Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSD Card Review

Manufacturer: Samsung Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSD Card Review

Samsung is releasing their new memory card lineup with the PRO Plus and EVO Plus microSD and SD cards, which the company says are “designed for professional and enthusiast photographers, videographers and content creators”.

“Optimized for professional use, the new Pro Plus microSD and SD cards provide lightning-fast read and write speeds of up to 160 megabytes per second (MB/s) and 120 MB/s respectively, allowing users to seamlessly capture 4K ultra-high definition (UHD) and Full HD (FHD) videos.

The EVO Plus cards offer up to 1.3 times faster performance than the previous generation at 130 MB/s, making them ideal for both enthusiasts and casual users who want dependable and responsive performance for day-to-day usage.

With a 10-year limited warranty, added durability and up to a half-terabyte of storage capacity, Samsung’s new memory cards provide ample storage for 360-degree photos, hours of 4K UHD helmet camera and aerial drone video capture, and more.”

Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSD Card Review - Storage 9

It wasn’t that long ago that I was relying on 16GB memory cards, and thought that 128GB was massive. Now we have 512GB in a microSD card. Let’s see how it performs.

Product Specifications

Samsung PRO Plus microSD Card

  • Capacity: 512GB, 256GB, 128GB
  • Interface: UHS-I
  • SD Standard: SDXC
  • Speed Class: U3, V30, A2, Class 10
  • Performance (all capacities): Up to 160 MB/s read, up to 120 MB/s write
  • Warranty: 10 years (SD adapter 1 year)
Pricing
  • Samsung PRO Plus 128GB microSD: $34.99 ($39.99 with optional USB 3.0 Samsung Memory Card Reader)
  • Samsung PRO Plus 256GB microSD: $54.99 ($59.99 with optional USB 3.0 Samsung Memory Card Reader)
  • Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSD: $109.99 ($114.99 with optional USB 3.0 Samsung Memory Card Reader – as reviewed)
Manufacturer Description

“Samsung’s latest generation PRO Plus and EVO Plus microSD cards support an enhanced video speed class rating of V30 and an application performance class of A24 to enable high-quality content capture on a wide variety of consumer applications, from mobile devices and action cameras to drones. Backed by Samsung’s six-proof protection, the microSD line can withstand water, extreme temperatures, x-ray, wear-out, drops and magnetic impact. “

The PRO Plus microSD Card

We were sent one of the new PRO Plus microSD cards in a 512GB capacity, and the retail package we received also includes a USB card reader.

Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSD Card Review - Storage 10

This PRO Plus card offers speed ratings of U3, V30, A2, Class 10. Capacities of 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB are offered, each with rated sequential transfer speeds of 160 MB/s read, 120 MB/s write.

Here is Samsung’s spec table for the microSD PRO Plus and EVO Plus cards:

Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSD Card Review - Storage 11

And, for reference, the specs for the standard SD versions as well:

Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSD Card Review - Storage 12

Having looked at the official specs, let’s see how our 512GB sample performed in a couple of simple tests.

Performance

Admittedly, storage reviews that don’t delve into the technical details about flash memory and controllers are not breaking any new ground, but I still wanted to verify the transfer speed claims. Here goes.

The drive arrived formatted with the exFAT file system, and there was no software or any other files on the volume. I re-formatted to NTFS and enabled the higher performance mode in Windows, as the card (in the Samsung reader) defaulted to fast removal.

Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSD Card Review - Storage 13

These sequential speeds from this Samsung microSD card are very close to the Lexar Professional 1066x SDXC card we recently tested, with the PRO Plus offering higher random performance.

Here is a comparison with other recently-tested SD storage. I’ll quickly note that while the other cards on the charts are 128GB, Samsung rates identical performance from their 128GB and 256GB version of the PRO Plus microSD card.

Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSD Card Review - Storage 14
Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSD Card Review - Storage 15

No complaints here, as the card came within 1 MB/s of its rated read speed in multiple test runs and out-performs the rated write speed. The overall performance, including slightly better 4K random read/write numbers than the previous PRO Plus and EVO Plus cards, is excellent.

