SD card brands: Motoring Computer Related forum

Computer Related > SD card brands	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Rudedog	Replies: 48

New Wed 20 Sep 17 19:22

SD card brands - Rudedog

I need a micro SDHC card for my new mobile, I've previously had two 64GB ones from Sandisk which both failed before I could even use them, both when formatted showed as corrupted.

I've tried over and over to repair them when connected to my Mac (format to exFat).

I now think I'll have to buy another one and try again.

My question is should I stick with a known brand but change to maybe Kingston or should I go cheap and buy a non-branded Â£6 job??

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New Wed 20 Sep 17 19:35

SD card brands - smokie

Sandisk really should be OK, but if you buy from places like eBay there are quite a few fakes out there, which often manifest as being unable to format to the full capacity.

Most of my bits like that come from Amazon, who have a really good returns policy. Samsung Evo SD cards seem good to me.

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1

New Wed 20 Sep 17 19:37

SD card brands - No FM2R

Good advice.

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New Thu 21 Sep 17 19:52

SD card brands - Manatee

The Samsung EVO ones are supposed to be good for phones, performance-wise. That said my 128GB card failed a few weeks ago. So unexpected I thought it might be the phone, but I put a 64GB Toshiba in it and it's fine.

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New Thu 21 Sep 17 20:02

SD card brands - No FM2R

What do you use a large capacity SD card in your phones for?

I stores books, podcasts, Spotify and photographs. Some documents (Doc, PPT, & XLS)

I've got 15GB used on a 64GB card, and I think most of that is podcasts.

And all of its only there for convenience, it all exists elsewhere; the books are on Amazon, the Podcasts & Spotify wherever, and the photographs on Dropbox.

I don't intentionally not use space, I just don't seem to have much need.

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New Thu 21 Sep 17 20:06

SD card brands - Manatee

Video can eat it up, but you're right I didn't get anywhere near 128GB.

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New Thu 21 Sep 17 20:08

SD card brands - Zero

>> What do you use a large capacity SD card in your phones for?

16gb music, downloaded OS maps, space for HD videos and photos shot on the camera 32 gb is my sweet spot on the phone and pad.

Last edited by: Zero on Thu 21 Sep 17 at 20:09

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New Thu 21 Sep 17 21:50

SD card brands - smokie

128Gb external and 64Gb internal on my phone. Also a couple of high capacity OTG USB sticks. Mainly for toting round a load of video, music and radio shows for listening to when travelling. I rarely do though... Also backup pics to the USB sticks (as well as the cloud, when I have a good enough connection)

Oh, plus a 1Tb disk which doubles as a wireless access point.

I think I overdo it sometimes :-)

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New Wed 20 Sep 17 19:53

SD card brands - Zero

My Kingston 32gb micro SD card just went TU in my Mooto G4 phone. Completely unrecoverable. I have just replaced it with a genuine 32gb Sandisk card, plus purchased a 64gb Sandisk extreme for my new go pro.

Both from Amazon, both worked fine

Last edited by: Zero on Wed 20 Sep 17 at 19:53

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New Wed 20 Sep 17 20:31

SD card brands - Rudedog

Well both 64gb Sandisk cards came from eBay and had very convincing packaging if they were fakes, I just think they were duff unless cards in mobiles can be temperamental.

I did think of Samsung as a brand because they use them a lot in phones.

I used to use Amazon all the time until they introduced the minimum order charge.

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New Wed 20 Sep 17 21:28

SD card brands - rtj70

Rudedog,

You do realise that there are multiple SD card classifications now. A 64GB card will be SDXC and can only be formatted/used in a device supporting SDXC cards. I wonder if your failed cards 'failed' because they were not formatted correctly?

You formatted it as exFAT but maybe they should still have been formatted as FAT32? I am surprised two Sandisk cards failed in this way.

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New Wed 20 Sep 17 22:08

SD card brands - Rudedog

That's what I thought, I did a bit of research and read that cards over 32gb (SDXC) are all formatted as exFat, in both cases I tried formatting them while in the phone, one failed saying 'bad block' the other just hung on 20% complete and then quit the formatting process (tried several times).

I never had issues with any of my 32gb cards.

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New Wed 20 Sep 17 23:30

SD card brands - rtj70

Biggest card I have is 32GB and that was originally for use in a phone. That's probably Sandisk. It now is used in the Audi for MP3 files.

