Hi all..
This is a fairly beginnerish question, I know, but i've just ordered an Xperia Z2 tablet and i'm now trying to buy a microSD card for it, but the range of possible cards with different letters and sizes and descriptions is crazy.
Can someone tell me which ones I am limited to (and perhaps which ones are better to get)? If it makes any difference, I would use it to store video files, so the bigger the capacity the better.
I think it says on the Sony website that it can do 'up to' 128gb, which seems like heaps. Just hoping for clarification on this. Some Googling and reading around has got me nowhere.
Thanks!
Any MicroSD card will do.
Two main considerations are capacity and speed. Capacity is the easy one, most cards will offer a 64GB size. Sandisk is the only company with a readily available 128GB card out today.
Speed is the other factor. Although I don't have a Z2 tablet, if it shares the same memory controller as the Z2 phone, it is a very good one and can take advantage of the fastest MicroSD cards out today. Slower cards can hinder performance when taking pics, video, etc.
This is a recent thread on the Z2 forums: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2764546
As mentioned in that thread, my personal favorite is the Samsung Pro 64GB, excellent performance.
Related
Hi all,
I have the 10.1 2014 tab pro and I want to get a new SD card. I know from my brief reading through these forums that not all SD cards will work and I dont know enough to really understand what is what (like what does "SDHC Tf Class 10" mean?). If anyone knows what it is that I need to look for before buying one so that it will work fine with my tablet please post here.
ps I am using these primarily to store books and documents, not videos or games or anything that really takes a massive workload or speed requirement.
pps Im not sure if this matters, but I am running stock unrooted
TIA
Most any newly purchased MicroSD card should do. What did you read won't work? Below Class 10 cards might not work for some high speed functions (like video), but I believe all should work for casual use like you describe.
SDHC versus SDXC mainly refers to the capacity of the card, which you are probably going to be looking at separately (in GB) anyway, so it really doesn't matter. Basically, the original SD standard (also called SDSC) was limited to 2 (4?) GB. SDHC increased the capacity up to 32 GB, and anything higher than that is SDXC by definition. There are some other minor differences, but probably nothing you really need to worry much about.
Class (8, 10, etc.) refers to the read/write speed; but you may also see a UHS speed classification (U1, U3) also. Even though you are not talking about high speed demand tasks, I'd still tend toward Class 10 or U1 cards. Just in case you change your mind about what you want to save to the card; and many cards meet Class 10 or U1, anyway. For the few cards that you can find with lower speed class, you might save $10, so its probably not even worth it to consider lower speed class cards.
The following Wiki articles goes into a lot more detail about the specs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital
Out of all this, I'd be more worried about brand, or getting a counterfeit product. Some cheap or off-brand cards seem to fail more frequently than the big names. Folks all have their favorites, and may argue that you are just paying more for the brand. But I've bought several Sandisk cards, and never had any issues (and heard similar from other users on XDA).
I'd also stick to a reputable seller (Newegg, Amazon, etc.) as places like eBay are awash with counterfeit SD cards. Its so easy to relabel a card as a higher capacity (i. e. take a 32 GB card and label it as 128 GB, etc.) and even spoof the device to read it as the "fake" capacity, than charge much more $$$.
I am using one of these on my TabPRO:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-MicroSDHC-Memory-without-adapter/dp/B00AYC6V2U
Works fine on all my Android devices.
And to really leverage it outside of Google Apps and pre-installed items you need to root and enable write to the SD card, unfortunately. (Unless I'm missing something.)
Thanks, I really appreciate that info on what all those terms mean. However, right now I am using a 32gb Sandisk ultra, and my data keeps getting corrupted, apps cant find it, showing up empty on every file explorer I try.... Therefore I thought since Sandisk is legit (I bought it at costco so its real Sandisk) I figured there must be some issue with the type of card.
pie_are_squared said:
Thanks, I really appreciate that info on what all those terms mean. However, right now I am using a 32gb Sandisk ultra, and my data keeps getting corrupted, apps cant find it, showing up empty on every file explorer I try.... Therefore I thought since Sandisk is legit (I bought it at costco so its real Sandisk) I figured there must be some issue with the type of card.
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I had similar issues with a genuine SanDisk card in my S3 (couldn't access it in recovery either), just showed a bunch random characters instead of file names etc), swapped it to a different brand (I got a genuine Sammy one because it was a bargain at the time) and that solved the problem....
Today i received a 64gb Samsung pro micro sd cats i had purchased from amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00KRDHRMO/ref=twister_B00K19DH6E?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 however upon benchmarking it with A1 SD bench app i noticed i got lower numbers than i did with my 64gb evo card which was around half the price and advertised with lower speeds.
