Samsung PRO Endurance 128GB microSDXC Memory Card

Model: Samsung PRO Endurance 128GB microSDXC Memory Card
Manufacturer: Samsung Electronics
Provided By: Samsung America

Samsung Electronics has been a leader in the electronics industry for more than 30 years. Since the introduction of their first television in 1970, this Korean company has grown to become one of the world's leading electronics manufacturers, offering everything from tiny semiconductors to large home appliances. Samsung is no stranger to the storage industry either. Along with an assortment of DVD and Blu-ray Disc drives, the company offers both hard drive and flash based storage solutions for the portable and desktop computer markets.

It's been a number of  years since Samsung launched its current line of SD and microSD cards. Since then, the company has continued to deliver new memory cards with faster speeds and greater capacities. The latest addition to Samsung's lineup is the PRO Endurance. Available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities, this new microSD card is designed for consumers who use intensive monitoring applications such as surveillance and security cameras, body cameras and dash cams. The PRO Endurance offers industry-leading endurance with up to 43,800 hours (5 years) of continuous video recording. Also, thanks to its 90 MB/s read and 30 MB/s write speeds, it is the only high endurance card on the market that provides Full HD recording and 4K video support.

Like Samsung's other microSD cards, the PRO Endurance boasts 4-proof protection. This means that the card is guaranteed to survive up to 72 hours in seawater and endure operating temperatures from -25°C to 85°C and non-operating temperatures from -40°C to 85°C. Data stored on the card is also not affected by X-rays and can resist up to 15,000 gauss magnetic force - the equivalent of a high-field MRI scanner.

Needless to say, this is only a taste of what the PRO Endurance memory card has to offer. To give you an idea of what to expect, we'll take a closer look at Samsung's new microSD card and then see how well it performs. Does the PRO Endurance have what it takes? Keep reading as we find out.

Packaging:

Like most other memory cards, Samsung's PRO Endurance microSDXC card comes packaged in a cardboard blister pack. The front of the packaging advertises many of the card's key features including its capacity, class rating and rated speeds. The pictures on the front also serve a purpose as they are there to help consumers choose a card based on their intended use. In this case, the picture suggests that Samsung's PRO Endurance microSDXC card is ideal for devices like surveillance cameras, dashcams and body cameras.

The back of the packaging provides a bit more information regarding the features and capabilities of Samsung's PRO Endurance microSDXC card. Along with the card's UHS speed class rating, the packaging shows that it is covered by a 10 year warranty and is water, magnet, temperature and x-ray proof.

Physical Features:

When it comes to Samsung's memory cards, appearance is just as important as performance and capacity. To make the cards stand out from the competition, they come in bright, color-coded hues. In the case of Samsung's new PRO Endurance card, the top is white and black in color with a red stripe. It also has a large Samsung logo and clearly shows the capacity, model and UHS speed class.

As you'd expect, Samsung's new microSDXC card is quite small. It measures 15 x 11 x 1 mm and weighs in at about 0.5g. Nevertheless, the card is surprisingly tough as it can withstand up to 72 hours in seawater, extreme temperatures, airport X-ray machines and magnetic fields equivalent to an MRI scanner.

For added value and convenience, Samsung includes a full-size SD card adapter with all of its microSD cards. Simply insert the card into the adapter and you can use it with SD-enabled devices such as digital cameras, laptops, printers etc. This especially comes in handy if you ever need to transfer surveillance footage from a camera to a PC or device with an SD slot.

Performance:

The test system used in this review is equipped with an Intel Core i7-6700K CPU, GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-UD3 motherboard, 32GB (16GB x 2) of Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4 memory, Samsung 960 PRO 512GB SSD, GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1060 WINDFORCE OC 6G graphics card and a Transcend TS-RDF5K USB 3.0 card reader. For the operating system, I installed a fresh copy of Windows 10 Enterprise.

To test the performance of Samsung's 128GB PRO Endurance microSDXC card, I ran a series of benchmarks using CrystalDiskMark and ATTO Disk Benchmark. To get a feel for the "real world" performance, I also copied and pasted 1GB of random files and directories as well as a single 4GB ISO file in Windows Explorer.

CrystalDiskMark 5.1.2:

First, I ran a few quick tests using CrystalDiskMark. This benchmark tool measures the performance of a storage device by testing its sequential read and write speeds as well as its random read and write speeds using blocks 512K and 4K in size.

Samsung PRO Endurance 128GB microSDXC

Samsung EVO Plus 128GB microSDXC

According to Samsung, the 128GB version of their PRO Endurance microSDXC card is capable of reading at 100 MB/s and writing at 30 MB/s. While the card performed better than expected when writing, it came up a bit short in CrystalDiskMark's sequential read test.

ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46:

I also used ATTO Disk Benchmark to test the PRO Endurance microSDXC card's sequential read and write speeds. The test was run using blocks ranging in size from 0.5KB to 8192KB and the total length set to 256MB.

Samsung PRO Endurance 128GB microSDXC

Samsung EVO Plus 128GB microSDXC

When tested with ATTO, the PRO Endurance microSDXC card's read speeds topped out at about 92 MB/s and its write speeds at 45 MB/s.

"Real World" Benchmark:

To test the "real world" performance of Samsung's PRO Endurance microSDXC memory card, I copied and pasted 1GB worth of randomly generated files and directories. All of the files are between 1KB and 95MB in size and no more than five directories deep. To see how well the card handled large files, I also copied and pasted a 4GB ISO file.

Samsung's new card performed fairly well here, taking 37 seconds to write 1GB worth of test data and 14 seconds to read it back.

Final Thoughts:

Samsung's new PRO Endurance microSD card is a great addition to the company's already impressive line of flash memory cards. Designed for continual use in surveillance and security cameras, body cameras and dash cams, the PRO Endurance is built to last. As well as being water, temperature, X-ray and magnet proof, the card offers best-in-class endurance with up to 43,800 hours of continuous video recording. The big trade off here is that the PRO Endurance isn't as fast as many speed-focused cards. Nevertheless, it is Class 10 rated and is more than capable of recording and playing back video in 4K and Full HD.

Samsung's PRO Endurance memory cards are available now in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities. Prices on Amazon.com currently range from $19 up to $60 for the 128GB version reviewed here.

Highs:

• Large storage capacity
• Industry-leading endurance rating
• Good read and write speeds
• Water, temperature, x-ray and magnet proof
• Includes SD adapter

Lows:

• More expensive than normal memory cards
• Not as fast as speed-focused cards
• Warranty varies depending on capacity