MicroSD/HC/XC Memory Card Recommendations?

[alfunlee]

Is the supported memory card expansion upgrade from 2-64GB? Which MicroSD memory cards are recommended for mobile phones? Do I just look for something with a Speed Class rating of 10? How should I format the memory card after I get it?

I emailed Nokia and they said to format it like this:
1. Has been formatted on a PC, typically with a USB or SD card adapter.
2. Was formatted with FAT32 (for 4 - 32GB cards, 32 KB allocation unit size).
3. Was formatted with exFAT (for 64GB cards, 128KB allocation unit size).
4. Has fast random write access performance.
5. Is not password protected.
-The community from GBAtemp.net recommends using Panasonic SD Formatter instead of using the built-in Windows one. Which method is best for mobile phones?

Nokia also said to get one of their memory cards:
1. Nokia 4 GB MicroSD Card MU-41
2. Nokia 8 GB MicroSDHC Card MU-43
3. Nokia 16 GB MicroSD Card MU-44
4. Nokia 32 GB MicroSD Card MU-45
-I cannot find anywhere in North America that sells these. Does anyone know where I can buy these from?

Lots of people at GBAtemp.net recommends getting a Transcend brand with a Speed Class rating of 6 instead of 10 because they said that the one with the 6 rating had faster random access time or something compared to the 10 rating and games would run smoother on the Nintendo DS with the 6 rating but transferring files would take longer. They also said look out for counterfeit memory cards and that Kingston branded memory cards ranged a lot in quality.

 

[hopmedic]

This is the one that I bought and used with my Lumia 822 when I had it. No problems, and my wife is now using it in the handed-down 822 (I now have the 928).

 

[hopmedic]

Oh - and best for formatting the card? I use the phone to format it.

 

[kmok]

I'd recommend a Sandisk Micro SD card. I've been using a 64GB
one for a while now and used it in a few different phones: Galaxy S, Galaxy S 2, HTC Amaze, and now my Nokia Lumia 521. I formatted in my PC 1st then formatted in my phone before using it.

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[hopmedic]

Just noticed that I forgot to include the link for the one I bought. Here it is - sorry about that!
Amazon.com : SanDisk Ultra 64 GB microSDXC Class 10 UHS-1 Memory Card 30MB/s with Adapter SDSDQU-064G-AFFP-A : Micro Sd Cards : Electronics

 

[AndyCalling]

When it comes to class 10 cards, especially 32/64gig ones, Lumias love Samsung. Very fast, and I've never seen a post complaining about duplicate music files etc. with Samsung cards. I wouldn't risk Sandisk as they can be hit and miss with the sensitive Lumias (great if it works for you, but it is a gamble).

 

[calfee20]

So where is it stated that the duplicate music files were related to the micro sd card.

 

[kmok]

The duplicate song files is a Windows Phone 8 software issue not the brand of micro SD card in my opinion. I started getting duplicate songs when I would add music by inserting the micro SD card in my PC and using Explorer then later tried to add music through the Windows Phone 8 software for PC. I strictly add music by inserting the micro SD card into my PC and use Windows Explorer to add the music. I haven't had any duplicate music since then. It also seems that the XBOX music syncing was another cause of the issue.

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[hopmedic]

Yes, I've had this problem with my 928, which doesn't have an SD card slot. This isn't a card problem, it's a WP8 problem.

 

[AndyCalling]

Perhaps, but the SD card choice has a huge influence over it. You can tell by the number of threads discussing such. Very few phones report the issue here if they don't have an SD card and I'm tempted to suggest they may have poorly performing internal flash memory for some reason. Almost all complainants have this issue with SD cards and none (that I've seen so far) have this issue once they switch to a Samsung class 10 card. I can attest to this experience personally as well. With a Samsung card, the issue has disappeared 100%.

 

[calfee20]

Sandisk just announced a 128 gig micro sd card at MWC.

 

[ntice_521]

Sandisk is good and readily available. Some brands have absolutely terrible small write performance (like 100x slower). The "class" rating is only for bulk writes.

 

[AndyCalling]

I'm not saying Sandisk aren't good, I use them myself, just that Nokia phones can be iffy with them. See the many threads for reports. If it works for you then great, just realise before purchase that they don't work for everyone in Nokia devices.

 

[alfunlee]

I ended up buying this G.SKILL 32GB microSDHC Flash Card w/ SD Adapter Model FF-TSDG32GA-C10[hxxp://xxx.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231577] and have been using it for about 3 months now. 29 GB free space after format. I got this one because it was 11x Winner for Flash Memory Customer Choice Award and also because the reviews that people posted up reported having fast speeds. I did some benchmarks and added some screenshots but my test results were poor.

CrystalDiskMark 3.0.3b
READ: 17MB/s
WRITE: 13MB/s

H2testw 1.4
READ: 15MB/s
WRITE: 13MB/s

HDBENCH 3.40beta6
READ: 16MB/s
WRITE: 8MB/s

Also when I'm scrolling through my pictures in the "camera roll", when I get to the 3rd to the last picture it always does a weird glitch where it'll show the 2nd to the last picture for 1 second then switch back to the 3rd to the last picture. Also for some of the pictures you have to wait for 1-2 seconds for the picture to fully load. Some pictures won't look clear but once you wait 1-2 seconds the picture becomes more clearer, its like the picture needs time to load up all the pixels or something. I never noticed these two issues before I started using the microSD card but I could be wrong. Does anyone else have these two issues with out without a microSD card in your phone?

The card is advertised as 150MB/s read and 30MB/s write but I think Class 10 only means you should be getting a minimum of 10MB/s read and 10MB/s write. When I did the speed test I used the included SD Adapter but I just tried to do a test with a USB2.0 to microSD adapter and got a better test speed result by 1MB/s. I don't know if a better adapter or USB3.0 ports would help with the speed test results or not though because my laptop that I did the speed tests on only have USB2.0 ports, does anyone know? Does anyone know which ports or what type of adapter you should be using to do the speed tests with?

If I were to buy a memory card right now I would probably go with the one hopmedic posted unless someone knows of a better SanDisk Class 10 memory card out. SanDisk Ultra 64GB MicroSDXC Class 10 UHS Memory Card Speed Up To 30MB/s With Adapter - SDSDQUA-064G-U46A [Old Version][hxxp://xxx.amazon.com/gp/product/B009QZH6JS/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&tag=wpcentral00-20&m1k=vb_w] I think I read somewhere that it was recommended to get the one with Standard Packaging instead of the Frustration-Free Packing because it was better somehow or less chance of getting a counterfeit.

This Samsung Electronics 64GB EVO Micro SDXC with Adapter Upto 48MB/s Class 10 Memory Card (MB-MP64DA/AM)[hxxp://xxx.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IVPU786?tag=thewire06-20&linkCode=as2] might also be a good choice.

When looking at speed tests I think I read somewhere that said to look at the 4K results. Here's something[hxxp://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-microsd-card/] that might help when choosing a memory card.

I think the prices for the SanDisk and Samsung brand memory cards have gone done since I started this thread. I can't post links because I don't have enough posts so just replace the "x" in the links.