Which have one bit per cell, and which have 2 bits per cell? Which are TLC? What is the difference between them in longevity and reliability?
pretty much everything made by all manufacturers are at least 2 bit per cell MLC now. some manufacturers like sandisk are even shipping 3 bit per cell MLC in some of the production.
you as a consumer will never know what technology is used in the back end. it is not noted anywhere in the available marketing info provided by manufacturers. That said with the latest wear leveling and error correction code reliability should well exceed the product warranty period.
So are only the class 2 cards TLC, or are there class 4 cards that are TLC? TLC cards might only have around 10% of the longevity of 2 bit per cell cards as far as the number of write cycles. I also wonder about differences in data reliability over time for 2 bit per cell vs 3 bit per cell cards. Are the one bit per cell cards all either very expensive or old low capacity cards? Are the class 10 cards one bit per cell? I read the the one bit per cell cards not only have the greatest durability, but are also the fastest.
pretty much everything in the market now is either 2 or 3 bit per cell. SLC tech is generally only used in some industrial applications that require super high durability.
MLC as a whole regardless of 2 or 3 bit per cell does have lower program/erase cycle specs than SLC cards but like i said before with the strength in todays wear leveling algorithms and error correction code life span is similar to the older SLC cards under normal use scenarios.
3 bit per cell technology is used in class 2, class 4 , and class 10 cards no way you would know as a consumer what tech the actual card you have is using.
Hi,
Thanks for that I ordered the SanDisk as you said they are reliable and I have never had any problems with either their sdhc or camera cards.
So far I have not had a problem with an SDHC or micro SDHC card, however years ago I did have issues with some Sandisk Smart Media cards. I guess manufacturing technology has advanced quite a bit since then. I’m not saying that TLC cards are bad, only that they won’t last as long as two bit per cell memory. For most people, they will probably not write to each memory location more than 1,000 times before they feel that they will want a much higher capacity card. Even so, I would like to know which cards are two bits per cell and which are three.
Are full sized SDHC cards more reliable than comparable micro sized cards? Are smaller capacity cards more reliable than larger ones? Is there any correlation between card speed and data integrity? Some websites suggest that flash memory cards only be used for shorter term backups. Some have suggested that the card be connected at least every few months to reenergize the card.
reliablity is generally about the same other than phisical damage. it is easier to break or crack a micro compaired to a standard size.
flash memory is rated at 10 years as far as data integrity goes.
