SD Micro card reliability

[ADD]

I guess this question is both specific and general at the same time. I own an iriver X20 and decided to try out the expansion slot (SD micro format). I had a Sandisk 1 Gb card which I had bought last year (I recall formatting it and briefly trying it out in the X20 after buying it) and decided to use that particular card for more extended testing over the last week or so.

Anyway I have been noticing that the ability of the X20 to detect this SD micro once inserted is rather haphazard. Sometimes it will recognise that it has the card inserted, but sometimes the card won't even appear on the X20 interface at all (and attempting to format the "non existent" card in the X20 produces an error message on the X20).

The other thing I have noticed though, is that when I insert this same card into my PC card reader, sometimes I have to insert it a couple of times before Windows recognises it. Well, to be specific, the card reader LED flashes (so it knows something has been inserted), but Windows cannot detect any actual flashcard. Infact a couple of days back, Windows could not even "see" the card at all, even after multiple insertions. I have tried formatting the card on the PC, formatting on the X20, etc, but the problems of recognition when inserted remain.

All the above suggests to me that the problem is likely to be with the card itself rather than the X20 (or PC / PC card reader). Infact yesterday when I was at Officeworks I saw they were selling these Sandisk cards for only $10, so I picked one up and have not had any problems so far (but that is only a day of usage thus far).

So I guess the question is: how robust have other users found this SD Micro format to be? And what of Sandisk reliability? I wouldn't be keen on buying these cards if I found that they were unreliable in any way. Another member here (whose opinions I respect greatly) was telling me some weeks back that he wasn't keen on the idea of storing data on flash media because it was not really proven in terms of reliability and that evidence suggested that it isn't actually very robust (for example, cards might need reformatting ocassionally).

And Sandisk seems to strike me as a sort of "supermarket" brand anyway. It's everywhere, it's cheap and it's always "on special" I have always used Kingston memory in all my PC computer builds and have never, ever had any issues at all with Kingston, but then again I have never tried their SD micro cards either. I know I can't necessarily draw any parallels between PC RAM technology and SD Micro products made by the same company, but I was sort of hoping that perhaps the Kingston SD Micro stuff might have the legendary reliability of their PC memory. The other brand I can buy down here in Australia is Emtec (which seems to have a BASF pedigree) but they tend to be too expensive.

I should add that I always found Corsair memory to be 100% reliable as well and I was a bit surprised to see they had pulled out of the Micro SD market.

[chadbang]

I hear the SD market is hit and miss these days. They are mass produced in the millions and, obviously, QC can't be perfect. I agree Sandisk is everywhere - and if anyone might be guilty (I say might) of not being able to exercise tight QC, I'd probably say Sandisk would be at the top of the list for potential errors.

[Warhawk]

I bought a 4gb micro from sandisk, and it's been working like a charm.

It works through my printer(laptop can't read cards) and on the DS.

[marvelusjd]

I've got a 2gb Sandisk Micro SD card I use with my Sansa E250 and has worked like a dream with no issues.

[0roo0roo]

i find that after a while they get fiddly when using full size sd adaptors. as with your experience, it takes a couple insertions to detect. they don't seem to be that robust.

[Drag0n]

They created CF cards and other memory, and at the store i work at, ive never had returns of sandisk memory for anything connected to a malfunction, only because people got the wrong size, etc.
I also use sandisk products and ive never had a problem with any of them.

[major_works]

Originally Posted by marvelusjd

I've got a 2gb Sandisk Micro SD card I use with my Sansa E250 and has worked like a dream with no issues.

For me it's a 4GB Micro SD and an e270. Same result though... flawless performance with Rockbox on the Sansa.

[0roo0roo]

well by the time people have problems with them its too late or not worth returning. the prices drop so quickly. cf cards are probalby more robust, but well they are big and thats not popular these days for anything other than pro cams.