How many SD cards do you have? It is possible that you use them to store important data, personal documents or any other type of element. But do you know that those memory cards are not going to be good for a lifetime? Do not get confused, because, as we are going to tell you below, sooner or later they could end up spoiling.
An SD memory card is not like food, it expires after certain days. On paper, there is no specific figure that you should take into account and set yourself as an alarm on your mobile. But there are broadly stipulated deadlines, such as that the average durability is established in a period of 10 years. Outside of that, there are a lot of factors that will influence resistance.
So are your memory cards
Not all storage devices are the same. SD cards use Flash memory, which guarantees a high level of durability so you can trust that your files are protected at all times. However, everything has its limits. Inside the SD memories cells are included with which one interacts by electrical processes.
Electrical signals is how you interact with the cards in any type of function, from programming the cards to making changes to them. Actually, for you to understand it better, the data is stored as electrical charges. However, and although it is an efficient type of memory, they are also cells that can suffer over time and be significantly affected. The electrical charges where the data is stored could undergo changes in their state that would result in the stored information being affected. To avoid this, we recommend that you apply the methods that we share with you in this article a little later.
How long do they last?
Before we told you that the average is 10 years. That's the standard that manufacturers meet, but it can be raised or lowered depending on how you store your cards. The lower the temperature in which the cards are stored, the longer they will survive in good condition. That is something that applies to other systems and storage devices as well. Of course, this does not mean that you have to put the card in the fridge for better preservation. Everything has to fit within the limits of logic and understand that a cool and well-ventilated place is better than a place where the card is exposed to the sun.
Beyond time, what will also affect the state of the card will be the times you use it and rewrite the data. In this regard, the level of durability is counted in TBW (Terabytes Written) or, what is the same, the amount of data that has been written to the card. But not all SD cards have the same level of TBW, rather it varies depending on their technology or even brand. One aspect that you should look at, in this regard, is the type of cell that the card has.
The SD that have cells of a single level are the ones that will provide you with the greatest durability and that, therefore, you will take better advantage of. These are recognized by the acronym SLC. You will also find multilevel and triple level cards, represented by the initials MLC and TLC. Knowing these data, take note of the following: with the SLC you will have a cap of 100,000 TBW, with the MLC of a maximum of 30,000 TBW and with the TLC of only 1,500 TBW as a cap. Therefore, it is clearly seen that the performance that you will enjoy will be much higher in the event that you select a single level one.
How to increase durability?
It is recommended that you keep the cards in a medium temperature or as cool as possible. Storing the cards simply in a drawer or box does not have to be the best option, but it is worse if you expose them to direct contact with the sun or heating. You must also be careful with their physical condition, do not drop them, hit them or subject them to other levels of stress. Remember, also, the recommendation not to abuse the writing and deletion of data, since although the resistance is very high, it will be something that will end up running out as we have mentioned in the previous paragraph.
Opt for SD cards of the highest possible quality and for brands that have a certain reputation, since they will be the ones that will give you the best performance. Also, remember that you shouldn't use these types of cards to store files that you don't have anywhere else. You can never know if the card will suddenly stop working, leading to you losing that valuable data. An SD card is much more recommended for cases in which you transport data temporarily and not for long-term storage.
