Samsung EVO Plus 256GB SD Memory Card

Model: Samsung EVO Plus 256GB SD Memory Card
Manufacturer: Samsung Electronics
Provided By: Samsung America

Samsung Electronics has been a leader in the electronics industry for more than 30 years. Since the introduction of their first television in 1970, this Korean company has grown to become one of the world's leading electronics manufacturers, offering everything from tiny semiconductors to large home appliances. Samsung is no stranger to the storage industry either. Along with an assortment of DVD and Blu-ray Disc drives, the company offers both hard drive and flash based storage solutions for the portable and desktop computer markets.

It's been a number of years since Samsung launched its current line of SD and microSD cards. Since then, the company has continued to deliver new memory cards with faster speeds and greater capacities. This past fall, Samsung introduced a new and improved version of its standard-size EVO Plus SD card. Available in four storage capacities, ranging from 32GB to 256GB, this UHS-I memory card provides transfer speeds of up to 130MB/s, making it ideal for both enthusiasts and casual users who want dependable and responsive performance for day-to-day usage.

The EVO Plus has also been designed with maximum durability in mind and features Samsung's seven-proof protection. In addition to protection from water, temperature, x-rays, magnets and shocks, this new SD card is drop and wear-out proof and can withstand up to a five-meter drop as well as up to 10,000 swipes. To top it all off, the EVO Plus comes with a 10-year limited warranty.

Like most other memory cards, Samsung's EVO Plus SD card comes packaged in a cardboard blister pack. The front of the packaging advertises many of the card's key features including its capacity, class rating and rated transfer speed. The pictures on the front also serve a purpose as they are there to help consumers choose a card based on their intended use. In this case, the picture suggests that Samsung's EVO Plus SD card is ideal for devices like DSLR cameras, mirrorless cameras and notebook computers.

The back of the packaging provides a bit more information regarding the features and capabilities of Samsung's EVO Plus SD card. Along with the card's UHS speed class rating, the packaging shows that it is covered by a 10 year warranty and is water, temperature, x-ray, magnet, shock, drop and wearout-proof.

Physical Features:

While not nearly as small as a microSD card, Samsung's EVO Plus SD card isn't much larger than a postage stamp. It measures 32 x 24 x 2.1 mm and weighs in at about 1.75g. The card is constructed out of white plastic and has a blue and gray label on top. In addition to the Samsung logo, the label shows the capacity, model and speed class ratings.

The EVO Plus also has a lock switch along the left hand side. When it is slid down, the data will be write protected. You will not be able to modify or delete the contents on the memory card until the switch is slid back up.

On the back of the card, you can see a row of connectors as well as the model number, production batch and serial numbers and the country of origin. In this case, the EVO Plus is made in the Philippines.

Performance:

The test system used in this review is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 3700x CPU, MSI B550 GAMING PLUS motherboard, 16GB (8GB x 2) of Crucial Ballistix 3200 MHz DDR4 memory, Crucial P5 1TB SSD, GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1060 WINDFORCE OC 6G graphics card and a Lexar Multi-Card 2-in-1 USB 3.1 card reader. For the operating system, I used the latest version of Windows 10 Pro.

To test the performance of Samsung's EVO Plus SD card, I ran a series of benchmarks using CrystalDiskMark, ATTO Disk Benchmark and PCMark 10. To get a feel for the "real world" performance, I also copied and pasted 1GB of random files and directories as well as a single 4GB ISO file in Windows Explorer.

CrystalDiskMark 8.0.4:

First, I ran a few quick tests using CrystalDiskMark. This benchmark measures the performance of a storage device by testing its sequential and random read and write speeds.

According to Samsung, the EVO Plus SD card is capable of transferring data at speeds up to 130 MB/s. While the 256GB version of the card had no problems reaching this speed when reading, it came up a bit short in CrystalDiskMark's sequential write speed test.

ATTO Disk Benchmark 4.01:

I also used ATTO Disk Benchmark to test the EVO Plus SD card's sequential read and write speeds. The tests are run using blocks ranging in size from 512B to 64 MB and the total length set to 256MB.

When tested with ATTO, the EVO Plus SD card's read speeds topped out at about 128 MB/s and its write speeds at 118 MB/s.

PCMark 10 - Data Drive Benchmark:

PCMark 10's Data Drive Benchmark is designed to test drives that are used for storing files rather than applications. You can also use this test with NAS drives, USB sticks, memory cards, and other external storage devices. This benchmark produces an overall score as a measure of drive performance. Comparing devices is as simple as comparing scores. The tests also measure and report the bandwidth and average access time for the drive.

Thanks to its high bandwidth and low latency, the EVO Plus was able to take the top spot in PCMark 10's Data Drive Benchmark.

"Real World" Benchmark:

To test the "real world" performance of Samsung's EVO Plus SD memory card, I copied and pasted 1GB worth of randomly generated files and directories. All of the files are between 1KB and 95MB in size and no more than five directories deep. To see how well the cards handled large files, I also copied and pasted a 4GB ISO file.

Samsung's new card performed very well here, taking 20 seconds to write 1GB worth of test data and 12 seconds to read it back.

Final Thoughts:

Samsung's new EVO Plus SD card is a great choice for the enthusiast or casual user looking for fast, yet affordable, storage for their camera, camcorder or PC. The card offers seven-proof protection against shock, water, extreme temperatures, x-ray, wear out, drops and magnetic impact and, with capacity options ranging from 32GB to 256GB, you can store thousands of high-resolution photos or hours worth of Full HD video. The new EVO Plus also offers 1.3 times faster performance than the previous generation. In our tests, the 256GB version of the card was able to read at speeds as high as 131 MB/s and write at more than 118 MB/s.

Samsung's EVO Plus SD card is available now in 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities. Prices on Amazon.com currently range from $8 up  to $27 for the 256GB version reviewed here.