Does an SD card slow down the phone's performance?

[venom0706]

I just bought a 16gb MicroSD card(Class 6) for my Galaxy S4 Mini.My question is:When I fill the card with data, will it slow down my smartphone's performance or not?And if yes, what amout should I fill in order not to slow down the phone's performance speed?Thanks.

 

[COLGeek]

It should not slow down your phone's normal operations. If you were copying something from your phone's memory to the SD card, while doing something else, you might see a temporary slow down. However, in normal practice you should see no difference.

 

[venom0706]

Thanks.So even if the whole SD card is full, the phone will work fast?What about the phone's memory.If it is filled, does the phone get slow?

 

[COLGeek]

Yes, if the phone's memory or the SD card is full, the phone will slow down as old files may have to be overwritten to make room for newer files.

 

[Miharu]

Hi venom0706, if you have tons of application installed on your SD you could see a small slow down on startup and perhaps on display. Except that this SHOULD not slow down your phone like COLGeek said previously.

Your SD is fast (Class 6 means 60 mb/s) which is probably faster than your phone can handle. No trouble here, you choose wisely but incompatiblity could still occur. If you see that you have trouble with your SD, you could try another one and compare.

Your phone don't use the SD as memory card. So if the SD is full or not... this mean nothing for the phone. Your Galaxy S4 Mini have already 1gb-1.5gb of internal memery which is big for a phone. You should have "almost" the same performance with your SD empty or full. But your phone could take more time to scan the SD

 

[venom0706]

And what about the phone's memory.If it is fulled, then the phone should slow down, right?

 

[Miharu]

It's not absolute. It's depend what you have on your SD.

A full SD don't mean you'll be slow down­.

 

[COLGeek]

And what about the phone's memory.If it is fulled, then the phone should slow down, right?

Yes, if the phone's memory or the SD card is full, the phone could slow down as old files may have to be overwritten to make room for newer files.

I have seen this personally with my wife's Samsung Note when its phone memory is nearly maxed out (she takes and saves WAY too many pictures).

 

[Miharu]

"A full SD don't mean you'll be slow down­. "
But surely if your 16gb SD card is full... you'll probably have too much of somethings.

Like COLGeek wife's had too much pictures causing trouble with the "previsualization" module.

I have seen this personally with my wife's Samsung Note when its phone memory is nearly maxed out (she takes and saves WAY too many pictures).

Similar issue could be see if you:
-have tons of ringtones and try to find one;
-or have tons of applications;
-or have tons of songs and search for one.
-or have tons of books.

Too much of something could slow down your phone critically.

I never had issue like this, but I only had a 2gb SD which also means less stuffs.

With COLGeek experience, I can only recommend to never completely fill your SD card.

 

[venom0706]

So if If it gets slower, I should just remove the apps and it will become faster again?

 

[Yeon Sha]

Your phone will be much slower if the files scan is automatic during another apps running in progress.
You can disable auto scan at setting.

 

[Yeon Sha]

Beware with the existence of trojan in unknow apps. It will steal your data including your Facebook password and your picture (even it hidden).
Check your running apps daily to make sure unrecognize apps from running. (Go to settings applications, manage applications, scroll to the left to see "running apps" option.
Do not just simply download some unknown apps you get from visiting an unknown website. (Most of them are automatically downloading and installing itself).
Sorry my bad English! ^^
Enjoy your day!