memory card information / spotting a fake

ShiWarrior · 8 May 2017 at 19:43

Hi all

I thought there was a program that was like CPUZ that will tell me if the memory card is a "samsung" or a "sandisk" etc etc ?

i just used H2testw on my microSD card from "Thinkware" for my thinkware dashcam

it says it is a class 10 upto 90Mb/s

h2testw says 30Mb/s write, 37Mb/s read or there about, so i believe it may be a fake as it will give me a warning box saying there is 1 Mb missing (both in NTFS and Fat32)

i plugged into a sd to USB3 device and plugged into my USB3 port

Combat squirrel · 9 May 2017 at 09:42

h2test is your best bet, 1mb missing is ok as it cant address the entire file table.

There are 2 cases of fake cards:

1) Fakes usually are cards that are really 16gb for example sold as 32gb or more - h2test will show this after running it

2) Cards are the capacity they say at a much slower read/write - while these work they are usually less reliable.

Run the test several times and if it passes ok your ok - and you might be ok, but obviously it is slower than it says - so id be wary - it will likely be ok for a while but not over some years.

These days saving literally the cost of a lunch for a cheaper memory card isn't worth it - just by sandisk/samsung etc, its not much more.

ShiWarrior · 9 May 2017 at 17:09

i always buy Sandisk, but because i have a thinkware dashcam, the Sandisk does not work in it unfortunately

Also tried a Lexar (which im currently testing now and seems slow too)

i must be doing something wrong if my cards are no where near the rated speeds

voidshatter · 9 May 2017 at 18:04

I always buy Sandisk from a trusted vendor e.g. Amazon UK or Wex Photographic.

Lexar is also good but less reliable than Sandisk.

I never buy from untrusted vendors as a dodgy memory card can ruin a trip.

ShiWarrior · 9 May 2017 at 18:29

i do too, so far all my cards are good, just this one im not sure of

ill test my sandisk for comparisons (speeds)

ShiWarrior · 9 May 2017 at 18:30

Warning: Only 61470 of 61471 MByte tested.
Test finished without errors.
You can now delete the test files *.h2w or verify them again.
Writing speed: 19.8 MByte/s
Reading speed: 22.1 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

Transcend microSD
64Gb
class 10 [1]

EDIT//
Above card did not work at all in my sd to USB3 adaptor, so i used my memory card slot on my pc

ShiWarrior · 9 May 2017 at 22:11

odd

Got a Sandisk Ultra here
and -

Test finished without errors.
You can now delete the test files *.h2w or verify them again.
Writing speed: 12.4 MByte/s
Reading speed: 38.5 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

Nowhere near 80 Mb/s

Raymond Lin · 9 May 2017 at 22:14

What is your connection between the card and the computer?

ShiWarrior · 9 May 2017 at 22:30

Kingston mobilelite G3
http://wccftech.com/kingston-launches-g3-mobilelite-usb-30-card-reader/

Raymond Lin · 9 May 2017 at 22:37

ShiWarrior said:
Kingston mobilelite G3
http://wccftech.com/kingston-launches-g3-mobilelite-usb-30-card-reader/

All I can suggest is perhaps try a different reader if you have it, different port or even different computer.

I personally have never ever tested my cards, I get them all from Amazon, direct from Amazon, not 3rd Party, all Sandisks.

ShiWarrior · 9 May 2017 at 22:59

i always do too
but something isn't right
ill try again tomorrow if still slow, then i might buy a new memory card reader

ShiWarrior · 10 May 2017 at 11:53

This is interesting so i connected the Sandisk Ultra SD card straight into my memory card slot on the front on my PC (icy box)
and i get this :

Test finished without errors.
You can now delete the test files *.h2w or verify them again.
Writing speed: 12.5 MByte/s
Reading speed: 83.2 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

83Mb/s is more than the 80Mb/s rated speed
i thought it was USB2 connecting it this way, maybe it isnt ?
maybe the kingston G3 is faulty ?

Rroff · 10 May 2017 at 12:02

Card readers often aren't the most robust and can easily be damaged in my experience - a lot seem to flex the PCB/USB connection warping the PCB if used regularly with unpredictable results.

I've always bought either Kingston or Sandisk directly from reputable stores/Amazon directly and so far never had a fake. SD card compatibility is a minefield though - for instance one of my tablets I had no end of issues with Sandisk and stuck a Kingston in there which worked fine and maxed out speeds - while someone else with the same tablet had the complete opposite experience.

asim18 · 12 May 2017 at 01:19

SD Card speed ratings are all over the place lol.

https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/choices/speed_class/index.html

There's a "speed class", then there's a "UHS Speed Class", and now the latest one is a "Video Speed Class", this is paired with the manufacturer's own figure, and none of them ever add up.

And all three of them are just marketing buzzwords. Speed is just sequential in MB/s you don't need a trademark buzzword to represent simple transfer speed. In a few months they will create a new speed class measurement with some random letters and numbers.

Anyway Class 10 is just too slow, it's 10MB/s which is nothing.
You need something labelled as a "V30" card which should give you 30MB/s.

ShiWarrior · 12 May 2017 at 16:03

asim18 said:
Anyway Class 10 is just too slow, it's 10MB/s which is nothing.
You need something labelled as a "V30" card which should give you 30MB/s.

i assume that's write speeds
my class 4 reaches 22 Mb/s Read
and my class 10 reached 80 Mb/s Read

or is 10 Mb/s the minimum ?

asim18 · 17 May 2017 at 07:34

Did some testing and it seems my SanDisk performs the worst in my D3300.

Amazing thing is a CHEAP unbranded Chinese is the fastest card in my D3300 by a considerable margin.

Sandisk saves 49 raw photos in 60 seconds.
Kingston in second place with 58.
China in the lead with a whopping 83 raw photos in 60 seconds!
Last place a Sandisk class 2 card.

Bought it off ebay (LOL) about 7 years ago, all I know is in the description it said it used Intel memory.

Tysonator · 23 May 2017 at 18:12

Raymond Lin said:
All I can suggest is perhaps try a different reader if you have it, different port or even different computer.

I personally have never ever tested my cards, I get them all from Amazon, direct from Amazon, not 3rd Party, all Sandisks.

I do the same from amazon and have only had one card I sent back that was faulty. I did run a test and the capacity did not display what I had purchased / ordered !

Rroff · 23 May 2017 at 18:32

asim18 said:
Kingston in second place with 58.

In my experience Kingston cards have done better for larger file transfers (hence I use them with my tablets) and recording video, etc. while the SanDisks seem to do better at high speed bursts i.e. saving a photo.