Database Users

Smaller size sdcards work better then big sized sdcards (also known as high capacity)

OK so I've been running many version and builds of android since day one on my tmous hd2. At first it was with the stock 16gb sdcard, (till it got corrupted, LOL) so then I switch to a 2gb I had around. I have only formatted this 2gb card once in the begging and never again.many times I have deleted the android folder and many times I has switch to new builds ( I think I try everyones.latest I been using n very stable JDMS 1.3) n haven't had any issues. Like freezing or SOD. Now two days ago I help my friend with his and his wife's tmous hd2 with the 16gb card. So I did a fresh format fat32 then flash the same rom (ozDroid) and radio I been using for months. It results they are getting freezes and occasionally SOD. So for a test I took my wife's tmous hd2 with 16gb card did the hole setup an guess what the freezing and SOD is the more often..when I don't get any with my sdcard 2gb. Could there be an issue with high capacity cards. And could that be the reason why many tmous have the more problems with freezes and SOD
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

I use stock 16gb and dont have those issues.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

this is common knowledge in the IT field. the larger the card, the more slowly it will write and access small files, such as the files needed to run android. take 100 small text files and copy them to a 256 thumb drive, and an 8 gb thumb drive. you can copy them all to the 256mb drive, and delete them all again, before the are all copied to the 8gb thumb drive. the 8 gb drive, will work much faster copying an .avi, or large file than the 256, but it sucks at lots of small files.
but it's good that you're posting your exp here. many people would not know this otherwise, and may stop experimenting with android due to frustration, when all they need is a $10 2gb card from walmart.
another couple tips when dealing with solidstate memory. just like a harddrive, files can become fragmented if you have multiple tasks or file transfers going at the same time. to avoid this, make sure each is done before starting another set of files. next, do not defrag solid state drives. they only have a limited amount of times they can read and write to each sector, and defragging, and excessive copying/deleting, wears down the material, and kills sectors of the drive. and last but not least, watch your battery. just as it says not to attempt an install with less than 50% battery, don't run your phone down to a dead battery when possible. because your booting of the microsd, it's constantly being accessed by read and write functions, and if the battery dies before it finishes writing, you get corrupted files, and you'll have to do your install all over.

No lockup or freeze with 16GB.

prking07 said:
I use stock 16gb and dont have those issues.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. 16 gb SDHC, no problems.

I haven't noticed any difference between a Class 2 2gb, Class 2 16gb, or a Class 4 8gb - they all run about the same with not noticeable differences in boot time, smoothness, or SODs, even though the class 4 is 2x as fast.

hi guys,
before you post any comment, you can grab a none SDHC card, and do a comparison.
if you have benchmark software, please look at the "access time", the None-SDHC card always faster than the SDHC card. not the speed, but the access time.
after I change to 2GB SD Card, I never meeting any sleep, lag program with any version of roms.
if you don't have none-SDHC card, please do not make any conclusion.

16 gb class 10 kingston sdhc
works great
compaired a class 6 no name 8gb sdhc and the stock 16gb class 2 the class six lags less than the class 2 but the class 10 16 gb kingston is super fast

I am using class 4 8GB and 16GB, no diffrence found.

I can confirm, going from 16gb to 8gb, I've had far less issues with the 8gb card using the same setup. 0 SODs when I'd get them daily with the 16gb card. May or may not have anything or everything to do with it, but I'm sticking with the 8gb card. lol

My experience has been that performance has been about the same whether using a 2 GB SD card or a 16 GB SDHC. However, it seems that my 16 GB card was slower at one point because I had an excessive number of individual files on it. It's a double edge sword because you have all that capacity but the more you use it the slower it seems to run.

