Database Users

Class 4 SD good enough?

Currently I'm running a 16gb class 2 that I've had since the 16gb's have been out.(used in my Nokia N800) I found a 16GB class 4 on sale in town for $69 where a class 6 is $120. My question since it hasn't been confirmed (or I suck at searching) does the Magic actually take advantage of the class 6 or with the class 4 be good enough? Thanks for any info on this.
Clinton

IMHO I think your better off with a 16gb class 6, as it is recommended for many hacks Android related. Also you could probably find it cheaper online unless Monet is not an issue.

Just rather buy in town, not a big online buyer. I've read that the class 6 is the only way to go for apps 2 SD and the like but I just wanted to have faster access times to music, video and pictures really. That's pretty much all I have on the card, maybe a few docs but nothing I need to access quickly. If the music/video player or Quick office wont see/use the extra speed increase I'd rather save the cash for a nice set of headphones or case etc..
Clinton

Well the classes indicate how fast the SD card is. Class 2 = 2 MB/s, Class 4 = 4 MB/s and so on, so you would feel a difference between the two.

Cheesebaron said:
Well the classes indicate how fast the SD card is. Class 2 = 2 MB/s, Class 4 = 4 MB/s and so on, so you would feel a difference between the two.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very useful. I know the difference between card speeds, what I was asking is if the Magic can take advantage of the speed increase or is there a limit? I know in using my Nokia N800 (Linux OS) even the moded kernel only took advantage of the class 4 cards and there was no benefit to the class 6.
Clinton

The SD Speed Class Ratings specify the following minimum write speeds based on "the best fragmented state where no memory unit is occupied":
Class 2: 2 MB/s
Class 4: 4 MB/s
Class 6: 6 MB/s
The Class system is a minimum speed that it should perform at, if you are lucky it will work closer to the next class speed, as most cards actually perform faster then their class.
I have an 6GB class 4 sdhc card and the transfer speed is generally around 9-11 mb/s.
If you are putting a swap file on to your sdhc, a class 4 should be a minimum class you are to look for.
Personally, I use Crystal DiskMark to test the write-transfer-speed of my cards. http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskMark/index-e.html

id242 said:
The SD Speed Class Ratings specify the following minimum write speeds based on "the best fragmented state where no memory unit is occupied":
Class 2: 2 MB/s
Class 4: 4 MB/s
Class 6: 6 MB/s
The Class system is a minimum speed that it should perform at, if you are lucky it will work closer to the next class speed, as most cards actually perform faster then their class.
I have an 6GB class 4 sdhc card and the transfer speed is generally around 9-11 mb/s.
If you are putting a swap file on to your sdhc, a class 4 should be a minimum class you are to look for.
Personally, I use Crystal DiskMark to test the write-transfer-speed of my cards. http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskMark/index-e.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I know the speed rating and how they are tested.
I'm not going to be putting a swap on the card or doing apps2sd, it's a Rogers Magic doesn't need either.
Thanks for the link to the speed test, didn't have one.
Does your class4 card give you any troubles at all or have you found it to be up to pare in all your storage needs? Thanks for the reply.
Clinton

Clinton, I mostly use the spare ion for simple photo taking, jotting-down notes and listening to podcasts (via meridian)/streaming radio (via stream furious) in my car. I haven't ever had any problems with it's speed.
I've had the stock 2gb in it for about 2 weeks, then a kingston 6GB class 4 in it for about a month and just this afternoon, picked up a polaroid 8gb class 6 (for $17.99 from Fry's Electronics - in-store).
the only time I have really had any problems with the speed of microsd card was when using them on my DS through r4 or supercard flashcarts. but that was back when 2gb microsd was just hitting the market (that 2gb kingston microsd from verizon was $99. in the USA, verizon was the first to publically sell this size card)
I generally try to stay away from class 2 cards just as one would try to stay away from USB 1.x devices.
without installing any additional software, a quick and simple test to check if the card is quick enough for heavy usage on your phone, might be to test if Vista/Win7 will accept it as ReadyBoost Compatible.

microSD 32Gb class 6 and Galaxy S

I am thinking about purchasing a 32Gb microSD for use with my galaxy S.
My concern is that, is this too large? Are there any bad side effect like it being too slow to display picture/start up scann/run applications?

