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SD cards, speed, etc.

Greetings all.
After much thought, I opted for a Magician (yet to arrive). The next step is purchase as large an SD card that my pocket can afford, and it is here that some advice would be appreciated. A 1GB card can be purchased here in England for around £55 upwards. All well and good. However, how do these budget cards measure up in terms of speed?
A second thought which struck me was that the same card could double up to be used in my digital camera. Doubtless many of you also own a digital camera. I had already bought a 256MB card for the camera, but was always perplexed by the amount of time it took the camera to be ready for another shot (in highest quality mode). It is only now that I belatedly realise that the delay must have been due to a slow write speed.
So there you have it: I would prefer a high speed write card (4 megapixel photos) which can also be used to play mp3s on the Magician. Are there any prime 1GB candidates that spring to mind? I have yet to find a good website offering comparisons of a wide range of SD cards...

look at the program pocket mechianics it let you benchmark your system and compare to other pda's and or with many SD cards
doubt it's uptodate though
and at least for the xda2 and many other pda's it's the interface which is bottleneck not the sd cards
sd card speed seem to matter the most when you are using usb2 sd card readers

I'll take a look at pocket mechanics to benchmark my existing card. What about for choosing a new and, as yet, unacquired card? Are there any recommendations?

I have heard good things about the SanDisk Ultra II range. Unfortunately, the 2GB version cannot be bought for less than ~£180 here in England. Are these cheaper in the States?

MicroSD for Froyo - general consensus?

Hello,
Now that Froyo more or less came out and apps will start having Apps2SD function, it's time for a MicroSD upgrade.
What I want is on-phone performance - that running heavy 3D games on SD would perform as smoothly as if it was on internal memory. Is there a general consensus on what brand/class would suffice, and what is overkill? I have no concern over data cable transfer speed, as I'm pretty sure the phone will limit the speed much before the SD card does.
I'm looking at this Sandisk 16gb MicroSDHC Class 2 for $35 after shipping:
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Flash...ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1275145563&sr=1-1
Anyone know if this would suffice?
Past threads have always went on tangents about good brand vs knock offs, how class is important vs. a marketing ploy, etc etc. Has a general consensus been reached in the xda community over what is sufficient but not overkill for onboard performance? Perhaps people who have already ran App2SD and use games and videos a lot have some input.
Thanks

I have a Top Ram 16 Gig class 6 and I think I paid about the same as you looking to pay for a class2. I also have a class2 that I have had for over a year. I used to use it in my blackberry. It still works and it is made by one of the cheap manufacturers.

Argh, I'm suffering from chronic SD corruption. So I'm in the market for a new chip. Think I'll spring for a 32gb this time. What's the latest on one that's both compatible and fast? And cheap too, that would be nice, links appreciated.

Considering that due to the amount of RAM the N1 has your main apps will be loaded already so card speed is not a significant factor, unless you use lots of different apps on a regular basis.
A faster card is beneficial mostly for the time i takes when I am loading up new music and possibly vids if you use it for that

This is the first 32gb MicroSD card I have seen "In Stock" Pretty expensive for a class 2 though.
http://www.buy.com/prod/sandisk-sds...crosdhc-32-gb-retail/q/loc/101/215191110.html

!!
Im not sure the nexus 1 can handle a 32GB card , wow that's a lot lol, but you can get one for like $30 on ebay... http://bit.ly/9J7u2S

You can get a 16gb class 10 for about $90.00.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0036V5DGG...e=asn&creative=380341&creativeASIN=B0036V5DGG

frankzua77 said:
Im not sure the nexus 1 can handle a 32GB card , wow that's a lot lol, but you can get one for like $30 on ebay... http://bit.ly/9J7u2S
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Micro SDHC is a standard that supports up to 32gb. Of course it can handle it just fine.
I run a 16gb Class 6 in mine, works fine

bewar ebay, there a lot of folks selling fake cards. They even read as what they were sold as but then fill up mighty quick............
The class is not needed I don't think
I have a class six and have been running games on it from sd for 3 months cant tell a bit of difference. I run linpack from sd and it works fine too!

the only real 32gb card is found here., http://www.sandisk.com/products/mobile-memory-products/sandisk-microsdhc

frankzua77 said:
Im not sure the nexus 1 can handle a 32GB card , wow that's a lot lol, but you can get one for like $30 on ebay... http://bit.ly/9J7u2S
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no f-ing way that is real for $30

GldRush98 said:
Micro SDHC is a standard that supports up to 32gb. Of course it can handle it just fine.
I run a 16gb Class 6 in mine, works fine
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I'm running a 32gb Sandisk Class 2 in my Nexus as of last Friday. No problems (apart from a looooong time to refresh the media library after resyncing my music).

