7 Amazing Uses for an Old SD Card

Do you have old SD cards or MicroSD cards (with suitable adapter)? If so, don’t throw them away — there are plenty of projects you can complete with these compact flash drives.

Whether your old SD card is 64MB or 64MB, there are various designs for using these memory cards. Smaller cards can be used as portable media for storage, printing from SD, and creating a digital photo frame. Meanwhile, larger cards can be used to provide emergency download support on your computer, modify the Nintendo Wii, or even install CyanogenMod on your Android device.

Emergency loading device

Perhaps the most important use you can find for an old SD card is as an emergency boot device to help with problems when your computer won’t start.

Typically this can be something you can do with the distribution although it is also possible to download a «live» version of Windows XP. something that a Windows user might be more comfortable with.

Now you’re probably thinking to yourself, «Hang on, these links are for USB sticks» and you’d be right. However, with a device like the one below, you can turn an old SD card into a USB stick, which is very useful in a number of different situations.

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Portable media storage

The more space you have on a spare or old SD card, the more it will be suitable for various multimedia projects.

One popular use is to store your favorite photos on it and view them on a suitable digital photo frame. You can even use the card to install an operating system and add photos, ready to be used in a custom built digital photo frame that may have started life as a laptop or netbook.

7 Amazing uses for an old SD card digital frame

If you’re using a digital camera, you can use a spare SD card to quickly check your photos on your phone or tablet (provided you have the right card reader).

There are also several ways to use an old SD card to create a media center…

Softmod A Nintendo Wii

Using an SD card with the helpful Letterbomb software installed, you can programmatically modify your Nintendo Wii. to allow you to run various home applications.

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You can, for example, use the device as a DVD player (standard DVDs cannot be read as standard Nintendo Wii; however, this mod will work on older models) or play homemade and retro games.

Alternatively, you can use the mod to turn your Wii into a media center. the ability to play movies from your SD card or storage device on your local computer. net.

Printing from SD

Another use for an old SD card is printing. You don’t need to have a wireless card or wireless printer to send print jobs over Wi-Fi — you can simply save the print job to an SD card and then use your printer’s card reader (if available) to find file to be printed and start the print job.

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Depending on the printer, this will probably work universally for images — although some printers can print documents without a computer connected. If you have any local photo printing kiosks that accept SD cards, this is good to know.

Run Raspberry Pi

Do you have a Raspberry Pi? If so, you will probably know that an SD card is needed as the primary boot device and can also be used for storage.

With multiple storage devices, you can have access to different operating systems customized for specific projects; You can, for example, install RaspBMC to use a small computer as a media center or install RetroPIE for retro games.

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However, the Raspberry Pi can be used for much more; who would have thought that an SD card could become part of a low-budget space program ?

GPS expansion card

If you regularly use your GPS device for travel and find yourself running out of space, you can use the expansion slot to provide the space you need to download new maps and voices.

7 Amazing Uses for an Old GPS SD Card Device

Surprisingly, GPS systems are still widely used as stand-alone devices, as opposed to various smartphone-based systems such as Google Maps and Nokia HERE.

Considering the price of a new GPS device, it makes sense to make the most of these devices, so if you have the right slot for your SD or microSD card, this can be a great way to solve two problems in one go.