Develop Bugs

Time for a new micro sd card

I'm buying a larger SD card in readiness for Froyo (and I need more room for music!).
I've already filled up the 4GB card that came with the phone. Is it simply a case of copying everything from the 4GB card onto a computer, inserting the new card and copying it all back? Or is there some funky protection scheme in some app data which will break everything?
Also, will Eclair be able to format the new card (it's 32GB)? I think Windows 7 only formats fat32 on smaller drives.
Any information or other peoples experiences would be welcome.

If you just have one 4Gb partition it is safe to copy all the files to the new one and it should work without problems (copy also the hidden files).
For the format, Windows 7 can format it. Not sure if fat32 or exFat, but it can format it for sure.

Remember to buy a class 6 sdcard.
it will be much faster.

Oby One said:
Remember to buy a class 6 sdcard.
it will be much faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wanted to jump in here to clarify this statement. Higher classes means faster write speeds. There are no difference in read speeds.
Therefore...
- Having a higher class card will not result in better performance in tasks like generating thumbnails when viewing photos in your Photo application.
- If your application is installed on your card, higher classes will not mean faster application performance. Again, read speeds are not affected.
- Having a higher class card will mean you will be able to transfer files from your PC to your card faster.
That being said, you should buy the highest class card you can afford. But you should prioritize capacity over speed.
Tip: Pass on class 2 cards. They may start choking when you use your device to record 720p video.

ohyeahar said:
Tip: Pass on class 2 cards. They may start choking when you use your device to record 720p video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Zero problems with my Sandisk 16gb Class 2 card. It writes at a sustaining 7.5mb/s, so faster than Class 6 minimums anyway.
Regards,
Dave

Thanks for all the advice guys.
Regarding the class, it has to be class 2 - it's the only thing available in 32GB.
However, as ohyeahar said, it's only write speed. I don't think a 720p stream will be a problem given the benchmarks I've seen for the Sandisk 32GB card. It seems to be writing at 5-7Mb/s so well above the Class 2 minimum.

I'm also buying a new microSDHC card. Should I format it in NTFS or FAT32?

Laban said:
I'm also buying a new microSDHC card. Should I format it in NTFS or FAT32?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct me if I'm wrong but when I format it on my computer, my desire always tells me to do it again anyway on my phone that is
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

lennshow66 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but when I format it on my computer, my desire always tells me to do it again anyway on my phone that is
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, of course! That must be the correct way of doing it. Thinking of buying the Sandisk Mobile Ultra 16GB or the Transcend Class 6 16GB or A-Data Class 6 16GB.
Any recommendations?

Where is everybody looking to get their memory cards from? I'm currently looking for the best deals and struggling to find any decent ones tbh

ohyeahar said:
Just wanted to jump in here to clarify this statement. Higher classes means faster write speeds. There are no difference in read speeds.
Therefore...
- Having a higher class card will not result in better performance in tasks like generating thumbnails when viewing photos in your Photo application.
- If your application is installed on your card, higher classes will not mean faster application performance. Again, read speeds are not affected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you are not well informed. Higher class cards also offer higher read speeds and that is very important.
In my phone applications are also writing to card so having a higher class card makes all the difference. especially if you are using it with a swap partition.
I don't have the link to the benchmark right now but I will show you tomorrow the different read/write speeds in different class cards
Therefore...
- Having a higher class card will not result in better performance in tasks like generating thumbnails when viewing photos in your Photo application.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it will
- If your application is installed on your card, higher classes will not mean faster application performance. Again, read speeds are not affected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes it will
later edit:
I don't remember exactly the values for read speads but from my tests they were something like this
cls2 15mb/sec
cls4 18mb/sec
cls6 21mb/sec
for me ...speed is everything so class 6 it's my choice

Oby One said:
I think you are not well informed. Higher class cards also offer higher read speeds and that is very important.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but that just isn't the case!
The class of an SD card is purely the minimum sustained write speed that the card will achieve in a completely unfragmented state. It has *nothing* to do with read speeds.
Case to point, here are the benchmarks for two of my MicroSD cards:
16gb Sandisk Class 2
Sequential Read : 20.050 MB/s
Sequential Write : 7.415 MB/s
8gb Transcend Class 6
Sequential Read : 19.938 MB/s
Sequential Write : 15.020 MB/s
Note that the read speeds are almost identical, but the write speed of the class 6 is almost twice the amount. However, the write speed of both cards is well in excess of the class 6 minimums and given that there's far less writing going on than reading, the difference in write speed is practically negligible on the Desire.
Which card do I used in my Desire? The 16gb Class 2 and I experience absolutely no lag whatsoever using my phone, and I'm using Froyo Apps2SD.
Regards,
Dave

