Which microSD cards are worth it? Mega Test with 200 models reveals real performance and durability

Technology enthusiast Matt Cole is the creator and responsible for The Great Microsd Card Survey, an investigative test and benchmarks project he started in July 2023. The project was responsible for analyzing More than 200 different models of micro SD cards.

In a recent publication, Cole revealed that the tests generated more than 18 PETABYTES OF DATAwith 51 cards literally brought to destruction to measure their resistance.

The enthusiast works with Eight machines and about 70 card readers operating 24 hours a day. They are impressive 101 Terabytes of data per day To identify the best microSD cards and expose counterfeit models with inflated capacity or low quality memory, known as fake flash.

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Performance and authenticity

To facilitate understanding, the study includes intuitive graphics that highlight the best and worst cards on metrics such as performance, authenticity and durability. Curiously, Cards purchased in Amazon tend to have less authenticity problemwhat talks about the store more than the products.

The guardian warns of two very common problems in micro SD cards. The first is the fake flashwhen cards are announced with much greater capacity than the real, and the second is the skimpy flashwhen the cards deliver less space than promised. The example is a 61.89GB 64GB card.

And these problems occur even on known brands. However, for those interested, below are the top 10 so far:

1. Kingston Canvas Go! Plus 64GB – Compre na Amazon.
2. Pny Pro Elite Prime 64GB – Compre Na Amazon.
3. Sandisk Extreme 64GB – Compre Na Amazon.
4. PNY Premier-X 128GB – Compre na Amazon.
5. Delkin Devices HYPERSPEED 128GB – Compre na Amazon.
6. HP MicroSDXC mx330 64GB – Compre no AliExpress.
7. Kioxia Exceria G2 64GB – Compre no AliExpress.
8. Kingston Industrial 8GB – Compre na Amazon.
9. Samsung Evo Plus 64GB – Buy at Kabum.
10. Sandisk Ultra 128GB – Buy at Kabum.

Other tests and criteria

In addition to the capacity, during testing, Cole evaluates gross performance, ie reading and sequential and random recording, and compliance with SD Association’s speed seal. The seal ensures that the card delivered what it promises.

In addition, it also takes durability tests, which is essential for those who use cards in intense reading/recording cycles. For some, these are the most interesting tests and Cole found that

• Known branded cards bought at Amazon surpassed Aliexpress.
• Fake flash cards performed much lower than authentic.

The difference was so large that the average cycles to the first mistake fell from 3,166 to 1,594 among the best and worst cards. The highlights were:

• Sandisk: 4,634 cycles
• Kingston: 3,555 cycles
• Lenovo: only 291 cycles
• Generic marks: On average, only 27 cycles

However, as durability requires a longer test period, it is not considered in the overall ranking the enthusiast made.

Cole warns that during the tests, he used Varied SD card readers to maximize the number of cards tested simultaneously and identify the models with the best performance. And this variety may have influenced the results, especially in cases of intermittent failures.

Even he cites one example: the Smartq Single. The reader had random failures during recordings, resulting in the loss of about 1mb of data.

About the durability test, it consists of overriding the entire card user area and then read all data. He is repeatedly made and at the highest possible speedbut this method does not simulate real scenarios such as:

• Intermittent use on smartphones or consoles (such as Nintendo Switch), where the card heats and cools with use.
• Prolonged storage in digital cameras, where data retention is essential.

He already thinks about how to solve this for future tests within the project. The idea is include breaks between cycles or storage simulations in cold environments to evaluate thermal resistance and data retention.

Another factor he mentions, but cannot mention the impactit is heat dissipation. Microsd cards reach high temperatures during tests. Although most support up to 85ºC (185ºF), There is no guarantee that all models tested are within this specification.

The test environment consists of a small air conditioning closet that tries to keep 22ºC. However, accumulated heat can affect both connected USB cards and USB hubs.

Source: Matt Cole.

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