Buying a bigger SDHC card

[Guest InsaneNutter]

Hi,

Ive seen conflicting arguments on this, i'm just wondering if the class of SDHC card matters at all?

I still have the 4gb Class 2 SDHC in my Desire that came with the phone, from what I can tell this appears to work fine.

Would I notice any difference with a faster card other than been able to copy files to my phone a lot quicker?

Thanks.

[Guest fatboygrim]

Ive seen conflicting arguments on this, i'm just wondering if the class of SDHC card matters at all?

yes the class definitely matters - as it defines how fast the card is, so yes you would be able to copy files to your phone faster...

SDHC on Wikipedia

Speed Class Rating:

The Speed Class Rating is the official unit of speed measurement for SD Cards, defined by the SD Association. It is equal to 8 Mbit/s, and it measures the minimum write speeds based on "the best fragmented state where no memory unit is occupied":

The following are the ratings of some currently available cards:

Class 2: 16 Mbit/s (2 MB/s)

Class 4: 32 Mbit/s (4 MB/s)

Class 6: 48 Mbit/s (6 MB/s)

Class 10: 80 Mbit/s (10 MB/s)

Edited August 4, 2010 by fatboygrim

[Guest InsaneNutter]

Ah sorry think I explained that a bit wrong, I knew the higher the class the faster the card would be. What i was supposed to ask was if it made any real difference when a faster card is used in the Desire?

I understand it will be quicker to copy files to the Desire, however is that the only benefit? Applications appear to load pretty quick off a Class 2 SDHC card, just wondering if I will notice anything between say a Class 2 card and a Class 6 card with every day use?

Thanks :)

[Guest spammyspam]

What's the price difference? Basic advice is to get the fastest card you can afford, but don't worry if you can't get the fastest on the market.

FWIW, my class 2 8GB card (I had no choice in the matter) works fine with A2SD.

[Guest sub69]

I can't notice any difference between my Transcend Class 6 16gb MicroSD and my Sandisk Class 2 32gb MicroSD.

But that's just me - plenty of people swear blind that there's a huge speed difference...

[Guest InsaneNutter]

Memory2Go 16GB MicroSD (SDHC) Class 2 Memory Card - £22 - thats the card I was thinking of getting anyway.

The site has a few more 16gig cards, all class 2 at more expensive prices.

Kingston 16GB Micro SD (SDHC) Card + 2 Adaptors - Class 10 - £85

So quite a big difference to get anything faster than a class 2, although I have not really shopped around much yet.

Edited August 4, 2010 by InsaneNutter

[Guest lenik]

i'm just wondering if the class of SDHC card matters at all?

if you plan to take an 720p movie, you'd better choose class4 or higher. otherwise there's no noticeable difference, unless you get an exceptionally slow/bad class2 card.

[Guest atconc]

It's worth noting that the class designates the minimum write speed - so a good quality class 2 card might write faster than a cheap class 4 for example. There's loads of threads on this over at XDA - this one seems to have some good numbers in it.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=6412643

I've just ordered a 16 Sandisk class 2 from Play.com

http://www.play.com//ProductOutline.aspx?t...8120&r=MBLS

to replace my 8gb class 6 transcend card that keeps getting corrupted in my desire (think it's warn out from 2 years of Apps2SD on my G1) I'll try to do some comparisons when it arrives and post back.

Generally the larger capacity cards tend to be faster as the miniaturisation required to fit so much on such a small card tends to have the side effect of increasing speed.

[Guest bhu73]

It's worth noting that the class designates the minimum write speed - so a good quality class 2 card might write faster than a cheap class 4 for example. There's loads of threads on this over at XDA - this one seems to have some good numbers in it.

Fast/Reliable/Cheap.... pick any two, but only two.

fwiw I use a sandisk class 10 16gb and it seems quite nippy.

Edited August 4, 2010 by bhu73

[Guest Marand]

Ah sorry think I explained that a bit wrong, I knew the higher the class the faster the card would be. What i was supposed to ask was if it made any real difference when a faster card is used in the Desire?

I understand it will be quicker to copy files to the Desire, however is that the only benefit? Applications appear to load pretty quick off a Class 2 SDHC card, just wondering if I will notice anything between say a Class 2 card and a Class 6 card with every day use?

Thanks :)

I have exactly the same question really, was hunting for info about card speeds and found this app.

http://www.androidpit.com/en/android/marke...=0&simen=20

There is a comment from a guy called Brent.

http://www.androlib.com/android.comment.au...rent-wxFBt.aspx

He states "You guys do realize that the phones only read and write at class 2 speeds regardless what you use in the phone right? It's a hardware limitation. " I also read the same in other places I have been searching, forums etc.

Is this true because if it is then why buy anything above class 2, unless you use it with a USB adapter to transfer files to it outside the handset?

Thanks.

