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Write speed of the new 32GB microsd cards?

I was wondering what type of write speeds you guys with 32GB cards are getting on programs like H2testw.
I ask because I know the class designations aren't always 100% true.

I got one recently. I get about 1.9mb-2mb write whilst copying over mp3s

- when using the USB adapter that the card comes with, I get about 5MBps writes
This is the way to go when you need to copy large amts of data to the card - like initial syncing of music collection etc
- when copying stuff with the card inside of N1, I get 1.5-2MBps. I think N1 throttles the performance - may be on purpose, may to limitations of its USB implementation
- what kind throughput N1 sees _internally_ is anybody's guess, but I think it is good nuff for what we do with out phones.
- here in US of A, Verizon sells them for $100 (online only)
- I am sure in another 6m or so, we shall see Class 4/6 32GB cards but not sure if that will translate in any sort of observable improvements

You could always use the app on the market "SD card speed tester" helps to get the internal write/ read speeds from your SD. I'm curious as well. Would love 32gb of storage for my nexus.

SD card class to get?

I've been reading that the higher class SDHC cards like class 6, 10 aren't great for random write access, small blocks, but since we run our OS/apps on the phone's internal memory and we don't do the A2SD+ stuff, should it be ok to use class 10 cards?
Or does android still do a lot of significant random access on SD cards for the sensation?

Class 10!
I use a 32GB class 10 with nearly all my apps stored on there. I don't suffer and read / write lag. All I'd say is you get what you pay for, so don't buy a cheap one

I understand but do you know if the OS does the random r/w on sdcard? I'm not running any a2sd for my apps or anything so AFAIK I could run my phone without an SD card...

well since gingerbread came out app2sd is integrated into the OS, so you can transfer your apps to your SD card or they can be internally stored
just go to settings>applications>manage applications then tap into any app (thats not a system app) and you can move it to your SD card o to the phone

?????
I'm not asking about transferring apps to SD card?!
I'm asking if the random read/write access matters since our OS and apps are on the internal 4GB memory of the phone. Does the OS use the sdcard for any operations at all?

i read somewhere in the forums that class 4 will suffice. class 10 suits those HD camcorders as the write speed is high. if i'm not wrong, the read speed is the same for all (don't blame me if i'm wrong though)

I'm actually also wondering about this. Since the sensation can record 1080p, does that mean we need a fast writing card for our phone?

I have just bought a 32GB class 4 Sandisk micro SD (£28.99 Ebay) and i have no problems at all recording video at [email protected] Mbps. It may seem slightly jerky when you are actually filming on screen but when you play it back its smmmooottthhh!! Don't buy cheap memory cards. YOU WILL REGRET IT and waste your hard earned cash!! Just a personal experience warning.

adamlayzell69 said:
I have just bought a 32GB class 4 Sandisk micro SD (£28.99 Ebay) and i have no problems at all recording video at [email protected] Mbps. It may seem slightly jerky when you are actually filming on screen but when you play it back its smmmooottthhh!! Don't buy cheap memory cards. YOU WILL REGRET IT and waste your hard earned cash!! Just a personal experience warning.
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I agree. I have a 32gb class 4 sandisk and also a 32gb class 10 lexar and both record perfectly fine (smooth recording and playback). I'm using Amaze Cam v7 with 16mb bitrate. So if it can record and playback (via connecting to USB to computer and playing on PC) smoothly, then it is more than fast enough to run the apps and constant writing apps.

nonione said:
well since gingerbread came out app2sd is integrated into the OS, so you can transfer your apps to your SD card or they can be internally stored
just go to settings>applications>manage applications then tap into any app (thats not a system app) and you can move it to your SD card o to the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was actually Froyo that bright A 2SD, mate!
Sent from my Sensation using xda premium

I ordered Lexar 32gb class 10 card from Amazon Tigerdirect seller for 48$... Will get it in couple of Weeks... I think class 10 is good fir sensation and is also future proof...
Spending once is better then spending twice later...

