[Pictures] A-Data SD Card Falling Apart

[EngrPaul]

OK, so I've encouraged a bunch of people to buy A-Data SD Cards... I have about 10 myself.

Yesterday I had a problem writing to my A-Data 4GB card. So I ejected it to check the write protect tab had not migrated to locked.

When I pressed on the top of the card to eject it, I heard a faint crack. I pulled out the card, and broken pieces fell on the desk in front of me: the write protect tab and some other pieces of plastic. The case is also loose on 3 of 4 sides.

This card has never seen abuse, and physically seldom comes out of my lesser-used Axim for the past several months.

I thought you might be interested in pictures of this failure.

I called A-Data USA support 510-226-7899 during business hours, and reached a generic answering machine. Not hearing a response after several hours, I sent an email to support@adatausa.com just a few minutes ago.

I don't feel comforted by the service so far. I had to dig around for this contact info. It's not on the documentation supplied with the card.

[mofologic]

duct tape?

[mtgeorge]

Perhaps a few small dabs of super glue?

(X)

[darkdestroyer]

I guess that's why they are less expensive compared to some of the other brands. In this case Price = Quality

[EngrPaul]

This card cost $270 when I bought it. How much did you pay for your axim? What do you expect from Dell customer service?

I agree that A-Data is the least expensive card available.

I won't be recommending them until I find out they have adequate warranty service. If you look on the one picture, you can see it says "Lifetime Warranty".

[EngrPaul]

One and a half hours after my email I received the following:

Dear [EngrPaul],

Thanks for your support of A-DATA product. We apologize for the inconvenience that may have caused you.

Please complete the RMA form...

[Frenchy]

Good for you EngrPaul. Any sample of the letter you send so we can all benefit of a good written letter?

[EngrPaul]

Good for you EngrPaul. Any sample of the letter you send so we can all benefit of a good written letter?

It was basically dear A-Data support, my SD card is falling apart, ejected it pieces of plastic fell off and only holding on by one side, bought it 10/1/05, serial number XXXXX, I treated this card nice, please send me an RMA

No pictures... you got more information than they did!

[coach_ng]

In all honesty, that card does look beat up. the third picture you can see the label peeling. Show us an image of the label. If the card resides in your axim the majority of the time, then I can't seem to understand why it looks as it does. My 2 gb a-data is almost a year old and looks as if it just came out of the packaging.

[Greymane21]

Doesn't really look like abuse to me. I have a couple of cards that look pristine and a couple that looked a bit frazzled right out of the case, but they all work fine. I have a couple of A-Data cards (one 1 GB and one 2 GB) and they have worked fine thus far.

[EngrPaul]

In all honesty, that card does look beat up. the third picture you can see the label peeling. Show us an image of the label. If the card resides in your axim the majority of the time, then I can't seem to understand why it looks as it does. My 2 gb a-data is almost a year old and looks as if it just came out of the packaging.

I have eight 2GB cards, one 4 GB card, and a couple 1 GB cards from A-Data. The 2GB cards have seen lots of activity, the 4GB has not. Only the 4GB card is in this condition. I cannot take a picture of the 4GB card because it was shipped already. If you would like to see pictures of my other cards, let me know.

The label did not peel, the angle of the picture combined with the flash made the card look that way. Please compare the feature you think you're seeing with other pictures I posted, or pull your card out of your device and take the same up close pictures with flash, you'll see what I mean.

[jevans64]

I don't know how the manufacturers seal the cards but injection molding is out because of the heat involved. My guess is that they are glued together or maybe heat sealed using a low-heat process. I bet heat from the Axim is causing them to split apart -- maybe from heat expansion and shrinkage from cooling down. The cards that are not glued properly ( not enough adhesive ) are splitting apart.

My 4GB seems fine now but it isn't that old yet.

[EngrPaul]

I looked at the broken parts under a microscope. The two halves are injection molded. A form of epoxy or ultrasonic welding is used in conjunction with centering posts.

If you look at the second picture, you will notice the base plastic is cracking. Whatever was used to join the case may have been working, however the plastic is inferior. It was split several places, including a split running down behind the label. This split is a tear that propagated down from the "gate" of the injection molding.

When you press on the top of a SD card, There is a lot of shear force acting against the spring that acts against the card down in the slot. If the plastic is the improper grade for the application, it will not handle the stress. The breaks I observed were very shiny, the material is brittle. I cannot see any filler used in the plastic. Fillers are added to improve strength and flame retardancy.

The heat from the Axim would not affect a proper Engineered plastic. I believe the wrong material was used, whether it be by design or by a mistake on the subcontractor (more likely the latter).

It doesn't help that a SD card is a flimsy casing in general. They probably shouldn't be used in applications where a heavy spring acts on the bottom while you push from the top directly on the case's seam.

I know these things because I develop high density connectors for the Electronics industry.

[LocutusBorgMan]

Glad to see that A-DATA seems to be standing by their product and will be getting you an RMA number.