Which brand? That's probably more important for the speed than class (a class 2 Sandisk is often as fast or faster than a class 6 from a lesser brand).
The capacity of the card shouldn't affect the speed during most situations. However the phone does scan for media each time it is turned on or after disconnecting from USB connection (Kies or mass storage), the amount of time this takes depends on:
-the amount of media stored on the card and
-(probably) the read speed of the card.
Note that class rating is minimum write speed - so it's not a great indicator of real-life performance.
Also note that some too-cheap-to-be-true cards are actually smaller capacity cards that report larger capacities to fool the customer.
BTW where are you getting the card from (I want one as well ).

Hi flamingpitofhell,
I am looking at Sandisk as well and most likely get it from their online store. I am trying to find more information whether it is worth the trouble.

I don't think Sandisk sell class 6 cards (yet). Buying from their online store's also more expensive than online retailers (I can get one in Australia for AUD155, which is ~USD137, cf their RRP of USD200).

thanks for the pointer. will look around for local stores here in Thailand.
Which city in Australia are you in? I studied in Perth more than a decaded back.

I'm in glorious Melbourne mate, haven't been to Perth yet

the only LEGIT 32GB Sandisk available right now in the market is only Class 2
if you read anything else, it is FAKE, specially from eBay
wait until the other microSD manufactures start pushing out 32GB on class 4 or class 6 before buying.
i'm using 2x 16GB Class 6 until the 32GB class 6 becomes available.

I'm using Class 2 32GB card in mine, its fine.
Its slower when you're transferring to the card from your PC, but for most people thats only particularly problematic the first time (loading music collection), after that you'll not really notice a difference in the phone (the read speeds are basically the same, and the phone can neither read nor write to the card faster than a Class 2 card can cope with). You can see it in the benchmarks taken post-mimocans fix - Class 2 cards are no slower than any other Class within the phone.
Grab one now and be happy.

NZtechfreak said:
I'm using Class 2 32GB card in mine, its fine.
Grab one now and be happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you get yours from and how much for. I`m interested in getting one myself.
Thanks

my local stores already carry the real Sandisk 32GB class 2
too slow for my taste, i like to run Apps from the SD card, also use it as a SWAP partidion to prevent the LAG problem people complains about, it's a very easy fix
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=724251

i wonder what would be better a 16gb class 6 or 32gb class 2...
is it worth sacrifising double of the memory for the speed?

onbacardi said:
i wonder what would be better a 16gb class 6 or 32gb class 2...
is it worth sacrifising double of the memory for the speed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it depends what you are trying to do
if it's just to listen to mp3, then Class 2 is fine
if you want to run games, software, watch movies, use it for SWAP drive to have no lag, then minimum a Class 6

Class ratings don't really seem to have too much of an effect on real world performance: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1468705. Just discount the last result from the SGS (it's most likely mistaken for the internal SD).

i rather trust my experience coming from PalmOS + WinMb where real life situations using a class 4 or slower cards, made a huge word of difference when launching applications from SD and watching movies from SD
funny enough the numbers reported on that topic shows SGS i9000 to have the fastest speed even using the same card that got lower speed on the other phones.
which seems to point out it's directly proportional to the CPU speed, and the multitasking software running in the back end.
however as you see on those test itself, there are speed differences between class 2, class 4 and class 6
the same class # can not be compared to another class # of a different size,
if you imagine a hard drive, the bigger the hard drive the more layers/disk area it has to read, the same is true even for static SD cards.
however as pointed on those test Transcend usually has the fastest SD cards in the market, that's why i always buy that brand for performance, using a 16GB Transcend myself, waiting for the 32 GB class 6+ to come out
Adata has 2 lines, the performance line, and the standard line
if you want speed get the performance SD cards
Kingston and Sandisk are mostly standard speed, they don't release much performance level SD cards anymore, but they do have lots of those on USB sticks.

