A security camera that works with a standalone micro SD card is primarily designed to store motion-activated recordings or short video clips of movements with local storage, which offers a cost-effective alternative to subscription-based cloud storage. However, users may run into issues like the SD card not being recognized or formatted by the camera App, the camera being unable to overwrite recordings, or the SD card becoming full and stopping recording.

This article offers key insights into choosing a microSD card, identifying fake microSD cards to avoid potential issues and more.

Compatibility List of microSD Cards We’ve Tested

microSD Card Buying Tips

Verify Fake microSD Cards

Maximum Recording Hours

Compatibility List of microSD Cards We’ve Tested

Notes:

• The information listed in the compatibility table is only based on our lab test results.
• Based on our lab test results, sorry to tell you that the ADATA (256 GB, A1, V10, SDXC1) and Samsung (256 GB, EVO plus U3, V30, A2, SDXC1) are not supported by any Tapo cameras.

microSD Card Buying Tips

Key specifications to consider:

1. Try to choose High/Max/Pro Endurance microSD cards as they are designed for continuous recording and re-recording, offering greater stability and reliability in recording and storage.
2. Regular SD cards are typically designed for digital cameras and may not be suitable for continuous recording. They are not recommended for use with dash cams, home monitoring, or security systems.
3. The capacity varies by camera model and hardware version. For specific information about supported capacities, please refer to the specific product’s page on our official website.

*Comparison of microSD card Speed Class ratings

Buying tips:

• Always make sure to buy from an authorized seller. Be careful about cheap SD cards. Do not buy used or refurbished SD cards.
• Due to the diversity of quality of the microSD card, we cannot guarantee the microSD card you purchased would be 100% compatible with our Tapo camera. We recommend you test the microSD card instantly after your purchase. We are not obliged to offer any RMA or help to troubleshoot your microSD card. To verify fake microSD Cards, please refer to Verify Fake micoSD Cards part.
• Pay attention to the Operating Temperature of the SD card, which can usually be found in the Specifications.
• microSD cards have a limited read and write lifespan. Replace microSD cards once every few years to reduce potential failure. Select High/Max Endurance microSD cards specifically designed for your home security cameras or dash cam to ensure stable performance of the camera.
• Based on our lab test results, sorry to tell you that the ADATA (256 GB, A1, V10, SDXC1) and Samsung (256 GB, EVO plus U3, V30, A2, SDXC1) are not supported by any Tapo cameras.

Verify Fake microSD Cards

What is a fake microSD card?

The most common fake SD card is the fake capacity expanded card, which uses illegal means and tools to make the cards with a small capacity appear larger. For example, a 32GB card is displayed as 128GB on your computer or other devices. This kind of card usually has a lower price than the official quality goods. Since the capacity is manually deceived by illegal means and tools, the space beyond the original capacity cannot be used normally. As long as the stored file exceeds the actual capacity, the file will be unavailable. Our camera recognizes the SD card and will format it in Fat32 format and create index files to save your video data. This process reads and writes the entire space of the SD card and checks whether it is valid. If your SD card is expanded, it will not be formatted successfully and will not work properly on our camera. We do not support the card due to the particularity of the monitoring camera, we need to ensure that the SD card can work stably for a long time. And since camera data is relatively important, data loss or failure to write data can have a significant impact.

Types of fake microSD cards

When it comes to counterfeit memory cards, you will find some different types of them listed below:

1. Reduced Read / Write Speed: You buy an SD card that shows something like “maximum 95 MB/s read and 90 MB/s write speed” and a “V30” label that is supposed to guarantee a minimum writing speed of 30 MB/s. But when copying a file using a fast SD card reader, you might not even get more than 5-10 MB/s.
2. Reduced Capacity: The SD card might report a large capacity when inserted in your computer, camera, or storage device, while it contains only a very small part of the overall capacity. This happens because the microchip (a tiny part of the SD card that is responsible for reporting the total amount of storage available) within the card has been reprogrammed to report a different size to the host. Counterfeit SD cards with reduced capacities should be avoided the most because they will most certainly result in data loss.
3. Fake Brand: Some SD cards have big brand labels attached to them and are sold at a premium price when they are made from cheap parts by some unknown manufacturer. Such products are often more difficult to identify and might require a call to the manufacturer to verify the serial number. You can also read the reviews posted by verified buyers on Amazon or other online stores.
4. Unrealistic Capacity: There are memory cards that advertise completely unrealistic storage sizes. For example, if you search online for microSD cards, you may find cards with capacities as large as 2TB, however, such capacities do not yet exist.
5. Bogus / Non-Working: Some SD cards are sold at incredibly low prices by unknown sellers and may just not work.

Fake microSD card issues

The issues can range from getting very slow speeds to data loss and unusable SD cards. The problem with fake SD cards with reduced capacity is that when users go over a certain capacity, all data from that point on will be corrupted. Everything appears to be working great at first, but troubles may show up in later usage.

How to identify microSD cards

If you have already purchased an SD card, there are a few things you can inspect and basic tests you can run to identify a fake SD card.

1. Inspect Product Packaging: Make sure the package contains necessary information about the product such as its specifications and card speed, as well as all the appropriate labels, warranty info, and a proper UPC. Users may also verify with SD card manufacturer directly.
2. Test the SD card with third-party software: Make sure you format the SD card before you start this step. For example, you could verify if you can write files to the advertised capacity for your SD card with the software H2testw. Install the H2testw on your Windows computer (you can also run a similar tool called “F3” on Mac OS, and an app called SD Insight on Android device) and run the test, it will show you the real capacity of your SD card.

If the SD card you are using is fake, it will report errors and show how much actual data was written and read from the card.

Maximum Recording Hours

Notes:

1. The recording durations in the table are estimated based on the average video bitrate measured in the laboratory. The actual recording duration in usage may vary depending on factors such as scene complexity, proportion of dynamic scenes, frame rate settings, and the resolution supported by the camera model.
2. With Loop Recording enabled, the microSD card will automatically overwrite the previously recorded videos from the beginning when it becomes full.