM

Would this work with USB?

VirtualBoxer says: Dec 16, 2012. 1:07 PM

An Arduino Due might come in handy here. It runs at 3V3 and has hardware USB. However, I don't know exactly how, but it could be done. Maybe I should start trying once I receive my Arduino Due.

matstermind says: May 11, 2010. 6:31 PM

could this be used to add more memory to an arduino?

skaar says: Oct 8, 2011. 3:26 AM

yah, old post, but... you'd need to have the filesystem driver to use it.

anilmosses says: Apr 2, 2011. 3:54 PM

It's very good

rogerjowett says: Dec 16, 2009. 4:42 AM

isnt there a floppy disc that has the sd memory device inside it
can you read and write data
what kind of read write speeds are available please?
does it need a driver?
can you modify zx microdrive cartridge for sd/compact flash also
is it possible to use the motor to power the device/charge any battery required?
what transfer speeds possible from 8 devices?

uhsnamih says: Mar 12, 2008. 7:29 PM

hi nice trick but what does it realy for ....Ooo i understand........well what about if we attach a usb cable on the end of that cord.........well what's your opinion...................byyyyyeeeeee

DBLinuxLover says: Sep 30, 2008. 11:58 AM

well uhm. This is primarily designed for the hack of the Linksys router WRT54G, which allows you to attach an SD card, and have the router interface with it. Then you can run the router with that extra memory. (You could host email server, web server, etc off your router). No usb support. Want a USB connection? you would have to buy one.

jamwaffles says: Mar 4, 2009. 1:05 PM

He he i steal internet off one of those routers :P. Dont live near cambridge do you?

carlos-felo says: Mar 4, 2009. 11:28 AM

It's very great!

cuchulain92 says: Dec 26, 2008. 3:26 PM

Here's the idea I've got- need to find out if it would work. Use the SD card as the boot drive for Linux, and add it in place of my floppy drive on a desktop: a fast boot, low access time for the OS, less moving parts & less space...

uhsnamih says: Mar 14, 2008. 8:06 PM

hi aaaaaaaaaaa............it was a floppy drive cable right?.........aaaaaaa.........what about if i use a cd drive cable............hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Popcornfilms says: Oct 6, 2008. 2:54 PM

you sir. are a cool dude. such wise observations!

Derin says: Jun 12, 2008. 10:01 PM

wont work cd drives use holes as in the left pic floppy connectors(5.25" size)use the suitable connection (right picture)and 3.14 drives use the center connector(admire the smaller number of pins)i cant put up pics now

VirtualBoxer says: Dec 13, 2012. 8:20 PM

You can't because IDE doesn't have edge connectors.

khromes says: May 8, 2007. 10:29 AM

i was wondering if this could be used with an old laptop, i'm buying a compaq lte5300{manufactured 1997}, and it has no usb or cd-rom. i would like to know if it is possible to replace the laptop's floppy drive with a SD card? maybe then i could use the SD as its removable storage, would be nice to use a 2gb card, sure beats any floppy disk!

mycroftxxx says: May 6, 2008. 12:50 PM

The basic answer to this is "No", the technical answer is "kinda". This instructable is about using the floppy cable connector as a cheap and probably-around-the-house-somewhere SD card socket, for people who are planning to add a socket to an existing piece of hardware but don't feel like ordering one from a supplier. This cable is meant to be attached to a serial port so that it can be accessed once the firmware of the device (in this case, a wireless router) has been modified. You _can_ do the same thing with your old laptop, but there are better tricks you can try.

twenglish1 says: Mar 1, 2008. 12:51 PM

how would you hook a usb connector to this??

DieCastoms says: May 26, 2007. 1:24 AM

I did not read the replies so this may already have been said, why not tie the odd pins in the correct order to the even pins so that if you push the SD card in 'upside down' it will do the same thing anyway? Awesome idea by the way, might be useful to me in the future. Mike at DC

dognose says: Mar 11, 2007. 8:12 AM

Or maybe a dual channel one that could be used like a dual tape deck to make copies.

robwen (author) says: Mar 11, 2007. 9:58 AM

The current mmc driver uses SPI protocol, which requires a separate CS (chip select) wire for each SD card. I have some code that I want to add to the driver that support full MMC protocol, which does not need any CS wires, but instead uses a card addressing scheme that only uses the clock and data wires, and also supports many SD cards attached in parallel to the same wires.

My thoughts when I first did this hack were that I want two SD card slots on my router -- one to "boot" the router, and another to plug in SD camera cards. I currently have a CGI script on my router that when viewed in a web browser scans the SD card for /DCIM/* direcories (created by digital cameras), and building a webpage of image thumbnails which may be clicked to view the larger image.

Alternately, the second SD slot could also be used to copy SD cards...

P.S. This does not use USB. Some routers have a USB port and could use a USB thumbdrive instead of an SD card.

!Andrew_Modder! says: Feb 5, 2007. 7:32 PM

I see your using the "skuzzie" side. I wonder if it works with normal side?

bostrees says: Nov 6, 2006. 10:28 PM

Now... Maybe I'm just not thinking this through all the way, but is there a way to do this or something very similar and have it connect to a motherboard via the floppy connector or is this specifically for attaching to the wireless router?

bostrees says: Nov 8, 2006. 9:41 AM

I look forward to that one then :D I don't have anything reliable to solder with right now and unless I can find a few other projects, I'm not about to run out and get something for one project :P

robwen (author) says: Nov 6, 2006. 10:34 PM

This lets you connect an SD card to any device with a few spare I/O pins. I plan to wire one up to a parallel port connector when I get some free time. For more details, read the text at the website link.
http://uanr.com/sdfloppy
There is more stuff too, at
http://uanr.com

Myself says: Sep 23, 2006. 10:16 AM

Nice photos too, good closeups with nice even lighting. Just when I was considering throwing out my bucket of old floppy cables, someone finds a new use for edge-card connectors! I find it ironic that the connector outweighs the card it's connecting to. If you remember how big the old "full-height" floppy drives were, it's just breathtaking.