Nowadays, smartphones are not only used for communication, but also for storing large numbers of digital items such as photos, videos, important files, and more. And MEMORY CARD plays an important role in it.
When it comes to the memory card, TF card and Micro SD card will come to your mind. But still, many of you guys are confused about these two types of cards, and not sure if they are the same or different.
So today, I'm gonna discuss the memory cards and show their differences.
Part 2. What is a Micro SD card?
TF Card is the abbreviation of TransFlash Card, which was launched by SanDisk in 2004. This micro secure digital card, with a size close to the fingernail, is considered to be the smallest memory card worldwide. You can use it on iPods, PDAs, digital cameras, smartphones and so on.
Micro SD Card is the abbreviation of Micro Secure Digital Card. As a flashcard, it is designed to store data on Smartphones or other mobile devices. Recently, it can also be used on some handheld GPS devices.
We can almost say they are the same.
1. First of all, both of them were released by SanDisk. (The Micro SD card was born after the TF card.)
2. Additionally, TF card and Micro SD card share the same dimension.
TF card - 15 mm x 11 mm x 1 mm
Micro SD card - 15 mm x 11 mm x 1 mm (microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC, microSDUC)
But other memory cards don't.
Mini SD card - 21.5 mm × 20 mm × 1.4 mm (miniSD, miniSDHC, miniSDIO)
Standard SD card - 24 mm x 32 mm x 2.1 mm SD (SDSC, SDHC, SDXC, SDIO, SDUC)
3. Both TF and microSD card support 512MB, 256MB, 128MB, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 6GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 256GB storage size and capacity.
4. More importantly, many smart devices are fully compatible with both types of cards.
However, there are still some differences between them. Let's see.
1. The Micro SD card supports SDIO mode, which means it can do non-memory jobs, including Bluetooth, GPS and Near Field Communication, while TransFlash cannot.
2. The security segment in the Micro SD card has a switch, but the TransFlash card does not. And you can use a card adapter.
3. Memory size Maximum- TF card up to 128GB, and SD card up to 2TB.
Except for the above differences, so far there is no significant difference between TransFlash cards and microSD cards. As for the price, both cards are a little bit more expensive than the standard SD card.
That's all! I hope that I've clearly told the difference between the Micro SD memory card and the TF memory card.
Q1: If the supported spec list of my device includes TF memory card, can I use a microSD card?
A1: Yes, you can purchase a microSD card and use it on your device. If a TF card is available, so does a microSD card. Plus, please note that the MicroSDHC card and MiniSD card may not be compatible. So it is best to buy microSD.
Q2: Yesterday, my sister told me that she has an SD card. Then I tried but I found it is bigger than the TF card on my Android phone. Why?
A2: Check if your SD card is a microSD card. Only the size of the MicroSD card and TF card are the same. Other SD cards, such as miniSD cards, are not. Also, consider whether she got an old one from AD 2005.
Q3: Is it possible to recover files from corrupted SD Card?
A3: Yes, but it depends. You can refer to tips about how to recover corrupted SD Card.
Day-to-day new technologies keep emerging and will never stop. And many other memory card formats have replaced the older SD cards, providing more efficient storage for storing digital information and files. The future is very promising, isn't it?
Please write down your thoughts on the content of this post, and we can discuss more in the comment section below.
Last Updated: October 23, 2019
Author: Cori S. Kim /
Passionate about Smartphone products, aiming to provide useful methods as well as how-to tips to fix iPhone, iPad, Android related issues.