Next month I'll probably transfer said card to the Skoda but that has two slots and supports larger cards... so might be getting a 64GB card. Also thinking of getting a new 1" sensor compact camera. I miss having a zoom if I just take the phone (excellent photos though). I only went down the dSLR and then M4/3 route to get good images in low light. Cameras have moved on a lot. But that's another thread :-)

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New Thu 21 Sep 17 16:56

SD card brands - Stuartli

Always bought the majority of my memory cards, computer peripherals and photographic paper from 7DayShop. com at what has always proved highly competitive prices, quick delivery and excellent after care service for top brand products

www.7dayshop.com/

Get a regular news e-mail as well, which details the latest offers.

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New Thu 21 Sep 17 17:29

SD card brands - Hard Cheese

I would only trust Sandisk and Lexar though Micron have sold the Lexar brand to Longsys so there are no guarantees that the quality will remain, so Sandisk for me in the short term at least.

Agree re 7DayShop.

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New Thu 21 Sep 17 18:25

SD card brands - Zero

My two Sandisk cards were cheaper, and arrived faster through Amazon. Which is why I sourced them there.

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New Thu 21 Sep 17 18:46

SD card brands - Hard Cheese

I buy through Amazon, you can rely on them being genuine if from Amazon (themselves) and 7DayShop.

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New Thu 21 Sep 17 18:29

SD card brands - No FM2R

>>and had very convincing packaging if they were fakes,

Sometimes it genuine packaging - a roll of it having been swiped and sold under the counter.

I did know about a deal a couple of years ago being offered in the wrong end of Santiago where someone was offering Samsung S4s in genuine packaging for half price, where the packaging represented 80% of his costs and he was buying from someone at the manufacturer.

The rip-off telephone he got for pennies. It didn't work very well either.

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New Thu 21 Sep 17 20:25

SD card brands - sooty123

Are sandisk normally a good brand? Had to get a refund this week for one I got off ebay, the oh kept getting error messages, got a refund straight away. Worth sticking with the brand?

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 00:05

SD card brands - Hard Cheese

>> Are sandisk normally a good brand? Had to get a refund this week for one
>> I got off ebay, the oh kept getting error messages, got a refund straight away.
>> Worth sticking with the brand?
>>

The best. Could they be fakes on eBay?

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 00:42

SD card brands - rtj70

SanDisk are a Western Digital owned business/company. So reputable. I'd always pay more for a premium brand - who wants to take photos to find they have been lost on a corrupt memory card.

I think interesting times ahead for SanDisk and Toshiba mind.... all related to Toshiba's nuclear power problems in the USA. Toshiba's selling their memory business and it might not go where WD would like, i.e. WD.

I'd still buy SanDisk.

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 03:42

SD card brands - sooty123

The best. Could they be fakes on eBay?
>>

I don't think so, all the packaging and the product looked real and when I told the seller I got a refund straight away.

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 08:46

SD card brands - smokie

>>
>> The best. Could they be fakes on eBay?
>>

Apparently so. tinyurl.com/ycgxa4ne

Other items on spotting fakes, but mostly not until they are in your hands...

tinyurl.com/y77smqyk

tinyurl.com/pajgx9a

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 09:56

SD card brands - sooty123

Cheers I'll check that guide out.

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 13:07

SD card brands - Rudedog

Ok I managed to format one of the SanDisk as a portable drive rather than internal. BUT when I connected the mobile to my mac it won't show up on the desktop!

I tried and tried..

Now I've found out that in the latest version of Android they have stopped all apps/devices reading or writing to SD cards!

This is my first Android type phone and I'm not impressed!

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 14:43

SD card brands - rtj70

>> Now I've found out that in the latest version of Android they have stopped all apps/devices
>> reading or writing to SD cards!

What phone do you have and which version of Android is it running?

Your phone wouldn't have a micro SD card slot if it could make use of it.

Depending on what phone you have you can either have it formatted as an external/removable card or combine it with the internal storage and it's all treated as one. Samsung does not support this latter option. If you use that then it makes it difficult to remove/swap cards because the system will be using it.

On a Samsung that has an SD card slot (my SGS6 does not) you can use the SD card to store media, photos etc.

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 15:02

SD card brands - rtj70

I have my phone set to connect as an MTP device for USB. If I plug this into a PC it will connect using MTP and let me browse the device. If I plug it into my Mac it won't connect and that is because MacOS does not come with an MTP driver. So you either need to load an MTP driver (or Kernel Extension as their are known) or an App.

Well I say it won't connect but I have an app installed called Android File Transfer and that opens and lets me view the contents and copy files etc through the app. But you do not see an external USB drive in Finder.