[Guest arielext]

I have exactly the same question really, was hunting for info about card speeds and found this app.

http://www.androidpit.com/en/android/marke...=0&simen=20

There is a comment from a guy called Brent.

http://www.androlib.com/android.comment.au...rent-wxFBt.aspx

He states "You guys do realize that the phones only read and write at class 2 speeds regardless what you use in the phone right? It's a hardware limitation. " I also read the same in other places I have been searching, forums etc.

Is this true because if it is then why buy anything above class 2, unless you use it with a USB adapter to transfer files to it outside the handset?

Thanks.

Hmm I just transfered 3GB of music to my new class 6 Transcend card IN the desire and the speeds went up to 4MB/sec which is higher then Brent makes us believe; could be that Ubuntu is caching a lot before actually sending the data.

[Guest rhedgehog]

He states "You guys do realize that the phones only read and write at class 2 speeds regardless what you use in the phone right? It's a hardware limitation. " I also read the same in other places I have been searching, forums etc.

Is this true because if it is then why buy anything above class 2, unless you use it with a USB adapter to transfer files to it outside the handset?

No it's not. the sdhc hardware that HTC use can cope with speeds in excess of class 6. class 10 is pointless, and class 8 is borderline on most HTC phones, but 6 is fine.

[Guest InsaneNutter]

I have been doing a bit of testing with the 4gb Class 2 card that came with my desire and the 6gb scandisk class 4 card I have had in my Nokia N95 for the last 3 years.

With regards to the video recording comment I didn't notice any difference recording 720p video between the class 2 card and the class 4 card, the frame rate appears the same... I shot the same video twice (well as close as possible) on each different card and I honestly couldn't tell any difference between the two.

Same for loading apps off the SD card, I notice no difference between the class 2 and class 4 at all.

Maybe it would be slightly quicker with a Class 6 or Class 10 card... I dont know. If there is a difference I don't think you will be able to notice it during general use, my desire has always been very snappy with the 4gb class 2 card it came with.

Of course it is much quicker copying xvid video to my desire when the class 4 card is in, I get about 6MB/s with the class 4 card and around 2MB/s with the class 2 card.

[Guest Nelsaidi]

I have purchased a Transcend Class 6 8GB microSD for my phone which is onroute from Amazon, personally I do not need more than 8GB and this was a pound or so more expensive than the class 2 sandisk's so figured it cant be much worse.

[Guest atconc]

I've just ordered a 16 Sandisk class 2 from Play.com

http://www.play.com//ProductOutline.aspx?t...8120&r=MBLS

to replace my 8gb class 6 transcend card that keeps getting corrupted in my desire (think it's warn out from 2 years of Apps2SD on my G1) I'll try to do some comparisons when it arrives and post back.

Generally the larger capacity cards tend to be faster as the miniaturisation required to fit so much on such a small card tends to have the side effect of increasing speed.

Delivery was pretty slow, but the card finally showed up today, from a quick test the new class 2 card is slightly faster than the old class 6 card (which I think is warn out)

Figures using the card in a reader on PC

Old card

Writing speed: 5.88 MByte/s

Reading speed: 15.4 MByte/s

H2testw v1.4

New card

Writing speed: 6.65 MByte/s

Reading speed: 18.5 MByte/s

H2testw v1.4

[Guest Nelsaidi]

the old class 6 card (which I think is warn out)

Figures using the card in a reader on PC

Old card

Writing speed: 5.88 MByte/s

Reading speed: 15.4 MByte/s

H2testw v1.4

Hey, I got a transcend class 6 8gb (i think thats what you had before), connected through the phone and tested by copying + reading ubutnu iso I'm getting a read speed of 6mbps (!!?!?!?) but a qrite speed of 10mbps (these are averages)

Can you maybe test your new card through the phone so i can compare?

[Guest ruffruff]

i just got a Sandisk mobile ultra 16gb class 4.

read/write at 19mb/15mb per sec.

write much much faster than my previous cheap Team-16gb-sdhc class 6.

I think the constraint is not the phone but the OS.

back in windows mobile, there were tweaks available to enhance the overall thorughput of the card speed in the phone os. However in Android, I found that the speed of read/write to the card is not as satisfactory. This is especially obvious when App2SD is applied. When the OS is read/writing 2x to the SD card, the speed drop is significant.

Can gurus look into this and provide a workaround or a solution? This would definitely benefit the entire Android community.

Edited August 11, 2010 by ruffruff

[Guest _LuQ]

I'm using the class 2...taken a song performance with 720p. the quality is very good but the sound felt kinda choppy/lagging...i wish i had class 4 but this thread helps me to stay with class 2. will try to upgrade to class 6 or above since i heard my friend's class 10 running fine.

[Guest krfan]

But you'd be best not to forget your basics: No matter how fast your card can perform, your device must be up to it. My T-mo Pulse has got a limit too, but i can't recall which Class it supports up to.