How to: monitor (micro) SD card health and status
In this tutorial, it is described how to monitor the complete S.M.A.R.T. status of appropriate industry standard (micro) SD cards, USB devices with Hard Disk Sentinel.
While most SD/microSD cards offer no S.M.A.R.T. status information and they can be tested only with the Disk menu -> Surface test functions in Hard Disk Sentinel Professional, many industrial SD / industrial micro SD cards can provide status information. Hard Disk Sentinel Professional supports these industrial (micro) SD cards and the their S.M.A.R.T. status (health, complete self-monitoring S.M.A.R.T. data, error counters and statistical information) are detected and provided.
The detection of the status is not automatic as performing detection of a different type of SD card may cause performance degradation and unneccessary wear. Because of this, the device type need to be detected first with Hard Disk Sentinel Professional, and then every time it automatically detects the complete status.
Initial setup of monitoring SD card status
After plugging the device by an appropriate memory card reader, the card reader is displayed with "unknown" status:
Then click on Control device-specific detection on the right to open a window where it is possible to select the type of the device and enable the status detection of the SD card. A new window opens:
Click on Auto detect on the bottom. The software will perform auto-detection and if the proper SD/microSD memory card inserted, should be able to determine its manufacturer and type.
And after clicking OK in the message window and then OK in the previously opened window, the complete status should appear:
The S.M.A.R.T. tab lists the device status, including error counters, lifetime statistics, total amount of data written / read, wear information, spare blocks, ECC information and so.
The Information tab shows the device basic information.
Now, after complete close / restart, the registered version of Hard Disk Sentinel Professional will immediately recognise the device, so no need to detect type again later, need to be done only once on this system. By the unregistered (trial) version, the device type is not saved, so the above steps need to be done again after restart.
Technical details
Hard Disk Sentinel Professional saves a special hidden "flag" file on the SD card and automatically detect its presence which allows using the appropriate status detection for the corresponding device. This file uses no disk space (0 bytes in length) and should remain on the SD card. If removed and/or the SD card re-formatted, the above mentioned steps need to be done again to initiate the status detection.
Note: the status information, error counters are not stored in user accessible sectors. Clearing, re-formatting the SD card or even using the industrial and government standard data destruction method (Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitailise Disk Surface test in Hard Disk Sentinel Professional) will not clear / restore the status and possible errors of the SD / microSD cards.
Memory card readers
To perform the detection, newer SD / microSD card reader/adapter may be required, usually these are marked to be compatible with newer SDHC and SDXC memory cards.
Some examples:
Supported micro SD / SD card models with S.M.A.R.T. function
Apart from their industrial grade which offers higher level of reliability, as the complete status (SD card health, SD card status, SD card error countrs and generally SD card S.M.A.R.T.) can be determined, monitored by Hard Disk Sentinel - and this way it is possible to be prepeared about problems, degradations, we strongly recommend to select and use the following devices instead of simple storage cards with no status information.
