INTRODUCTION

   A couple of days earlier i talked about how far portable storage devices have advanced over the years, both in terms of performance and capacity. Now, even though portable media like HDDs and SSDs have indeed increased in capacity (and performance) many times over this past decade there's another storage media that has nothing to be jealous of them, memory cards. Just imagine that the very first CompactFlash (CF) card i got back in 2003 was just 512MB in capacity whereas today there are memory cards with capacities as high as 1TB (1000000MB) and with 2TB models not that far out. Late last year KIOXIA updated their EXCERIA Plus line of micro SDXC cards to include a 1TB variant and that's what's on my test bench today.

   KIOXIA Europe GmbH (formerly Toshiba Memory Europe GmbH) is the European based subsidiary of KIOXIA Corporation, a leading worldwide supplier of flash memory and solid state drives (SSDs). From the invention of flash memory to today's breakthrough BiCS FLASH 3D technology, KIOXIA continues to pioneer cutting-edge memory solutions and services that enrich people's lives and expand society's horizons. The company's innovative 3D flash memory technology, BiCS FLASH, is shaping the future of storage in high-density applications, including advanced smartphones, PCs, SSDs, automotive and data centers.

   After this latest addition the EXCERIA Plus line of MicroSDXC UHS-I U3/V30/C10 cards by KIOXIA is currently available in 32GB/64GB/128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB capacities with read-write performance levels of up to 100MB/s-85MB/s respectively for the 64GB/128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB models, 100MB/s-65MB/s for the 64/128GB models and 98MB/s-65MB/s for the 32GB model. Yes, much like most UHS-I memory cards the EXCERIA Plus line by KIOXIA may not offer impressive read & write speeds but you can easily use them for both Full HD 1080p and compressed 4K video recording. As for endurance the EXCERIA Plus cards can operate in temperatures from -25 to +85 degrees Celsius, are water (IPX7), shock and X-ray proof and also feature overheating (electrical fuse) and ESD (electrostatic discharge) protections. Of course, much like previous memory card lines KIOXIA covers the entire EXCERIA Plus series with a 5-year limited warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

THE EXCERIA PLUS 1TB MICROSDXC UHS-I

Typically, the card arrived in a blister package the front of which has a clear plastic cover from where you can see both the card and the SD adapter.

The 5-year limited warranty is printed at the rear right over the main product features and contact information for KIOXIA.

KIOXIA just bundles an SDXC adapter with the EXCERIA Plus MicroSDXC 1TB UHS-I card.

At the top side of the card we find the capacity and the company logo right over the model line.

UHS-I cards have but a single row of contacts at the rear so this is what we see here too.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Memory cards are pretty much identical to flash drives so to make things easier for everyone I'll be using roughly the same testing methodology to successfully record achieved read and write data transfer numbers. The benchmark suites used for memory card tests are HD Tune Pro (Read - Write average and max speeds), AIDA 64 Engineer Edition (Average Linear Read / Random Read - Write performance), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (4GB Read / Write speeds) and ATTO (Average Read / Write speeds). Every test is repeated a total of 6 times after which the average performance numbers are recorded into the charts (0 = test was unable to complete).

   Tests are performed on the X79 test rig running Microsoft Windows 10 Pro installation on a HyperX Predator 480GB PCIe SSD with all updates installed up to the day of this review (for ATTO and Crystal Disk Mark cards are formatted using the NTFS file system – however partitions need to be removed for the write tests of both AIDA64 and HD Tune Pro).

* As of April 2020, I’ll be using the X299 test rig for SDXC & microSDXC UHS-II (and above) memory card reviews.
** As of March 2022 the Z590 test rig will be used for CFexpress memory cards.

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

   The EXCERIA Plus is not the only 1TB MicroSDXC card in my charts so a comparison with the Superior model by Silicon Power is obviously unavoidable. In terms of performance both cards do almost as well with the Superior pulling ahead by an 6% average across tests which although not much it’s still there. In terms of durability/endurance always according to the specification sheets provided by both companies the EXCERIA Plus seems to offer more protections but since both models are not part of the endurance lines both Silicon Power and KIOXIA have that shouldn’t make a huge difference. Price is the last thing that we can compare so let’s see just how much the EXCERIA Plus 1TB MicroSDXC card by KIOXIA costs.

   As I type this review the KIOXIA EXCERIA Plus 1TB MicroSDXC card retails for 265.72Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price tag that puts it exactly 25% over the Superior 1TB MicroSDXC card by Silicon Power and 40% over the Extreme 1TB MicroSDXC cards by SanDisk. Yes, according to KIOXIA the EXCERIA Plus 1TB is a more durable microSDXC card but the extra cost I imagine is not something many people will overlook. At the end of the day the EXCERIA Plus 1TB may not be the fastest or the lowest cost 1TB microSDXC card out there but thanks to its protections/endurance and 5-year limited warranty it’s certainly worth checking out if you’re in the market for such a high capacity model.

PROS

- Good Overall Performance
- Protections / Endurance
- Up To 1TB Capacity
- 5 Year Limited Warranty

CONS

- Price (For Some)