You can not get a genuine 32GB Micro SD card for US$40.
A good class 2 card (2MB/s) will offer you the same performance as any other class in your phone.
The limitation is not the speed of the card.
Buy a brand name card with the capacity you require and be done with the complexity.

djmcnz said:
You can not get a genuine 32GB Micro SD card for US$40.
A good class 2 card (2MB/s) will offer you the same performance as any other class in your phone.
The limitation is not the speed of the card.
Buy a brand name card with the capacity you require and be done with the complexity.
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I don't know too much about transfer rates but basically what you're saying is that a a brand name class 2 card will be just as good as say a class 6? I'm in the market for a new SD card as well, and the class 6 cards are much more expensive. I'm wondering if they're worth it.

jasrups said:
I don't know too much about transfer rates but basically what you're saying is that a a brand name class 2 card will be just as good as say a class 6? I'm in the market for a new SD card as well, and the class 6 cards are much more expensive. I'm wondering if they're worth it.
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No, in a phone they're not worth it at all and people who say so are either selling snake oil or are embarrassed because they've paid for one and are foolish for doing so.
The best I can do just at the moment is this:
wikipedia said:
In applications that require sustained write throughput, such as video recording, the device may not perform satisfactorily if the SD card's class rating falls below a particular speed. For example, a camcorder that is designed to record to class 6 media may suffer dropouts or corrupted video on slower media.
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The Nexus, like probably every other phone out there, is a) not typically used for high rate sustained write activities and b) is designed to write to class 2 media to begin with.
If you have a large, highly fragmented sd card higher speeds will help. This of course is easy to avoid in the first place.
Get a higher capacity, class 2, brand name card for the same money and you're away laughing.
NB - If somebody waves a magic wand and all of a sudden the Nexus can record video at 1080p at a high enough bitrate then perhaps my advice would be invalidated... but don't hold your breath for that to happen...

djmcnz said:
No, in a phone they're not worth it at all and people who say so are either selling snake oil or are embarrassed because they've paid for one and are foolish for doing so.
The best I can do just at the moment is this:
The Nexus, like probably every other phone out there, is a) not typically used for high rate sustained write activities and b) is designed to write to class 2 media to begin with.
If you have a large, highly fragmented sd card higher speeds will help. This of course is easy to avoid in the first place.
Get a higher capacity, class 2, brand name card for the same money and you're away laughing.
NB - If somebody waves a magic want and all of a sudden the Nexus can record video at 1080p at a high enough bitrate then perhaps my advice would be invalidated... but don't hold your breath for that to happen...
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Thanks for the info man! I was obviously misinformed, you just saved me a bunch of money

so just curious. now that CM 5.0.8 comes with 720p recording, would a class 2 still suffice?

I am also searching the web recently to look for a cost-effective high vol microSD. My finding is: don't 100% trust the "class" specified by mfr. I used ATTO Disk Benchmark to test two 8G microSD that I have: Transcend 8G Class 6 and Sandisk 8G Class 4.
<Transcend Class6> Write: 6-10MB/s Read: 16MB/s
<Sandisk Class 4> Write: 14MB/s Read: 20MB/s
From similar test results on the web, it seems that Sandisk uses to under-state the performance of their card. Finally I get a Sandisk 16G Class 2 for my N1, and here is the test result with the same setting:
<Sandisk 16G Class2> Write: 7MB/s Read: 20MB/s
Although Sandisk only specifies it as class 2, it actually performs like a class 6.
I suspect the importance of the speed of the SD card too, coz I think the write speed into ROM, should be way slower than 6-7MB/s (correct me if I am wrong ^_^)... If the speed of v2.1 w/o app2sd is acceptable to you, then v2.2 with 6-7M write speed card should be logically fine with you.

