Other by stefan @ 2018-10-14
The Exceria Pro N502 has easily got to the first place in terms of performance versus the previously tested cards; the latest UHS-II standard does make possible up to 8K video recording and the safe operating conditions vary from -20 to 85 degrees Celsius (without condensation). As we have seen with other Toshiba products, the N502 is x-ray proof, so you do not have to worry about scans at the airport security checkpoints.
At first we would like to thank Toshiba Corporation for offering a sample of their Exceria Pro N502 SD Card for testing and reviewing.
“Toshiba is a world leader and innovator in pioneering high technology, a diversified manufacturer and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products spanning information & communications systems; digital consumer products; electronic devices and components; power systems, including nuclear energy; industrial and social infrastructure systems; and home appliances. Toshiba was founded in 1875, and today operates a global network of more than 740 companies, with 204,000 employees worldwide and annual sales surpassing 6.3 trillion yen (US$68 billion).”
UHS II - Speed matters
The UHS-II standard changes from the eight pin interface to an additional set of pins of low voltage (0.4 V pp). Using this additional row of connectors raises the data transfer rate dramatically.
The speed you need
The N502 series offers you read speeds up to 270 MB/s and write speeds upt to 260 MB/s. It also features Video Performance to capture videos not only in Full HD and 4K but even up to 8K.
Work under tough conditions
Since the cards were specifically designed for outdoor video recording and photography, we made sure they will perform under extreme conditions. That results in safe operating temperatures from -20 ? to 85? (without condensation).
Catch some rays
No worries at the airport security check or at your sunny vacation destination. The cards are x-ray proof to protect your precious memories.
Quality you can trust
Toshiba is the inventor of flash memory, and has a well-earned worldwide reputation for producing high quality technology.
Toshiba has already prepared next-gen storage products for the latest hardware; its newest SDXC UHS-II Exceria Pro N520 is able to deliver up to 270MB/s read speeds and up to 260MB/s write speeds so it is ready for up to 8K recording. The product does ship inside a compact cardboard enclosure:
On the back side of the packaging, we will learn that the card reader/equipment should also support the recent UHS-II standard, otherwise it will be limited at UHS-I speeds (95MB/95MB read/write):
Inside the box, besides the main card, we will also find a leaflet with a LC Technology Data Recovery software license, limited to one year of use:
The card is supplied inside a transparent plastic casing, which is handy during transit for additional protection:
The manufacturer has also noted the capacity of the card, together with the rated speeds and supported standards, on the frontal sticker:
As we have seen with other cards before, the Write Protect switch is also present on the left:
On the back side of the product, we will find some serial numbers, along with the manufacturing country:
By using the UHS-II technology, the eight-pin interface is changed with an additional set of gold-plated pins of low voltage (0.4V pp); the eight pins are presented in the same way as before, for compatibility with older devices:
The testbench was composed from the following hardware:
CPU: Intel I5 4690K Retail @ stock
Motherboard: BIOSTAR GAMING Z97X
RAM: GeIL Black Dragon 4x4GB DDR2133 (@1600)
Video: Sparkle GTX 470 with stock and OMNI A.L.C.
Power Supply: Nexus RX-8500 850W modular
HDD: OCZ Vertex 4 240GB SSD
Case: Thermaltake Armor+ LCS, stock cooling
The Toshiba Exceria Pro N502 SD Card comes formatted NTFS; we have used a Lexar UHS-II USB 3.0 card reader in order to perform the speed tests:
To determine the flash drive read speeds, the HD Tune v5 utility was used:
To measure the real life performance, we have used the Total Commander application to copy to the card and from the card the same file and recorded the transfer speeds, when they have stabilized.
File Copy
File Read
The Exceria Pro N502 has easily got to the first place in terms of performance versus the previously tested cards; the latest UHS-II standard does make possible up to 8K video recording and the safe operating conditions vary from -20 to 85 degrees Celsius (without condensation). As we have seen with other Toshiba products, the N502 is x-ray proof, so you do not have to worry about scans at the airport security checkpoints.
The UHS-II cards have literally taken the market by surprise with their outstanding performances, the only issue being that not a lot of cameras do support this standard, but hopefully the situation will improve. What makes it even more interesting is the fact that the UHS-III specification has also been announced in 2017, uses the same pins as the UHS-II, but operates at a higher bus rate, for achieving up to 624MB/s (theoretical rate).
Toshiba has also added a free LC Technology Data Recovery software license for data recovery, in case of accidental deletion.
The sale prices of the new N502 series have not been yet communicated at the time of the review.
We would like to thank Toshiba Corporation for making this review possible!