Internal Storage vs. MicroSD Card

Rob · Mar 5, 2020

It looks like the 512GB version of the Galaxy S20 Ultra is sold out in some versions on Samsung's website. Right now the unlocked and Verizon versions show "Out of Stock". That got me thinking...

$1600 for the 512GB Version
$1400 for the 128GB Version
---------------------------------------
$200 Difference

You can buy a 512GB MicroSD card for $110 on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-128GB-Extreme-microSD-Adapter/dp/B07P7M6K35

The 1GB version is less of a steal at $260 but still worth consideration, especially if you're saving $200 on the 128GB version of the Ultra:
https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-128GB-Extreme-microSD-Adapter/dp/B07P9W5HJV

I think there are a LOT of people who will be either:

Buying the 128GB version because it's the one in stock
Buying the 128GB version because it's cheaper
Planning to "upgrade" more affordably with a MicroSD Card

I took a 30-second video in 8K and it took up nearly half a GB of memory so it's safe to say that if you plan on using the camera features to their full potential, you'll need more space than the 128GB onboard and possibly more than the 512GB if you're really going after it.

That begs the question: what are the dangers of buying a MicroSD Card for the Galaxy S20 Ultra?

Surely there are Read/Write speed considerations to keep in mind here. I'm not an expert in that area so hoping someone here has some great advice. I know there will be a lot of people looking for the best MicroSD Card for the Galaxy S20 Ultra so I'm wondering if as a community we can make some safe recommendations and find some great deals?

Steven58 · Mar 5, 2020

Rob

You know i'm old school. I like the SD slot. I like the earphone jack. I like the removable battery. Sadly, most of them have gone the way of dinosaur. Whereas I am a fan of SD, I've ALWAYS had trouble with them. "SD card not inserted or SD card not readable". For me? I'd err on the side of internal storage and cloud backup. Get it over with on the phone's purchase price and not deal with the problems that have invariably come up for me. Just my .02 .. Unforgiven, NightAngel and others are far wiser than I. Let's see what they say!

svim · Mar 5, 2020

A microSD card is a convenience measure at best, a weak point for failure at worst. It's a way to add supplemental storage memory, but it's in no way a substitute for the internal storage.
The internal storage chip inside a phone will not only provide faster read/write times but will be more robust and last longer than a microSD card.

Also, your phone's internal storage is using ext4 as its file system. This gives it complete parity with the Android operating system. A microSD card, however will by default be using FAT32 or exFAT, a major drawback being FAT (all its derivatives) is an antiquated, proprietary, and no longer supported file system. It's a dated legacy file system from Microsoft that even back in its day (decades now) had a lot stability issues. In its current state, FAT file systems have even more problems because today's tech trends continue to change. So things like file/folder permissions and file metadata are an incompatibility issue that our phones just waste system resources as they inherently work around them.
I'd opt for more internal storage capacity, it's better suited was 'working' storage media, and just rely upon a microSD card as a good 'dumping ground' for storing files.

olbriar · Mar 5, 2020

I'm not in the list of far wiser

but I'll toss in my $.02. With that *8K video option and if it is something you care to use, I would be considering both the 512 GB Ultra as well as a terabit card. I don't think one can have too much storage when it comes to 8K recording. I am in the same camp as Steven with the internal storage being less volatile than it's SD brother.

Rob · Mar 5, 2020

Great input thanks guys! I dug around and found an infographic that suggests 4K or 8K video recording would require a Micro SDXC card with V30, V60, or V90 rating. There are also V6 and V10 that would appear to be suitable for only 4K.

Following that logic, I'm not seeing San Disk cards on Amazon that meet this criteria beyond this V30:
https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-Micro-Memory-Adapter/dp/B07G5Q2TRL/

And the only V60 I see is a 256GB card from ProGrade digital :
https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Vloggers-Filmmakers-Photographers-Curators/dp/B07TDNQX6L/

I guess the next step is to find out what cards support 8K video recording as that's really the issue here. I'm going to track down an answer from Samsung and will report back.

olbriar · Mar 5, 2020

My take on that is no different than the Ultra and all it's tech. One has to put on the big boy pants to own and operate on the leading edge. Investing in a mass removable storage fast enough to be of service will be another large investment. I'm not in the that league but I will not lie... I wish that I was. If I could play in the same sandlot... I'd not fall short of kicking out all of the stops and enjoy that phone and it's capabilities to the fullest.