I tried my Brothers Sandisk Class 2 32GB and it worked perfectly.
Granted it's not as fast as my Sandisk Mobile Ultra Class 4 but that card flies anyway.
Certainly for recording your large movie files taken with the camera it's no different in speed than using the built in SDCard on the phone.

I have no problems watching 720P video on my phone. I have no problems launching applications either.
So much misinformation...

of course there is no problem, the issue here is getting the top performance, any SD card will work just fine.
it's just a matter of how fast/slow are you able to torelate

The only time you will notice any difference in speed is when transferring data to and from the card.
However, when you have double the space of other cards to consider speed should not be a deciding factor.
I'm already looking to get the Sandisk Class 2 32GB card. It will store all of my work files normally kept on my Laptop.
My Sandisk Class 4 Mobile Ultra 16GB will be my spare ~ should the larger card fail...

Thanks for the information s everyone.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

I have the 32GB sandisk card and works perfect. I have a 720p mkv file and my music on there. Playback was superb for the video with no noticeable lag. Mind you the card isn't anywhere near full yet. From my limited knowledge of sd cards, they put data on the fastest part first so the fuller it gets the slower the card is likely to get..
My plan is to put movies and songs on the 32GB file and reserve the internal 13GB for capturing video and taking pictures on the phone.

Anyone using a class 10 card?

Hey. Just curious how many of you have replaced the stock 16gb class 2 sdcard with class 4,6 or 10. Can you chime in with your inputs on performance between these classes. I know the theoretical transfer speeds, but I am curious how they actually perform in day to day use. Would jumping from a class 2 to class 6 be noticeable, or a class 6 to class 10?
Thanks

I am interested to.
Have just upgraded to an Ebay 16gig Class 6. Speed is faster than a Class 2 but not sure if it is a Class 4 or class 6.
Tempted to buy a 8gig Class 10 but struggling to find a reputable source of these.
In case you don't know Class x denotes the write speed. Class 2 has a 2meg/sec. Class 6 has a 6meg/sec write speed. Also gt a increase in read speed. All must be good for the HD unless the Interface is slower than the card??

dusty_nz said:
I am interested to.
Have just upgraded to an Ebay 16gig Class 6. Speed is faster than a Class 2 but not sure if it is a Class 4 or class 6.
Tempted to buy a 8gig Class 10 but struggling to find a reputable source of these.
In case you don't know Class x denotes the write speed. Class 2 has a 2meg/sec. Class 6 has a 6meg/sec write speed. Also gt a increase in read speed. All must be good for the HD unless the Interface is slower than the card??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my reading and investigation, not many devices out there support such high speed, I'm thinking phone isn't one of the device that do. I would like to see someone do some testing and see if there is a difference on a HD2 between a class 6 vs class 10.

I didn't know they had a class 10, but I'm running a class 6 and I can tell the difference from the 16gb stock card. Loading Android is a lot faster too.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

I have a class 10... Its a great diference.

I've got a couple of 16Gig class 2s and a 4Gig class 10. I can certainly tell a difference. I haven't done any empirical testing but gut says it's almost twice as quick. The difference comes when you multitask, getting a couple apps open, app loading, etc.
The problem with the 4Gig is the obvious lack of size. I'm thinking of buying a 32Gig class 4.

xicko said:
I have a class 10... Its a great diference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
between a class 6 and 10, is there still any noticeable improvements with the phone?

I want video evidence.

Lorddeff07 said:
I want video evidence.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree! A video might help us to decide if it is worth buying a class 10 card.

bangsters said:
between a class 6 and 10, is there still any noticeable improvements with the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looking at numbers alone, a class 6 is three times faster than a class 2 and a class 10 is five times faster than a class 2 so upgrading from a class 2 would appear to be a sure fire bet in both cases
In comparison a class 10 is only 1.6 times faster than a class 6.
So I think I will stick with my class 6 for now until class 12+ comes out.