fshek said:
I am also searching the web recently to look for a cost-effective high vol microSD. My finding is: don't 100% trust the "class" specified by mfr. I used ATTO Disk Benchmark to test two 8G microSD that I have: Transcend 8G Class 6 and Sandisk 8G Class 4.
<Transcend Class6> Write: 6-10MB/s Read: 16MB/s
<Sandisk Class 4> Write: 14MB/s Read: 20MB/s
From similar test results on the web, it seems that Sandisk uses to under-state the performance of their card. Finally I get a Sandisk 16G Class 2 for my N1, and here is the test result with the same setting:
<Sandisk 16G Class2> Write: 7MB/s Read: 20MB/s
Although Sandisk only specifies it as class 2, it actually performs like a class 6.
I suspect the importance of the speed of the SD card too, coz I think the write speed into ROM, should be way slower than 6-7MB/s (correct me if I am wrong ^_^)...
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huh that's interesting. i just might pick that up from amazon then..

I Dont think fragmentation makes any difference to write speed, these are not mechanical devices like hard disks.
Also defragging is pointless and shortens the life of the card by increasing the number of writes.

Micro SD max capacity and class type?

Hi all,
What is the maximum capacity Micro SD card size on the TF and also, what Class type do I need?
Thanks in advance

32 gb has always been the limit.

OK thanks, but what 'class' type? I see class 4 and 10 advertised?

well the class is the write speed of the card. The higher the number the faster the speed with 10 being the fastest. I use a class 4 that i had from my thunderbolt and that works just fine

Dont think it matters what class, it's just the write speed of the sd card.

And what all can you use this SD memory for?

Class just specifies the maximum write speed, but with day to day use in the transformer (other than transferring the initial media) it's the read speed that's the most important. You''ll be storing and opening your media from it (music, pictures, videos and PDFs or other e-reader formats most often). Usually a card with fast write will have fast read speeds as well but there can be some anomalies with certain cards so it's not always so clear cut. In my experience anything above a class 4 seems to work just fine. If you're working with a lot of larger video files though probably class 6 or above would be better (and as it's also a little more future-proofed). I would always prefer to go with a named brand class 4 or 6 rather than a non branded class 10 though.
Robert

rwniel said:
Class just specifies the maximum write speed, but with day to day use in the transformer (other than transferring the initial media) it's the read speed that's the most important. You''ll be storing and opening your media from it (music, pictures, videos and PDFs or other e-reader formats most often). Usually a card with fast write will have fast read speeds as well but there can be some anomalies with certain cards so it's not always so clear cut. In my experience anything above a class 4 seems to work just fine. If you're working with a lot of larger video files though probably class 6 or above would be better (and as it's also a little more future-proofed). I would always prefer to go with a named brand class 4 or 6 rather than a non branded class 10 though.
Robert
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Wrong its the minimal write speed. You use many words but give wrong info

Kaiser Chief said:
Wrong its the minimal write speed. You use many words but give wrong info
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You use few words, but flame plenty. Be polite please...

Kaiser Chief said:
Wrong its the minimal write speed. You use many words but give wrong info
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Even that isn't the whole story because it's incomplete - the class of the card minimum sustained write speed of the card under optimal conditions (i.e. a brand new and completely unfragmented card). I'm sure someone else can improve on that definition further!
As to what speed of card you need, from sdcard.org:
Class 2 : H.264 video recording, MPEG-4, MPEG-2 video recording
Class 4: MEPG-2 (HDTV) video recording, digital still camera (DSC) consecutive photo shooting
Class 6: Mega-pixel DSC consecutive photo shooting, professional video camera
Class 10: Full HD video recording, HD still picture consecutive shooting
Planning on doing any of these with your TF?
I've been using good quality Sandisk Class 2 cards in all my Android devices since the original T-Mobile G1, and *never* had an issue with them. Plus when testing, I usually get a write speed of around 7.5MB/s.
Regards,
Dave

