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Replace Internal SD card?

Can I replace my internal SD card with a faster/larger one?
Is it soldered to the logic board? or just plugged inside the housing?
I tested the speed via Activity monitor, and am getting speeds ~9MB/s This is good, but I notice lag when I start playing a movie, or music.
Also Whats the largest SD card i can put into the external SD slot?
Thanks.

32Gb in the external SD slot, and I haven't noticed any lag playing movies or music on either internal or external memory.

I'd stick with a 16GB external card until the speeds on the 32's come up ...
The current flavor of (sandisk) 32GB SDHC cards is class 2.
From what I can tell byt looking at pictures of the PCB's in the phone the internal SD card is integrated on the board ... I do not believe it can be modified or replaced ...

Well thats sux. Does anyone know what the speed rating is on the internal SD? Like I said I was getting ~9MB/s non formally viewing Activity Monitor on my mac while adding files.
I will try to run some tests to see what the actually speed is if noone has an answer.

Here we go. See screenshot of Disk test from XBench 1.3. The SD card could be a Class 4 I think.

wpb2 said:
Can I replace my internal SD card with a faster/larger one?
Is it soldered to the logic board? or just plugged inside the housing?
I tested the speed via Activity monitor, and am getting speeds ~9MB/s This is good, but I notice lag when I start playing a movie, or music.
Also Whats the largest SD card i can put into the external SD slot?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It also depends what format and video player your using. For example on rockplayer I have a 2.2GB 720p 2001 space odyssey that won't even play but it plays perfect on the samsung video player. However i also transformers 2 1.1GB 720p that plays on rockplayer but its choppy and that also plays perfect on samsungs video player

@wpb2
2MB/s = class 2
4MB/s = class 4
6MB/s = class 6
I'd say its class 6 judging by your uncached read/write speeds of 6.10/7.41 MB/s. I think thats as fast as you're going to get for SD cards.

I have a Kingston 16GB class 2 SD card and with a 8kb buffer I get 16mb/s reads and 13mb/s writes. The internal NAND gives me 14mb/s reads and 0.5mb/s writes. Go figure

wpb2 said:
Well thats sux. Does anyone know what the speed rating is on the internal SD? Like I said I was getting ~9MB/s non formally viewing Activity Monitor on my mac while adding files.
I will try to run some tests to see what the actually speed is if noone has an answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds like you are measuring write speed. This would not affect playing movies. when you see lag playing the movie, are your playing it on the mac or the phone? I have watched some HD rips on my phone, and they play amazing.

wpb2 said:
Can I replace my internal SD card with a faster/larger one?
Is it soldered to the logic board? or just plugged inside the housing?
I tested the speed via Activity monitor, and am getting speeds ~9MB/s This is good, but I notice lag when I start playing a movie, or music.
Also Whats the largest SD card i can put into the external SD slot?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My question is how does the worlds leading manufacture of Flash memory go with an internal SD card for their flagship top of the line Android phone. What a dumb move.

Battlehymn said:
I'd stick with a 16GB external card until the speeds on the 32's come up ...
The current flavor of (sandisk) 32GB SDHC cards is class 2.
From what I can tell byt looking at pictures of the PCB's in the phone the internal SD card is integrated on the board ... I do not believe it can be modified or replaced ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to reply to an old thread but I have a question.
Could I replace the board in a Verizon Fascinate with one from a Vibrant, Captivate or Epic 4 G to bump it up from 2GB to 16GB or are the GSM/CDMA radios also integrated into this board as well.
A Franken-ate mod if you will...

angermeans said:
My question is how does the worlds leading manufacture of Flash memory go with an internal SD card for their flagship top of the line Android phone. What a dumb move.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this your first ANdroid phone? All of them have internal sd and option for external, 16gb is pretty big for and internal and I use my exteral for viewing media, no problem. The argument is stupid.

SD? We don't need no steenkin' SD!
OK, Samsung just calls their built-in flash memory an "internal SD" as a convention to help end-users think of it as being functionally different from the 2GB of internal system memory. It might even be interfaced similarly to SD specs, but there is not actually a removable MicroSD card inside your phone. Just think of it as a metaphor.

The internal SD card is not an actual SD card. It is a chip of flash memory that is not user replaceable. The performance issue is a software issue.

I have often wondered, as there is a micro sd sized removable panel, sealed with a screw that is behind the battery slot.

