4GB SDHC Memory Cards: OCZ vs. Crucial

Examination:

Secure Digital High Capacity cards look just like their Secure Digital counterparts, but the only visible difference from the outside that you'll see is the SDHC trademark. Aside from that, SD and SDHC cards have the same form-factor and all other features, but this does not mean the two standards are backwards compatible. An SD card will work in an SDHC-certified device, but an SDHC card will not work in an SD-limited device or even a card reader not compatible with the SDHC standard. Most new devices are SHDC compatible, while some other devices can support SDHC through a simple firmware upgrade. Both the OCZ and Crucial cards do offer a write-protection switch.

There are currently three classes to SDHC cards: class 2, 4, and 6. SHDC cards that are class 2 are rated to offer a minimum write performance of 2MB/s, class 4 cards need to meet at least 4MB/s writes, and class 6 is at least 6MB/s. The OCZSDHC6-4GB and CT4GBSDHC are both class 6 rated.

Performance:

Prior to testing both cards with a Lenovo ThinkPad T61 notebook, we had first tried out each card with a Nikon D40x camera. The Nikon D40x is SHDC-compatible and thus no issues were presented when using either card. With the high quality 10.2 mega-pixel JPEG settings, over 500 pictures can be stored on a 4GB memory card. We had run into no speed issues with either card when repetitively snapping photos with the D40x on SDHC memory. The Lenovo ThinkPad T61 that we used for testing the performance of both cards had consisted of an Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 processor, 120GB SATA HDD, 2GB DDR2 memory, and a NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M graphics processor. In addition to just looking at the performance of the Crucial and OCZ SDHC 4GB cards, we had also thrown a Corsair 2GB 60x SD card into the mix. When measuring the read performance we had used hdparm and with that the Crucial 4GB SDHC card had read an average of 13.18MB/s while the OCZ 4GB had clocked in at 13.79MB/s. The Corsair 2GB SD card was at 12.67MB/s.

Conclusion:

Well, both SDHC cards worked as expected and did their job. Their read performance as measured by hdparm were each around 13MB/s, but for what it's worth the OCZSDHC6-4GB did have the very miniscule lead. The only real difference between these cards to an end-user is that the Crucial SHDC is backed by a lifetime warranty while OCZ Technology only stands behind theirs with a 3-year warranty. However, if you're like us, and keeping up with the pace of technology, a three-year warranty is adequate for an inexpensive memory card. If you really need it, it's the Crucial SDHC card that ships with the detailed instruction manual. Both cards are priced at about $15 USD a piece and either card is a good buy.