I had this issue aswell but I updated my radio to 2.12.xx.xx. and since then I have not seen any performance issue due to the SD card size.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

qingcai said:
hi guys,
before you post any comment, you can grab a none SDHC card, and do a comparison.
if you have benchmark software, please look at the "access time", the None-SDHC card always faster than the SDHC card. not the speed, but the access time.
after I change to 2GB SD Card, I never meeting any sleep, lag program with any version of roms.
if you don't have none-SDHC card, please do not make any conclusion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's very presumptuous of you.
I fixed all of my lag and screen freeze problems with a combination of setCPU settings, ADW launcher settings, and updating my radio rom.
Before I finished doing all of that this morning, I'd get a freeze from wake fairly often. Since then, not a single freeze, and trust me, I've been trying to get it to freeze up.
Believe what you will my friend, but punishing yourself with a 2GB card just seems silly when people are outright telling you that the size isn't the problem.
Good luck either way!

apallohadas said:
That's very presumptuous of you.
I fixed all of my lag and screen freeze problems with a combination of setCPU settings, ADW launcher settings, and updating my radio rom.
Before I finished doing all of that this morning, I'd get a freeze from wake fairly often. Since then, not a single freeze, and trust me, I've been trying to get it to freeze up.
Believe what you will my friend, but punishing yourself with a 2GB card just seems silly when people are outright telling you that the size isn't the problem.
Good luck either way!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes ur are right with the new builds and using setting and programs like setcpu or even auto killers will help eliminate this problems. But I I said in the first post was that high capacity cards tend to give u more problems, using my 2gb (I think all the way to 6gb is non high capacity) I have no need for such adjustments to whatever build I use..u can read post 2, is very well explain there.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

My 32GB did worked only one time, after first reboot i cant use android. But 2gb works like a charm

[Q] microSD card problem

Hello,
I installed Android on my HD2, worked perfectly for 2 weeks. But my microSD was only 2GB, so I buyed a new one.
Kingston class 4 8gb microSD. Putted everything just on the new SD card, didn't changed anything! Formatted it also to FAT32.
Now the problem is that Android is VERY slow with getting out of standby, takes sometimes 10 seconds. I get a black screen for 10 seconds and then Android comes up.
Also starting up Android takes ages and it sometimes just freezes or gives a blue screen.
Has this something to do with Android or is the microSD card broken in a way? I can still move/delete files on the microSD card.
Anyone got at solution?
Thanks

Did you try a different build? Perhaps try Mdeejay rEVOlution build, fastest build i've used so far,very very fast, smooth and stable. Also try updating your radio.
I bet there are several utilities to test the read and write speeds on your microSD card. You'll need a cardreader in your pc to do that, trying it through WM6 won't work because the USB will be the one controlling the max speeds.

I hope this helps a lot of people struggling with the speed of android running off SD.
My suggestion is that the card size, and not just the card speed plays an important part in the speed at which android runs...
My Evidence. I first installed various builds on a variety of Sandisk 2GB and 4GB Class 2 cards. They all ran super fast... I mean no lag at all, ever. It might as well have been a Desire HD. Being that i wanted more space I used my 16GB Sandisk Class 2 that I have been using for WM, reformatted it and installed android. It was cripplingly slow. Unusable in fact. (i tried reformat/reinstall a couple of times before giving up). I then invested in a Class 4 16GB and installed the same build. Not surprisingly this was faster, usable but still not as fast as it was on the 4GB Class 2. I am going to go back the the 4GB card unfortunately until NAND arrives.
Murg

murgers said:
I hope this helps a lot of people struggling with the speed of android running off SD.
My suggestion is that the card size, and not just the card speed plays an important part in the speed at which android runs...
My Evidence. I first installed various builds on a variety of Sandisk 2GB and 4GB Class 2 cards. They all ran super fast... I mean no lag at all, ever. It might as well have been a Desire HD. Being that i wanted more space I used my 16GB Sandisk Class 2 that I have been using for WM, reformatted it and installed android. It was cripplingly slow. Unusable in fact. (i tried reformat/reinstall a couple of times before giving up). I then invested in a Class 4 16GB and installed the same build. Not surprisingly this was faster, usable but still not as fast as it was on the 4GB Class 2. I am going to go back the the 4GB card unfortunately until NAND arrives.
Murg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply!
First i'm going to test the Mdeejay rEVOlution build, hopefully it will run smooth and fast. If not, i'm gonna send back my 8GB card and get a new 4GB class 4 card.
At the moment I'm running Froyostone 3.2, works now perfectly with the 2GB microSDcard.
I will post the results.