Class and micro sdhc cards?

How much does class speed matter for a smart phone. I was under the impression that it's mainly important for video capture and photography (when using a digital camera).
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using XDA App

There is no requirement or restriction on this. Anything microSD or microSD HC will work. Recommended is to get class 2 or better card in order to achieve better speeds when copying stuff from/to phone via USB in disk drive mode.
However under 'anything' do not assume you should go and get the cheapest ever card you find on eBay or something - if card isn't functioning good, phone may experience wired behaviour like resets/etc. Get something recognizable (SanDisk, Kingston, etc).
Some video camcorders require certain class+ card in order to keep up with HD recording bandwidth required. Since D2G can't even shoot 720p, even slowest card will be ok. Not that 720p would have required more...

leobg said:
There is no requirement or restriction on this....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Leo are you certain it will take ClassIII memory? It makes sense just not sure the hardware did that.
to the OQ - If they come out with a newer class there might be a compatibility issue with the phone but XDA folks usually finds away to support them soon after via a patch.
Stay away from old legacy (Not Classed) SD cards. Go for the fastest and largest you can afford.
Android rely's much more on the SDcard than WM ever did.

the phone should support up to class 6 (or whatever is the highest class) just fine, class just means the speed of the card, the d2g supports any class micro sd card up to 32gb in size, so as long as you dont exceed that, youre fine. the speed of the card could be a factor for programs that cache to your sd card, youd want a faster sd card if you plan to have programs do that.

I am pretty sure the class is backwards compatible. Kinda like USB 2.0 and 1.0. Its going to use the fastest the device is capable of using. I think it's more the size limits (In the case of android, 32gb) that matters. Granted, I could be mistaken.

SD card upgrade

Hey guys just need a little help here im looking to buy a Dane elec either 8 or 16 gig sd card for my atrix 2 after trading in my itouch 4gen 32 gig at GameStop and getting the new nexus 7 tablet and will have about $25 left over to buy a SD card from them, will either of these SD cards cause problems with my ATRIX 2?
Sent from my MB865 using xda premium

atrix2noob said:
Hey guys just need a little help here im looking to buy a Dane elec either 8 or 16 gig sd card for my atrix 2 after trading in my itouch 4gen 32 gig at GameStop and getting the new nexus 7 tablet and will have about $25 left over to buy a SD card from them, will either of these SD cards cause problems with my ATRIX 2?
Sent from my MB865 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not as long as it is a class 6 or lower SDcard. If it is a class 6 or a class 4 you will be golden.

It doesn't list a class number would you know what number they usually are?
Sent from my MB865 using xda premium

atrix2noob said:
It doesn't list a class number would you know what number they usually are?
Sent from my MB865 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, because they can be from a class 2 to a class 10, and they come in all sizes and classes.... the higher the class the faster the SDcard.
You might have to do some research on the vendors website, to find out what class that card is. Again just make sure it is a class 6 or lower.

atrix2noob said:
It doesn't list a class number would you know what number they usually are?
Sent from my MB865 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rule of thumb is if it doesn't say then its class 2.anything higher and it should have a circle on the card with a 4, 6, 10 etc in it.
Motorola lied and I'm still locked mb865

mtnlion said:
Rule of thumb is if it doesn't say then its class 2.anything higher and it should have a circle on the card with a 4, 6, 10 etc in it.
Motorola lied and I'm still locked mb865
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a 16GB class 4 that does not list the class on the card itself, but on the package and on the sandisk website it lists the model that I have as a class 4.

Just putting this info out there for anyone. I bought a 32gb class 4 SanDisk and it works flawlessly with this phone. I was skeptical at first because of the size but I've been using it for two weeks now without any problems.
Sent from my MB865 using xda premium

