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    Help me pick out external SD card storage, and clarify things.

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Casowen, Jan 3, 2020.

  1. Casowen

    Casowen Notebook Evangelist

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    Im looking for all the usual good attributes, MLC, ECC, wear leveling, etc, and I am in particularly interested in SD card's as they are most practical being able to go from a smartphone to anything else with just an adapter. One card that stood out to me was a transcend ultimate sd card that had all of these attributes and even a lifetime warranty, however its no longer being made, and its successor while uses mlc doesnt state whether it has ECC implimented, so I assume that answer is a no.

    https://www.vortez.net/news_story/transcend_introduces_ultimate_uhs_i_u3m_class_30_v30_microsd.html

    This said, is technology like ECC even necessary with MLC drives, or what is the situation with that? I heard speculation awhile ago that those sorts of implementations where only necessary with poor memory quality like qlc, tlc, though Im not sure. Transfer speeds tend to also be great with MLC as tlc and qlc just go down in speed as a transfer goes on with large files, with qlc suffering the most from it as is seen in qlc drives, and its not like they have a ram cache to speed it on up.

    Typically speaking all consumer grade SD cards are QLC, while 512 and over are going to be QLC by default as reaching that point is only possible with QLC. Unless specifically stated otherwise, mlc is a point of quality that most sd card makers like to advertise, so watch for that. All "pro" line sd cards that dont state their memory type and have high write speeds are most likely tlc as qlc cant sustain high usage and write speeds for long, but tlc can typically.

    Largest MLC micro sd card I can find is 256gb
    Largest SLC micro sd is only 128gb, and has all the great features like smart, trim, ecc, etc, but it cost ALOT!
     
    Last edited: Jan 3, 2020
    Casowen, Jan 3, 2020
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  2. Charles P. Jefferies

    Charles P. Jefferies Lead Moderator Super Moderator

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    I doubt you'll see much difference of any kind between cards provided they're of a reasonably high class rating. If anything, stick to a major brand. Maybe ask a camera shop (Adorama comes to mind) what they recommend ...ask what they sell to professionals for reliable usage. I've been using Samsung cards in my cameras for several years and they have been flawless.

    Charles
     
    Charles P. Jefferies, Jan 4, 2020
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