So in conclusion do you guys think a faster SD card is necessory? because once xda team finish develop a perfect android rom i believe they are gonna make it a rom, in that case we would'nt need a faster SD card, But i really wonder if a faster SD card improves the performance? Can someone kindly provide a video for this ? Thanks ,,

class 10
I have a 16gb kingston class 10, compared to my Transcend 8gb class 6, not that much difference, compared to my Class 2 16gb that came with the phone? huge difference.

I'm now going out, to buy a 16GB classe 4 , i think is sufficient, given that in September Cttula will provide NAND, and the class will no longer important, and I'd rather have more space for my photos and videos, in vacation than a business card 8GBclasse10 faster.

Is the ETA for NAND September?

Nand speed vs. Class 10 card?
Anyone know what the read/write speed of the nand memory is as compared to the say the read/write speed of a class 10 card? I know it should be faster, but is it really that much faster?

bangsters said:
Hey. Just curious how many of you have replaced the stock 16gb class 2 sdcard with class 4,6 or 10. Can you chime in with your inputs on performance between these classes. I know the theoretical transfer speeds, but I am curious how they actually perform in day to day use. Would jumping from a class 2 to class 6 be noticeable, or a class 6 to class 10?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i got class 10 kingston 16gb,
transfers between pc and phone is up tp 6 mb/s read and write, but on the phone it self i think it's faster.
previously i had class 2, 8gb sandisk and it was alot slower...

how do I know which class the SD card is?

i use a class 10 card in my digital slr and it makes quite a big difference. i'm sure it would create a significant performance boost with android

pack21 said:
I'm now going out, to buy a 16GB classe 4 , i think is sufficient, given that in September Cttula will provide NAND, and the class will no longer important, and I'd rather have more space for my photos and videos, in vacation than a business card 8GBclasse10 faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont find any microSD 16gb classe4 just, classe 2 and classe 10 - 100€
8gb classe4 i found for 20€

somebully said:
Is the ETA for NAND September?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes
reocej said:
Anyone know what the read/write speed of the nand memory is as compared to the say the read/write speed of a class 10 card? I know it should be faster, but is it really that much faster?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think, it cant be comparable....starting by speed and smooth.

[Q] Micro Sd class 10 or class 6?

I'm looking to buy a new MicroSD and wondering if getting a class 10 over a class 6 would make a significant difference to the phone (if im using data2sd and or apps2sd)
Thank you!

I think the difference between class 6 and 10 would feel minor, where-as the difference between the class 2 and class 6 feels huge.
And since this is the Vibrant forums, I should mention that the internal memory in the phone is very fast. I tested it at over 10MB/s write on my first phone. My second phone its closer to 6 MB/s write. So you apps and stuff should run perfectly fine from the internal app storage.
I should also mention that I purchased the new kingston micro sd thats rated class 4 but claims speeds upto class 10. Upon testing that I got 9 MB/s write. ($28 after $10 reward from buy.com). My previous class 2 16GB card tested it 2.6 MB/s write for comparison.

Shane_pcs said:
I think the difference between class 6 and 10 would feel minor, where-as the difference between the class 2 and class 6 feels huge.
And since this is the Vibrant forums, I should mention that the internal memory in the phone is very fast. I tested it at over 10MB/s write on my first phone. My second phone its closer to 6 MB/s write. So you apps and stuff should run perfectly fine from the internal app storage.
I should also mention that I purchased the new kingston micro sd thats rated class 4 but claims speeds upto class 10. Upon testing that I got 9 MB/s write. ($28 after $10 reward from buy.com). My previous class 2 16GB card tested it 2.6 MB/s write for comparison.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to help out here...
the difference between class 2 and class 6 is the exact same as class 6 and class 10. Remember the cd-rom speeds (52x, etc)? That's how the speed is calculated for a SDHC card. So a class 2 = 2x cdrom, class 6 = 6x, class 10 = 10x.
whether our hardware has capability to handle what a class 10 can do, that I don't know. I'd definitely advise to get something with more space than a 2GB card though - I'm not sure everyone needs a 32 (personal opinion/long discussion), but I absolutely agree it should be improved upon.