Just for the record, the class rating is the write speed which is more relevant because you'll want to add content to the card; reads speeds on SD cards are typically - and I say "typically" because in testing over 200 different sizes and brands one time (took a full day to do it) the typical read speed was about the same across them all on average - about 17.5MB/s (that's Megabytes per second read speed).
The write speed is what drags things down when it comes to adding content to SD cards, so... the higher the write speed, the faster the card should be able to store the content you're feeding it.
Class speed = approximate sustained write speed so...
Class 2 = 2MB/s on average sustained
Class 4 = 4MB/s
Class 6, etc up to Class 10 at 10MB/s.
Now, sustained means you have a big file like a movie file, perhaps a few hundred megabytes in size - transferring that one big file is the most efficient use of the card's write ability and will usually give you the actual class/write speed.
It's when you're transferring a lot of smaller random files that you'll notice you're taking a speed hit. Case in point:
You have a 100MB file and you transfer it to a Class 4 SD card, it'll most likely take between 25 (best possible throughput to 35 seconds on average (4 to 4.5MB/s max sustained write throughput).
Contrast that with say 12 mp3 files that total about 100MB, each file slightly different from maybe 5.5 to 10.5MB in size. Now, doing that transfer will take far longer than even the 35 seconds on the same exact Class 4 card because it requires more time to do the random writes when each file "breaks" the throughput going to the card. You're probably looking at 45 seconds or more for roughly the same amount of data but broken into smaller "random" chunks, and the speed hit gets even worse as the size of the files you're copying decreases.
If you start transferring a ton of image files like JPEGs to an SD card, about 100MB of them, oh boy... go make a cup of coffee or have lunch or something.
That's what Class speed means - it's only relevant to the sustained write speed on the card, aka how fast you can put content on it.
Hope this helps...

jimbridgman said:
I have a 16GB class 4 that does not list the class on the card itself, but on the package and on the sandisk website it lists the model that I have as a class 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? Never saw an unmarked one that wasnt a 2. I stand corrected.
Motorola lied and I'm still locked mb865

Fyi i'm running a Patriot class 10 card in my a2 with no problems

chriselmore said:
Fyi i'm running a Patriot class 10 card in my a2 with no problems
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You WILL have issues so be prepared, and by all means do NOT run apps off SDcard or you WILL have issues and lose data!

Also anyone find out how to move apps on the SD to the internal space?
Sent from my MB865 using xda premium

chriselmore said:
Fyi i'm running a Patriot class 10 card in my a2 with no problems
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto. No issues yet.

In addition to not moving applications to the SDHC it might be a good idea to follow Patriot's advice regarding formatting. The suggestion was posted by Patriot in response to a review of a 32GB class 10 microSDHC.
Patriot acknowledged a problem with hemorrhoid OS and 32GB class 10 cards and suggested a temporary fix of performing a full format on a Windows PC with a 32kb allocation size, obviously FAT32 since stock hemorrhoid does not recognize NFTS.
The reply can be found in this review although the specific page will change if more reviews are added.

Thanks! I guess hemorrhoid OS is a real pain in the a** to work with.
Thanks! Its been a bad month so far. I really needed that laugh.
Motorola lied and I'm still locked mb865

Atrix 2 has been facing trouble when used a sd card of above class 6. I've a 32 gb class 10 card but i faced many problem when i used it last month then i had to replace it with 16gb class6 of kingston.
Sent from my MB865 using xda app-developers app

random or sequential ??
br0adband said:
Just for the record, the class rating is the write speed which is more relevant because you'll want to add content to the card; reads speeds on SD cards are typically - and I say "typically" because in testing over 200 different sizes and brands one time (took a full day to do it) the typical read speed was about the same across them all on average - about 17.5MB/s (that's Megabytes per second read speed).
The write speed is what drags things down when it comes to adding content to SD cards, so... the higher the write speed, the faster the card should be able to store the content you're feeding it.
Class speed = approximate sustained write speed so...
Class 2 = 2MB/s on average sustained
Class 4 = 4MB/s
Class 6, etc up to Class 10 at 10MB/s.
etc etc etc .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have googled a lot on this and stuck on one thing now....
Class 2 cards are poor in sequential write but they are good in random writes while Class 10 cards are good in sequential writes but poor in random writes. The lower the class the better is the random write and poor is the sequential write; vice versa.
So what is more important to have an optimum speed on cell, random writes or sequential ??
I guess random it is. cause sequential writes are more often in large file writing.
Can someone put some light on this ? for applications and other little writing tasks class 2 will be good whereas for copying data from or to PC or shooting full HD videos I guess class10 would be good !!
However m not sure about Android memory usage. What is more important from OS point of view, Random or Sequential write ?

