Best MicroSD Cards for Raspberry Pi 5: The Beginner’s Guide

Best MicroSD Cards for Raspberry Pi 5: The Beginner’s Guide

✍️ Editor’s Note: All technical steps were developed, tested, and verified by the author on a real Raspberry Pi 5 deployment. This blog post was drafted with assistance from AI to streamline the writing and formatting process so that the reader may seamlessly follow along and reproduce it.

If you’re running a Raspberry Pi 5 (RPi5), the choice of MicroSD card can make or break your system’s performance. Whether you’re building a NAS, dashboard, or coding project, storage speed, reliability, and authenticity matter. This guide walks you through

  • Types of MicroSD cards and what all those symbols mean
  • How to choose the best MicroSD card for Raspberry Pi 5
  • How to test and benchmark MicroSD card performance on Linux
  • How to detect fake or dying MicroSD cards

MicroSD Card Classes & Types

🔢 Capacity Classes

  • SD: Up to 2GB
  • SDHC: 2GB to 32GB
  • SDXC: 32GB to 2TB
sd cards used in testing the raspberry pi os
Several MicroSD cards that were tested

⚡ Speed Classes

ClassMinimum Write SpeedNotes
Class 1010 MB/sBase speed for HD video and basic OS use
U1 (UHS-I)10 MB/sSame as Class 10, but with UHS bus
U3 (UHS-I)30 MB/sRequired for 4K video & fast data
V30/V60/V9030/60/90 MB/sVideo speed classes for pro video

💡 Application Classes

ClassRandom R/W IOPSNotes
A11500 read / 500 writeOK for apps and OS
A24000 read / 2000 writeIdeal for Raspberry Pi OS, apps, DataBases

⬆️ Tip: Choose an A2 + U3/V30 card for best RPi5 performance.


Choosing the best MicroSD card for the Raspberry Pi 5

Use CaseRecommended MicroSD Card Type
OS Boot DriveA2 + U3 (e.g. SanDisk Extreme A2)
Backup StorageU1 or Class 10 is sufficient
Media & File TransferU3 / V30 preferred
Databases / DockerA2 mandatory for IOPS

Benchmarking Your MicroSD Card on RPi5 (Linux)

📃 Check Device Name

lsblk

Look for your MicroSD card. Usually /dev/mmcblk0 or /dev/sdX.

⚡ Test Read Speed with hdparm

sudo hdparm -t /dev/mmcblk0

Expected for good cards: 80+ MB/s

✉️ Test Write Speed with dd

cd /media/your_mount_point
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=./test_write bs=10M count=100 conv=fdatasync

Result will show write speed in MB/s. Clean up after:

sudo rm ./test_write

⚖️ Advanced Test with fio

sudo apt install fio
fio --name=sdtest --filename=/media/your_mount/testfio --size=1G --bs=4M --rw=readwrite --direct=1 --numjobs=1 --runtime=30s

How to Spot a Fake or Dead MicroSD Card

🔍 Common Signs of Fake or Failing Cards

  • Shows 64GB but fails to write more than 8GB
  • Read-only mode triggered permanently
  • lsblk shows size as 0B
  • Frequent I/O errors: check with dmesg

🔧 Test for Fake Capacity

On Linux:

sudo apt install f3
cd /media/your_mount
f3write .
f3read .

On Windows:

Use H2testw to verify actual vs advertised capacity.

🔏 Read dmesg for Hardware Errors

dmesg | grep mmcblk

Look for:

  • card stuck in read-only mode
  • I/O error
  • non-sense data

🛡️ Final Check: 0B in lsblk

If you see:

sda       8:0   1   0B  0 disk

Your card is likely beyond recovery.


Real-World Results (Reference Table)

CardRead SpeedWrite SpeedVerdict
Lexar V30 U3 64GB89 MB/s30 MB/s✅ OS-ready
Panasonic U3 16GB73 MB/s14 MB/s⚠️ Backup only
KLEVV 32GB U149 MB/s13 MB/s⚠️ Backup only
SanDisk Ultra 64GB U186 MB/s17 MB/s✅ Decent for general use
(Dead) Sandisk Ultra 16GB0B❌ Discard

Conclusion

Not all MicroSD cards are created equal — and Raspberry Pi 5’s performance is highly sensitive to MicroSD card quality.

✅ Recommended: Best MicroSD card for Raspberry Pi 5

  • A2 + U3 or V30 cards (e.g. SanDisk Extreme A2, Samsung Pro Plus)
  • Regular testing every 1–2 months for active OS cards
  • Use f3 or H2testw to verify capacity

A highly recommended option: Raspberry Pi’s Official MicroSD Card. It ticks all the right boxes at an affordable price point. Tom’s Hardware has some good alternate recommendations as well: Best microSD Cards for Raspberry Pi 2025

❌ Avoid:

  • Generic or unlabelled MicroSD cards
  • Cards showing 0B in lsblk
  • Any card that randomly enters read-only mode

Don’t let your MicroSD card be the cause of your RPi5 deployment’s weakest link!

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