Rob · Mar 5, 2020

I think I've got it down.

Anything with "V" in it is technically capable of HD video recording but this also includes legacy cards that, although not specifically marked with "V", may still be compatible. To find a compatible card you'll want to spot one of the following:

Class 6 or 10 (inside a circle)
UHS 1 or 3 (inside the letter "U")
V6, V10, V30, V60, V90

However 4K recording and 8K recording are not considered equal:

Screen Shot 2020-03-05 at 3.52.29 PM.png

That means to enjoy 8K video recording with confidence on your Galaxy S20 Ultra you'll need a card graded Micro SDXC V60 or V90. If you don't plan on taking advantage of 8K and can live with 4K recording, you'll be fine purchasing a UHS 3 or V30 card.

Another factor to consider is the length of each video. Apparently you're more likely to get an error message earlier in the duration of your recording with a lesser graded card:

Screen Shot 2020-03-05 at 4.01.50 PM.png

I was unable to find specific lengths.

Based on the above it does seem that you've got two choices:

Ditch 8K video recording and get an awesomely huge 512GB or 1TB card from Amazon that's graded UHS3
- 512GB San Disk for $100
- 1TB San Disk for $260
Grab a V60 or V90 card that supports 8K video but it's more expensive, has less capacity, and comes from less traditional brands:

Unfortunately these manufacturers are further confusing things by (seemingly) mislabeling or misrepresenting the capabilities of their products. Take for example this card:

64GB Lexar (V90)

Is that really a V90 Card? The SD Association themselves have produced a chart showing that cards marketed UHS 3 are equivalent to V30!

It's all very confusing to say the least, but one thing is for sure:
Go with the Galaxy S20 Ultra with 512GB of Internal Storage if possible!

That's the version I've got but I still want to find a card to free up even more space so that I don't find myself in a pickle on particularly photogenic vacation moments. To be continued...

NightAngel79 · Mar 5, 2020

Rob said:
I think I've got it down.

Anything with "V" in it is technically capable of HD video recording but this also includes legacy cards that, although not specifically marked with "V", may still be compatible. To find a compatible card you'll want to spot one of the following:

Class 6 or 10 (inside a circle)

UHS 1 or 3 (inside the letter "U")

V6, V10, V30, V60, V90

However 4K recording and 8K recording are not considered equal:

View attachment 148379

That means to enjoy 8K video recording with confidence on your Galaxy S20 Ultra you'll need a card graded Micro SDXC V60 or V90. If you don't plan on taking advantage of 8K and can live with 4K recording, you'll be fine purchasing a UHS 3 or V30 card.

Another factor to consider is the length of each video. Apparently you're more likely to get an error message earlier in the duration of your recording with a lesser graded card:

View attachment 148380

I was unable to find specific lengths.

Based on the above it does seem that you've got two choices:

Ditch 8K video recording and get an awesomely huge 512GB or 1TB card from Amazon that's graded UHS3

512GB San Disk for $100

1TB San Disk for $260

Grab a V60 or V90 card that supports 8K video but it's more expensive, has less capacity, and comes from less traditional brands:

256GB Lexar (V60) for $70

256GB Amplim (V60) for $140

128GB Amplim (V90) for $140

Unfortunately these manufacturers are further confusing things by (seemingly) mislabeling or misrepresenting the capabilities of their products. Take for example this card:

64GB Lexar (V90)

Is that really a V90 Card? The SD Association themselves have produced a chart showing that cards marketed UHS 3 are equivalent to V30!

It's all very confusing to say the least, but one thing is for sure:
Go with the Galaxy S20 Ultra with 512GB of Internal Storage if possible!

That's the version I've got but I still want to find a card to free up even more space so that I don't find myself in a pickle on particularly photogenic vacation moments. To be continued...

So to make it more confusing, I now see UHS-I U1 or U3, but there is a higher tier of card that drops the V designation, but says UHS-II. Those are the 8k compatible ones from what I can tell. This 128 was the biggest I found before giving up. I'm going to stick with a V30 Extreme Pro 256gb, which shoul dbe fine with 4k, and *maybe* handle some 8k...

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sandis...xc-uhs-ii-memory-card/5089200.p?skuId=5089200

NightAngel79 · Mar 5, 2020

Rob said:
I think I've got it down.