lparihar9 said:
Have googled a lot on this and stuck on one thing now....
Class 2 cards are poor in sequential write but they are good in random writes while Class 10 cards are good in sequential writes but poor in random writes. The lower the class the better is the random write and poor is the sequential write; vice versa.
So what is more important to have an optimum speed on cell, random writes or sequential ??
I guess random it is. cause sequential writes are more often in large file writing.
Can someone put some light on this ? for applications and other little writing tasks class 2 will be good whereas for copying data from or to PC or shooting full HD videos I guess class10 would be good !!
However m not sure about Android memory usage. What is more important from OS point of view, Random or Sequential write ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You CANNOT run a class 10 card well in this phone. I recommend getting a class 6 card, or a class 4 card, and be done with it. Those are 100% known to work with the atrix 2 without issues. Don't worry too much about which is better for what, with this phone the class 4 and class 6 seem to work the best, and give decent performance. And yes it will take a long time to copy 16GB of music and movies to your SDcard from a computer as the writes for a class 4 or 6 are mediocre for that, but decnet when used for anything on the phone itself. Just be very careful about running apps on the SDcard with this phone, it can be touchy and lose the apps and data on reboot, even though it is still on the SDcard the phone will not know how to use them and the pointers to the android system may just be gone. Sometimes just reinstalling the app from he play store works and other times you have to format the card... that is the biggest issue with this phone, period.

Atrix 2 can only withstand Class 4.

Darell3 said:
Atrix 2 can only withstand Class 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is not true. I have a class 6 32GB card that works perfect, and so do several others that own the atrix2.

[Q] Using a 64GB microSD?

First thread, so putting that out in advance.
I download ALOT of music, and since I wanted to sync lots of music from spotify to my phone and bring a few movies for traveling, I bought a Samsung SDXC 64GB class 10 microSD card from amazon on bf.
I've formatted it to fat32 (with guiFormat on windows and android itself), and my atrix will reconize it. But once I start syncing music to it it unmounts it after a variable amount of time.
Has anyone else been able to get a 64GB microsd to work with their atrix?
Thanks!

i dont think it would , since specs says the phone can handle up to 32 gb micro sd card , and never readed someone report about a working 64 gb micro sd card
sent from the gray stuff inside my skull

On the bionic, they say it works.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1458992&highlight=64gb
Aren't the bionic and atrix 2 the same?
Also, I'm running magic mod jb. I read somewhere that 4.0+ has issues with sdxc, could that be an issue?

Try formatting with a different allocation size to see if it works.
Atrix2 doesn't support NTFS or ex-fat, which some other phones do.

QuatroQuatro said:
First thread, so putting that out in advance.
I download ALOT of music, and since I wanted to sync lots of music from spotify to my phone and bring a few movies for traveling, I bought a Samsung SDXC 64GB class 10 microSD card from amazon on bf.
I've formatted it to fat32 (with guiFormat on windows and android itself), and my atrix will reconize it. But once I start syncing music to it it unmounts it after a variable amount of time.
Has anyone else been able to get a 64GB microsd to work with their atrix?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah class 10 cards are known to have issues with this phone. It really has nothing to do with it being 64GB or not, that is causing it to dissapear or unmount, but the fact that it is a class 10 card. We have had way too many issues with anything higher than a class 6 card in the atrix2. It is also noted that the atrix2 really technically does not support SDcards higher than 32GB, but I have a 64GB card that I use in several of my phones that seems to work ok from time to time, but I only use it to move a file from one of my other phones to the A2 once in a while, so long term I really don't have a lot of info on that.

Ok, that makes sense. Too bad they don't sell class 6 anymore. So I should try to find a class 6 32gb card then instead of 10?

QuatroQuatro said:
Ok, that makes sense. Too bad they don't sell class 6 anymore. So I should try to find a class 6 32gb card then instead of 10?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
anything that is class 4 or class 6 is know to work with out issues, no matter the size.
I have 2 class 4 32GB cards that I bought just for this phone that were like 30 USD 6 or 10 months ago, so I am sure you can find a few really cheap now. I know that the whole class 4 or class 6 and the speed thing really tend to turn people off, but I can copy 20GB of music to one card in just over 1 - 1.5 hours, so it is not too bad.

jimbridgman said:
anything that is class 4 or class 6 is know to work with out issues, no matter the size.
I have 2 class 4 32GB cards that I bought just for this phone that were like 30 USD 6 or 10 months ago, so I am sure you can find a few really cheap now. I know that the whole class 4 or class 6 and the speed thing really tend to turn people off, but I can copy 20GB of music to one card in just over 1 - 1.5 hours, so it is not too bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot Jim! Yeah the 32gb is like $20 on Amazon, so I'll spring for a couple of those. Your right, I guess you really don't need that speed anyway (I can wait to transfer my music).