murgers said:
My suggestion is that the card size, and not just the card speed plays an important part in the speed at which android runs...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally agree with this, although I cannot figure out why.
I tested with two almost identical cards, both Samsung class 4, one 2Gb, one 8Gb, formatted FAT32 64k clusters via the same memory card reader/pc. The 2Gb one whizzed along with the build I'm running now, the 8Gb one occassionally stuttered and stalled. Seems odd to me, unless fragmentation comes into play maybe?
The only reason I have stuck with the 8Gb is for my music. Oh how I'd love to stick with my 2Gb card for the speed and have a second SD slot for my music.

Wintec 16gb class 10 sdcard

So I got this sd card from Newegg the other day and it has been a pain. FIrst loaded it up and formatted it and got everything situated and ran into a problem losing info. Card borked a little over a gig of space and waffled down to 14.9gb. Reformatted and got everything set when out come iced glacier 1.1.5.1 so I reflash and forget to wipe!
Had to reformat the phone because long story short, for some reason when I booted into hboot I couldn't get it select recovery. AFter an hour and a half of trying to get it to do anything other than load PD15IMG.zip I had to fully restore.
Finally got everything set back up and rooted and WIPED and flashed newest Iced Glacier and a few hours later my SD card won't mount! Says it's blank or unsupported file format. Pull it out of the phone and the computer won't even recognize it without formatting it! Gone! Zapped! ERASED! EVERYTHING!!!
So I just reformatted the card and stuck it back in the phone and flashed Iced Glacier again without a wipe and seems to be okay.
But, Is anyone else having any issues with the Wintec class 10 cards like this? It seems awfully fragile and really not worth it if this is how it is going to act!
Any thoughts or suggestions or similar stories?

Thanks for all the responses of help and support...not even a response saying you haven't heard anything...I did an RMA with Newegg for a new card.
Maybe I should have asked a question that the answer to is readily available if I searched first...at least then I would have gotten a response telling me to search.

yeah, my card crashed again last night for the third time! not sure what's going on... whether it's just the card, whether i'm overclocking, etc... thankfully i backed up a couple of days ago and was able to retrieve some of the pics/vids that weren't backed up. i'm at a loss for words here. should i spend the money for a more reputable brand? can our phones actually handle these class 10 cards? i'm up for answers/suggestions...

I have a the same card in my MT4G for the past month or so and it works fine. It is almost totally full too, only about 300mb free.

Benefit of class 10?
Why would you need a class 10 for a smartphone? We don't take super high pixel count pics in fast progression and we're not recording 1080p movies or slow mo 1000fps video. I'm seriously asking because I don't know if I need to get a new card.
When I jumped to a 16GB card, I was looking for a class 10 but then settled on a class 4. I even used a class 2 from an older device for a while with slowdown noticed only when transferring >1GB ripped movies.

We don't "need" and as a matter of fact we under-utilize a class 10 card. I was just able to get one cheaper than a class 6 so I did.
I don't think th OC'ing has anything to do with it because that is all internal and almost nothing to do with the sd card.
I'm thinking we just got what we paid for with this particular card. Seems to be very hit and miss.

From what I understand, class 6 will actually perform better than 8 or higher in most situations on a smartphone. Class 8 and above has some optimizations for sequential access that end up slowing down random access. On a camera this makes sense, on a phone not so much.

[Q] Which sd card is better?

