What does SD card mean? What is the difference between SDHC and microSDXC? Formatting a memory card for use as internal storage in ADB

As you know, memory cards (flash cards) are used to store information and significantly expand the capabilities of the phone. In general, a mobile phone itself in its pure form does not need additional memory; the minimum provided by the built-in memory is enough for it. The first phones had an address book and the ability to receive or send messages, and kept a log of recent calls and messages. Even modern models are sometimes limited to built-in memory, while having an additional, extensive set of new functions. The fact is that recently a mobile phone has ceased to be just a means of communication. New functions are increasingly being added to it, such as built-in MP3 players, cameras, and the situation has begun to change radically. Many new tasks require more memory to run. And now you already want to increase the memory capacity of your phone.

Often a memory card is not supplied with the phone, but it is usually not large enough, or maybe you just want to exchange the old one for a more capacious one. It is worth noting that not every flash card will be compatible with your phone model. There are a huge number of types of memory cards and adapters for them: CompactFlash, xD-picture and Memory Stick SD/MMC and others. Look in the manual or on the manufacturer's website for this information. Sometimes it happens that the old phone firmware (the program inside it) does not support cards larger than a certain size. Sometimes a simple flashing helps - and now the phone happily accepts the new card and you can safely use it.

When choosing a card, it is a good idea to pay attention to the manufacturer of this card. There are a number of manufacturers that have proven themselves very well: such as Transcend, Apacer, Kingston, Kingmax, SanDisk, Sony. They usually have the following guarantee:

Transcend – 2 years;
Apacer – 3 years;
Kingston – 3 years;
Kingmax – 2 years;
SanDisk – 5 years;
Sony – 1 year (a warranty of up to 5 years can be found abroad).

It should be noted that when purchasing a card, for example, with a capacity of 1GB, you will only get 900-950 MB available for work, since part of the card is occupied by information to protect the card from failures, file data, file system markup and other service information.

One of the important parameters of the card is information about the speed of the card. It is easy to translate the mysterious designation, for example, 20x, it means 3 MB per second. That is, the average size of an mp3 file. How is this calculated? Elementary: “1x” is approximately equal to 150 kb per second. Well, then the multiplication table works.

Well, the card has been purchased. You can stop here and start using it, but there are some nuances here too. Of course, there are Bluetooth, IrDA, GPRS and other options for data transfer. But to connect your phone with your home computer (or laptop), you will need either the same Bluetooth adapter, or a Card-Reader (a card reader is a device for connecting a flash card). The card reader will provide higher data transfer speeds and is quite universal, that is, you can easily use it for different types of memory cards, and not only for mobile phones. Therefore, you should not save 10-15 USD. on purchasing a mid-range card reader. Please note that a modern model must support USB 2.0 or FireWire.

Let's look at some common problems. If your phone does not “see” the memory card or gives an error like “Memory card access denied”, this is not yet a reason to run to the store or service center not to replace it. Initially, you should check whether it is inserted well. Oddly enough, the “remove and insert” procedure helps in half of the cases. Well, if that doesn't help, you can format the card. If the phone simply does not see it, then you will definitely need a card reader, otherwise formatting can be done from the phone. How to do this is usually described in the phone manual.

It's another matter if you use a card reader. We connect to the computer and if the OS is Windows, then right-click on the icon of your card in My Computer, and Properties->Tools->Check Disk [Run a scan, correcting damaged sectors]. Most often, this will fix file system errors and allow your memory card to work normally. Well, if that doesn’t help, then right-click on the icon -> formatting. If this does not help, then perhaps your phone does not support FAT32 and repeat the formatting by selecting the FAT file system. Sometimes it happens that after formatting in the card reader, the memory card needs to be formatted in the phone.

ATTENTION: formatting will completely destroy the information on the media, so before doing this, if possible, save all data from the card.

In order for your memory card to properly serve you throughout its entire resource (about 5 years of use), follow several rules:

Physical damage is contraindicated (the card cannot be bent, thrown, etc...);
Do not keep the card near heat sources, direct sunlight, or humidity;
the card is sensitive to electrostatic discharges (be careful with it when you pick it up);
Never disconnect the card while transferring information (you may lose both the information and the card).

Another feature is that SD and MMC cards, as well as adapters for these standards, can be blocked for rewriting or deleting. This is done manually on the memory card/adapter itself. So if you suddenly can’t write something to the card, check to see if it’s just blocked.