Maximum SD Card speed?

does anyone know the max sd card transfer speed of the pad, and the dock?
i am looking at a 128GB SDXC card (yes, its a lot, but this is replacing a dead laptop for the foreseeable future) , UHS-1 60mb/s, or a 45mb/s one. will the UHS card actually have any benefits in the dock, or simply when transfering data to it from the PC.
many thanks!

I'm currently running a Class 10 (200x) 32 GB SDHC in the dock, branded Dane-Elec. Runs fine. I don't know if it takes 32+ GB cards, though... And to be honest, while heavily dependent on what you actually do with it, for most purposes a high-speed card should suffice...

ishamm said:
does anyone know the max sd card transfer speed of the pad, and the dock?
i am looking at a 128GB SDXC card (yes, its a lot, but this is replacing a dead laptop for the foreseeable future) , UHS-1 60mb/s, or a 45mb/s one. will the UHS card actually have any benefits in the dock, or simply when transfering data to it from the PC.
many thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm currently using two Sandisk cards:
- microSD class 10 30MBps SDHC Ultra (16GB)
- full SD class 10 SDHC Extreme 45MBps in the docking station (32GB)
They get better speeds than the built-in disk, but it is still not great. It seems to be about 15-18Mbps write for SD, 6Mbps write for microSD and 30-32Mbps read for both (as compared to 12/18 of the internal memory).
The fastest way of moving data still seems to be external USB HDD...
Hope this helps, haven't tried any other yet. I have tried both FAT32 and NTFS though. They seem to give similar results (I had no problems using NTFS on my SD card so far, which is a good sign).

d14b0ll0s said:
I'm currently using two Sandisk cards:
- microSD class 10 30MBps SDHC Ultra (16GB)
- full SD class 10 SDHC Extreme 45MBps in the docking station (32GB)
They get better speeds than the built-in disk, but it is still not great. It seems to be about 15-18Mbps write for SD, 6Mbps write for microSD and 30-32Mbps read for both (as compared to 12/18 of the internal memory).
The fastest way of moving data still seems to be external USB HDD...
Hope this helps, haven't tried any other yet. I have tried both FAT32 and NTFS though. They seem to give similar results (I had no problems using NTFS on my SD card so far, which is a good sign).
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I haven't used an external drive yet, but I agree with the observation that the transfer speed is not optimal, no matter what card I plug in (I have transplanted a few I normally use in my DSLR just for testing; they are all fast cards, as you can imagine). I transferred several documentaries and a lot of photographs yesterday evening and it took ages, mainly due to the fact that the transfer process hangs up the entire device (!) regularly. It seems to happen after about 70 to 80 MB are read into (temporary?) memory and apparently are only then buffered out to the main storage. Let's hope a custom ROM can straighten this issue out...

Thanks. Given these figures, would you install apps on the main memory, if a 30mbps rated micro sd for best performance?
Sent from my LT26i using xda premium

ishamm said:
Thanks. Given these figures, would you install apps on the main memory, if a 30mbps rated micro sd for best performance?
Sent from my LT26i using xda premium
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In my case internal memory is faster than microSD. You don't really have the option, unless you play with the filesystem and mount your MicroSD on /mnt/sdcard instead of /Removable/MicroSD. In the Infinity /mnt/sdcard is just a folder within the internal memory by default (many apps use it though, so they had to arrange it this way). I don't think there is any reason to change this, as internal memory seems faster and that's whole 64GB of it (OK, maybe 56 available, but still a lot..).

