SD card format

[BatteryLife]

Guys, I want to ask about the most suitable sd card format for WP8.1 (for media and installing apps etc.)

How does different sd card formats like NTFS/fat32/etc. affect performance, transfer speeds and processing speeds?

Thanks. :excited:

 

[N_LaRUE]

It's recommended to use Class 6 and above on WP8.1. Preferably Class 10.

I would personally just format the card in the phone and that way you know there are no comparability issues.

Using an SD card to add space on Windows Phone | Windows Phone How-to (United Kingdom)

 

[BatteryLife]

It's recommended to use Class 6 and above on WP8.1. Preferably Class 10.

I would personally just format the card in the phone and that way you know there are no comparability issues.

Using an SD card to add space on Windows Phone | Windows Phone How-to (United Kingdom)

Sorry if i wasn't clear. I meant format, not the class

 

[SRK62]

Any class 10 SD cards
Sent from my Lumia 720 using Tapatalk

 

[BatteryLife]

Again, I wasn't talking about the class, more like the format of the SD card. Formats are like fat 32, fat, ntfs etc.

 

[NotSafeForWork]

Again, I wasn't talking about the class, more like the format of the SD card. Formats are like fat 32, fat, ntfs etc.

Documentation that I have read in the past suggests that the OS only supports FAT32 and exFAT storage formats. exFAT allows you to store >4GB files in the card, so it may as well be the superior format. I haven't confirmed it if it is really supported though :smile:

 

[Veett]

Afaik WP8 supports only FAT32 for SDHC and exFAT for SDXC.

 

[Guzzler3]

Yep, FAT32, or exFAT are the only supported formats for microSD cards in WP.

I have tried both formats in my 810 (SDHC cards), with no apparent performance differences or issues. Personally I eventually went with exFAT, for "just in case" I ever have to deal with files over 4GB in size.

 

[BatteryLife]

Uhh... I found this in Nokia's support website

Your phone supports FAT32 for SDHC cards, exFAT for SDXC cards, with a single Master Boot Record (MBR) partition table.

Up to 32-GB SDHC cards using the FAT file system.
64-GB SDXC cards using the exFAT file system.
The internal user store is formatted in NTFS file system format.

I wonder what does the last sentence imply...

The first sentence said that SDHC cards support FAT32, does it support exFAT? If my card is 16GB, is it a SDHC, or it may be a SDXC? If so, how do I check it?

Thanks =)

 

[Veett]

SDHC basically means all cards up to 32GB and all beyond that are SDXC.

 

[NotSafeForWork]

Uhh... I found this in Nokia's support website



I wonder what does the last sentence imply...

The first sentence said that SDHC cards support FAT32, does it support exFAT? If my card is 16GB, is it a SDHC, or it may be a SDXC? If so, how do I check it?

Thanks =)

My interpretation is that the card size limit when using FAT32 is 32GB ("...up to 32-GB"), and cards with higher capacities MUST use exFAT to be compatible with WP. Because as said in the earlier comment that SDHC cards can be formatted into the exFAT format, so on cards less than 32GB, you can use either formats without differences except for the 4GB max file size for FAT32.

If I am wrong feel free to correct me though :smile:

 

[Veett]

Just a minor thing that you are mixing file system and memory card format. FAT32 does support larger sizes (up to 2TB) but SDHC format just categorizes these cards "up to 32GB". So you can actually format an exFAT SDXC to FAT32 and still have 64GB size but why would you want to that now days since most modern devices support exFAT.

 

[BatteryLife]

I see, so I'll better off using exFAT? There will be no compromises whatsoever?

 

[Veett]

Only thing that comes to mind is device compatibility since some older devices (android) might not support exFAT. And if you are handling files that are smaller than that file size limit of 4GB in FAT32 perhaps you should just stick in what that card had in default. So that in mind it doesnt really matter.