And finally. If your memory card begins to require a password, but you do not know it, then there are specialized programs for restoring it. N So you don’t have to rush to the service center. Leave this in case you were unable to restore it yourself.

Today's article is a short educational program on SD memory cards. These flash cards are widely used in modern technology: mobile phones, GPS navigators, cameras and video cameras.

SD is by far the most popular memory card standard today. The vast majority of devices that work with memory cards support this standard.

SD memory cards come in three different sizes. This made it possible to cover different devices: from miniature audio players to professional video cameras.

So, what are there? SD memory card form factors :

microSD– these cards are intended for use in mobile phones, smartphones, tablets and other compact devices.

– these cards are slightly larger than microSD. Until recently, they were used in mp3 players and other portable equipment. But today they have lost their popularity and are used less and less.

SD– cards of the largest size. They are used in cameras, video cameras, video recorders and other relatively large portable equipment. New generation cards SDHC And SDXC are exactly the same size as SD.

By the way, you can insert a card of a smaller form factor into a device designed to work with large SD cards. To do this you need to use a special adapter:But it’s better not to do this unless absolutely necessary, because... Usually microSD cards are much slower than full-fledged SD cards.

Exists four generations of SD memory cards :

SD 1.0– holds information volume from 8 MB to 2 GB
SD 1.1– up to 4 GB
SDHC– up to 32 GB
SDXC– up to 2 TB

In the case of SD cards, there is backward compatibility: i.e. devices capable of working with SDXC understand the SDHC format and the older SD format (but not vice versa!).

Memory cards differ not only in size or capacity. One of the main parameters is speed exchange information with the device.

SD memory card speed manufacturers designate either as class, or in the form multiplier:

SD Class 2– recording speed not less than 2 MB/ With 13x;
SD Class 4– recording speed not less than 4 MB/s, which corresponds to the multiplier 26x;
SD Class 6– recording speed not less than 6 MB/s, which corresponds to the multiplier 40x;
SD Class 10– recording speed not less than 10 MB/s, which corresponds to the multiplier 66x;
SD Class 16– recording speed not less than 16 MB/s, which corresponds to the multiplier 106x.

As you can see, the speed class of a card directly indicates its speed in MB/s. To find out what class your memory card has, just look at its front part: it should be indicated there. For example, in this case the card tenth speed class:

Before purchasing an SD memory card, you need to find out what speed class your device requires. This information must be indicated in the instructions for it.

The speed class is important for those who are going to shoot video. For example, recording Full HD video requires a write speed of 3 MB/sec, which corresponds to a Class 4 memory card. Using a slower card will cause problems when shooting. However, in some cases, the video bitrate can reach 6 MB/s. Therefore, for video shooting it is better to buy memory cards starting from Class 6 and higher.

How transfer information directly from the SD card to the computer? For this purpose there are special devices called card readers. The card reader can be either external (connected via a USB connector) or built into a computer or laptop.

After connecting the card reader to the computer, insert your memory card into the corresponding slot. After that, go to Windows “Computer” - the flash drive will appear in the “Devices with removable storage” section. You can open it and perform operations with files.

built-in internal card reader

In conclusion, I want to say that when buying an SD card, it is better not to go for cheapness, but to buy a card from a well-known manufacturer (I would recommend Transcend). Because It will be very disappointing to lose captured photos or videos due to a faulty card.

Digital cameras provide many advantages over their film counterparts. One of these advantages is the number of pictures that can be taken without changing the media. You don’t have to limit yourself and take as many photographs as you like.

But, in order to take photographs without worrying about anything, you need to choose the right memory card for your camera. Nowadays, most popular camera models use Secure Digital or simply SD memory cards. In this material we will talk about how to choose an SD memory card.

SD memory card form factors

SD memory cards come in three different sizes, designated as follows:

MicroSD– Cards intended for use in phones, smartphones, tablets, and other compact devices.
MiniSD- these are cards with slightly larger sizes than . They are used in mp3 players and other portable equipment. At the moment, the popularity of this type of card is extremely low. In most cases, MicroSD cards or full SD cards are used.
SD These are the largest size cards. They are used in cameras, video cameras, video recorders and other relatively large portable equipment. Many modern computers and laptops are equipped with the ability to read SD memory cards.

SD card form factors

All three SD memory card form factors are fully compatible. There are adapters that allow you to use MicroSD cards in devices designed to work with large SD cards.

MicroSD to SD adapter

But, you should not buy a MicroSD card and use it through an adapter if your device (camera, video camera) supports large SD cards. As a rule, MicroSD cards are much slower than full-fledged SD cards. And those MicroSD cards that work really fast are much more expensive than full-fledged SD cards.

