Micro SD Cards are such an important part of our smartphones, tablets and laptops today, that I simply Avoid any product that does not have a Micro SD card. Reason? Micro SD Cards offer great performance for saving daily work and files, while not costing an arm and a leg (Many manufacturers like to do differentiated pricing on higher internal storage models – meaning you pay much more for the same product – just with more storage space).
I have been using a Samsung 64GB micro SD Card for about 3-4 years now – And it’s still a great, Fast card – However my Storage needs have grown since, So I looked for a bigger one.
Then I managed to snag this Transcend UHS 1 300S Micro SD Card for just $30.49 (Including Shipping) from Lazada in the 11.11 Sale.
What you get:
Micro SD Cards tend to be shipped quite simply – We have the usual fare of the Micro SD Card (of course), as well as the SD Card adaptor (so you can use this SD card on older devices).
One thing to note: Not all devices can support such a Large SD Card (also known as SDXC). While most devices bought within the last few years should be able to support this, Do double check with your manual to ensure your device supports SDXC cards, and also see the storage size that the Manufacturer of your device recommends. From my experience, you can sometimes ignore the recommended storage sizes – But you must ensure the device support SDXC cards, and 2) that the Device Supports exFAT format. (Used for SD cards above 64gb). Otherwise, there is a high possibility that the card will not be read by your device.
Key Specifications (Taken from https://www.transcend-info.com/Products/No-948)
Storage: 256GB
Rated for 10,000 SD Card Insert/Remove Cycles, temperature resistant, waterproof, shock proof, X-ray proof, and static proof.
Warranty: 5 Years Worldwide Warranty
A1 standard SD Card: Delivering minimum random read of 1,500 IOPS and random write of 500 IOPS, and sustained sequential speeds of at least 10MB/s. – Theoretically cards rated with this standard should be great not only for storing maps, pictures, videos, music, dictionary and documents, but also be a quick card when editing and updating files. (Source)
UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) and UHS Video Speed Class 30 (V30) standard Certified for 4K Ultra HD video recordings, with read/write speeds of up to 95MB/s and 45MB/s respectively.
The last two specifications are the great points about this card: With a rated read and write speed like that, Not only are you able to record 4K Ultra HD Video Recordings – Such a speed is extremely usable for saving bigger files (if you’re using it as additional storage in a tablet).
Review of the Transcend UHS-1 microSD 300S (256GB) Card:
Opening the packaging was a fuss free experience – the Packaging was easy to open thanks to it’s perforated tabs.
The SD Card itself looks like any other SD Card, with a silver coloured (but still plastic) matte finish. The Serial Number of the SD Card is printed on the Packaging as well as on the back of the SD card. However, you must keep the packaging and receipt for warranty (As stated on the Orange Warranty sticker from Convergent Systems (the distributor)).
To test how good this SD Card is, I ran CrystalDiskMark on my Laptop, and connected the SD Card to the Laptop (Running a Core i7, with 16GB RAM) via a USB3.0 Card Reader. Meaning to say, the Laptop won’t be a bottleneck in these tests.
I first got CrystalDiskMark to do copy an 8GB File into the SD Card 3 times, for each type of test it offered. I chose 8GB Initially as This will likely be the maximum file size you might transfer on the SD Card at one go (under typical usage conditions). 8GB translates to about 72 Minutes of Full HD Recording on a Galaxy Note 9.
SEQ1M Shows the Read speeds between 89-95MB/s, and Write Speeds at between 52-68MB/s. Long story short, these numbers show that the card indeed performs to advertised specifications, and that Transferring sequential files (including Music, Photo and 4K video recordings will not be a problem). However, the card does not do too well with random read/writes – hitting only 7.72MB/s. This is a somewhat slow (but still acceptable) speed, and is likely only faced if you’re trying to install and run an entire application off the Micro-SD card, where many small files are being written/read on the SD card within a span of a few seconds.
For Kicks, I decided to turn up the heat – by running this test again, but this time, the test is conducted with a 32GB File (written and read on the SD card 3 times for consistency purposes). This situation is even less likely to be faced by most users – This translates to more than 4 hours of continuous Full HD Video Recording on a smartphone!) But I’m happy to say that the card still performs just as well as the earlier test – meaning this card is a really high quality card! (I’ve Seen Lower grade SD Cards that would slow down significantly if tested with a larger load – definitely not this one though). The only benchmark that slowed down in the larger size test is the RND4K Q1T1 Write Speed, Which dropped from 2.28MB/s to 1.79 MB/s – But again you’re only likely to see this slow speed if you’re trying to install/run an application of the SD card (which is quite unlikely)
And, it offers some extra perks too: A Recovery Software! Transcend also offers a software known as RecoverRX, which would let you recover accidentally deleted files too! If you ever need it, you can read more about their Recovery solution here.
Overall, this SD Card performs really well and I would definitely recommend buying one of these, especially if you can buy it at the price I got it for (at just $30.49!). Other reliable brands usually offer a SD Card of this Size and Specification at $49.90. The Transcend UHS-1 microSD 300S (256GB) MicroSD card offers great capacity for the price – while being backed with a 5 Year warranty, and offering read and write speeds that are more than sufficient for majority of the users, without being as expensive as some competitor offerings. Highly Recommended!
Overall Rating: 5/5 – Highly Recommended!
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Aaron Tech Tips | Advise and Reviews for Tech and Audio Gear 💻🎧 