Final Thoughts

With a sample size of one I can’t speak for the entire lineup of the PRO Plus and EVO Plus cards that Samsung is releasing today, but the 512GB PRO Plus microSD that we checked out worked as intended and hit its rated speeds. What more could you ask for in a memory card?

Well, reliability is very high on the list. On that topic I can only offer that I didn’t encounter any issues, but that was in short-term testing. The 10-year warranty Samsung is providing for these cards helps instill confidence, as does Samsung’s “six-proof protection”, in which “the microSD line can withstand water, extreme temperatures, x-ray, wear-out, drops, and magnetic impact”.

Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSD Card Review - Storage 16

And now for the value proposition.  The PRO Plus microSD (the subject of this review) cards have list prices as follows:

  • Samsung PRO Plus 128GB microSD: $34.99 ($39.99 with optional USB 3.0 Samsung Memory Card Reader)
  • Samsung PRO Plus 256GB microSD: $54.99 ($59.99 with optional USB 3.0 Samsung Memory Card Reader)
  • Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSD: $109.99 ($114.99 with optional USB 3.0 Samsung Memory Card Reader – as reviewed)

For reference, Samsung states that the EVO Plus microSD lineup will range from $18.99 – $99.99 for the 64GB to 512GB capacities.

Considering that the PRO Plus cards hit the 160 MB/s speed of high-end offerings such as the SanDisk Extreme cards, these prices are quite competitive – with the Extreme cards selling for more from stores like Best Buy (I try to ignore pricing from unauthorized Amazon 3rd parties considering how widely counterfeited cards such as these can be.)

Samsung continues to set a high standard for high speed, affordable, and reliable microSD storage. I expect street prices to be lower than these list prices, which will make the new PRO Plus and EVO Plus microSD cards an even better solution.

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About The Author

Sebastian Peak

Editor-in-Chief at PC Perspective. Writer of computer stuff, vintage PC nerd, and full-time dad. Still in search of the perfect smartphone. In his nonexistent spare time Sebastian's hobbies include hi-fi audio, guitars, and road bikes. Currently investigating time travel.

9 Comments

  1. willmore

    I question your methodology when you reformatted it from the filesystem it came with. You should at least have tested it with the default format to verify that you’re seeing the same performance as the state in which the manufacturer shipped it.

    Reply
    • Sebastian Peak

      You’ve been questioning our reviews for years, but still read the site. I appreciate that.

      Reply
      • willmore

        I only comment to try to improve things. Please take my criticism as constructive. You do good work, but we all can do better.

        And, yeah, I’ve been here a very long time. 🙂

        Reply
  2. Dvon of Edzore

    The unqualified wear-out “proof” statement doesn’t really say anything. Obviously throwing the card into Mt. Doom will exceed whatever “temperature proof” claim Samsung appears to make, so such statements are legally “puffery” and can’t be enforced in court.

    Is there a warranty mentioning a data transfer limitation? Does it suffer if a single address is constantly written? Does this device have more or less write endurance than a contemporary SSD of similar size? The conventional wisdom has been not to use SD cards in write-intensive applications. Are these devices now the exception?

    Reply
  3. Patricia 2626

    We need a pie board and see how do they perform vs a cheaper one.

    Reply
    • willmore

      I asked on of the developers for HardKernel if they would make a board with one of these slots on it. 🙂 We’ll see if that ever happens. They’ve got a good history of supporting higher speed SD interfaces. IIRC, they had the first UHS-I slot in the SBC market. They’re also the originators of what’s considered the standard eMMC daughterboard connection. So, they have a history of supporting such things.

      Reply
  4. woofwoof`

    Any info about endurance rating?

    Considering this for a dash cam, but can’t find any info about endurance rating.

    Reply
  5. Rick

    Can I use a 512 GB pro plus in a dash cam which requires 4k video?

    Reply
    • Sebastian Peak

      The V30 rating (minimum 30 MB/s write speed for video) is more than enough for compressed 4K on any camera I’m aware of – my own Sony Alpha camera only go up to 100 Mbps / 12.5 MB/s. The only concern would be formatting, but if you have a 4K dashcam I have to assume it supports exFAT and can see these larger microSD cards.

      Reply

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