The secret to distinguish and use memory cards

Compact size, high speed and high capacity make memory cards quickly become popular storage media in mobile phones, digital cameras, PDAs, MP3 players . Although highly reliable, the card Remember also requires proper care to extend life.

Only half the size of a regular gum, each memory card can hold up to hundreds of digital photos or songs. At the present time, the electronic design of the card is safer for data on the move than the mechanical-electronic design of mobile hard drives.

The two most popular cards on the market today are Multimedia Card (MMC / RS-MMC) for mobile phones and Secure Digital (SD) for digital cameras. Some special types such as Compact Flash (CF) for professional digital cameras, specialized Memory Sticks in Sony digital devices and xD Picture for Olympus digital cameras.

Of the above, SD cards are more dominant because approximately 70% of digital cameras use this type for storage. Some recent mobile phone models also use SD or Mini-SD version instead of MMC cards. According to Mr. Nguyen Hong Vu, owner of Vu Nhat digital camera (Hanoi), SD memory card has now reached the optimal standard limit in size, speed and capacity suitable for personal digital devices. . " If it is smaller, it will be inconvenient for users to disassemble and reduce the maximum capacity of the card ," Vu said.

Increasing demand for memory cards enables suppliers to produce large quantities, reducing product costs by half compared to a year ago, while shortening the price gap between capacity options. For cards with strong consumption such as SD and MMC, 512 MB capacity has a retail price of about 15-17 USD, not much different from the 256 MB type (about 12 USD to 14 USD). But a 1 GB card sold less still stays at $ 30-31, twice as high as 512 MB.

Distinguish true fake

When products are widely consumed, fake brands of famous brands also naturally appear. Distinguishing "good" and "bad" memory cards is even more difficult for professional people. " Somehow, some factories in China have been able to import genuine cards. The external design is well-printed, so the identification of false positives is mainly based on personal experiences and feelings. "Mr. Vu said.

Technicians in Phu Thai, distribution company and forum owner specialize in memory cards, indicating that users can look at the contact point to feel. If the copper layer here is bright and smooth, the probability is higher. With a genuine card that has not been used any time, just removing it in the card once is leaving the contact point because the copper layer here is very soft. Counterfeit cards use harder, hard-to-scratch copper, making it hard to leave marks.

Differentiate Transcend memory card by looking at the serial number on the card and box.Photo: HH

According to market people, distinguishing Transcend's genuine memory card is easiest because it always prints a blue serial number on the back of the card, coinciding with the number printed on the box. Users can search for products they buy at website www.transcendusa.com with this number. Serial number of fake Transcend card cannot be searched on the above website or give wrong information about the product.

Other famous brands such as Sandisk, Kingston . all have counterfeit goods. In Vietnam, the only Kingston product is distributed by FPT and CMS. Most unknown cards are fake.

Kingston SD Elite Pro cards are genuine (left) and counterfeit (right).Photo: HH

Use and store cards

- Avoid bending, dropping and exposing the card to magnetism.
- The camera should be turned off when removing the card.
- Do not delete photos directly from the card on the computer.
- Restrict to bring photo wash cards directly at the store.
- Do not abuse the Card Format function.

According to the experience of many vendors, memory cards for digital cameras are more likely to fail than other devices such as PDAs, phones or music players. The reason is that digital cameras have high working voltages, which are easily shocking. Also removing the memory card from the camera is more frequent than other devices. Vu Nhat camera owner said that the life of the card depends much on the usage of customers, even if it is a genuine product.

Memory cards are especially sensitive to electrical problems, so avoid contact with magnetism. Users should turn off the power when removing the memory card. When washing photos, users should transfer photos on a CD or USB card instead of bringing a memory card to the store because the staff here sometimes does not have enough time to turn off the reading device when removing the card for the customer. In addition, users should not abuse the Format (format) card feature. The internal design of the memory card allows for disassembly, read and write about 10,000 times and over 1,000 times Format. Formatting the memory card should only be used when there are too many junk files remaining after a long time of use as the capacity is reduced compared to the original. In addition, reformatting the card also fixes corrupt errors (wrong format) is very common when used in many different devices.

For digital travel cameras, card speed does not show much difference as in the professional model. Ordinary users can optionally choose cards that match their camera resolution. With a "6 dots" camera (6.0 megapixels) to "7 dots", the 1 GB card is most suitable. 8.0 megapixel camera should use cards with a capacity of over 2 GB.

Hung Hai