What is MicroSD Express? Everything you need to know

I just took My Nintendo Switch 2 and my internal memory is already filling with all my old games and saves! If you are in the same boat, you may also have noticed that you cannot simply get stuck in the SD card from your original switch and continue to swing. Instead, you will need a new microSD Express card.

This express standard was introduced at the end of 2023And it allows the writing speed in the hundreds of megabytes, but so far it has been used only for high -end digital cameras and cases of use of niche. Consequently, the cards are few and far from each other and have a significant price price compared to the most common microSD cards. Before being too taken by the price and availability, however, let’s go to what the difference between expressed microSD cards and standard is and what it means for your Switch 2.

Express lane

Photography: Brad Bourque

As you may have guessed by the name, the MicroSD Express cards are faster, but to understand exactly what it means, we must break down what we mean by speed and how it is measured and displayed on microSD cards.

Non -expressed normal cards use three metrics with some overlaps in performance. We have an in -depth technical guide if you want to know more about the unpressed cards, but I will give the short version here. There are three ranges: Speed ​​classindicated with a C, UHS speed classas marked by an U for a high -speed class and Video speed classWith a V.

Regardless of how it is displayed, the number indicates that the card is able to read and write at least so quickly. For the circle and the V, it is a direct comparison, therefore a circle with a “10” in it has a sustained writing speed of 10 MB/s. There are two U, 1 and 3 variants, which correspond respectively to 10 MB/if 30 MB/s. The cards are almost always compatible with slower devices, so you could see more symbols and numbers on each card.

The indicator for Squeeze The cards are, perhaps not surprisingly, an ex or and stylized, sometimes with a number next to it. Once again, this represents the sustained writing speed of the paper, with intervals officially supported by 150 MB/SA 600 MB/s. Remember that these are minimal speeds, so you could see that producers cite even higher numbers, but if you are able to support those speeds it will depend on reading and writing the device on the card.