Perfect thanks, I thought though that there were current issues with I/O speeds until someone could fix it in a Rom. Or has this been addressed in the new firmware?
Sent from my LT26i using xda premium

ishamm said:
Perfect thanks, I thought though that there were current issues with I/O speeds until someone could fix it in a Rom. Or has this been addressed in the new firmware?
Click to expand...
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Hopefully I could tell you in a few days, but honestly I don't think it has (can't try it out yet, as the firmware released is Taiwanese version, and I'm on the World-Wide).
The Infinity is not that far behind other new tablets or rather it's not only TF700's problem, see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28416635&postcount=2842
However, after changing the scheduler to sio and doing some tweaks (see my post on it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1758160), it's running pretty smoothly (unless you want to do a lot of CPU-heavy jobs while having huge reads or writes in the background, in this case it can get frustrating, but.. there is no real alternative these days).

d14b0ll0s said:
Hopefully I could tell you in a few days, but honestly I don't think it has (can't try it out yet, as the firmware released is Taiwanese version, and I'm on the World-Wide).
The Infinity is not that far behind other new tablets or rather it's not only TF700's problem, see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28416635&postcount=2842
However, after changing the scheduler to sio and doing some tweaks (see my post on it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1758160), it's running pretty smoothly (unless you want to do a lot of CPU-heavy jobs while having huge reads or writes in the background, in this case it can get frustrating, but.. there is no real alternative these days).
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This. As i've ranted earlier, the new firmware provides fixes for camera issues, not for the I/O the TF700 so obviously suffers from. Having said that, it is not like the tablet in itself is useless as it is -- far from it -- but remains a mystery to me why they didn't spot this in advance (like with the Prime's issues with GPS and wifi), It seems like ASUS develops a device by letting several teams work onindividual components, and, when they get their specific part up and running, just put it together and relese it. I have a distinct feeling that neither device was actually and properly tested.
But, still, I'm pretty happy with the device overall.

I think you need to read this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1767755
From what I see my UHS-1 card that doesn't work is initialized as DDR which means the max speed for the TF700T µSD is 50 MB/s (as that is the only DDR speed).
The full size SD socket uses a USB host so the big question is is it USB 2.0 or 3.0!

All specifications says USB 2.0 for the dock, so I would assume that's correct, even for the TF700 dock.

Asus has finally responded that there is limited UHS-1 support in the µSD slot.
For now you are better off not trying UHS-1 in there. The may come up with a patch...

external memory limits
ishamm said:
does anyone know the max sd card transfer speed of the pad, and the dock?
i am looking at a 128GB SDXC card (yes, its a lot, but this is replacing a dead laptop for the foreseeable future) , UHS-1 60mb/s, or a 45mb/s one. will the UHS card actually have any benefits in the dock, or simply when transfering data to it from the PC.
many thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Careful there with a 128gig card, I read somewhere that there is a 32 gig upperlimit on recognizing cards and sticks...
tho I do wonder if you formatted it into enough partitions it might read them all?

kokoPedli said:
Careful there with a 128gig card, I read somewhere that there is a 32 gig upperlimit on recognizing cards and sticks...
tho I do wonder if you formatted it into enough partitions it might read them all?
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If the dock uses a sdhc compatible controller and simply exposes the card as a mass storage device for the system, then there is really no such limit. The SDXC cards which supports >32GB does so due to the SD's FAT specification not for actual addressing and such.
SDXC cards are accessible as SDHC but standard specifies ExFat as default filesystem. This may not work on units not compatible with ExFat, but a reformat will fix that. In the TF700T's case we have already seen users use 64 GB cards breaking that 32GB barrier.
We have also seen the TF700T mount ExFat, although it seems to fallback to NTFS.
The thing he should be carefull of is UHS in the µSD socket as it's still wonky.
In the dock I suspect a UHS card will simply be treated as a normal SDHC card, but UHS cards usually have better class speeds so may be a benefit even with the dock doing USB2.0 hosting.
Edit:
To back up my claims see here...
http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2520/~/sd/sdhc/sdxc-specifications-and-compatibility

Keyboard Dock Memory: MicroSD with Adapter vs Straight SD?