With Android File Transfer the phone needs to be unlocked and you probably get a prompt asking if you will allow the connection (as you would on Windows).

Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 22 Sep 17 at 15:03

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 15:05

SD card brands - No FM2R

>>With Android File Transfer the phone needs to be unlocked

[You mean 'root', right?]

And that comes with implications;

Updates
Warranty
Factory restores
Headaches

and more.

I do unlock my phones, but its best not to do unless you really have a reason to benefit from doing so.

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 15:11

SD card brands - rtj70

Not rooted. Just the screen should not be locked. It's a security thing - besides you need to agree to the MTP transfer request anyway.

Note on my SGS6 you can also set the USB connection to PTP (for photo transfer), MIDI (never tried that but it's for musical instruments) or just charge. You either find the setting you prefer in the developer section (which is hidden by default) or drag down the notification area and there's a USB connection option under Android system. This might be a Samsung GUI thing.

And Mark, I don't mind the SGS6 GUI - Samsung have toned down their messing with Android quite a bit. The original TouchWiz was awful.

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 15:13

SD card brands - rtj70

I should have added that my Android phone does not appear as a USB Mass Storage Device if you plug it into a PC or Mac. Therefore it cannot be handled as an external USB drive.

Unless Rudedog has installed an app that handles MTP he won't see the phone storage (internal and SD card) in Finder.

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 15:23

SD card brands - tyrednemotional

>> I should have added that my Android phone does not appear as a USB Mass
>> Storage Device if you plug it into a PC.......

...mine doesn't by default - it connects for charging only.

On pulling down the top-bar after connecting however, a notification appears allowing other options MTP, PTP, or Midi to be enabled.

(said notification does not pop-up - it needs the pull down)

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 15:47

SD card brands - No FM2R

>>...mine doesn't by default - it connects for charging only

IIRC you have to enable USB Debugging and Developer mode. Though I can't remember for sure. Rob?

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 16:11

SD card brands - tyrednemotional

...not on mine!:

To set the USB connection mode to transfer files
Make sure that your device is connected to a computer via a USB cable.
From your Home screen, drag the status bar downwards.
Find and tap USB for charging notification, then select Transfer files (MTP).

...works on my android 6 phone and android 7 tablet without playing with any other settings.

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 16:22

SD card brands - No FM2R

I'm sure you're right. I end up messing around with so many different brands, so many different versions of androids and so many different UIs that I'm never sure which is what.

I just vaguely recall struggling with a Huawei P9 on 6.0 where I eventually enabled the USB debugging and my connection issues resolved themselves.

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 17:17

SD card brands - rtj70

You are both right. You pull down the notification bar and then can change the USB setting.

But if you enable developer menu, there's the option to change the USB default setting in there too.

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 18:29

SD card brands - Stuartli

You can also change the options in Settings>More.

I nearly always choose Sandisk - top notch cards - and buy from 7DayShop. Current one, used with an HTC 10, is an Extreme PRO 32GB microSDHC UHS-I, capable of 4K Ultra HD and Full HD video recording and playback.

Last edited by: Stuartli on Fri 22 Sep 17 at 18:29

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New Sat 23 Sep 17 00:05

SD card brands - smokie

>> ... capable of
>> 4K Ultra HD and Full HD video recording and playback.
>>

Does your phone record in 4K? Mine does but my SD card isn't as fancy as yours and it copes fine. Had to find an alternative Windows player though.

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New Sat 23 Sep 17 00:25

SD card brands - rtj70

Some cameras (not referring to phones) will only record 4K video on high end cards. Sony's RX100 V needs an SDXC card with pretty much the top end spec.

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New Sat 23 Sep 17 00:30

SD card brands - Stuartli

>>Does your phone record in 4K? Mine does but my SD card isn't as fancy as yours and it copes fine.>>

Yes, it does and also has a 2k screen. 7DayShop offers memory cards at such bargain prices it's not worth skimping on any product...:-)

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 14:52

SD card brands - No FM2R

>>in the latest version of Android they have stopped all apps/devices reading or writing to SD cards

I'm running 7.1.

The restriction is that any application may only write to its *own* directory on the SD card. Its certainly a restriction, but manageable.

I'm not quite sure that you mean by...

"when I connected the mobile to my mac it won't show up on the desktop!"

Is the 'it' you refer to the whole phone or just the SD card?