Anything with "V" in it is technically capable of HD video recording but this also includes legacy cards that, although not specifically marked with "V", may still be compatible. To find a compatible card you'll want to spot one of the following:

Class 6 or 10 (inside a circle)

UHS 1 or 3 (inside the letter "U")

V6, V10, V30, V60, V90

However 4K recording and 8K recording are not considered equal:

View attachment 148379

That means to enjoy 8K video recording with confidence on your Galaxy S20 Ultra you'll need a card graded Micro SDXC V60 or V90. If you don't plan on taking advantage of 8K and can live with 4K recording, you'll be fine purchasing a UHS 3 or V30 card.

Another factor to consider is the length of each video. Apparently you're more likely to get an error message earlier in the duration of your recording with a lesser graded card:

View attachment 148380

I was unable to find specific lengths.

Based on the above it does seem that you've got two choices:

Ditch 8K video recording and get an awesomely huge 512GB or 1TB card from Amazon that's graded UHS3

512GB San Disk for $100

1TB San Disk for $260

Grab a V60 or V90 card that supports 8K video but it's more expensive, has less capacity, and comes from less traditional brands:

256GB Lexar (V60) for $70

256GB Amplim (V60) for $140

128GB Amplim (V90) for $140

Unfortunately these manufacturers are further confusing things by (seemingly) mislabeling or misrepresenting the capabilities of their products. Take for example this card:

64GB Lexar (V90)

Is that really a V90 Card? The SD Association themselves have produced a chart showing that cards marketed UHS 3 are equivalent to V30!

It's all very confusing to say the least, but one thing is for sure:
Go with the Galaxy S20 Ultra with 512GB of Internal Storage if possible!

That's the version I've got but I still want to find a card to free up even more space so that I don't find myself in a pickle on particularly photogenic vacation moments. To be continued...

Also, to make matters worse, it seems you linked to SD cards, not MicroSD cards. So those won't even work in our phones? I struck out completely looking for anything better than the Sandisk I just posted.

Rob · Mar 5, 2020

The card you linked above shows the following speed specs:

Max Read Speed: 275 megabytes per second
Max Write Speed: 100 megabytes per second
SD Bus Mode: UHS-II
SD Speed Class: Class 10
UHS Speed Class: U3
Speed Class Rating: 10

This is indeed confusing because not even the Speed Class Rating (10) and the UHS Speed Class (U3) seem to match up. Based on the chart from SD Association you would expect the Speed Class 10 to equal UHS Speed Class U1. Do they always show the maximum number for each speed classification even though (from what I understand) they're just outdated metrics counting the same stat?

The "SD Bus Mode" (UHS-II) in this case is different from Speed. If speed is the the speed limit on the highway, Bus Mode is how many lanes there are on the highway. Again, from what I understand.

Thanks for throwing another wrench into the mix! Ha... kidding of course. Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of this eventually.

NightAngel79 · Mar 6, 2020

Rob said:
The card you linked above shows the following speed specs:

Max Read Speed: 275 megabytes per second

Max Write Speed: 100 megabytes per second

SD Bus Mode: UHS-II

SD Speed Class: Class 10

UHS Speed Class: U3

Speed Class Rating: 10

This is indeed confusing because not even the Speed Class Rating (10) and the UHS Speed Class (U3) seem to match up. Based on the chart from SD Association you would expect the Speed Class 10 to equal UHS Speed Class U1. Do they always show the maximum number for each speed classification even though (from what I understand) they're just outdated metrics counting the same stat?

The "SD Bus Mode" (UHS-II) in this case is different from Speed. If speed is the the speed limit on the highway, Bus Mode is how many lanes there are on the highway. Again, from what I understand.

Thanks for throwing another wrench into the mix! Ha... kidding of course. Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of this eventually.

No doubt, this is a good discussion regardless. I'm in enterprise IT for a fortune 500 and for the life of me cannot figure out a simple thing like, 'what's the faster microSD'. It shouldn't be so hard!!
SO the standards care about 'minimum' write speeds for classification, but card sellers only talk about 'maximum' write speeds. SO at a bare minimum, that cards I linked is *faster* but only barely (100 max write vs 90 max write) but is well over twice as much...

Now that we have an 8K phone, hopefully we see some more offerings, and better documentation.