I use a class 4 16gb and its fine. No problems. I think the faster classes are over rated. I typically try to find a class 4 or 6. Both work great. Don't waste your money.
You can get a 16gb for about $25 and a 32gb for around $40
Asus Transformer 3.1 pwnd
www.MiiWiiChat.com
www.SnapSiteAdmins.com

FAssuming Asus implemented SD 2.0 standard, a 32 GB maximum storage capacity is your limit for any SDHC memory card. You can read more about it here: link.
As for which class you buy, it depends on what you're using the memory card for. Foxmeister answered with a class rating list. Do note that the higher the class rating, the more expensive the memory card is. Like wise with storage capacity. I recently bought my PNY 32 GB microSDHC class 10 memory card from buy.com for about $57. Caveat emptor with fake ones on eBay, especially ones shipping from China.

hoang51 said:
FAssuming Asus implemented SD 2.0 standard, a 32 GB maximum storage capacity is your limit for any SDHC memory card. You can read more about it here: link.
As for which class you buy, it depends on what you're using the memory card for. Foxmeister answered with a class rating list. Do note that the higher the class rating, the more expensive the memory card is. Like wise with storage capacity. I recently bought my PNY 32 GB microSDHC class 10 memory card from buy.com for about $57. Caveat emptor with fake ones on eBay, especially ones shipping from China.
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yep, picked up one of those "fakes on eBay". That really stunk.

32GB MicroSD Card Sale ($18.97)

DEAL IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE SOLD OUT DO NOT CONTINUE TO READ POST
Hey All,
If anyone is in need of a 32GB Class 10 MicroSD, NewEgg is selling one for 18.97 (including shipping) and it includes an adapater
Go to: NewEgg Link
The price will come up as 25.99 then use promo code EMCXRVW72 and it will come down to 18.97.
I am sure this is a limited time sale but have no idea when it ends
If you are looking for more information about MicroSD cards please see the following thread: XDA 32GB MicroSD Card thread

arosadojr87 said:
Hey All,
If anyone is in need of a 32GB Class 10 MicroSD, NewEgg is selling one for 18.97 (including shipping) and it includes an adapater
Go to: NewEgg Link
The price will come up as 25.99 then use promo code EMCXRVW72 and it will come down to 18.97.
I am sure this is a limited time sale but have no idea when it ends
If you are looking for more information about MicroSD cards please see the following thread: XDA 32GB MicroSD Card thread
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that is a SICK deal thanks bro:good::good::good:

Just bought mine. This will be a great addition to my S4. Thanks for posting the find!:good::good:

Not to hijack your thread OP, but Best Buy has a class 10 SanDisk 32gb for $32.99. The link you posted lists a class 1 sd card.

I was under the impression that UHS1= Class 10? Either way, for what I need this is a steal. Thanks OP!

kevinb84 said:
I was under the impression that UHS1= Class 10? Either way, for what I need this is a steal. Thanks OP!
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I stand corrected, I jumped the gun and overlooked the UHS, I did a quick wiki and this is the word...
UHS Speed Class [edit]
UHS-I symbolThe Ultra-High Speed (UHS) designation is available on some SDHC and SDXC cards.[44] The following ultra-high speeds are specified:
UHS-I cards, specified in SD Version 3.01,[41] support a clock frequency of 100 MHz (a quadrupling of the original "Default Speed"), which in four-bit transfer mode could transfer 50 MB/s. UHS-I cards declared as UHS104 also support a clock frequency of 208 MHz, which could transfer 104 MB/s. UHS-I is the only class for which products are currently available.[45]
Double data rate operation at 50 MHz (DDR50) is also specified in Version 3.01, and is mandatory for microSDHC and microSDXC cards labeled as UHS-I. In this mode, four bits are transferred when the clock signal rises and another four bits when it falls, transferring an entire byte on each full clock cycle.
UHS-II cards, defined in Version 4.0, further raise the data transfer rate to a theoretical maximum of 312 MB/s.[46][47]
UHS memory cards work best with UHS host devices. The combination lets the user record HD resolution videos with tapeless camcorders while performing other functions. It is also suitable for real-time broadcasts and capturing large HD videos.
Cards that comply with UHS show UHS-I or UHS-II on the label, and report this capability to the host device. Use of UHS requires that the host device command the card to drop from 3.3-volt to 1.8-volt operation and select the 4-bit transfer mode.