Laban said:
I'm also buying a new microSDHC card. Should I format it in NTFS or FAT32?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fat32
10 chars

Hmm, maybe because it's a newer generation class 2 card?
perhaps my tests were done with older generation cards that gave out lower speeds.
Now I am curios...I can't wait to get back home and find the tests file.

foxmeister said:
Sorry, but that just isn't the case!
The class of an SD card is purely the minimum sustained write speed that the card will achieve in a completely unfragmented state. It has *nothing* to do with read speeds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, Dave is absolutely right, it's purely minimum sustained write speed for that class. And as you can see, his Class 2 card actually exceeds the class 6 spec for writing and isn't far off from Class 8 performance.
Looking around the web, the 32GB class 2 card I bought has similar performance in the benchmarks I've seen to Dave's Class 2 card. Not only that, the benchmarks are done on a PC. I doubt the phone has the I/O bandwidth to actually hit numbers like those in any kind of sustained way.

ok, my bad.
There is a slight difference between different brands (regarding read speed) but not so big.
regarding write speed .... I think that only if you use your sdcard with a swap partition you will see big differences.

[Q] Why class 6 SD card?

Hi all,
I've read in a few places that if you want to run apps from your SD card that you should have a class 6 SD card. Can anyone explain why this is? I've currently got the one that came with the phone, which is class 2. Just want to understand why I need it before splashing out the cash
Thanks

It's all about speed. Class 6 is faster than Class 4 is faster than Class 2. If you are happy with the performance with your Class 2 card, no need to splash out the cash.

yeah its just about speed, the higher the class the faster the r/w speed, you dont really need a class 6 these days tho, maybe in the old days of the g1/hero but not now

There's quite a bit of discussion on this and I'm honestly quite confused over this as well.
The higher classes just means faster write speeds but same read speeds. Certainly, this shouldn't affect the performance of apps that are installed on the card; unless the card is being used for swap memory.
Anyway, I've heard some users with 32GB microSD card (only available in class 2) using app2sd with no ill-effects. I've recently purchased one myself and will be swapping it out later tonight.

newbie on Android here.....may I ask....Im currently using a 16Gb mem card....If I change it to a 32Gb, what are the files that I need to copy to the new card, so that the apps/games currently installed will still run? I noticed there are so many folders inside my memory card now.....which one should I transfer to my new card? Or should I need to re-install the apps?
thanks..

dinoalbert said:
newbie on Android here.....may I ask....Im currently using a 16Gb mem card....If I change it to a 32Gb, what are the files that I need to copy to the new card, so that the apps/games currently installed will still run? I noticed there are so many folders inside my memory card now.....which one should I transfer to my new card? Or should I need to re-install the apps?
thanks..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you using apps2sd? or just running a stock like rom?

9 out of 10 users on this website would not be able to tell the difference in speed by running apps on a class 4 or class 6 cards.

AndroHero said:
are you using apps2sd? or just running a stock like rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using an OTA Froyo but already rooted....

Before the usual flamers get to write on this topic to say high-class cards are useless, it really comes down I think to the time you have available to wait for USB transfers. On a class 2 it takes AGES. I bought a class10 16gb and it's an absolute life changer (i do have a lot of public transport so I make heavy use of my phone as a video player)

phentex said:
Before the usual flamers get to write on this topic to say high-class cards are useless, it really comes down I think to the time you have available to wait for USB transfers. On a class 2 it takes AGES. I bought a class10 16gb and it's an absolute life changer (i do have a lot of public transport so I make heavy use of my phone as a video player)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another reason to have a class 4 or faster card in the phone is to have reliable 720p 25fps video recording. On my Class 2 with a2sd+ recording stutters.

thanks for the responses. from what i read previously, it talked about class 6 cards being less likely to be unmounted and causing problems to running applications. does this mean anything to anyone?!

Kashban said:
Another reason to have a class 4 or faster card in the phone is to have reliable 720p 25fps video recording. On my Class 2 with a2sd+ recording stutters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the reason when I eventually get the money I'll be getting a 16GB class 4 or 6 card. At the moment 720p is fairly pointless to me since I can't get smooth recordings with my SD card.

