SD Cards vs MicroSD Cards with Adapter Speed Reliability - Which is Better?

Are SD cards faster or more reliable than MicroSD cards with an adapter? Kingston Technology's David Leong joins us to give us some insight.

We use SD cards in our 4K video cameras, but when asked why we choose full-sized SD cards as opposed to MIcroSD cards with an adapter, Robbie had no answer beyond personal preference. So he turned to a pro to talk about the difference between these two form factors. Is there a difference besides physical size?

#FlashMedia #VideoProduction #Photography

[brianjarvis]

Thanks so much Robbie and guest, David. You answered my question beautifully! It was nice to be vindicated, so I think I’ll continue to prefer microSD cards as they seem to be getting more and more common especially as devices get smaller and smaller. Cheers from Adelaide, Australia.

[tricitytypebeat]

thanks for the quality answers! when you said you didn't know I threw my hands up in frustration, but you found the right guy

[ceed]

The biggest drawback to the MicroSD cards smaller size is it's much easier to misplace or lose them, especially outdoors. I will use them when necessary for the device, but I prefer the larger physical SD cards for that reason. I've never noticed any measurable or appreciable difference in performance between same size and speed rated cards. As the only devices I own that use micro SD cards are older phones that either don't work at all, or can no longer be activated I don't really have a use for them these days. My current Pixel 4a phone doesn't even have a MicrosSD slot.

If I did have devices that used Micro SD cards I would definitely rethink this.

[OliviaE_OG]

So a 256 big and 256 micro with adapter will save the same way and to the same quality ?

[gjaeigjiajeg]

Are full sized sd cards still properly full sized cards (I.e with their electronics spread about in the entire form factor), or do manufacturers these days streamline their production by only making microsd and then encasing that in a sort of permanent sd adaptor to make it look and feel like a full sized card?

I mean, I probably would. 😂

[Autotrope]

I downvoted when you said you didn't have the answer and then had to undo that when you brought in someone from Kingston to answer haha. Thanks for this.

Great video, checked off most of the myths regarding SD vs microSD!

[ProffyChaos]

Thanks to Robbie and David - I always wondered this and now I know.

[JosephJMcAllister]

Thanks... Really needed to know. Thanks for going straight to the source! So I don't have to!

[emilloffler]

Hi, how thick is a full size SD card compared to the micro SD card adaptor. Does the full size one fit into the same slot exactly as the adaptor does, or would it be a bit too slack.

[NazimAlizade]

The answer from Kingston's man is not correct! Yes, the adapter will probably not affect the speed, yes SD card and Micro SD same class from the same manufacturer can show the same speed, BUT why buy SD cards then? The answer is very simple! Micro SD's write speed will DROP after the continuous shooting and slow your digital camera down, while an SD card will perform better! A similar thing you can see while using a small USB Flash Drive, no matter how fast it is, it will drop the writing speed much earlier than the bigger one!

[RossiB]

But using a micro sd in an adaptor. Would that save wear as the adaptor takes all the abuse and you can just change that. Max endurance micro sd in an adaptor surely can be a safe data keeper?

[koryyyy]

Things changed a lot last years, and it change brand by brand too.

SD Cards used to be more robust since they have more space for components and temp dissipation. And they used to have better capacity at some time in history since they had more space for chips. but now the microSD has the same capacity and speeds.

I'm into this dilema too. I just got a new reflex camera, and is SD, should I get a full SD or microSD with adapter?

Why high end manufacturers still shipping their cameras with SD card slot, instead of switching to microSD if is the same thing?

Also, did you know that high end mainboards (motherboards) designers put the bridh (pci lane controllers) the nearest possibel to the slot since the shorter the path to the lane makes difference in speed (at nanoseconds I guess). and how a dirty contact can affect performance too? Well thats the microSD to SD adapter, is contact that touchs the mini contacts on microsd and put them on the SD size. so you add another "touch" contact to the card before getting to the actual port.

Some old school photography forums, talked about that the microsd actually is not hold in place by anything inside the adapter. The microSD port has a "click" but the adapter not. So if you have a device that will be on the move, a card that internally can move is not ideal.

So, I still cant decide. My only advantage to go with a microSD is that I have slot and readers of microsd on my laptops. but the camera is wifi and probably not taking the memory out much...

[hehoosmeltitdeltit]

Okay, lots of great info here. But just to be clear, using a micro with an adapter does not adversely impact the performance of the card... right? 🤔. Never was concerned about it until I started finding micros cheaper than standard cards instead of the other way around. So, I'm finding ultra-fast 256GB micros cheaper than the standard card, I just want to be absolutely sure I'm not losing speed using the adapter. Please confirm. Many thanks -- good video, excellent content, I'm subscribing.👍👍👍

[darkijah-andersjehovahsn]

There is nothing that is called a to fast Micro SD You want everything you can press out of it. The more the better. Nothing is to fast on Micro SD So the greater the better.

[pepeshopping]

NO!

More lanes does NOT make “cars faster”.
It allows MORE cars traveling at the SAME time (parallel).

[iancurrie]

As he alluded to, generally speaking, full sized SD card have more channels of NAND flash resulting in faster write speeds (generally).

Most of the time, full sized SD cards have faster write speeds. The gentleman from Kingston alluded to that.