MicroSD Card Endurance Test Writes 133 Petabytes Across 351 Cards Over Three Years

Extensive MicroSD Card Endurance Testing

Matt Cole initiated a long-term endurance test for microSD cards in 2023, accumulating 351 cards from 52 different brands and 111 models. The project aims to identify which microSD cards offer the longest lifespan under extreme write conditions. So far, 177 cards have failed, becoming read-only or experiencing significant sector verification failures, while 107 are still undergoing testing.

Testing Methodology and Categories

The testing conditions are extreme, involving continuous data writes to simulate heavy usage beyond typical consumer scenarios. Cole categorized the microSD cards into consumer-grade, high-endurance, and industrial-grade. Consumer-grade cards are standard retail products, high-endurance cards are specifically labeled for durability, and industrial-grade cards are designed for heavy-duty applications with explicit endurance claims.

Performance of Consumer-Grade Cards

Results for consumer-grade microSD cards indicate an average endurance of 10,000 program/verify/erase cycles. PNY, Kingston, Delkin Devices, Lexar, and Samsung were identified as the top five brands in this category. Amazon Basics cards also showed notable endurance, running for 788 days with 16,600 cycles and 4.2PB written without failure, though they were not included in the main ranking due to potential NAND chip variability.