SanDisk 32GB Mobile MicroSDHC Class 4 Flash Memory Card, Frustration-Free Packaging- SDSDQM-032G-AFFP..
GET SanDisk 32GB Mobile MicroSDHC Class 4 Flash Memory Card, Frustration-Free Packaging- SDSDQM-032G-AFFP By SanDisk
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843 of 867 people found the following review helpful.
By NLee the Engineer
I purchased a SanDisk 32 GB microSDHC Flash Memory Card SDSDQM-032G nearly two months ago, for use in my VIZIO 8-Inch Tablet VTAB1008. At the same time, I also purchased a higher-priced PNY 32 GB microSDHC Card (P-SDU32G10-EFS2) which is supposed to be a 'class-10'. My benchmark results, however, show that the Sandisk class-4 card is actually faster - most of the time.
I used two sets of benchmark programs. One is called 'Flash Memory Toolkit v2.0', which measures the random read/write speed of files between 1MB and 15MB. The other one is called 'H2testw v1.4', which measures the sequential read/write speed using 1GB files. Here are my results: (see my uploaded charts in 'Customer Images' section for details)
- For smaller files (1-5MB), the Sandisk class-4 card gives an amazing write speed of 15-17MB/s, while the PNY 'class-10' card can only get 1-6MB/s
- For larger files (10-15MB), the Sandisk and PNY cards are about equal at around 8MB/s for write
- For huge files (1GB), the PNY did better at 9.5MB/S, while the Sandisk dropped to 5.5MB/s
- The read speeds of both cards are equally high at around 18MB/S (this number may be limited by the maximum speed of my card reader used)
What the above shows is that: When used in a typical digital camera (with file size 3-5MB), this Sandisk 'class-4' card is at least twice as fast as the PNY so-called 'class-10' card. But when used in a HD video camera (sequential writing of huge file), then the PNY card should perform better.
For a card to be marketed as a 'class-10', it must maintain a MINIMUM write speed of 10MB/s. So by this definition, the PNY card does not qualify since it cannot even achieve a MAXIMUM write speed of 10MB/s. This Sandisk card, on the other hand, exceeds the requirement of 'class-4' by a huge margin.
Sandisk seems to be the only flash memeory manufacturer that still gives honest, conservative speed class ratings. Any other manufacturers would have labeled this card a 'class-6' or even higher. As a matter of principle, I rather give my money to a company that promises less but delivers more, instead of to others that do the opposite. At the present cost of about 1 buck per GB, this is an unbeatable deal!
[Aside]
The capacity of this card, as reported by my computer, is only 29.7GB. Note that this is actually normal, because compter people define one 'Giga' as '2 to the power 30', which is 7.4% greater than 1 billion. So 29.7GB comes to just about 32 billion bytes, which is '32GB' according to marketing people.
[Update Dec 3, 2011]
I re-tested the two cards above, using the CrystalDiskMark v3.01. The results are consistent with my previous finding. See my newly uploaded charts in 'Customer Images' for details.
[Update Nov 19, 2013]
The Sandisk card is still working fine after two years in my tablet. It should be noted that I have purchased dozens of CF/SD/microSD cards over the past decade, and only experienced ONE card failure (which was caused by an incompatable card reader). So I'm probably just more careful in handling memory cards. For example, I always make sure to discharge myself electrically before touching a card to avoid ESD zap, and use "Safely Eject USB Device" command to remove a card.
178 of 193 people found the following review helpful.
By Doug
This is a great price for a 32GB SanDisk micro sdhc card. Don't let the 10 people who gave this a 1 star rating scare you, this is a great price for a good product. Anyone who works with computers or technology in general knows that you will occassionally have a device that just fails. I work a computer helpdesk and see it with hard drives all the time, it happens. That's why any good manufacturer warrants their product, so if you have a failure like this, you get a new one. These types of failures are unavoidable.
This is a geniun SanDisk product, sold by Amazon.com and not some third party seller. Buy with confidence.
500 of 567 people found the following review helpful.
By Benjamin Anderson
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Update: As far as I can tell, there is no more non-retail packaging option on this product... hopefully they realized what was going on and changed it. But if the option is there again, make sure the item you add to your cart is (retail).
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I meant to order "retail" packaging the first time, but I rushed and I wasn't careful enough. I got the crappy "hassle-free packaging" one instead. Huge mistake. However, I WAS NOT AWARE THAT AMAZON INTENDS FOR THIS TO HAPPEN THE MAJORITY OF THE TIME BECAUSE THEY ARE ACTUALLY SELLING YOU A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PRODUCT THAT IS MUCH, MUCH CHEAPER FOR THEM TO MAKE. Although, I assume that's part of how Amazon offers low prices.
The amazon page for this item secretly contains 2 items:
SDSDQ-032G-AFFP (Default item. Counterfeit. Poor chances of receiving a card that's not a knock-off/counterfeit/lesser-quality item, OR an item that was previously returned/refurbished/slightly-damaged-but-good-enough-for-hassle-free-packaging.)
SDSDQM-032G-B35 (Retail item. Legitimate. Excellent chances of receiving a new, legitimate SD card.)
Amazon (immorally) tries to get as many people to buy the non-retail one as possible. For example:
#1 Your browser automatically refreshes the web-page to this item whenever you do ANYTHING other than clicking "Add To Cart", after you have selected "Retail". I confirmed this after getting a crappy card.
#2 When you click on *ANY* link to the current SanDisk 32GB class 4, it'll take you to the COUNTERFIET one (SDSDQ-032G-AFFP) no matter if you clicked on the Retail one (SDSDQM-032G-B35) or not!!!
#3 The reviews for the two items are combined.
#4 When you select "Retail", the only picture that changes is one of the SD cards changes to a red retail packaging one. It's extremely subtle on purpose, and I don't even think that's real retail packaging, but whatever.
#5 Search the 1/5 and 2/5 star reviews. Note how they are mostly people who bought the counterfiet one (SDSDQ-032G-AFFP)? And people who bought the retail one (SDSDQM-032G-B35) are more likely to give a good review, with a higher read & write speed??
It's obvious... Do not buy SanDisk cards that have 'Bulk' attached to the name, or 'Frustration-Free', or anything else other than "Retail"!
Also, here's a short guide for repartitioning/reformatting with GParted, if you were unlucky enough to get a lesser-quality card, or are having issues with one (I'm sure there's Windows software too, just Google it):
Short version:
1. Insert your SD card into a microSDHC USB adapter (commonly comes with SD cards, also on Amazon for a few bucks).
2. Plug the adapter into your computer and make sure the SD card is recognized.
3. Download and Run: GParted. (Free, comes with Partition Magic, you may need to boot into it).
4. Select the drive in GParted, and click "create new partition table" in MSDOS (erases drive).
5. Re-partition the drive in whatever filesystem your device requires (look it up, usually FAT32).
6. The size of the partition can be your entire card, except the first 500MB. Make sure that you leave about 500MB of unallocated/free space BEFORE the rest of the partition. You'll end up with a 28.5GB card instead of a 29GB card, but your speeds, stability, and compatibility GREATLY increases. Note: This is also true with many other flash drives and external storage.
I am dispointed