So Ive been using the 16gb Class 2 sd card that came with my HD2 for WP7 and I havent really had any problems with it. Occasionally it reboots for no reason, but aside from that, its perfect. However, my friend just gave me his 4gb Class 4 card. Should I keep using the 16gb or reset my phone with the faster 4gb?

simple test, all sd cards work differently
my Nokia 4GB Class 6 is better than may Sandisk 16GB Class 2
Xbox Live Installation: ( only the installation without download )
Nokia 4GB Class 6: 1:23 minutes
Sandisk 16GB Class 2: 9:41 minutes

peace warhead said:
So Ive been using the 16gb Class 2 sd card that came with my HD2 for WP7 and I havent really had any problems with it. Occasionally it reboots for no reason, but aside from that, its perfect. However, my friend just gave me his 4gb Class 4 card. Should I keep using the 16gb or reset my phone with the faster 4gb?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Class 2 cards usually work better for wp7. Actually class means nothing when it comes to wp7... you want good random access speed for wp7 to run smooth. Many times, the tricks that manufacturers do to their cards to get higher sequential write speeds will actually reduce the random access speed. They don't keep the random access speed consistent on any of their cards as that speed isn't rated, so even cards of the same brand and class can differ greatly from batch to batch. A card made one day may run wp7 well while the same card made a month later may not. So far it seems class 2 sandisk are the most consistent in keeping good random access speed, so if you are going for a card for wp7, go for class 2 sandisk with model numbers ending in A11M. If you already have a card that works well, no reason to switch unless you want to change the size, because there's no way to guarantee a card will work well until it's tested.

MicroSD cards that work with CM10 for HD+

It seem that are still people that cannot get this to work. Most people actually stuck at creating a card w/ CWM.
I have this done relatively painless. I think most people forgot that the Nook itself is pretty much a linux machine. And with busybox, you can do dd command as well.
NOTE: this will simply wipe all your information the the microSD card.
Well you have to download both the cm-10-***.zip and sdcard-cwm-early3.img.gz files from verygreen.
Then I use 7zip to uncompress cwm file.
adb push sdcard-cwm-early3.img /data/su/
Go into the nook's System Settings > Storage Management > SD Card > Unmount SD Card.
adb shell su -c "/data/su/busybox dd if=/data/su/sdcard-cwm-early3.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk1"
remove the img file from the Nook if you wish using adb shell rm /data/su/sdcard-cwm-early3.img
**Now just wait, as this may take sometime as it write 100M+ to the sdcard. It will say something when it's done.
After that, you follow the verygreen step. What was posted above is for people who have problem creating cwm boot sd card.
Also notice that since you reboot into CWM, the current Nook ADB driver won't work, the system will recognize as a different device, you have to re-apply the driver again.
verygreen said:
Insert the card into the Nook and reboot the nook, CWM should start.
(This will also automatically repartition the card into a correct layout no matter the size (but no smaller than 4G).
In the CWM:
Go to "mounts and storage", choose "mount /sdcard".
Press power button to go back to the main menu.
Now do
Code:
adb push cm-10-XXXXXXXX-UNOFFICIAL-ovation.zip /sdcard
Also push whatever other zip files you want to install to /sdcard too.
(if you don't have operational adb, you can also just turn off the nook at this stage, put zip files to volume named "CM10SDCARD" (not "boot"), then put sdcard back into nook and start it again)
Next, choose "install zip from sdcard", and then "Choose zip from sdcard" and first cm-...zip, and then whatever other packages you have the need to install.
When done installing, press the power button to go one level up in the menu and then choose reboot.
This will reboot you into CM10.
If you ever need to get back to CWM later, use either "reboot to recovery" power menu, or reboot, and once B&N nook logo shows up, press and hold power and home keys together for about 4 seconds.
To reboot into stock nook software, just poweroff, remove sdcard, then poweron.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The real purpose of this post is to spread the information of which card work and which doesn't. I hope people can report in which card(s) work for you.
I personally have tried the Lexar 32GB Class 10 card and it works w/o any problem or show any lag at all.
If I can, when people post a working card, then I'll add it to the list.
Working microSD card list:
Lexar 32GB class10
Sandisk Mobile Ultra 32GB class 10 (reported by bunodosoma)
Sandisk Extreme Pro 16GB class 10 (reported by Chi Ahrens)
GSkill 8GB class 4 (reported by Chi Ahrens)
PNY 16GB class 4 (reported by Chi Ahrens)

I used verygreen's instructions to push CM10 on a Sandisk Mobile Ultra Class 10 32gb w/o too much trouble (CWM didn't recognize 1st CM10 push,2nd went w/o a hitch). Haven't noticed any lagging yet.