I consistently got around 38mb read and 20-21mb write on the evo however with the pro i am getting around 34mb read and 20-21mb write. I have seen others on here get 70+mb read and around 60mb write with the same micro sd benchmarked with the same app.
Anyone got any idea of what's going on?
Need some advice guys, i need to know what's up with the micro sd before i call Amazon and accuse them of sending me a fake or faulty card
I don't know what is going on with your micro SD card. All I can offer you is my story. I bought a Samsung 64 GB Pro microSD from Wal-Mart and it was DOA. Returned it and bought one from Best Buy which worked 100%.
I know sometimes there's just a defective item, but here's what I noticed about the differences in packaging:
1. With the item I bought from Best Buy, the main graphic at the top of the package was in a brilliant blue color. The main image on the Wal-Mart item was greyscale.
2. The blurb on the front of the package stating how fast the read/write speeds on the Wal-Mart package was twice as large as the font on the item I bought from Best Buy.
I don't know if Samsung uses different packaging to differentiate selling through different stores/channels or if Wal-Mart got a batch of counterfeit product. I don't know if this story applies to your situation or not, but I need to buy a new card for a new tablet showing up in a few days & for sure I won't be buying it at Wal-Mart.
Dark_Vortex said:
I don't know what is going on with your micro SD card. All I can offer you is my story. I bought a Samsung 64 GB Pro microSD from Wal-Mart and it was DOA. Returned it and bought one from Best Buy which worked 100%.
I know sometimes there's just a defective item, but here's what I noticed about the differences in packaging:
1. With the item I bought from Best Buy, the main graphic at the top of the package was in a brilliant blue color. The main image on the Wal-Mart item was greyscale.
2. The blurb on the front of the package stating how fast the read/write speeds on the Wal-Mart package was twice as large as the font on the item I bought from Best Buy.
I don't know if Samsung uses different packaging to differentiate selling through different stores/channels or if Wal-Mart got a batch of counterfeit product. I don't know if this story applies to your situation or not, but I need to buy a new card for a new tablet showing up in a few days & for sure I won't be buying it at Wal-Mart.
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My sd card came in Amazon's frustration free packaging so i am unable to check if the packaging matched your micro sd from best buy, it's troubling that there are so many fake micro sd cards around.
Have you ran a benchmark on your phone/tablet using the a1 sd app? It would be interesting to know what you're getting as i can't seem to get higher than 34-35mb read and 21mb write despite it being advertised as 90mb read and 80mb write, i know I'm unlikely to ever reach those numbers but i was expecting more than what I'm currently getting.
Sent from my XT1032 using XDA Free mobile app
fedor12 said:
Have you ran a benchmark on your phone/tablet using the a1 sd app? It would be interesting to know what you're getting as i can't seem to get higher than 34-35mb read and 21mb write despite it being advertised as 90mb read and 80mb write, i know I'm unlikely to ever reach those numbers but i was expecting more than what I'm currently getting.
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I ran the A1 SD app on both my Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 and my Galaxy S5 which both have Samsung Pro SD cards and didn't achieve much higher benchmarks than you did. This is because of the limitations of the SD controller chip in nearly all phones and tablets. These devices don't need those kinds of speeds that are the upper end of these Pro cards. You'll need something like a high-end DSLR camera if you wish to take full advantage of these cards.
I saw some of the posted results on the community page for A1 and a lot of those high results look suspect. I only bought the Pro cards myself because they weren't much more than the Evo ones and I may use them in a high speed device someday. My main attraction to Samsung SD cards was that they are water-proof, X-Ray-proof, and magnetic-proof.
Bottom line, I don't think there's anything wrong with the Pro card you bought, but you didn't gain any speed benefits upgrading from your Evo card due to hardware limitations of your device(s).
Dark_Vortex said:
I ran the A1 SD app on both my Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 and my Galaxy S5 which both have Samsung Pro SD cards and didn't achieve much higher benchmarks than you did. This is because of the limitations of the SD controller chip in nearly all phones and tablets. These devices don't need those kinds of speeds that are the upper end of these Pro cards. You'll need something like a high-end DSLR camera if you wish to take full advantage of these cards.
I saw some of the posted results on the community page for A1 and a lot of those high results look suspect. I only bought the Pro cards myself because they weren't much more than the Evo ones and I may use them in a high speed device someday. My main attraction to Samsung SD cards was that they are water-proof, X-Ray-proof, and magnetic-proof.
Bottom line, I don't think there's anything wrong with the Pro card you bought, but you didn't gain any speed benefits upgrading from your Evo card due to hardware limitations of your device(s).