Have no issues with my 16Gb Class-2 sdcard. R/W speed enough to handle 720p recording and rockplayer playing avis perfectly.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

iLHaNroID said:
Have no issues with my 16Gb Class-2 sdcard. R/W speed enough to handle 720p recording and rockplayer playing avis perfectly.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you running A2SD or a2sd+ on your phone? If not, that may be the reason.
The more apps and widgets and stuff is moved to the sd, the more r/w-access happens to the card, which has serious impact on video recording. I really wish the internal memory of the Desire wasn't so small. What the heck did HTC think by putting only 560 MByte internal storage into their android flagship? The SGS has 5 GiBytes!

jstegeman said:
It's all about speed. Class 6 is faster than Class 4 is faster than Class 2. If you are happy with the performance with your Class 2 card, no need to splash out the cash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Incorrect!
The class of the card doesn't tell you the speed of a card - it tells you the *minimum* sustained write speed on a card which is completely unfragmented
A good quality class 2 card can and often will be faster than a poor quality class 6 card.
The two Sandisk Class 2 card I use both write at around 7.5mb/s, which is faster than the class 6 minimums.
Regards,
Dave

foxmeister said:
Incorrect!
The class of the card doesn't tell you the speed of a card - it tells you the *minimum* sustained write speed on a card which is completely unfragmented
A good quality class 2 card can and often will be faster than a poor quality class 6 card.
The two Sandisk Class 2 card I use both write at around 7.5mb/s, which is faster than the class 6 minimums.
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting info! Would explain why I have far fewer problems than most people report with 720p recording onto my class2 card.
So the real answer is: Benchmark your write speed before making any big purchasing decisions on SD cards.

Kashban said:
Another reason to have a class 4 or faster card in the phone is to have reliable 720p 25fps video recording. On my Class 2 with a2sd+ recording stutters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so a class 4 good enough for 720p? i have a class 2 right now and the recording is just horrible.. i thought that my phone was broken and have changed many custom roms

Bought a C6 16gb to replace C2 4Gb - definitely faster as USB drive - both Sandisk

[Q] microSD class 10

Hello,
I tried to use app2sd and move the cache, dalvick cache and all application data to the microSD class 2 but my phone got very slow response and I had to wait about 8 seconds for each application to open after I click it's icon.
I want to know if I bought microSD class 10 and then try to use app2sd will I still experience the slow response or will it be fast enough so that I don't find a difference between the internal memory and the class 10 microSD?

differences between class 2 and class 10 is huge, but for app2sd class 4 or 6 is highly enough,
i use class kingston class 10 + cm7r2 hboot tried many roms and no problem at all
so if you buy a class 6 or class 10 you wil be satisfied very well

sibere said:
Card class indicates minimum sequential write speed achievable on the card.
It's good for writing big files like movie files.
But when it comes to writing small random files, it can be the opposite. Many people reported having bad random write speeds with C10 cards whereas others reported better speeds with lower class cards.
It's a matter of sd controler quality and size of erase block size. Bigger and faster SD cards have bigger erase block sizes (up to 256Ko). It means that those cards need to write 256Ko of data even for writing a single byte on the card.
That's why C10 are not the best choice when it comes to DATA2SD or any kind of similar solution to short data storage on the Desire.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Creator of data2sd script.

mzaza said:
Hello,
I tried to use app2sd and move the cache, dalvick cache and all application data to the microSD class 2 but my phone got very slow response and I had to wait about 8 seconds for each application to open after I click it's icon.
I want to know if I bought microSD class 10 and then try to use app2sd will I still experience the slow response or will it be fast enough so that I don't find a difference between the internal memory and the class 10 microSD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
about 8 seconds for each application to open? u have some serious problems...that is not normal....wipe all partitions form recovery, re-format/re-partition the sd card and install the rom again..even with a class 2 every app should open instantanly, not in some seconds..
in addition avoid the stock "move to sd", leave all the apps in the internal memory/sd-ext, but don't use move to sd, as it sometimes that get the phone slow..better only use app2sd

erklat said:
Creator of data2sd script.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
also the speed depend on the kernel i guess, as i said with my class 10 no problem on any rom, just suprb speed, buy class 6 then instead of class 10 and do some reasearch your move

I have no issues with stock class 2 card, so something has to be badly broken with his device. I am merely pointing that class 10 obviously is not obligatory gadget for dalvik cache to work properly - if we assume it is responsible for poor performance.

I would strongly advise against buying a class 10 for the Desire. I bought one thinking it would be faster as did a friend of mine. My friends class 10 refuses to work point blank with either his or my phone, my class 10 works but it's very unreliable and I'm seeing some very low Quadrant scores. When I say unreliable, I have a 1Gb ext partition on it that seems not to work properly and I also had a Nandroid backup restore fail as the MD5 checksum failed. I'm getting a class 4 16Gb off Ebay now.

how can i check what class is my sd card ?
without opening the phone if it is possible
and what is the preffered class for data2ext ?

