What size of MicroSD cards do most people use in their 1080p dash cams? 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB?

[CheckYourLights]

one thing if you have a camera that uses regular SD cards don't use a MicroSD in an adapter, the adapters themselves aren't built for high temperatures

Thanks for mentioning this. I don't usualy do it, but i did pop a micro in an adapter and use it in my Vico for about an hour until i could get around to going through the regular sized SD cards that were in my Vico and DVR-027 before and still keep my Vico going. I'll make sure to not run my Vico long term with an adapter though.

Also in case anyone is curious the Sandisk Ultra regular sized SD cards claim to be X-Proof, Shock Proof, and Water Proof. While i have not had a chance to accidentally leave one in my pocket while on an MRI table I did forget to take it out of my pocket when i threw a pair of pants in the wash. When i had gone to take them out i found the card in the bottom of the washing machine files on it from my DVR-027 were still intact and playable when i popped the card into my PC

 

[ydc]

I use a 32GB Samsung card. Stopped using Sandisk cards after the reported issues earlier in the year, and the number of fakes that seem to do the rounds.

I chose the size to keep down the number of rewrites with the card constantly overwriting.

 

[jokiin]

I've found the Samsung cards to be very good

 

[Quick]

I chose the size to keep down the number of rewrites with the card constantly overwriting.

Hmmm, thinking about that. The rewrites from the video won't make a difference with the size of the files. You're writing and then overwriting the card from one end to the other. Doesn't matter if it's in small chunks or large chunks you're going over the same spot the same number of times. I guess where it might make a difference is how often you update the directory area. Even there I'm not sure. More files, more directory entries so you're writing to the same spot less times? Rewrite limit is per writable memory unit. I'm going with it doesn't matter.

I think even if it is true that the same spot in the directory gets hit more times with more smaller files, once you get a bad spot formatting it would mark the sector bad an not use it again. The directory is very small and you'd only lose 1 sector. I'd go with use whatever file size is most convenient for you.

 

[CheckYourLights]

I use a 32GB Samsung card. Stopped using Sandisk cards after the reported issues earlier in the year, and the number of fakes that seem to do the rounds.

I had always gotten my Sandisk from BestBuy with an Amazon price match, and had no issues, but after my new G1W fought with me over using a Sandisk micro SD card I gave Transcend a try and everything is going well. Have not used a Samsung brand yet.

 

[ydc]

Hmmm, thinking about that. The rewrites from the video won't make a difference with the size of the files. You're writing and then overwriting the card from one end to the other. Doesn't matter if it's in small chunks or large chunks you're going over the same spot the same number of times.

Indeed. I am just going on the theory that if a 32GB card overwrites every 4 days, then a 16GB one will overwrite every 2 days, which doubles the overall number of rewrites per year. Of course, the memory should be good for tens of thousands of rewrites, but I'm hoping that the less times the memory cells have to be charged/discharged the less likelihood of any failure.

 

[Quick]

Indeed. I am just going on the theory that if a 32GB card overwrites every 4 days, then a 16GB one will overwrite every 2 days, which doubles the overall number of rewrites per year. Of course, the memory should be good for tens of thousands of rewrites, but I'm hoping that the less times the memory cells have to be charged/discharged the less likelihood of any failure.

doh... I forgot about the title of the thread... people were talking about 3 min versus 5 min or longer file sizes somewhere along the line and I got stuck on that (might have been a completely different thread)

 

[BobDiaz]

The better quality Flash Memory has around 10,000 ---> 1,000,000 write cycles.

NOR and NAND flash memory both have a finite number of erase-write cycles—anywhere between 10,000 and one million—but this limitation is typically offset by wear-leveling instructions in firmware that count the number of write cycles for each cell and dynamically remap the blocks so that erasures and writes are distributed evenly across the medium.

Source: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/white_paper_flash_memory

where are we with endurance now? - in 2013

Today's commodity 2D MLC flash has raw wear-out in the 2,000 to 3,000 write cycle range.

Pioneers of 3D flash say their SSD endurance is better. But how much of that is due to more expensive substrate materials and how much is done by the controller isn't clear yet. So for the purposes of this article everything below is about 2D (planar) nand flash.

Source: http://www.storagesearch.com/ssdmyths-endurance.html


Let's assume that our 32GB card can hold 4 hours of video and we'll look at a low 2,000 cycle rate and the 10,000 rate. Every 4 hours of video recording results in 1 cycle of the card.

2,000 cycles x 4 hours = 8,000 hours of operation or 333 days of continuous operation.

10,000 cycles x 4 hours = 40,000 hours of operation or 1,667 days or about 4.5 years of continuous operation.

This brings up an interesting thing, if you set the recording data rate from a high 17Mbps to a low 12Mbps, the cycle time is longer almost 6 hours. This would lengthen the life of the card by almost 1.5x.

 

[Malodave]

I have two 32GB Sandisk Ultra MicroSD cards. If the new dashcam can use a 64GB or 128GB I will switch to using them.

 

[Evan55]

On the other hand the police might be saying "You're being charged with ... because this guy signed a statement saying you ran this red light yesterday morning causing him to crash into the gas station which resulted in the entire block being blown up". or maybe identifying the neighbor kid from 2 blocks down as the one who egged your car while driving by. I got the camera, a bit more for some history makes it a lot more versatile.

a fair point, though Ive never heard of that happening so I would consider it an edge case (of an edge case)
I wonder what the happy medium is then, just enough history to protect yourself but not too much. 2 days? 5 days?
I drive less than 2 hours a day, so depending on bit rate, still shouldnt take a huge card.

 

[Quick]

I wonder what the happy medium is then, just enough history to protect yourself but not too much. 2 days? 5 days?

Personal preference and expectations. In the extreme case, one could upload from the card before it's overwritten and archive permanently.
The cards are not all that expensive and people generally don't want yet another thing to hassle with so I'd go with the largest card your camera will work with.
I got a 128GB card for just under $100 USD. I expect the camera and card to last a minimum of 2 years, so not that expensive for the history that I probably won't need.

 

[BobDiaz]

a fair point, though Ive never heard of that happening so I would consider it an edge case (of an edge case)
I wonder what the happy medium is then, just enough history to protect yourself but not too much. 2 days? 5 days?
I drive less than 2 hours a day, so depending on bit rate, still shouldnt take a huge card.

Personally, I think having 2 cards is the best way. IF something critical happens, swap cards. That way there's no way for the information to be overwritten and you have another card to keep recording.