Generation of SD memory cards

There are four generations of SD memory cards:

SD 1.0- from 8 MB to 2 GB
SD 1.1- up to 4 GB
SDHC- up to 32 GB
SDXC- up to 2 TB

They differ in volume, but at the same time remain backward compatible. This means that an SD 1.0 card can be installed in an SDXC card reader, but not vice versa.

SDXC memory card

Most modern devices support SDHC memory cards. Most SD cards sold are also of the SDHC generation. Therefore, most likely, you will have to deal with this type of memory card. But recently, the first devices with SDXC support have begun to appear. In the future, SDXC memory cards will completely replace SDHC cards.

SD memory card speed

The speed of SD memory cards is indicated as a multiplier or as a class.

On the memory card, the multiplier may be indicated as 13x, 26x, 32x, 40x, etc. A 1x multiplier equals 150 KB/s. The most basic memory cards have a speed of 6x or 900 KB/s, the most advanced cards are designated as 633x and have speeds up to 95000 KB/s.

The second way to indicate the speed of SD memory cards is by classes:

SD Class 2 - write speed of at least 2 MB/s, which corresponds to a 13x multiplier;
SD Class 4 - (write speed of at least 4 MB/s, which corresponds to a 26x multiplier;
SD Class 6 - (write speed of at least 6 MB/s, which corresponds to a 40x multiplier;
SD Class 10 - (write speed of at least 10 MB/s, which corresponds to a 66x multiplier;
SD Class 16 - (write speed of at least 16 MB/s, which corresponds to a 106x multiplier;

SD Class 16 memory card

The speed of the memory card affects the speed of recording footage, as well as the speed of copying files from the memory card to the computer.

For example, recording a Full HD video stream requires a write speed of 3 MB/sec, which is equivalent to a Class 4 memory card. If you use a slower card, you will have problems shooting. However, in some cases, the video stream speed can reach 6 MB/s. Therefore, it is better to buy memory cards from Class 6 and higher.

In addition, there is a UHS specification, which also regulates the speed of memory cards. The UHS-I standard requires a data transfer speed of at least 50 MB/s (up to 104 MB/s), the UHS-II standard requires at least 156 MB/s (up to 312 MB/s).

With this article, our website continues a whole series of useful materials, the purpose of which is to make it easier to choose any product from the thousands of options offered on the market. Agree, choosing a specific model of a device always takes a lot of time, which can be spent usefully. In today's material we will talk about choosing a memory card for a smartphone, tablet or camera.

Introduction

Flash memory is used today in almost all electronic devices - both in personal computers and laptops in the form of SSD drives, and in mobile devices - in the form of internal memory and flash cards. The latter will be discussed in this article. Using a small card (their size has long allowed them to be used in the most compact and thin devices), you can increase the available memory of a smartphone, camera or tablet by many gigabytes, so you can carry more content with you - games, music, videos or books and magazines . In addition, the cost of high-capacity and fast memory cards today is lower than ever.

Memory cards are not as fast as USB flash drives, but their speeds have long reached a level that allows you to easily record 4K video on them, much less view it. But different card models can vary greatly in their data writing and reading speeds - you will learn about this in the section dedicated to their characteristics. But it is worth noting that different devices can support cards of a certain maximum capacity - for example, cheap smartphones sometimes cannot work with microSD cards with a capacity of more than 32 GB. Also, don't expect new speed gains from an old camera by using a card with a higher speed class - it's likely that the card will run in a slower mode to ensure compatibility. To find out about support for specific speeds and memory card sizes, you need to refer to the official user manual of a particular device.

By 2015, the memory card industry had focused on just two types - SD and microSD. The former are more often used in photo and video cameras, sometimes in laptops; the latter are more often used with smartphones and tablets. Once upon a time there were many more types of cards - some of you may probably remember names like MMC, Memory Stick Duo or xD-Picture. Fortunately, this fragmentation is now gone - almost any device supports either SD or microSD cards (or even both formats). We will talk about their differences, as well as other important characteristics below.

Main characteristics of memory cards

As we already reported in the introduction, now almost the entire memory card market is occupied by models of two types - microSD. They are used in all possible electronic devices: cameras, smartphones, tablets, e-readers, GPS navigators and even some game consoles.

