Micro SD cards are a technology which never fail to impress even the average technophobe. No matter how many times you hold one in your hands, you just can’t quite believe how many gigabytes of information are held on that tiny bit of gear, smaller than a thumbnail. Another characteristic of these micro memory cards is that they’re all pretty much identical to look at. For that reason, it would be easy to think that you could go into a store and, no matter what one you choose, you’d be getting roughly the same product. However, this is not the case. Micro SD cards come in approximately as many different flavours as Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. In this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the key points of consideration for when you want to head out to Maplins and ensure you get what it is that you’re looking for.
What is a Micro SD Card Anyway?
The ‘SD’ portion of the digital storage device stands for ‘Secure Digital’ and these bits of hardware currently represent some of the most compact methods of storage ever to enter the mainstream tech arena. In addition to the fact that they take up so little of the Universe’s free space, another great thing about these cards is that they don’t require constant current to store information which means that they work well in keeping longer battery life for your various gadgets. Their heritage is in flash memory storage, a technology developed by a Dr. Masuoka who worked for Toshiba in the 1980s.
What Are the Primary Considerations When Purchasing a Micro SD Card?
While the most obvious categorisation for these cards is that they have the right amount of storage for you, the real issue at hand here is the speed. Mercifully, the powers that be have organised the speed of these cards into varying categories which are referred to as ‘classes’ where the speed is the same number as the class number. Simple. As a result of this though, many hardware retailers try to persuade consumers into purchasing “extremely good value”, high capacity memory cards based purely on cost-to-storage ratio, which are actually very slow.
Where such offers stand, the cards will usually be quite slow and you’ll be spending ages transferring files or waiting for your smart phone (such as the Samsung Galaxy S3) which is the last thing you want. The class system is painfully easy to understand and the class number directly corresponds to the number of megabytes per second (MB/sec) which can be transferred over your data storage card. Obviously, the faster the better but, if you don’t want to go for the current top runner (Class 10 which is 10MB/sec), then it’s not absolutely essential unless you have cash to burn or are using it for professional purposes such transferring large photos on a regular basis. If it’s just for backing up photos, save yourself the money.
Beware Ebay Bargains
In recent years, eBay has been a huge pitfall for false electronic goods. Unscrupulous individuals set up temporary eBay accounts, sell large quantities of products which contain smaller capacities and cheaper components than they state on the label. These are sold to unsuspecting consumers who give positive feedback on receipt of the item and then the scammer will close up shop when they inevitably get busted. Be extremely careful that the person selling your SD card on eBay has had their account for a sufficiently long time and has not clocked up a large amount of positive feedback over a very short space of time.
-
Stephanie Page really knows her stuff when it comes to Micro SD cards and is a helpful engineer who aids people in how to recover files sd card and other flash memory.