designerfx said:
Just to help out here...
the difference between class 2 and class 6 is the exact same as class 6 and class 10. Remember the cd-rom speeds (52x, etc)? That's how the speed is calculated for a SDHC card. So a class 2 = 2x cdrom, class 6 = 6x, class 10 = 10x.
whether our hardware has capability to handle what a class 10 can do, that I don't know. I'd definitely advise to get something with more space than a 2GB card though - I'm not sure everyone needs a 32 (personal opinion/long discussion), but I absolutely agree it should be improved upon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand that, thats why i picked those classes. But my point is that a class 6 card is 3x the speed of a class2 where class 10 isnt even twice as fast as the class 6. So the perceived difference is smaller, even though the technical difference is the same.

I'm still running a class 2 and I've been wondering if this is holding me back on this phone (card was previously in my G1).
Will the lower classes function the same (creating ext2 etc...) it's just a matter of speed? Just wondering if there's anything that simply can't be done with a class2 or even 6 that could be done with a 10.

CapitalM3 said:
I'm still running a class 2 and I've been wondering if this is holding me back on this phone (card was previously in my G1).
Will the lower classes function the same (creating ext2 etc...) it's just a matter of speed? Just wondering if there's anything that simply can't be done with a class2 or even 6 that could be done with a 10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just cost you more. Do you really need a class 10 for this phone? Avatar is on a card that isnt even a class 2.

Vegastouch said:
Just cost you more. Do you really need a class 10 for this phone? Avatar is on a card that isnt even a class 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
xD What class was the stock sd card?

I only ever see class 6+ cards being used in higher end compact cameras and SLRs.
Putting anything higher than class 6 in a phone your using for apps/music/movies isn't needed and just a waste of money.
I've also seen a lot of people saying the memory card speeds with the galaxy s are bottlenecked right now, so your not even going to get top speeds with a class 6.

Vegastouch said:
Just cost you more. Do you really need a class 10 for this phone? Avatar is on a card that isnt even a class 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While the card isn't marked, it tests out at just over 4MB/s which would put it in a class 4.
And we should be clear that the class refers to the write speed. A class 2 will read at 10 MB/s just like the other classes. Where you run into issues with class 2 cards is when you start modding or running programs from the sd card. If you use the card for a swap partition or something the write speed now plays a major factor in the usefulness.
If all you want it for is to place your music files on there and listen to them, then a class 2 will be plenty. That was my initial thought when I bought my 1st 16 GB card for my mytouch3g. Then I got into custom roms and found myself limited.

How do you test the speed of the SD card?

What size microsd card are you looking for? If its a 32GB, I have only seen a Sandisk microsd in Class 2. As far as I know there are no higher classes at this time. Hopefully that will change soon. I would like to get all of my music onto one 32gb card.

designerfx said:
Just to help out here...
the difference between class 2 and class 6 is the exact same as class 6 and class 10. Remember the cd-rom speeds (52x, etc)? That's how the speed is calculated for a SDHC card. So a class 2 = 2x cdrom, class 6 = 6x, class 10 = 10x.
whether our hardware has capability to handle what a class 10 can do, that I don't know. I'd definitely advise to get something with more space than a 2GB card though - I'm not sure everyone needs a 32 (personal opinion/long discussion), but I absolutely agree it should be improved upon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This isnt exactly true. with cdroms the X stands for how much faster it would spin in relation to a audio cd. So 1x ment it spun at the same speed as a audio cd. 2x was twice, ext ext. And this was a max speed.
Classes for SDCard stands for the minimum transfer speed. class two is at least 2mbps, class 6 is 6mbps, and so on.

frankencat said:
How do you test the speed of the SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
google FDbench
it will test the read and write speed as well as operations per second.

I still can't find a 32gb microsd class 10, anyone find one for sale?