SanDisk Extreme Pro 16 GB class 10 ($50) works without lag. Couple of lock ups in HD+ within 2 hour period. Constant lock ups on HD. Maybe a bad card.
SanDisk Ultra 16 GB class 10 ($16) works without lag. Stable for 5-6 days on HD+ now. No noticeable difference in speed between the Ultra and Extreme Pro.
GSkill 32GB class 10 works without lag. Sequential speed is slow, but random 4k seems descent enough where there isn't any lag. Stable for 2 days on HD.
GSkill 8GB class 4 works with lag.
PNY 16GB class 4 works with lag.
AData 32GB class 10 - somehow became unusable during the process. Garbage.
Also, in Ubuntu 12.10, adb connects to HD+ only when started as root. Otherwise you get ???????????? no permissions. Ironically, adb can see the HD even when it's not started as root.

Chi Ahrens said:
SanDisk Extreme Pro 16 GB class 10 ($50) works without lag. Couple of lock ups within 2 hour period.
SanDisk Ultra 16 GB class 10 ($16) works without lag. No lockups yet. Currently running with logcat. Will continue to update, but so far it looks like it's the most stable. No noticeable difference in speed between the Ultra and Extreme Pro.
GSkill 8GB class 4 works with lag.
PNY 16GB class 4 works with lag.
Also, in Ubuntu 12.10, adb connects to HD+ only when started as root. Otherwise you get ???????????? no permissions. Ironically, adb can see the HD even when it's not started as root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When do you see the lag ? Which specific operation ?
I did a boot time test using two different cards. Here are the results.
Start clock: When I press the power on
Stop clock: When I heard sound coming out from HD+
Sandisk: 53 seconds.
Samsung: 61 seconds.
I am not sure the performance advantage is mainly caused by 4K write performance on Sandisk card or the larger size(32GB vs 8GB) of the card.
Here are my two cards with CrystalDiskMark data, only tested 100MB data because Windows only see 109MB after CM10 is installed on the cards.
8GB Samsung class 6 micro SD card.
Read Write (MB/S)
Seq: 20.79 11.02
512K 20.25 1.071
4K 3.594 0.215
4K(qd32) 3.292 0.211
32 GB Sandisk class 4 Micro SD card
Read Write (MB/S)
Seq: 20.69 5.553
512K 20.22 3.984
4K 3.499 1.622
4K(qd32) 4.279 2.109

I have the SanDisk Ultra 64GB working without issues.
HD videos work great off it.
Plus it is formatted in ext_FAT, which allows use of the full 64GB and allows files larger than 2GB.
Works all very well in the Nook HD+.

robohofo said:
I have the SanDisk Ultra 64GB working without issues.
HD videos work great off it.
Plus it is formatted in ext_FAT, which allows use of the full 64GB and allows files larger than 2GB.
Works all very well in the Nook HD+.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait, you have CM10 and exfat on the same card? or you reformat the last partition to exfat? I'm not clear on that.

robohofo said:
I have the SanDisk Ultra 64GB working without issues.
HD videos work great off it.
Plus it is formatted in ext_FAT, which allows use of the full 64GB and allows files larger than 2GB.
Works all very well in the Nook HD+.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the nook hd+ regconize fully 64 Gb? because B&N said that its SD limitation is 32gb.

thegracious said:
Does the nook hd+ regconize fully 64 Gb? because B&N said that its SD limitation is 32gb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it see full 64GB. I have one on it as well, but I didn't try CM10 on that card.

The lag with the non-SanDisk class 10 cards is mostly felt in the browser - both the default and Dolphin. Lag in rendering html, scrolling, and also clicking links.
The SanDisk Ultra has been pretty solid however. I tried the San Disk extreme pro again to load CM10 on the HD, and it also experience random lock ups and reboots. I'm going to send that back and get another SanDisk Ultra for my HD.
The 2.0.5 update unrooted my HD, but Google Play still works without a problem. I just don't have su in the console. No big deal until I need root again. I did manage to get Chrome off of the CM10 and sideload it without a problem in 2.0.5.
My wife's HD+ has been running very happily with CM10. She's not quite as excited as I am.

Looking to get a 32GB card, what is the difference here?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0... 32gb micro sd class 10&qid=1356489908&sr=8-2
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Mobil...s=sandisk+mobile+ultra+32gb+micro+sd+class+10

I can also confirm that a 64gb card is usable with theHD+ but as above, ihaven't done CM10 yet. Just got the card and wanted to make sure it was totally compatible before I did anything else.
Sent from my BNTV600 using XDA Premium HD app

mzjc said:
Looking to get a 32GB card, what is the difference here?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0... 32gb micro sd class 10&qid=1356489908&sr=8-2
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Mobil...s=sandisk+mobile+ultra+32gb+micro+sd+class+10
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The actual cards are the same spec, no diff. The only diff is one is bundle and the other isn't.

mzjc said:
Looking to get a 32GB card, what is the difference here?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0... 32gb micro sd class 10&qid=1356489908&sr=8-2
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Mobil...s=sandisk+mobile+ultra+32gb+micro+sd+class+10
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like $10 and packaging. Both the same card.
Edit: someone0 already answered. Missed that. LOL.
Sent from my HD+ rooted stock using Tapatalk

To me the $10 card reader of some unknown quality isn't worth it. Save that $10 and pay extra for a better reader is what I would do.

someone0 said:
Yes, it see full 64GB. I have one on it as well, but I didn't try CM10 on that card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto here, assuming exfat or of the box got the 64 ultra. But I can't quite to it with my xp machine! ?
Sent from my BNTV600 using xda app-developers app

dbh369 said:
Ditto here, assuming exfat or of the box got the 64 ultra. But I can't quite to it with my xp machine! ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The nook should support exFAT out of the box, that's not the issue. The issue is that XP doesn't support either exFAT or MTP. The stock OS use MTP when connect to the PC, so you lose either way.

someone0 said:
The nook should support exFAT out of the box, that's not the issue. The issue is that XP doesn't support either exFAT or MTP. The stock OS use MTP when connect to the PC, so you lose either way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, found a download by googling Windows XP exfat and there is an update that supports it: WindowsXP-KB955704-x86-ENU.exe I could read, write and format...

Chi Ahrens said:
GSkill 32GB class 10 works without lag. Sequential speed is slow, but random 4k seems descent enough where there isn't any lag. Stable for 2 days on HD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this. My GSkill card has been running flawless for two weeks now.

Sandisk 16G class 4 works fine.:victory:

Importance of 4k write speeds?
Hello, now that I've sorted out the problems with my class 10 16 gigs Sandisk card I decided that I'd better moving my setup there but since the move is quite a trouble I would like to know whether it would be worthwhile.
In other words whether the speed difference (between the two cards) is important enough (according to your experience) to every day tasks.
Here are the benchs from the card I'm currently on: http://i.imgur.com/sFVbu.png (~1Mb/s 4k writes)
And here are the ones of the one I'm thinking to move to: http://i.imgur.com/X5voM.png (~2Mb/s 4k writes)
....also if it's not to make enough of a difference (since my class 4 is already fast enough) I could/would opt to use my class 10 card as an external usb device instead (to use its fast sequential writes). So what would you recommend?
Thanks.