I have a new TF700T with the Keyboard/Dock, and am wanting to pretty much max out its storage capacity in preparation for an upcoming trip (photography).
I realize that the Tablet itself requires MicroSD. I'm actually looking at this one:
Sandisk 64gb MicroSDXC Class 10
The Dock will obviously take a straight SD card, or a MicroSD card using the SD adapter. Is one of these ways any better as far as performance and reliability? I want to maximize read/write speeds.
I've also read enough threads here and elsewhere to see that this device is finicky with regard to which cards it'll work with, which formatting will be accepted and seen, etc. Any thoughts/experience in terms of which 64gb SD and/or MicroSD work best would be appreciated. And I understand that the higher the Class, theoretically the faster read/write speeds, but in an imperfect world, this isn't always the case, especially with this somewhat quirky device.

DLCPhoto said:
I have a new TF700T with the Keyboard/Dock, and am wanting to pretty much max out its storage capacity in preparation for an upcoming trip (photography).
I realize that the Tablet itself requires MicroSD. I'm actually looking at this one:
Sandisk 64gb MicroSDXC Class 10
The Dock will obviously take a straight SD card, or a MicroSD card using the SD adapter. Is one of these ways any better as far as performance and reliability? I want to maximize read/write speeds.
I've also read enough threads here and elsewhere to see that this device is finicky with regard to which cards it'll work with, which formatting will be accepted and seen, etc. Any thoughts/experience in terms of which 64gb SD and/or MicroSD work best would be appreciated. And I understand that the higher the Class, theoretically the faster read/write speeds, but in an imperfect world, this isn't always the case, especially with this somewhat quirky device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have one of those, formatted with exFAT. In the tablet it seems fine, and I can put video files on it and stream them off with no problem.
Not tried it in the dock.
If I unmount it clean from the tablet it is usually fine in my Windows 7 laptop; but occasionally it gets left in a dirty state and Windows will mount it read-only. I don't know if that's common with other cards.
However, in another thread I started a while ago I think we've found that the card can't be used in the tablet for recovery purposes. That may or may not matter to you.

Thanks for the reply. I went ahead and order the MicroSDXC card above, along with the full SD version of the same Class 10 card. I heard from another TF700T user for whom the MicroSDXC worked fine, so hopefully I'll be okay.
And thanks for the tip, but no, I won't need that card for recovery purposes.
Best,

[Q] Any problem with using the largest SD Card your phone can handle?

So here's a point of contention, I've been told by several people that if your phone can support "up to 64GB" Micro SD Cards for example, you should always use the next size down, i.e. 32GB rather than the maximum it can take, because manufacturers "over-sell" the device capabilities and using the highest advertised capacity can cause problems down the line.
In anyone's experience, have you found this to be true?
I've worked with mobile tech & computers for years and have never seen any practical evidence to suggest this is fact rather than fiction, but I want to get the internet's experiences as well to be sure.

i don't think so

i think it's ok

I have never had problems by using the maximum at such an indication with my phones/tabs.
When you are using an good and fast SD card, you shouldn't have problems.

Yeah no problem using max supported. If there was a problem then it wouldn't be supported...

I've never heard of anyone having problems with using the maximum size SD card compatible with your device. I don't know the differences between the classes or types of SD cards there are, if there is a difference or if it is the deciding factor in what size/type SD card you use. Maybe someone will enlighten us.. Ex: SD/SDHC/SDXC and class 4/10.

A quick Google search shows:
"SD, SDHC and SDXC are all variants of the SD (Secure Digital) format, that have been released in that order by the SD Association.
As requirements for higher capacities came in, SD cards have grown in capacity too (SDHC is SD High Capacity, while SDXC is SD Xtended Capacity). SDHC cards typically come in capacities between 4GB to 32GB. SDXC cards come in sizes of 32GB of higher, with a theoretical maximum of 2TB.
Backwards compatibility is built in, so if a camera has SDHC support , it will support standard SD cards too. If a camera or device has SDXC support, it will support SD and SDHC. These cards have speed ratings too; Class 2, 4, 6, 10 and so on, with Class 10 having the fastest read-write performance. "
Details here - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital