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Wear-leveling SD card

the_delicate_snowflake
By the_delicate_snowflake
in Storage Devices
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Posted

I'm looking for an SD card for a tablet. Having experienced an SD card failure on my Home assistant raspberry pi I'm more wary of using SD card for any kind of storage, even if not critical one.

 

I recall Linus talking on a semi-recent Wan show about SD cards being way better these days. Do actual wear-leveling SD cards exist though, or is a high endurance SD card built for surveillance system the best bad bet (no actual wear levelling, but better than most)?

 

I'm looking in the 256GB-512GB range.

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2 minutes ago, the_delicate_snowflake said:

I'm more wary of using SD card for any kind of storage, even if not critical one.

Secondary storage in a tablet is a lot different than running the OS in a RasPi.

 

Don't concern yourself too much with endurance for secondary storage unless you're doing something extremely intensive with this tablet.

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Posted
On 8/11/2025 at 3:27 PM, the_delicate_snowflake said:

experienced an SD card failure

You are not the only one, and the older SD cards i have with lower capacity actually work no problem, the failure one i had was in my nevest 256GB one, but it was more of a data corruption on older photos, so it was just a data retention problem ( all flash device have that problem )

 

On 8/11/2025 at 3:27 PM, the_delicate_snowflake said:

Do actual wear-leveling SD cards exist though

So I asked AI, and it seems all never Ssd and SD cards ( all newer flash device ) do have it build in, as well as error correction mechanisms.

   
 
 
 
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COOLER :  Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 White + Thermaltake toughfan 12 white + Thermal Grizzly - CPU Contact Frame Intel 13./14. +  Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra
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RAM :  Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 RAM 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) 6400 MHz CL32 (CMK64GX5M2B6400C32)
SSD : Intel Optane 905P 960GB U.2 (OS) + 2 x WD SN850X 4TB + 2 x PNY CS3140 2TB + PLX88024 PCIe switch (PCIE 4.0 x8 -> 4 x M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4) -> 4 x Plextor M8PeG 1TB + flexiDOCK MB014SP-B -> Crucial MX500 2TB + GoodRam Iridium PRO 960GB + Samsung 850 Pro 512GB
HDD : WD White 18TB WD180EDFZ + SATA port multiplier adp6st0-j05 (JMB575) ->  WD Gold 8TB WD8002FRYZ + WD Gold 4TB WD4002FYYZ + WD Red PRO 4TB WD4001FFSX + WD Green 2TB WD20EARS
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HDD/SSD :  		XT-XINTE LM906 (JMS583) -> Plextor M8PeG 1TB + WD My Passport slim 1TB + LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive 1TB USB-C + Zalman ZM-VE350 -> Goodram IRDM PRO 240GB
PSU :  Super Flower leadex platinum 750 W biały -> Bitfenix alchemy extensions białe/białe + AsiaHorse 16AWG White 
UPS :  CyberPower CP1500EPFCLCD -> Brennenstuhl primera-line 8 -> Brennenstuhl primera-line 10
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HEADPHONES : PC -> TOSLINK 2m -> Linkfor ULK073 1x4 Digital SPDIF Splitter (B07MJ4TLWQ) -> TOSLINK 0.5m -> Aune S6 Pro -> 2 x Monoprice Premier 1.8m 16AWG 3-pin XLR -> Monoprice Monolith THX AAA 887 -> 4-pin XLR na 2 x 3.5mm 16 cores OCC 2m Cable -> HiFiMAN Edition XS -> sheepskin pads + 4-pin XLR na 2 x 2.5mm ABLET silver 2m  Cable -> Monoprice Monolith M1060 + Brainwavz HM100 -> Brainwavz sheepskin oval pads + Wooden double Ɪ Stand + Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7BK -> sheepskin pads + Multibrackets MB1893 + Sennheiser Momentum 3 +  Philips Fidelio X2HR/00 + JBL J88 White
MIC :  Tonor TC30 -> Mozos SB38
KEYBOARD : Corsair STRAFE RGB Cherry MX Silent (EU) + Glorious PC Gaming Race Stealth Slim - Full Size Black + Kensington VeriMark / PQI MyLockey
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CONTROLLERS :  Razer Wolverine V3 Tournament Edition 8K PC (B0F94C9C43) -> brainwavz audio Controller Holder UGC2 + Microsoft xbox series x controller pc (1VA-00002) + Ravcore Javelin
NET :  Intel E810-XXVDA2 2 x 25GbE SFP28 (PCIE 4.0 x8) -> 2 x FTLX8571D3BCV-IT -> 2 x Digitus (DK-HD2533-05/3) -> Qnap TS-932X-2G + 2 x ASUS ZenWiFi Pro XT12
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Posted

A lot of memory cards, including SD and microSD, will have wear-leveling. For example I know many cards are using Phison controllers which explicitly state static and dynamic wear leveling support, and some level of wear leveling is needed with modern flash. The Phison PS8601 for microSD/SD is one example for that, Phison eMMC products have wear-leveling, Phison PS5021 (E21T) for CFX has it, etc. Specific models exist for high-endurance requirements which will likely impact the quality of flash used, too.

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35 minutes ago, kokosnh said:

So I asked AI

Did you explore the links it referenced to confirm the "summary" response or did you blindly trust something that hallucinates the majority of the time?

Dreaming of the day when my brain cell doesn't betray me.

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1 hour ago, CasualExtremist said:

Did you explore the links it referenced to confirm the "summary" response or did you blindly trust something that hallucinates the majority of the time?

Just confirmed they do have FTL, as that’s the key to implementing wear leveling etc, that is all I needed + my knowledge of the inner workings from SSD, and standard NAND + my small knowledge about some micro SD cards, that have pSLC buffer, or work in full pSLC mode, that would confirm they have to have FTL.

 

for the question, well first thing you see in Google is kingston, it’s not that hard to look up, but I did use AI to check before starting digging through spec, to not waste my time.

 

https://www.kingston.com/en/memory-cards/industrial-grade-microsd-uhs-i-u3

   
 
 
 
Spoiler
CPU : Intel 14gen i7-14700K
COOLER :  Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 White + Thermaltake toughfan 12 white + Thermal Grizzly - CPU Contact Frame Intel 13./14. +  Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra
GPU : MSI RTX 2070 Armor @GPU 2050MHz Mem 8200MHz -> USB C 10Gb/s cable 2m -> Unitek 4x USB HUB 10 Gb/s (Y-HB08003)
MOBO : MSI MEG Z690 UNIFY
RAM :  Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 RAM 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) 6400 MHz CL32 (CMK64GX5M2B6400C32)
SSD : Intel Optane 905P 960GB U.2 (OS) + 2 x WD SN850X 4TB + 2 x PNY CS3140 2TB + PLX88024 PCIe switch (PCIE 4.0 x8 -> 4 x M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4) -> 4 x Plextor M8PeG 1TB + flexiDOCK MB014SP-B -> Crucial MX500 2TB + GoodRam Iridium PRO 960GB + Samsung 850 Pro 512GB
HDD : WD White 18TB WD180EDFZ + SATA port multiplier adp6st0-j05 (JMB575) ->  WD Gold 8TB WD8002FRYZ + WD Gold 4TB WD4002FYYZ + WD Red PRO 4TB WD4001FFSX + WD Green 2TB WD20EARS
EXTERNAL
HDD/SSD :  		XT-XINTE LM906 (JMS583) -> Plextor M8PeG 1TB + WD My Passport slim 1TB + LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive 1TB USB-C + Zalman ZM-VE350 -> Goodram IRDM PRO 240GB
PSU :  Super Flower leadex platinum 750 W biały -> Bitfenix alchemy extensions białe/białe + AsiaHorse 16AWG White 
UPS :  CyberPower CP1500EPFCLCD -> Brennenstuhl primera-line 8 -> Brennenstuhl primera-line 10
LCD : LG 32UD59-B + LG flatron IPS236 -> Silverstone SST-ARM11BC
CASE :  Fractal R5 Biały + Lian Li BZ-H06A srebrny + flexiDOCK MB014SP-B + 6 x Thermaltake toughfan 14 white + Thermalright TL-B8W
SPEAKERS :  PC -> TOSLINK 2m -> Linkfor ULK073 1x4 Digital SPDIF Splitter (B07MJ4TLWQ) -> TOSLINK 0.5m -> Aiyima A80 ( or Aune S6 Pro -> RCA ->  Aiyima A80 ) -> Polk S20e black -> Monoprice stand 16250
HEADPHONES : PC -> TOSLINK 2m -> Linkfor ULK073 1x4 Digital SPDIF Splitter (B07MJ4TLWQ) -> TOSLINK 0.5m -> Aune S6 Pro -> 2 x Monoprice Premier 1.8m 16AWG 3-pin XLR -> Monoprice Monolith THX AAA 887 -> 4-pin XLR na 2 x 3.5mm 16 cores OCC 2m Cable -> HiFiMAN Edition XS -> sheepskin pads + 4-pin XLR na 2 x 2.5mm ABLET silver 2m  Cable -> Monoprice Monolith M1060 + Brainwavz HM100 -> Brainwavz sheepskin oval pads + Wooden double Ɪ Stand + Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7BK -> sheepskin pads + Multibrackets MB1893 + Sennheiser Momentum 3 +  Philips Fidelio X2HR/00 + JBL J88 White
MIC :  Tonor TC30 -> Mozos SB38
KEYBOARD : Corsair STRAFE RGB Cherry MX Silent (EU) + Glorious PC Gaming Race Stealth Slim - Full Size Black + Kensington VeriMark / PQI MyLockey
MOUSE :  Logitech MX ERGO + 2 x Logitech MX Performance + Logitech G Pro wireless + Logitech G Pro Gaming -> Hotline Games 2.0 Plus + Corsair MM500 3xl + Corsair MM300 Extended + Razer goliathus control
CONTROLLERS :  Razer Wolverine V3 Tournament Edition 8K PC (B0F94C9C43) -> brainwavz audio Controller Holder UGC2 + Microsoft xbox series x controller pc (1VA-00002) + Ravcore Javelin
NET :  Intel E810-XXVDA2 2 x 25GbE SFP28 (PCIE 4.0 x8) -> 2 x FTLX8571D3BCV-IT -> 2 x Digitus (DK-HD2533-05/3) -> Qnap TS-932X-2G + 2 x ASUS ZenWiFi Pro XT12
NAS :  Qnap TS-932X-2G -> Kingston 16GB 2400Mhz CL14 (HX424S14IB/16) -> 9 x Crucial MX500 2TB -> 2 x FTLX8571D3BCV-IT -> Noctua NF-P14s redux 1200 PWM -> QNAP TR-004
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