Class 10
Class 10 limitation presently is 8 gig for all brands except the Kingston and soon to be released Silicon Power. The Kingston brand never benches as advertised, so they are not reliable from my point of view. Silicon power has been pretty solid on their claims from my testing versus their claims, but I have not yet got my hands on the latest class 10 16 gig, I have been trying to buy for the since 10-1-2010 but not out in USA yet.
Kingston (in my opinion) is rife with false claims and I find their products have always been sub par.
Flashing and alike works better with class 6 over class 2 & 4. So, if you really want more memory the only 32 gig class 6 I have seen advertised (amazon) are: Transcend, Centon, and Komputerbay (what a name?!) 32 gig Class 6
Other than that, we wil just have to wait until they get the algorithm figured out for a micro ad card with that much ram and that fast.

Get the app "sd card speed test" it works ok Im sure there are others as well

I imagine the only reason you would need a Class 6 card or above is if you plan to take a lot of HD video. Apart from that, even a Class 2 is fast enough to keep up with the still camera, not to mention anything that just requires reads, like music or movie playback.
As for running apps off an external SD card, why would you ever want to do that? You can load close to 2GB on the internal app space, which is likely way faster than any mounted external SD card. I feel like an app whore and I'm not even close to using half that space. By the time apps start getting large enough that it's an issue, we'll be on the Vibrant 2 or beyond.

glad that you asked
merrifield69 said:
I'm looking to buy a new MicroSD and wondering if getting a class 10 over a class 6 would make a significant difference to the phone (if im using data2sd and or apps2sd)
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
because I just picked up a 16G class 10 by WinTec last week and it is VERY fast from boot up with 9G occupied from 15G available (wondered 1G gone to? and that is a lot of gone G lol). It was $42 wo tax expensive but so far the fastest.

Whoohoo
mine 16G class 10 tested 2x >8M and 1x >9M write, 3x > 18M read and it was probably so fast that the result said "unknown class" lol. x means 1 run with 2MB buffer setting. Downloaded app call SD card speed tester.

There are now some 32GB class 6 SDCARDS on the markey, and with 2.2 and installing apps to SD that might matter. It might also matter if you have a TON of music and images, as "Scanning SD for Media" would be faster.
You will pay money for the time savings though.

UHS1 vs class 10 vs class 6

Does galaxy S4 supports UHS1 ?
If not is there any practical speed benefit from using a class 10 microSD card over a class 6 ?

Don't know the answer to the 1st question, but for the 2nd one Yes, there is. Class determines minimum read-write speed of the card (class 6 = 6MB/sec), so the higher the class the faster you can transfer data to and from the SD card. Also Class 10 is recomended for Full HD video recording.
EDIT: Interesting data from the wikipedia SD page regarding random-access speeds: "One study found that, in this random-access use, some Class 2 cards achieved a write speed of 1.38Mbit/s, while all cards tested of Class 6 or greater (and some of lower Classes; lower Class does not necessarily mean better small-file performance), including those from major manufacturers, were over 100 times slower."

CyberT3 said:
Don't know the answer to the 1st question, but for the 2nd one Yes, there is. Class determines minimum read-write speed of the card (class 6 = 6MB/sec), so the higher the class the faster you can transfer data to and from the SD card. Also Class 10 is recomended for Full HD video recording.
EDIT: Interesting data from the wikipedia SD page regarding random-access speeds: "One study found that, in this random-access use, some Class 2 cards achieved a write speed of 1.38Mbit/s, while all cards tested of Class 6 or greater (and some of lower Classes; lower Class does not necessarily mean better small-file performance), including those from major manufacturers, were over 100 times slower."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I guess it depends mainly on the type of use of the SD card. If you are using it for mp3s and video files then higher class is better, if you are using it for applications then lower class would be wiser.

athkatla said:
So I guess it depends mainly on the type of use of the SD card. If you are using it for mp3s and video files then higher class is better, if you are using it for applications then lower class would be wiser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, but I think I haven't seen big difference in price between different classes so it would probably be better to buy Class 10 card to be safe (In my country price is about 40$ for 32GB Class 10 microSD card which is a pretty reasonable price)