jimbridgman said:
Yeah class 10 cards are known to have issues with this phone. It really has nothing to do with it being 64GB or not, that is causing it to dissapear or unmount, but the fact that it is a class 10 card. We have had way too many issues with anything higher than a class 6 card in the atrix2. It is also noted that the atrix2 really technically does not support SDcards higher than 32GB, but I have a 64GB card that I use in several of my phones that seems to work ok from time to time, but I only use it to move a file from one of my other phones to the A2 once in a while, so long term I really don't have a lot of info on that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm. I having no problems with a UHS-1 sd card.

QuatroQuatro said:
Ok, that makes sense. Too bad they don't sell class 6 anymore. So I should try to find a class 6 32gb card then instead of 10?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They do. I just bought a 32gb class six sandik on amazon
By the way my 32 class six is noticeably faster than my 16gb class 4...

SD Card Recommendations

Anyone use Samsung micro SD cards in their U12 (or other device)?
I've used SanDisk exclusively the last few years, and PNY before that. But, the Samsung Evo cards are consistently $10-$15 cheaper for a UHS-3 128gb card.
Just wondering if anyone else uses them, and how well they work for 4K videos.

the Samsung ones are the best, but the PNY 256GB is UHS III class 10 speed V30 A1, and works very well on my HTC U12+, for the price worth each penny

Ricardo_G said:
the Samsung ones are the best, but the PNY 256GB is UHS III class 10 speed V30 A1, and works very well on my HTC U12+, for the price worth each penny
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got uhs samsung microsd 64gb. I got it from my previous phone note4. No problem. Very quick read and write.

I am using Sandisk's Extreme Pro 64GB UHS-II - https://www.sandisk.com/home/memory-cards/microsd-cards/extremepro-microsd-uhs-ii for my 4K recording and playback... very fast read and write speeds with no problems to report.

AtAM1 said:
I am using Sandisk's Extreme Pro 64GB UHS-II - https://www.sandisk.com/home/memory-cards/microsd-cards/extremepro-microsd-uhs-ii for my 4K recording and playback... very fast read and write speeds with no problems to report.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you save your pictures to the SDCARD or internal storage?
I'm getting the message my SDCARD isn't fast enough when I save to it from the photo app using this Kingston SDCA3/64GBSP 64 GB microSDHCUHS-I Speed Class3 U3 Memory Card so looks like I need to upgade my card. Just that Extreme pro is over £100 so want to make sure it works without any warnings before I pull the trigger on it.
Thanks

Jump1ng said:
Do you save your pictures to the SDCARD or internal storage?
I'm getting the message my SDCARD isn't fast enough when I save to it from the photo app using this Kingston SDCA3/64GBSP 64 GB microSDHCUHS-I Speed Class3 U3 Memory Card so looks like I need to upgade my card. Just that Extreme pro is over £100 so want to make sure it works without any warnings before I pull the trigger on it.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, I save both 4K videos and pictures to the SD-Card with zero problems. Just make sure you don't encrypt the SD-Card as it impacts both read/write speeds which in turn results in the slow speed warning being displayed.
Cheers
Edit: I got mine at a discounted price of $95

AtAM1 said:
Yup, I save both 4K videos and pictures to the SD-Card with zero problems. Just make sure you don't encrypt the SD-Card as it impacts both read/write speeds which in turn results in the slow speed warning being displayed.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, think gonna have to buy this card as my old card that worked fine in the HTC 10 and u11 is not encrypted and still get the warnings.
Thanks!

Jump1ng said:
Do you save your pictures to the SDCARD or internal storage?
I'm getting the message my SDCARD isn't fast enough when I save to it from the photo app using this Kingston SDCA3/64GBSP 64 GB microSDHCUHS-I Speed Class3 U3 Memory Card so looks like I need to upgade my card. Just that Extreme pro is over £100 so want to make sure it works without any warnings before I pull the trigger on it.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was getting the same message for my transcend card, I almost bought a new sandisk card, and stumbled onto the storage settings for the card on the phone. It gives me the option to format the card for the phone. It says that after formatting, the card will only work with the the phone. I am ok with that because it is for the phone and I like to store my pics on the external sd card to not waste space on the internal. Just go to settings > storage > portable storage (select the setting icon next to your sd card) > format