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Well that sucks, i mainly purchased it for my tablet and will most likely never use it in anything else (other than maybe a phone) but the pro cost me twice the price of the evo.
Is it possible that the benchmark results we are getting with the a1 app are false? I ask because if they are accurate then the cheaper evo card is actually faster, 10 out of 10 times the evo consistently gave me higher results which doesn't really make sense even if the phone/tablet was limiting it, surely it should have been at least the same speed?
If the app and the pro card i received isn't to blame then i think people should know the evo performs better on their phones and tablets.
Sent from my XT1032 using XDA Free mobile app
Has anyone tried this I've being reading about the SDcard standard and also saw a picture of a Z Ultra showing in storage - settings - sdcard1 a 128GB card working (Don't know if it's true tough) so has anyone here tried that? is it true?
wanna buy one but wouldn't wanna waste my money...
manual says max 64GB
https://dl.developer.sonymobile.com/documentation/whitepapers/Xperia_Z_Ultra_LTE_C6833_WP_7.pdf
But its confirmed it supports even higher than that:
http://www.xperiablog.net/2014/04/0...xc-card-works-a-treat-in-sony-xperia-devices/
If in theory sdxc is fully supported then the controller should work with up to 2TB. But its yet to be tested by someone who willing to spend that money. Or someone who has one of these >256GB cards lying around.
That second link is one of the pages I was reading, I think I'll go ahead and buy one 128gb and if it doesn't work I'll sell it, will report how it works when I do.
Can confirm, I've been using a 128GB Sandisk card in my Z Ultra for the past couple of years. No problems at all.
PixyMisa said:
Can confirm, I've been using a 128GB Sandisk card in my Z Ultra for the past couple of years. No problems at all.
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I have had too a few years back. The SanDisk 128GB
Sweet!
I will get one and load it up!
What class are you guys using?
PamelaGirl said:
Sweet!
I will get one and load it up!
What class are you guys using?
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Class10 is old and all cards have this rating. There is even more complicated ratings coming up on new cards being sold.
I'm talking about V30, V40, V50 and so on. C even. Don't know what C stands for. Mostly to help prosumers and pros selecting when doing 4K.
Some facts here:
https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/choices/speed_class/index.html
At the moment I have a samsung pro 64GB U3: http://www.samsung.com/uk/memory-storage/pro-microsd-card-e/MB-MG64EEU/
Its fast but not impressive. I don't think any memory card matters for our old phone.
It was sale two for one so I got one for our new phone and one for mine.
But you should buy the fastest you can afford without breaking the bank by performance for dollar.
If the top performer cost $100 more than the cheaper but no performance boost. You get the idea. Buy the cheaper.
At the moment I am looking at the toshiba 128 U3.
I will buy four of these for my ipod classic making a total of 512GB storage.
Note that there are many new features that is coming up for SD cards. As I said not that they will benefit our old Z ultra.
But you can still buy one that has a new feature as long as the price is right.
These are the ones I will buy. The one that is cheapest at the time of purchase. Download the Aliexpress app..you often get 40~70% off THAT sale price.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/TOS...-s-Micro-SD-Card-SDHC-I-32GB/32792169281.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/TOS...-Speed-MicroSD-Class10-Micro/32717634757.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/TOS...F-Trans-Flash-Card-SDHC-SDXC/32711230564.html
Samsung is a safe card. They are a bit expensive for what you get.
Sandisk is probably the best. But they are the most expensive. By performance for dollar.
A-DATA are good. But research if the specific batch is holding up. They tend to have some good and the other year bad and failing products. Same as with hard disks wd and seagate.
Some other exist but they are out of what I can get. They are more common in the us and asia. Like PNY, Transcend etc. So I cant comment on them.
Ol snap, SUPERUSER balling as usual!
That you for the additional info that will be much needed. I was interested in 128gb since the price has dropped over the years but now I see I need to keep my wallet closed until I put on my thinking cap!
Thank you very much friend!
So I am switching from iPhone to S8 and I am looking for SD cards to buy. The last one I bought was Class 10 (U1) like 8 years ago. It appears there are some new standards which go upto UHS-III and boast solid speeds (U3). However, it also looks like they are aimed at video recording (GoPro/dones) use.
Do any of these advanced cards (U3) offer significant speed improvement in a smartphone like Galaxy S8 or should I just stick to U1?
What do you plan on putting on the sdcard? With my samsung evo+ card 80read/20write the gallery thumbnail loading speeds are dog slow. If you're just going to put miscellaneous stuff any card will do, 64gb of storage should be enough.