gear79 said:
I stand corrected, I jumped the gun and overlooked the UHS, I did a quick wiki and this is the word...
UHS Speed Class [edit]
UHS-I symbolThe Ultra-High Speed (UHS) designation is available on some SDHC and SDXC cards.[44] The following ultra-high speeds are specified:
UHS-I cards, specified in SD Version 3.01,[41] support a clock frequency of 100 MHz (a quadrupling of the original "Default Speed"), which in four-bit transfer mode could transfer 50 MB/s. UHS-I cards declared as UHS104 also support a clock frequency of 208 MHz, which could transfer 104 MB/s. UHS-I is the only class for which products are currently available.[45]
Double data rate operation at 50 MHz (DDR50) is also specified in Version 3.01, and is mandatory for microSDHC and microSDXC cards labeled as UHS-I. In this mode, four bits are transferred when the clock signal rises and another four bits when it falls, transferring an entire byte on each full clock cycle.
UHS-II cards, defined in Version 4.0, further raise the data transfer rate to a theoretical maximum of 312 MB/s.[46][47]
UHS memory cards work best with UHS host devices. The combination lets the user record HD resolution videos with tapeless camcorders while performing other functions. It is also suitable for real-time broadcasts and capturing large HD videos.
Cards that comply with UHS show UHS-I or UHS-II on the label, and report this capability to the host device. Use of UHS requires that the host device command the card to drop from 3.3-volt to 1.8-volt operation and select the 4-bit transfer mode.
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For future use. Card class is noted on the card itself as well on most cards. You should see a circle with a number in it.
From the picture on the New Egg listing that would mean that this card is a class 10. A lot of the cheaper cards are usually class 4 or below.

Bump...want to make sure as many members get a chance at this amazing deal...especially since I bought one two days ago and paid 30 -_-

arosadojr87 said:
Bump...want to make sure as many members get a chance at this amazing deal...especially since I bought one two days ago and paid 30 -_-
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SOLD OUT

stanfna said:
SOLD OUT
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WOW that happened quickly...

Which microSD card for Honor 6?

Hello,
I apologize if this question has already been made but I have a little concerns regarding this matter.
I recently bought the Honor 6 online and I'll receive it soon. I'd like some advice for buying a microSD card that meets my needs.
I'd like to buy a 64gb card that is fast enough (mainly for music and also apps), so I'd avoid cheap cards (unless you assure they're more than ok).
I've made some researches and I'm a bit confused about few points.
What do I really need to check in a card? Is it true that for mobiles the most important thing to see in a sd card are the random Read/Write (512K) speeds? Or else I need to check its sequential speed?
According to a lot of speed tests, SanDisk Extreme Pro is one of the fastest sd cards out there but I also read that SanDisk cards have a quite high failure rate after few months of use (true or not?). Being expensive I've no idea if it would be worth or not.
There are also Samsung Pro+, Transcend 633x, Lexar 1033x etc.. They are quite expensive in Europe and I've totally no idea if my future Honor 6 will be able to benefit to all their fast speed.
I've read this review http://www.anandtech.com/show/8425/huawei-honor-6-review/9 and I'm a bit concerned what the reviewer wrote about the Honor 6, I quote the exact text:
"The Honor 6 offers also a microSD card slot in case you want to expand your storage. The OS offers full exFat compatibility and I had no issues with my Samsung Pro 64GB card. I was however disappointed to see that the HiSilicon chip suffers from the same limitation that plagues other SoCs for no good reason: the DWMMC controller in charge of the SD-card is limited to SDR50 speeds, meaning that you won't be able to exceed ~35mB/s transfer speeds on your microSD, no matter how fast it actually is. It still baffles me that OEMs refuse to address this even almost 2 years after the first UHS-1 cards have been made widely available. "
Is this actually true?
Which microSD you recommend me?

ziovelvet said:
Hello,
IWhich microSD you recommend me?
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Clearly UHS-1 card is the best balance between performance and cost. According to your research.
.