- Obtained from: AliExpress
- Price paid: $2.59
- Advertised capacity: 64GB
- Logical capacity: 62,226,694,144 bytes
- Physical capacity: 62,226,694,144 bytes
- Fake/skimpy flash: Skimpy (2.77% skimp)
- Protected area: 134,217,728 bytes (inaccessible)
- Speed class markings: U3, V30, A1
- CID data:
- Manufacturer ID:
0x27* - OEM ID:
0x5048(ASCII:PH)* - Product name:
0x5344363447(ASCII:SD64G) - Product revision:
0x60
- Manufacturer ID:
| Sample # | 1 | 2 | 3 | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacture date | Sep 2023 | Sep 2023 | Aug 2023 | N/A |
| Serial number | 0xdaa7c5cb | 0xdaa7c0f2 | 0xda8b768f | N/A |
| Sequential read speed (MB/sec) | 94.20 | 94.16 | 94.16 | 94.17 |
| Sequential write speed (MB/sec) | 45.02 | 45.18 | 45.54 | 45.25 |
| Random read speed (IOPS/sec) | 2,618.90 | 2,476.21 | 2,649.15 | 2,581.42 |
| Random write speed (IOPS/sec) | 1,104.32 | 1,082.48 | 1,088.94 | 1,091.91 |
| Read/write cycles to first error | Not yet determined | 639 | 544 | 592 |
| Read/write cycles to complete failure | Not yet determined | Not yet determined | Not yet determined | Not yet determined |
| Total days to complete failure | Not yet determined | Not yet determined | Not yet determined | Not yet determined |
| Card reader used | JJS CR-UTC4AC | JJS CR-UTC4AC | JJS CR-UTC4AC | N/A |
| Package front |  |  |  | N/A |
| Package back |  |  |  | N/A |
| Card front |  |  |  | N/A |
| Card back |  |  |  | N/A |
* This manufacturer ID/OEM ID is pretty well known to be associated with Phison.
Discussion
This is another card that came up as part of AliExpress’s “pick up to 10 items” sales. Looking at these cards, I’m not sure how they ended up in the Chinese market — there’s no Mandarin text on the package, and the languages that are on there (plus the presence of an EAN) tells me that these cards were likely intended for retail in Europe. But regardless, they made their way to China — or possibly never left China — so let’s take a closer look at them.
Even before opening the package, it’s pretty obvious that these cards were sourced from PNY. For starters, you can see PNY’s website in the authenticity seal on the front:
Second, there are support emails on the back that are at PNY.com:
And lastly, there are regulatory marks on the back that list PNY as the applicant:
So…these were made by (or sourced from*) PNY under license from HP.
But how well do they perform? Well…actually, pretty decent. All scores were above average, with two of the three cards getting random read scores that were more than one standard deviation above average, and all three cards getting random write scores that were more than two standard deviations above average. They scored in the 82nd percentile for random read speed, and in the 95th percentile for random write speeds. In fact, the lowest of all the performance measurements — which was the sequential write speed on sample #1 — put it in the 73rd percentile.
These cards carry the U3, V30, and A1 marks — and they performed well enough to qualify for all three of them. Not a bad deal for under $3.
Endurance tests for all three samples are still ongoing:
- Sample #1 has not yet reached the 2,000 read/write cycle mark. It is currently expected to get there sometime in October 2024.
- Sample #2’s first error was a single bit flip error, in a single sector, during round 640. It has survived 945 read/write cycles in total so far.
- Sample #3’s first error was a single bit flip error, in a single sector, during round 545. It has survived 789 read/write cycles in total so far.
* The manufacturer ID being used by these cards is assigned to Phison — so it would seem that PNY licensed the naming rights from HP, then had Phison manufacture the cards for them.
July 9, 2024 (current number of read/write cycles is updated automatically every hour)