Sandisk Mobile Ultra microSDHC 4GB Card

Electronic data storage devices keep getting smaller and smaller and keep getting improved with larger and larger storage capacities, and microSD cards are no exception. The latest Mobile Ultra microSDHC card from Sandisk is less than a ¼ of the size of a regular SD card and ½ as thick and offers a hefty 4GB storage capacity. microSDHC cards promise more storage capacity than regular microSD cards, which means you can expand your cell phone or MP3 player with even more memory. Read on to find out how well the Sandisk Mobile Ultra 4GB microSDHC improves upon earlier microSD cards.

Design

One important point to explain is the difference between microSD and microSDHC cards. In a nutshell, microSDHC cards allow storage capacity of greater capacity than 2GB but do not provide any significant speed increase over microSD cards. Regular microSD cards use the FAT16 file system to store files, while microSDHC cards use the FAT32 file system to boost the range of memory addresses that can be accessed by the card and used for storage SD versions of the cards also work the same way.

The ‘HC’ in the naming of these cards stands for High Capacity. These cards are based on the SDA 2.00 specification, introduced by the SD Card Association. This new SDA 2.00 specification enables SD cards to reach higher capacities - up to 32GB.

The Mobile Ultra microSDHC card is otherwise similar in design to any other microSD card. They are the same size and shape, and do not differ to the naked eye. Storage capacity is the key differentiator for these microSDHC cards.

Features

• High-speed USB 2.0 compatible transfer rates
• Supports microSD™, microSDHC™, and Memory Stick™ Micro (M2) memory cards
• Compatible with Microsoft Windows® Vista™, Windows® XP and Mac OS X
• Ultra Fast - built-in acceleration for fast loading of multimedia files to and from the PC
• Ultra Storage - more space for storing music, videos, photos, games, and even GPS map files
• Ultra Convenient - comes with pocket-sized SanDisk MobileMate Micro card reader for convenient connection to PC
• Ultra Quality - high-quality memory card, backed by 10-year limited warranty
• Ultra Compatible - compatible with almost all microSD supported mobile phones

Setup and Installation

The first step of testing was to get the microSDHC card installed in my BlackBerry Curve 8310. This was easy enough to do, as you just need to remove the back cover of the phone, remove the battery, slide the microSDHC card into the slot, and then repeat the steps in reverse order. I crossed my fingers and booted up my BlackBerry – and voila! – there was an additional 3.87GB of storage available. No additional steps were needed.

Included with the card is a MobileMate™ Micro card reader , so it is easy to copy music and media files over to a PC through the USB 2.0 card reader and copy over some files. However, there is no SD adapter included with the card – so if you use a digital camera or other device that has an SD slot, you won’t be able to use this microSDHC card with it.

Mobile Ultra Top View		Mobile Ultra Installed in BlackBerry

Performance

For testing the transfer speeds, I copied over about 500MB worth of MP3 music from my PC to the card. I then transferred the same amount of data back to my PC into another folder on the hard drive. Additionally, I used HD Tune 2.5.2 and HD Tach 3.0.1.0 to benchmark the performance results.

Testing showed that the Mobile Ultra microSDHC card offers more than adequate read and write data transfer speeds. Read speeds averaged 20MB/sec. and write speeds averaged 14MB/sec. This is significantly faster than a typical microSDHC card, and is a big jump in performance over a microSD card as well.

Sandisk Mobile Ultra 4GB microSDHC Card

Overall, the Sandisk 4GB microSDHC is a rock solid media card. It offers outstanding performance reading and writing data, along with the peace of mind that Sandisk offers with a reputation for reliability. They back up that reputation with a 2-year warranty on this card. The only gripe I have is the lack of a SD adapter, which would have made this 4GB card even more versatile in how it could be used.

Pros: Great performance, includes USB adapter, 2-year warranty.

Cons: No SD adapter included.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

www.sandisk.com