MagicRAM Industrial (micro) SD cards supported by Hard Disk Sentinel:
MR01GMS3I-HM6 1GB SLC microSD 3.0 Wide Temp MR02GMS3I-HM6 2GB SLC microSD 3.0 Wide Temp MR04GMS3I-HM10 4GB SLC microSD 3.0 Wide Temp MR08GMS3I-HM10 8GB SLC microSD 3.0 Wide Temp MR16GMS3I-HM10 16GB SLC microSD 3.0 Wide Temp MR01GSD3I-HM6 1GB SLC SD 3.0 Wide Temp MR02GSD3I-HM6 2GB SLC SD 3.0 Wide Temp MR04GSD3I-HM10 4GB SLC SD 3.0 Wide Temp MR08GSD3I-HM10 8GB SLC SD 3.0 Wide Temp MR16GSD3I-HM10 16GB SLC SD 3.0 Wide Temp
Delkin Industrial (micro) SD cards supported by Hard Disk Sentinel:
S351MMVU8-C1000-4 512MB S30GMMUU8-C1000-4 1GB S302MMZU8-C1000-4 2GB S304MMZU8-U1000-4 4GB S308MMZU8-U1000-4 8GB S316MMZU8-U1000-4 16GB
InnoDisk Industrial (micro) SD cards supported by Hard Disk Sentinel:
DESDC-04GY81RC2SC 4GB MLC DESDC-08GY81RC1SC 8GB MLC DESDC-16GY81RC1SC 16GB MLC InnoDisk 3TE4 DESDM-32GS06EE1SL DESDM-64GS06GE1SL DESDM-A28S06GE1SL DESDM-B56S06GE1SL DESDM-C12S06GE1SL DESDM-32GS06EW1SL DESDM-64GS06GW1SL DESDM-A28S06GW1SL DESDM-B56S06GW1SL DESDM-C12S06GW1SL InnoDisk 3IE2 Industrial (micro) SD card DHSDM-04GE21SEASK DHSDM-08GE21SEASK DHSDM-16GE21SEASK DHSDM-32GE21SEASK InnoDisk 3ME2 Industrial (micro) SD card DESDM-08GE21SEASK DESDM-16GE21SEASK DESDM-32GE21SEASK DESDM-64GE21SEASK DESDM-08GE21SWASK DESDM-16GE21SWASK DESDM-32GE21SWASK DESDM-64GE21SWASK
Hyperstone controller
Hyperstone controllers are used in a variety of solutions. For more information please contact Hyperstone directly: www.hyperstone.com
Kingston SDCIT / SDCIT2 cards supported by Hard Disk Sentinel:
Kingston SDCIT/8GB Kingston SDCIT/16GB Kingston SDCIT/32GB Kingston SDCIT2/8GB Kingston SDCIT2/16GB Kingston SDCIT2/32GB
Swissbit Industrial micro SD cards supported by Hard Disk Sentinel:
SFSD4096NgBM1TO SFSD8192NgBM1TO SFSD016GNgBM1TO SFSD032GNgBM1TO Swissbit S-600u SFSD2048N1AS1TO-E-QG-221-STD SFSD1024N1AS1TO-I-DF-221-STD SFSD2048N1AS1TO-I-QG-221-STD SFSD0512N1AS1TO-I-ME-221-STD SFSD0512N1AS1TO-E-ME-221-STD SFSD1024N1AS1TO-E-DF-221-STD Swissbit S-52u SFSD064GN1AM1TO-I-6F-2A1-STD Swissbit S-55u SFSD064GN1AM1MT-E-5E-211-STD SFSD064GN1AM1MT-I-5E-211-STD SFSD128GN1AM1MT-E-6F-211-STD SFSD256GN1AM1MT-I-7G-211-STD SFSD128GN1AM1MT-I-6F-211-STD SFSD256GN1AM1MT-E-7G-211-STD Swissbit S-58u SFSD016GN1AM1MT-E-5E-21P-STD SFSD016GN1AM1MT-I-5E-21P-STD SFSD032GN1AM1MT-E-6F-21P-STD SFSD064GN1AM1MT-I-ZK-21P-STD SFSD032GN1AM1MT-I-6F-21P-STD SFSD064GN1AM1MT-E-ZK-21P-STD SFSD004GN1AM1MT-I-5E-21R-STD SFSD008GN1AM1MT-I-5E-21Q-STD
ATP Industrial micro SD cards supported by Hard Disk Sentinel:
AF512SDI-5ACXX AF1GSDI-5ACXX AF2GSDI-5ADXX AF512UDI-5ACXX AF1GUDI-5ACXX AF2GUDI-5ACXX AF512SDI-ZADXM AF1GSDI-ZADXM AF2GSDI-ZAEXM AF512UDI-ZADXM AF1GUDI-ZADXM AF2GUDI-ZAEXM
Greenliant Industrial micro SD cards supported by Hard Disk Sentinel:
Greenliant PX series GLS93SP032G3-I-BZ802 GLS93SP064G3-I-BZ802 GLS93SP128G3-I-BZ802 GLS93SP256G3-I-BZ802 GLS93MP032G3-I-BZ800 GLS93MP064G3-I-BZ800 GLS93MP128G3-I-BZ800 GLS93MP256G3-I-BZ800
Attention manufacturers: if you prefer your products to be listed here please contact at info@hdsentinel.com about the possibilities.