What SD Card will last?

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Chrissi

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Hi there,

I'm using an mini0803 for about a year or two. The problem I have is, that my microSD cards all give up at some point.
I used 32GB and 64GB, Sandisk and Tanscend, plain, premium and ultra. It's always the same: they stop recording, I still can access the data but not delete or write any data on the card.

The last one, a 64GB Transcent Premium (link to Amazon site I bought it), didn't even last a month.

Is it the cam or bad cards or what can I do? Amazon always reimburses me but still it's annoying.

Thanks for your help!
 
Also consider a Samsung Pro, grey coloured version. They are also MLC with good wear levelling and will last about 3 times longer than a typical card.

I'm still not convinced that those Sandisk video cards are anything special, Lexar 633 and Samsung Pro are the ones I would go for, but not the 128GB Lexar since that appears to be standard flash memory not MLC.
 
I know it's somewhat OT but why is Kingston never mentioned when talking about cards for dashcams?
 
@Chrissi - Remember that these cards do not last forever. They are expected to fail after reaching a certain number of write cycles, so finding that number in the card's technical specifications will give you a fair way to compare different ones. Good 'write' performance isn't found in cheap cards but it's critical with dashcams since that is what will be most used of the card. When a card begins to get old it should be checked more often. Once sectors start failing better get a new one pronto!

Phil
 
I run Kingston 128gb. Lifetime warranty....dash cams are NOT excluded from the warranty like some other cards. No issues yet. When the recording fluid gets low, I'll send it back for a free refill.
 
Module 79L said:
I know it's somewhat OT but why is Kingston never mentioned when talking about cards for dashcams?
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Because Kingston cards rarely cause problems but their best cards are not the best cards available. I don't think they make it clear what lifetime you can expect from their cards so it is hard to judge how long they will last and thus how good or bad value they are, at least with Lexar and Samsung you can find out which are MLC cards and roughly how many write cycles to expect.


Note that a 64GB card should last twice as long as a 32GB card since it is the number of writes to each location that wears them out. 64 GB cards currently tend to be the best value long term.
 
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They have a "Lifetime warranty" which obviously means it's guaranteed to work for as long as I live....so I got my 20 year old to buy it for me....that way, it will work longer as she is likely to live way longer than me. See? It doesn't take much to outsmart these companies. The next one I get, I'm having a 5 year old buy it...I got this all figured out.
 
Daleg said:
They have a "Lifetime warranty" which obviously means it's guaranteed to work for as long as I live....so I got my 20 year old to buy it for me....that way, it will work longer as she is likely to live way longer than me. See? It doesn't take much to outsmart these companies. The next one I get, I'm having a 5 year old buy it...I got this all figured out.
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You have got that wrong, the card is guaranteed for the lifetime of the card, when it dies the warrantee also dies so you can never actually make use of it - they have outsmarted you!

Anyway, a new card once a year will cost a lot less than the baby required for an extra long lifetime warrantee ;)
 
Daleg said:
They have a "Lifetime warranty" which obviously means it's guaranteed to work for as long as I live....so I got my 20 year old to buy it for me....that way, it will work longer as she is likely to live way longer than me. See? It doesn't take much to outsmart these companies. The next one I get, I'm having a 5 year old buy it...I got this all figured out.
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:D
 
Can't help but think of the Monty Python "Dead Parrot" skit :rolleyes:
"This card is dead"
"No it's not. It's still lets you read it"
"But you can't write to it."
"Then it's only half dead and we can't warranty it until it's fully dead."
(Huge foot enters from above smashing customer)

Phil
 
Bruno G. said:
Hi Jokiin...what is MLC memory and why is it better?
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Just read about SLC as opposed to MLC. The Sandisk site said SLC is more for commercial use and would last longer. The MLC is for consumers snd willNOT last as long...they could be biased?
 
Bruno G. said:
Just read about SLC as opposed to MLC. The Sandisk site said SLC is more for commercial use and would last longer. The MLC is for consumers snd willNOT last as long...they could be biased?
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I think that is very outdated info!

SLC is generally not available for consumers, MLC is used in professional quality cards and TLC is the cheap stuff that most cards are made from, soon we will also have 3D cards using the stuff currently used in Samsung SSD drives.

TLC generally gives around 800-1,200 write cycles for each location depending on the quality of the card, MLC will give around 3,000 write cycles, some SLC will give around 100,000 but the more recent stuff is more like 10,000. The new 3D stuff is probably around 4,000 write cycles.
 
Nigel said:
I think that is very outdated info!

SLC is generally not available for consumers, MLC is used in professional quality cards and TLC is the cheap stuff that most cards are made from, soon we will also have 3D cards using the stuff currently used in Samsung SSD drives.

TLC generally gives around 800-1,200 write cycles for each location depending on the quality of the card, MLC will give around 3,000 write cycles, some SLC will give around 100,000 but the more recent stuff is more like 10,000. The new 3D stuff is probably around 4,000 write cycles.
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I do not undetstand? Isn't 10,000 better than the 3,000? You seem to imply that the SLC is better than the MLC? Unless the SLC cards fail more often...but it is not available...great for us!
 
Bruno G. said:
I do not undetstand? Isn't 10,000 better than the 3,000? You seem to imply that the SLC is better than the MLC? Unless the SLC cards fail more often...but it is not available...great for us!
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Correct!

The problem with SLC is that it takes up far more space so you can fit less on a card, since people are no longer prepared to buy 64MB flash cards but instead want 64GB cards, everyone has moved to TLC. There are still some MLC cards available for those that want longer lifetimes and are prepared to pay a little extra but nobody has yet managed to fit 128GB of MLC on a microSD card, again it takes up more space than TLC. The latest TLC for 128GB and 200GB cards is being made even smaller which also reduces its lifetime so expect to see write cycles drop below 800 in the near future. The 3D NAND should sort this problem to some extent in a few years time as it is already doing on SSDs (Solid State hard Drives).

In reality, with decent wear levelling, a 128GB TLC card with only 800 write cycle capability will be able to store a lot of data over a long period in normal use, in normal use people will not have any issues with them. For video surveillance use where you constantly loop around it you just have to accept that it needs replacing once a year in your car's annual service, if you want it to work totally reliably. A decent MLC card as recommended above should work out cheaper in the long run since you have to replace it less often but it is only a little more expensive.
 
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