Damn thats slow... I do plan to use it for occasionally transferring movies, etc. but I am just not a fan of lags/slow loading like in your case which is why I was considering the advanced one. But if that's the general case then I guess an upgrade might be worth it :/
Thumbnail loading isnt really a factor of the memory card.. My Note 5 some gallery thumbnails NEVER load, and most others take a while, and thats all from internal storage. EVO+ cards in phones are generally great and shouldnt give any noticeable lag on top of any lag the phone/app itself shows. The biggest thing youll notice between cards is, obviously, transfer rates. If you will be copying data to/from the phone from/to another device, a good quality high-speed card makes a world of difference. anything with a real 80MB/s read speed will be fine, just make sure you arent getting a clone, so doublecheck who the seller is if ordering from Amazon, and to be safe DO NOT order from eBay.
Yashraj said:
Damn thats slow... I do plan to use it for occasionally transferring movies, etc. but I am just not a fan of lags/slow loading like in your case which is why I was considering the advanced one. But if that's the general case then I guess an upgrade might be worth it :/
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For movies you should be fine, for me its loading a 1000 thumbnails that's the slow part, once they're loaded everything is fine. But from time to time it has to reload the thumbnails and its somewhat annoying.
There is an article somwhere floating around from last week on what cards to use etc.
If you use for photos and 4k vid etc the faster the better basically.
I think the more relevant question/answer here is whether the phones will support UHS-II and UHS-III. A few people have been asking that and I have not yet seen an answer. Since II and III have an extra set of pins, I would imagine it requires the host device to specifically support it by being able to use those extra pins. *If* they are backwards compatible (I don't know), then the cards might work anyway but would work at slow speed if the device doesn't support II or III and be a waste of money (obviously if not backwards compatible then it wouldnt work at all).
I still haven't seen an answer yet and as always samsung's specs dont tell you anything. We probably need someone with one of the faster cards and an S8 to try it out with A1 benchmark and see what speeds they get.
I don't think it supports UHS II or 3. I read somewhere that it supports UFS, which is Samsung's own higher speed format, which I don't think is as backwards compatible.
UHS I cards also have their own speed classes, U1 and U3 currently I think. U3 just guarantees higher sustained write speed (30MBps,) which is well within the UHS I maximum transfer speed.
If you're confused, the UHS class is the interface speed. The U1 or U3 are the minimum speed of the specific card. UHS I max speed is a little over 100MBps iirc.
I see conflicting information. According to Sony the max SD card is 512Gb however almost every site that shows specs for the Xperia 1 lists 1Tb as the max size. For example GSM Arena, which is generally pretty good for that sort of info.
I know for example that my Z Ultra will take 128Gb even though the max size stated by Sony is 64Gb. I just got a 200Gb card for my Z5 Premium and I kind of wish I had tried something bigger, although 200Gb is a lot. I have had the Xperia 1 for a couple months now, and while I do appreciate the 128Gb storage built in, I am getting to the point where I really need some more.
1Tb cards are considerably more pricey than 512Gb cards so it's not something I want to just try and see what happens. That being said I'm not really sure if a 1Tb card fits my budget right now anyway.
Sony website shows 512GB as the max SDcard size.
However in my experience, SD cards larger than the max size stated by the manufacturer have worked just fine. Haven't tried personally on my X1 though.
MeltdownSpectre said:
Sony website shows 512GB as the max SDcard size.
However in my experience, SD cards larger than the max size stated by the manufacturer have worked just fine. Haven't tried personally on my X1 though.
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I'd love to have another TB on the phone but I may end up sticking with 512GB for now just because of cost.
I'm also curious if there is a benefit of getting the A2 speed card over the A1 speed. I've used only A1 speed cards thus far in my phones and cameras, however I imagine that the Xperia 1 may actually be able to make use of the higher speed card.
Any thoughts on that?
computer9cowboy said:
I'd love to have another TB on the phone but I may end up sticking with 512GB for now just because of cost.
I'm also curious if there is a benefit of getting the A2 speed card over the A1 speed. I've used only A1 speed cards thus far in my phones and cameras, however I imagine that the Xperia 1 may actually be able to make use of the higher speed card.
Any thoughts on that?
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I have an A1 card in my X1 right now, and I'm satisfied with the speed, and to be quite honest, I can't see any point in spending extra to get an A2 card since I don't do frequent transfers of data between Internal Storage and SD, nor do I do a lot of 4K video recording to external storage, where I can imagine that faster external storage would be beneficial.
I can assure you that a 1TB micro SD card works on my Xperia 1 flawlessly.
1tb SanDisk A2 micro SD card works flawlessly. Using Xperia 1 9110 firmware 55.1.A.0.748.