Micron has upped the ante with the maximum storage volume of microSD memory cards and increased it from the previous 1 TB to 1.5 TB and thus by 50 percent. In line with the presentation at the Embedded World trade fair, however, the product is not aimed at hobby filmmakers but at companies.
According to the company, Micron designed the “world's first 1.5 TB microSD” primarily for “industrial video security”. The memory card of the new i400 series is said to be “perfect for video storage at the network edge and hybrid VSaaS deployments”. As an example, the manufacturer cites the use in small companies, which can save bandwidth due to the less frequent need to outsource (video) data to the cloud. The high storage capacity is also of particular benefit in remote locations such as cargo ships or oil platforms.
Five years of recordings in a row
According to Micron, the i400 microSD with 1.5 TB storage volume should survive “five years of continuous 24/7 high-quality recording”; an appropriate bit rate provided. Conventional memory cards for end users, on the other hand, only offer “limited writing ability”. Whether the i400 really withstands more write cycles than the consumer products remains unproven for the time being.
Micron's 176-layer generation flash memory is used; It is still unclear whether it is the TLC or QLC version.
Micron
The i400 follows in the footsteps of the i300 series, which is also primarily intended for industrial video surveillance and was presented at the end of 2019 with up to 1 TB of storage space (96 layers QLC).
More storage volume and more guarantee
According to Micron, the i400 series has the extended warranty from three to five years and the top model with 1.5 TB over the i300 series. The new memory cards support the speed classes A2, U3 and Class 10. A minimum sequential write speed of 30 MB/s is required for U3. The 128GB i400 steps out of line with U1 (10MB/s minimum).
What does it do the competition?
Samsung and Western Digital have also designed their own series of memory cards especially for video recording in the corporate sector, but they still lag behind Micron in terms of storage capacity. Samsung calls the cards Pro Endurance microSD and Western Digital calls them WD Purple microSD.