Does SDS100 Replay Feature "hurt" SD Card?

[KC8STN]

I want to try using the SDS100 replay feature, but I'm worried about any repercussions that might have. Will this feature abuse the SD Card in any way? Is this feature OK to use or should I avoid using it for an extended period of time?

 

[u2brent]

Use it all the time, cards do go bad, but I wouldn't fear it. Use your scanner to its full potential. It can last year's likely, but if it does fail it's simple to replace a card. And cheaper than a battery... Keep a spare handy, just in case. I don't think I've ever not had recording enabled. Lol

 

[hiegtx]

I want to try using the SDS100 replay feature, but I'm worried about any repercussions that might have. Will this feature abuse the SD Card in any way? Is this feature OK to use or should I avoid using it for an extended period of time?

It does not "hurt" the card to use it. I leave "Replay" activated on all my database scanners (x36HP, SDS, & the HP-1/-2).

What "hurts" the card is if power is lost while the audio is being recorded. That can corrupt the card. It does not 'break' it, but you would need to format it, do the "Clear User Data" to initialize the card, & then re-send your lists to the scanner.

There is a theoretical limit as to how many read/write cycles can be used on one of the SD cards, but that's not anything that has affected me at all. If & when you decide to either go to a larger card (to hold more audio files), or the card, usually due to repeated, unexpected, loss of power, becomes too corrupted to 'repair' with a format and reload, then look for one of the high endurance cards. Replay only uses a small amount of space on the card, as new files are added and older ones are removed while scanning. If you wanted to record all audio, for later review, you can get, usually, several days worth of audio on even the small (4gb) OEM card. A larger card can obvious retain many more days worth of recordings.

 

[gary123]

Always keep a good copy of your SD card. If something happens to it you have a backup. The main factor concerning replay is the quality of the SD card. Cheaper ones have far fewer read/write cycles. They also have slower read/write speeds. If you have a good quality card then go for it. I have been using the replay option for years on a daily basis and the card is still humming along fine.

 

[Ubbe]

I want to try using the SDS100 replay feature, but I'm worried about any repercussions that might have. Will this feature abuse the SD Card in any way? Is this feature OK to use or should I avoid using it for an extended period of time?

It records audio files using 128kbits/sec. That's 12kBytes/s. SD cards always record on next available free memory cell even if you have deleted some older files. It goes to the end of the memory and then starts to find the next free memory cell at the beginning of the SD card memory.

A standard size of a SD card could be 32GBytes. 4 minutes of recording take up 240x12=29MB. It will take 1000 recordings 4 minutes each to reach the end of the SD cards memory. It has then done one write to each memory cell. Specifications usually says that max life are 10.000 writes of a standard SD card.

/Ubbe

 

[J-Wrock]

I haven't had any issues with the microSD cards going out. I've used the replay / record options on my 436 / 100 / 200 and now 150 on a daily basis. I also am re-customizing my favorites and the data fields on the SDS scanners which are all stored on the SD cards and this constant reading / writing hasn't posed any issues. With the 436 I bought the biggest card it would support (32 GB) and ensured it was a high quality card. With the other scanners, I realized I didn't need that much space so I've been using the card that came with the scanners. Now abruptly turning the radio off while it is recording (IE, cut external power without a battery installed) or taking the card out of the radio while it is on and recording can cause corruption, but you should be okay with replay and recording.

 

[ofd8001]

I agree with above comments. Some time back, Uniden recommended the use of "Endurance" type SD cards. These cards were built for frequent read/write cycles. However, just like auto tires, there are so many miles one can expect from them.

That said, I have been using SD card scanners since they first came out and have yet to have one go bad on me. But I do have many spare cards ready to go if needed.

 

[Ubbe]

Only SD card that failed for me was Dead On Arrival that came with a brand new Whistler TRX-2. I have dash cams and scanners and my first SD card scanner Uniden HP-1 have its original SD card and I have Replay enabled and have run that scanner at least 5 hours everyday since 15 years back, the first year it was released.

File system corruption can happen, constantly with TRX scanners, but are not the fault of the SD card.

/Ubbe