This is a further part of the restrictions of newer versions of Android. You should be able to use an application from the manufacturer to do most things - HiSuite for Huawei, Smart Switch or Kies for Samsung etc. etc. A similar principle to iTunes on an Apple.

Other than that one has to resort to removing the SD card, putting it in the computer, making the copies/changes/additions you require and then putting it back. If you choose to do that you should use the phone to create the directory structure you want on the SD card, and the computer only to copy files across.

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 14:54

SD card brands - No FM2R

Combining the SD card with internal storage has its issues, aside from Samsung simply not doing it.

Should the SD card fail [All SD cards will fail, it is only a matter of time, and you will almost certainly get no warning] the recovery and restoration process is a time consuming a***.

If the SD card is not incorporated, as mine is not, then I simply keep a copy of it on my PC.

Incorporation is really only a good idea for those phones which have very little internal memory.

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 14:56

SD card brands - No FM2R

Sorry for the multiple replies.

You should also look at the file managers either supplied or TP ones such as ES File Explorer. With those you can manipulate the SD card quite easily, as well as move files around should you want to.

Rob once told me how much he disliked the Samsung UI. I didn't really agree with him at the time but I grew to understand his point.

Last edited by: No FM2R on Fri 22 Sep 17 at 14:59

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 15:07

SD card brands - rtj70

I started to reply and then got distracted... so I have a post higher up.

As I say an Android device won't show up in Finder on a Mac unless you load a driver/kex to support MTP.

Whilst I have Android File Transfer, I prefer to view the contents so I have installed Droid NAS on my Samsung Galaxy S6. I then connect to that as a network drive. But Droid NAS does not use a standard port for SMB so you have to connect to it manually.

The Droid NAS app shows the IP address and port number. So then with Finder as the current app in focus, I press Command K and it brings up the Connect to Server dialogue. I then type in the URL for the SMB connection for Droid NAS, e.g.

smb://192.168.1.149:7777/sd card

The app lets you setup what is shared and each is effectively a share from the phone. So on mine 'sd card' is everything or I could just connect to 'music' for the music folder:

smb://192.168.1.149:7777/music

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 15:17

SD card brands - smokie

Wot NOFM2R said, especially regarding why not to coalesce the SD card with your phone memory, and also why you wouldn't want to root the phone.

The restriction came in a few version back (maybe Android 5) and you do not have to root the phone for access to the card. I thought you could ALWAYS read from it, but writing was inhibited unless it was a "system" app which had special permission.

But as he says, ES File Explorer does the trick.

SWMBO has a Galaxy of some sort (maybe a 5) and I spent a while the other night moving apps to the SD card on an effort to free up space on the internal card.

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 17:38

SD card brands - Zero

On the Mac, an android phone does not mount as a file system, you need an app called Android File Transfer.

You unlock the phone, unlock your Mac, plug phone USB cable into Mac, pull down the menu bar at top of phone for USB options that is now there, tick transfer files option.

Your Android File Transfer option should start, if not launch it.

Your phone internal memory and sd card memory file trees will appear in your app.

Needs to be done in that order.

Last edited by: Zero on Fri 22 Sep 17 at 17:39

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New Fri 22 Sep 17 23:49

SD card brands - Rudedog

Thank you all for your replies.

I've just switched from my Z30 running the excellent Blackberry 10 OS to the new Blackberry KeyOne (Black Edition) which is powered by the latest Android OS (?Nougat??).

The whole SD card issue was about to break me but the Android File Transfer app seems to have cracked it, now I can drag and drop my Mp3 files over like I'm used to.

I'm still surprised that it didn't come with any pre-installed file management or mp3 music player app (apart from all of the Google stuff).

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New Fri 29 Sep 17 19:27

SD card brands - sooty123

Had a chance to look at that guide, I don't think that it was fake. However a couple of the things to look for were neither in the fake or real list. So who knows.

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New Fri 29 Sep 17 18:24

SD card brands - DP

>> I did think of Samsung as a brand because they use them a lot in
>> phones.

Samsung is the world's largest chip manufacturer. Their memory technology is excellent.

I've personally had good experience with Sandisk and Kingston as well., but as others have said, there's a lot of (very convincing) Chinese knockoffs out there.

Last edited by: DP on Fri 29 Sep 17 at 18:24

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New Fri 29 Sep 17 18:50

SD card brands - No FM2R

Just do keep copies of the data. When an SD card fails, it just stops working. No warning, little [no] chance of recovery.

And *ALL* SD cards *WILL* fail. Sooner or later.

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