Choosing the right MicroSD card for Drone
A lot of drones don’t have internal storage. That’s where MicroSD cards step in to provide storage for your drone but with all the classifications and types of MicroSD cards, it can be hard choosing the right MicroSD card for your drone. In this article, I’m going to explain the classifications, types, and even the letters and symbols printed on MicroSD cards.
Storage Capacity – printed big and bold, and probably what most consumers pay the most attention to, is the microSD card’s capacity. A larger capacity means more images/videos can be saved before running out of space/storage.
Type of card – “MicroSDXC” also known as Secure Digital Extended Capacity. This type of card that can store 32GB up to 2TB. The other type of MicroSD card is “MicroSDHC” stands for Micro SD High Capacity and it can store 2GB up to 32GB.
UHS Class Speed – is the minimum write performance for the card, represented by a number inside the letter “U”. U1 means it’s 10 MB/s while U3 means it’s rated at 30 MB/s
Video Speed Class – is the minimum sequential writing speed of the card. The number following the “V” indicates the minimum number of MB/s the card is capable of sequentially writing. In the example above, the card is minimally capable of writing 30 MBs of data to the card every second.
Video Speed Class | Speed | Suggested Use |
V6 | 6 MB/s | Up to 720p |
V10 | 10 MB/s | Up to 1080p |
V30 | 30 MB/s | Up to 4K |
V60 | 60 MB/s | Up to 8K |
V90 | 90 MB/s | Up to 8k |
Bus Interface – there are currently three UHS Bus Interface categories: UHS-I, UHS-II and UHS-III. In the example above, the card is UHS-I means “Ultra High Speed – I” it has maximum bus speed of 104 MB/s.
Application Performance Class – This rating guarantees more consistent performance while running apps off the MicroSD card. The A1 rating requires a minimum sustained sequential write speed of 10 MB/s. It also mandates a random read input/output operation per second (IOPS) of at least 1,500 and a random write IOPS of at least 500.
To make things simple, if your drone can shoot up to 4K/30fps video you need to buy MicroSD card with V30 Video Speed Class or above, but always consider the maximum capacity of the card and make sure to check your drone manufacturer’s website and read the list of compatible MicroSD cards.
