5 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a MicroSD Card

Whether you need it for a phone, a camera, or some other gadget, shopping for a microSD card seems like a pretty simple thing to do, right?

1. Buying Incompatible SD Cards

All microSD cards fit into all microSD card slots, but they don’t all work. There are four different card formats, as well as different standards, and these determine compatibility.

The three main formats, which you’re probably already familiar with, are SD, SDHC, and SDXC (or microSD, microSDHC, and microSDXC—micro and full-size cards are based on the same spec). The fourth format is SDUC. This was announced in June 2018, and it’ll be a while before the cards are available.

2. Choosing the Wrong Speed

Identifying the speed of a microSD card is even more complicated than deciphering formats and compatibility. There are no less than six ways to show how fast a card is, and it’s not uncommon for manufacturers to use all of them.

Speed Class

The Speed Class shows the minimum write speed of a memory card in megabytes per second. There are four Speed Classes defined as follows:

• Class 2: At least 2MBps.
• Class 4: At least 4MBps.
• Class 6: At least 6MBps.
• Class 10: At least 10MBps.

3. Picking the Wrong SD Card for the Task

When you buy a microSD card, it’s important to pick one that is right for its intended use. This means finding a card that is large enough and fast enough, but not necessarily the largest and fastest card out there. High capacity UHS-II U3 cards often still have a price premium and you won’t always notice the benefits they offer.

If you’re using a microSD card to store apps on your smartphone, then consider one with an Application Performance Class rating. But if you want a card so you can shoot 4K video on your phone, go for size and speed as a priority.

4. Buying Fake MicroSD Cards

It sounds like an obvious thing to avoid, but sadly, buying fake memory cards is incredibly easy.

If you find a good deal on branded memory cards from a non-reputable seller, there’s a real risk it may be counterfeit. In fact, a few years ago a SanDisk engineer reportedly stated that as a many as a third of all SanDisk-branded cards were fakes. It’s unlikely that that number has declined since.

5. Cheaping Out on Brands

We’ve all owned flash memory cards that have stopped working for no apparent reason. While reliability is generally excellent, microSD cards do fail, and when they do, they’ll take all your data with them.

For this reason, buying cards from big brands is always better than buying no-name cards for cheaper. You can expect better performance, greater levels of reliability, as well as more robustness, with cards routinely protected against shock, water, and even airport X-rays.