I also got a Class 10 and I am running InsertCoin 1.1.1 with CM7r2, no issues at all regarding speed. Whereas the speedtest shows that I do not reach full speed for the class 10 (just around 6MB/s write speed, with version 1.1.0 I had 8-9MB/s).

[Q] What Class Of SDcard?

Hi, im buying a 32gb sdcard for this phone but what class should i get?
I read somewhere that a class 10 is too fast to be able to run apps of it, when apps are moved to sdcard. Is that right?
If so, what class are all yours? 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10? Have you had troubles with them, or do they work fine?
Thanks

Jordanooo said:
Hi, im buying a 32gb sdcard for this phone but what class should i get?
I read somewhere that a class 10 is too fast to be able to run apps of it, when apps are moved to sdcard. Is that right?
If so, what class are all yours? 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10? Have you had troubles with them, or do they work fine?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using a class 10 32gb card and i've had no issue with any apps when i move them to SD card, why would an app care about the speed of an SD card? and wouldn't it be the opposite for an apps speed? (class 2 card slow to start etc)
BTW the class system isn't really important with android because fast read and writes arnt critical for apps to run fast (helps a little) so go with class 10 (there cheap anyway, plus you should get over 10MBPS read/write)

ff7fan4eva said:
I'm using a class 10 32gb card and i've had no issue with any apps when i move them to SD card, why would an app care about the speed of an SD card? and wouldn't it be the opposite for an apps speed? (class 2 card slow to start etc)
BTW the class system isn't really important with android because fast read and writes arnt critical for apps to run fast (helps a little) so go with class 10 (there cheap anyway, plus you should get over 10MBPS read/write)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, i thought the same thing about the speed :S dunno what he was on about haha. Ill go for a class 10 one
Thanks again!

Some people have had issues with class 10 cards as random access times can be slower. I have a class 6 and it works fine.
See this thread in xperia play accessories for more details
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1129749

sorry about creating a double thread, i didn't see that one

class 4 and/or 6 for me..

got a class 4... working awesome on my r800i, 2 co workers want 1 for the Htcs phones lol!

My sdcard is class 2, and all of my apps work just as fast as if they were internally installed

What Class SD Card is best for SPEED/SMOOTHNESS for DATA 2 SD CARD SETUP ROMS

Also, whats an easy way to find out what Class your SD card is?

It is written in on the card itself.
Why two threads? This is not a news group.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

The higher the class, the faster the card, max = class 10.

Class 6 card should be fine for speed and will cost less than a class 10 card which is only needed for speed freaks.

djsynth said:
Also, whats an easy way to find out what Class your SD card is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just look on your card! On my Sandisk 16GB microSD there is an open circle with a number (4), this number is the speed-class!
Recommended for the Desire is Class 4 or 6, Class 10 seems to be incompatible with Desires Hardware and produces lags!
Regards,
Guido

I use a 16 GB Trancend class 6 and it works perfectly. My 6 GB class 6 card was way faster though.
By the way, the method of A2SD used is also very important. SenseEvolution was a lot slower on my HTC desire than Mildwild and both use A2SD, though in a different manner.

I'd recommend a Transcend Class 6 for Data2SD

Im currently using Marange's MIUI V4 rom latest version 2.5.18
my set up LX2X
Shaky's kernel,
wake min 245000 max 111300 lagfree governor
sleep min 245000 max 460000 smartass v2 governor
the rom is really fast and pretty darn stable but every time i open an app that downloads alot of data or is larger i have to wait from 5-15seconds for the menus to pop up, its basically just waiting at black or white screen, i believe this to be because of my sd card but im not sure... alot of apps are normal but some like facebook is the worst and whats app takes about 5-8seconds to open up fully aswel...
is there anything i can do ? i have a 16gb sd card

I have testet with benchmark and found, that the class 10 card has no more speed as the class 4 card. So what, i use the low budget but high capacity class 4 card 32 gb.

Thanks for your observations which are probably useful to someone interested in those kind of roms, but when you say something is...
djsynth said:
pretty darn stable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...there are no buts!
huetti said:
I have testet with benchmark and found, that the class 10 card has no more speed as the class 4 card. So what, i use the low budget but high capacity class 4 card 32 gb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because sdcard and it's class is only one part of the coin. You have random i/o and phones memory controller. Any of the links in chain not working as expected (to be taken relatively as Desire was not intended to use >class6) and you'll get crappy speeds.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

Even class2 runs fine for me and it is faster than the specification since it does anywhere betweeen 3-5mg/sec instead of only two.
Its an original sandisk