SD and microSD cards are divided into four generations. SD 1.0 generation cards supported volumes from 8 MB to 2 GB, SD 1.1 generation cards - up to 4 GB, SDHC - up to 32 GB, SDXC (the most advanced and expensive) - up to 2 TB. SDHC and SDXC cards cannot be used with SD 1.0 / SD 1.1 devices.

The main thing to remember is that a device that can handle a newer SD card standard will be able to handle older cards, but most likely not the other way around (more on this below).

Memory capacity, GB

Memory cards with a capacity of less than 16 GB are hardly worth buying - their cost has already dropped to a very low level, and 16 GB is not so much for high-quality photos and videos. If you plan to get serious about photography or video shooting, you'll probably want to use a card with at least 32GB of memory, or better yet, 128GB. If you just want to increase the memory of your smartphone, then 32 GB will be quite enough in most cases.

Data writing and reading speed

The write speed of a memory card may be a very important parameter for you. The fact is that when taking photos and videos, cameras transfer the received data to the internal memory buffer, and from there the photos and videos are transferred to the card’s memory. If this buffer fills faster than the data can be written to the card (for example, when shooting in burst mode, when the camera takes a series of high-quality images), then it will simply be lost.

Read speed is not that important, but the higher it is, the faster you can work with the data that is recorded on the card. For example, if you want to watch high bitrate video on your tablet in FullHD or higher resolution, then you will need a pretty good card.

You can see examples of maximum and satisfactory card speeds below - in the " 10 best SD and microSD cards".

UHS interface support

UHS is a faster interface that is supported by more expensive SD and microSD memory cards. UHS-I allows you to transfer information at a speed of 50 MB/s or 104 MB/s, and UHS-II - at a speed of 156 MB/s or 312 MB/s.

Speed class

A designation of the form "Class x" or "Ux", which indicates the minimum standardized data transfer rate of a particular card. Memory cards can have the following speed classes:

Class 2 - at least 2 MB/s, you can record SD video.
Class 4 - at least 4 MB/s, you can record HD video or FullHD video.
Class 6 - at least 6 MB/s, you can record HD video or FullHD video.
Class 10 - at least 10 MB/s, high-quality FullHD video recording.
UHS Speed Class 1 (U1) - at least 10 MB/s, high-quality FullHD video recording.
UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) - at least 30 MB/s, video recording in resolution up to 4K.

In addition, manufacturers often designate the speed of their memory cards with a multiplier such as "100x" or "600x" in the name. Several of these multipliers correspond to speed classes (13x - Class 2, 26x - Class 4, 40x - Class 6, 66x - Class 10), and the fastest cards currently have a 633x multiplier and can transfer data at speeds of up to 95 MB/s .

Adapters included

Special adapters may be supplied with the memory card for use in devices that do not support its original type. In most cases, this is an SD adapter for microSD cards - a plastic housing for a microSD card that allows you to insert it into a slot for SD cards, which are much larger. If you plan to use one card on several devices that support different types, then the included adapter will definitely not hurt.

USB card reader included

You can transfer captured photo and video files to a PC not only by connecting the camera itself - it is much more convenient and sometimes faster to use a special card reader that is inserted into the USB port of the computer. The presence of such a card reader in the kit is a very nice bonus, which usually does not cost too much.

10 best SD and microSD cards

An SD card that will do an excellent job of recording high-quality FullHD video and taking large photos in burst mode. Those who record 4K video will want to use models that are recommended by their camera manufacturer.

A cheaper SD model, which should also do an excellent job of recording FullHD video and taking high-quality photos.

A very high-speed and quite expensive SD model that can easily cope with recording 4K video and has a large enough capacity for its temporary storage.

A slightly faster SD card than the first two models on this list. It also does an excellent job of recording FullHD video and has twice the capacity.

A memory card is needed to store information. In order not to lose valuable files, memory cards should only be purchased from trusted places.

How to use a memory card

The memory card is easy to use. All modern devices have special inputs for such cards. As a rule, they are located on the side or bottom panels. Usually on the device itself there is an image showing exactly how to insert the memory card (for example, with the beveled corner to the right). Insert it into the connector as needed and start working with the equipment.

Some memory cards have an additional button. By lowering it down to the Lock inscription, you will block the card. Thus, it will be impossible to either delete information from it or write new information.

How to check a memory card through a computer

The simplest option for checking a memory card and its capacity is checking through a computer. You need to insert the memory card into a special slot in your computer or laptop (or using a card reader). Next, you should select the memory card in the detected devices and go to its properties. All the necessary information will be displayed there.