"Gaming" SD Cards, are they worth looking into?

[Autolooper]

Do "gaming" SD Cards make a difference and are they worth looking into?

 

[tadpoles]

Do "gaming" SD Cards make a difference and are they worth looking into?

I'm inferring that 'Gaming' cards are faster and may have better durability...typically good. Right? However, many newer Android phones don't take an SD card any longer. If it's an older phone I don't know how much benefit you'd get from a faster SD card as the phone's hardware may not be able to benefit from the faster SD storage. A newer phone that allows SD storage might see some benefit but I have a feeling it'd be minimal. My 2 cents.

What phone do you envision using a gaming SD card in?

 

[Mooncatt]

I think those cards are marketed more for their speed (whether or not it's a noticeable increase is another debate), but also for things like the Nintendo Switch. Portable gaming devices are not likely to use the card as abusive as the Android OS does. By that, I mean Android constantly reads and writes to apps, even ones in an SD card. SD cards are designed to be a write once/read many storage medium, so using them for Android apps will quickly wear it out. This is one of the reasons we don't recommend using them as adoptable storage.

Personally, I think "gaming" cards are as much a gimmick as manufacturers calling any pc with a discrete graphics card a "gaming" computer, even if it's a bottom of the barrel and effectively obsolete card. For use in an Android device, I would buy one with the storage you need, at whatever speed class you want, from reputable retailers, and only use it for stand alone files.

 

[Autolooper]

I recently upgraded to a Nord N200. I was hoping expanded storage had evolved so that it could be done well, but I have yet to find much evidence so, just newer standards indicated by letters & numbers.

 

[Mooncatt]

Re: "Gaming" SD Cards, are they worth looking into?

I recently upgraded to a Nord N200. I was hoping expanded storage had evolved so that it could be done well, but I have yet to find much evidence so, just newer standards indicated by letters & numbers.

Google is rather anti-expandable storage, along with many manufacturers, so don't expect major improvements on that front. SD cards have always been meant for stand alone files and not apps. To change that so you can reliably use them for app storage would require a major rewrite of the OS itself, and that's not going to happen with how Google is currently running. Even if that did happen, it would also mean rewriting every app to make use of stabilized SD card use.

 

[mustang7757]

Re: "Gaming" SD Cards, are they worth looking into?

Google is rather anti-expandable storage, along with many manufacturers, so don't expect major improvements on that front. SD cards have always been meant for stand alone files and not apps. To change that so you can reliably use them for app storage would require a major rewrite of the OS itself, and that's not going to happen with how Google is currently running. Even if that did happen, it would also mean rewriting every app to make use of stabilized SD card use.

Agree with you on that

 

[Autolooper]

So, I guess this article is somewhat up to date in 2022?

https://www.androidcentral.com/adoptable-storage

 

[Autolooper]

This 2022 article mentions 'unmounting". But I wonder if that's a reliable solution.

https://fossbytes.com/android-sd-card-internal-storage-adoptable-storage/

 

[Mooncatt]

This 2022 article mentions 'unmounting". But I wonder if that's a reliable solution.

https://fossbytes.com/android-sd-card-internal-storage-adoptable-storage/

Adoptable storage isn't recommended because it's not always implemented well and still risks corrupting the cars early. Unmounting the card will not directly help that. The unmount process tells the phone you are wanting to remove the card and that it should stop all data transfers with it (even background work). Not doing so could risk pulling the card in the middle of a data transfer that causes immediate corruption. That holds true regardless if it's used as adoptable storage or as portable/standard storage. It's the same reason you right click the USB icon in a pc task bar and select the eject option before pulling a card or USB drive out.

 

[Autolooper]

I'm surprised this problem hasn't been addressed on both the hardware & software sides. D:

 

[mustang7757]

I'm surprised this problem hasn't been addressed on both the hardware & software sides. D:

They don't care and it's becoming outdated

 

[Mooncatt]

I'm surprised this problem hasn't been addressed on both the hardware & software sides. D:

You're asking to use the card for reasons they were never designed for, both from the card manufacturers and from Android developers. They don't see this as a problem.

 

[Laura Knotek]

They don't care and it's becoming outdated

You're asking to use the card for reasons they were never designed for, both from the card manufacturers and from Android developers. They don't see this as a problem.

That's why many Android device manufacturers don't even provide the option to use adoptable storage, even if the devices have SD card slots.

 

[mustang7757]

That's why many Android device manufacturers don't even provide the option to use adoptable storage, even if the devices have SD card slots.

They might let you add little of the app data but not fully , they going forward without it just like led notification light, IR blaster..

 

[Amthebigdog]

I'm inferring that 'Gaming' cards are faster and may have better durability...typically good. Right? However, many newer Android phones don't take an SD card any longer. If it's an older phone I don't know how much benefit you'd get from a faster SD card as the phone's hardware may not be able to benefit from the faster SD storage. A newer phone that allows SD storage might see some benefit but I have a feeling it'd be minimal. My 2 cents.

What phone do you envision using a gaming SD card in?

Really? I did not know that about new phones. I just bought a brand new TCL ion and it has a SD slot. I'll just have to look at the phones before I buy them from now on. I won't buy a phone unless it has the SD card expansion. Thanks for the heads up. On the topic of speed, the first SD card I got brought up a warning when I put it in. The phone came up with a message telling me the SD card was not a high speed one and depending on what I was using it for it might not work correctly. (Message was paraphrased). Sorry I've only got a quarter. Anyone got change?