CaseyKees · Mar 7, 2020

I bought the 128g version because that is all my Samsung credit would allow me to afford

I do have a 256g Samsung Evo micro sd card. So, I have 6 Harry Potter movies converted to mp4's. it's a little over 6g's of data. is it better to store them on the SD card, on the phone, or leave on my One Drive? Same with my music. I've never carried music on my phone. and it's not currently on my phone or SD card or One Drive. It's just on my computer or on my Seagate external storage. Not sure where to put it. Thanks.

NightAngel79 · Mar 8, 2020

CaseyKees said:
I bought the 128g version because that is all my Samsung credit would allow me to afford I do have a 256g Samsung Evo micro sd card. So, I have 6 Harry Potter movies converted to mp4's. it's a little over 6g's of data. is it better to store them on the SD card, on the phone, or leave on my One Drive? Same with my music. I've never carried music on my phone. and it's not currently on my phone or SD card or One Drive. It's just on my computer or on my Seagate external storage. Not sure where to put it. Thanks.

So the music is fine on Onedrive if you want to stream it and have the signal, but I would absolutely put the movies on the SD card, *if* it is good and fast. If it is say, an EVO, the movies will play much better on phones internal memory. If the files are only 1080 files (or smaller) the SD card will be more than adequate.

CaseyKees · Mar 8, 2020

I put both on the phones memory. Neither were very big. I don't use my phone like a lot of people do so I don't seem to use a lot of memory. My S9+ I had for 2 years and never put a SD card in it LOL I primarily use it for streaming TV while I am at work. :thinking:

It is my biggest waste of money ever.

sullencab · Mar 8, 2020

Wow good one, thanks for the posts here, they helped me choose what to use now.

J_Hansen · Mar 9, 2020

I'm sure that SD cards have become much more reliable over thelast 10 years but I'm still in the camp of not relying on them for anything long term storage.
If you go the route you are thinking of, keep an SSD drive or similar drive in the budget too

R=G · Mar 10, 2020

I use SD cards all the time..for some reason..my other 400 gb card says it needs to be formatted for use.

NightAngel79 · Mar 10, 2020

R=G said:
I use SD cards all the time..for some reason..my other 400 gb card says it needs to be formatted for use.

Could be going bad. They work great, until one day they do not.

dontpanicbobby · Mar 21, 2020

@Rob It depends on how much of your media you have ripped and if you want to rip it again higher.

oleb84 · Mar 25, 2020

All of this is surely depending on directly recording 8k to the memory card?

Would it not be more feasable to record directly to internal storage and then transfer to a cheaper/higher capacity sd card?

NightAngel79 · Mar 25, 2020

oleb84 said:
All of this is surely depending on directly recording 8k to the memory card?

Would it not be more readable to record directly to internal storage and then transfer to a cheaper/higher capacity sd card?

You can't record straight to card no matter what. Phone informed me it was switching to internal when I toggled to 8k, and this was on the plus (smaller sensor).

The question I have, is if you have some 8k content, and transferred to the SD how would it play, or would it. If you go *too* cheap of an SD card, it will not be able to play it without stuttering and skipping. I would think...

ArPharazon · Mar 25, 2020

I too went with the S20 Ultra 128GB because the 512GB was nowhere to be found. And someone must have figured things out, because last week ebay had several Samsung 512GB EVO Plus UHS-I U3 Class 10 microSDXC micro SD memory Card 4k for $45 to $50 buy it now. Now they're $80+ buy it now.

NightAngel79 · Mar 26, 2020

ArPharazon said:
I too went with the S20 Ultra 128GB because the 512GB was nowhere to be found. And someone must have figured things out, because last week ebay had several Samsung 512GB EVO Plus UHS-I U3 Class 10 microSDXC micro SD memory Card 4k for $45 to $50 buy it now. Now they're $80+ buy it now.

Here's what I went with, best speed/size for the price (imo).
SanDisk Extreme Pro Micro SDXC UHS-I U3 A2 V30 Memory Card (256GB)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G3JCG8Z

Rob · Mar 26, 2020

NightAngel79 said:
Here's what I went with

Did you buy it from Amazon? I'm seeing shipment delays until April 23rd for pretty much everything tech related.

NightAngel79 · Mar 26, 2020

Rob said:
Did you buy it from Amazon? I'm seeing shipment delays until April 23rd for pretty much everything tech related.

OUCH! I've gotten lucky on a couple items. But I ordered that card before crap hit the fan. Seeing the same dates... Would be worth poking around to find better dates for something that *may* be sitting in a warehouse already.

Internal Storage vs. MicroSD Card

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