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Microsoft Surface is a great piece of hardware that has a beautiful 2-in-1 form factor, great performance, and the most cutting-edge technologies. When it comes to storage options you will be limited to choose from some preset configurations that sometimes don’t fit your needs. Fortunately, most Microsoft Surface models except the Surface Laptop are all come with an SD or MicroSDXC card slot that you can use to expand your device’s storage.

1. Pc Expansion Slots
2. Sim Card Slot Surface Pro
3. Motherboard Expansion Slots

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MicroSD card buying guide

There are several things to consider when you’re choosing a MicroSD card for your device. MicroSD card’s capacity, speed, type, and price are the most important things you need to know about when it comes down to the final decision.

1Speed Class

According to the SD Association, here we have an overview of memory’s sequential write speed information for different speed classes of MicroSD cards.

*UHS = Ultra High-Speed

2App Performance Class

There is also another standard that is being used for application performance classification. This standard will show you the random read and write performance as input/outputs per second (IOPS).

3Capacity Standard

You might want to know as well about what is the maximum MicroSD card capacity that your Surface can support. Here is the SD card capacity standard.

Since all Microsoft Surface devices are using MicroSDXC host controllers, so your Surface technically can support a MicroSD cards with a capacity up to 2TB. Learn more about Microsoft Surface specifications by downloading the Microsoft Surface RT User Guide.

Now you have a better understanding of the MicroSD Card’s speed and capacity standard. Here, we have round up the best MicroSD cards that are compatible and work well on Microsoft Surface.

Our Picks: Best MicroSD Cards for Microsoft Surface

To learn more about individual Micro SD card, here we have listed the specifications and our thought on each item here:

SanDisk Ultra Micro SDXC UHS-I A1 Card - 256GB

A perfect Micro SDXC card with an A1 rating for Microsoft Surface

Not all Micro SD Card made for the same purpose, in this case, the reason you want to expand the storage on your Surface devices might not just to store only documents, photos, or videos. You probably want to store your applications and games that will require a specific SD card with better random read and write performance as input/outputs per second (IOPS). That's why you might want to pick up this A1 app performance card from SanDisk. It promised to deliver up to 1500 IOPS random read speed and 500 IOPS.

This Micro SDXC card features an Ultra High-Speed (UHS-I) and a class 10 speed rating. With the latest version, it now can support faster data transfer speed up to 120MB/s which is great for playing large videos. This Sandisk MicroSDXC also has great protection with waterproof, temperature proof, shockproof, X-ray proof, and magnet proof.

• Available Storages
• Speed Metrics
  Class 10UHS-IFull-HDU1A1
• Product Features
  • Data transfer up to 120 MB/s.
  • Load apps faster with A1 app performance class up to 1500 read IOPS and 500 write IOPS.
  • Waterproof, temperature proof, shockproof, and X-ray proof.
  • Included SD adapter.
  • 10-year manufacturer warranty.

SanDisk Extreme Micro SDXC UHS-I U3 A2 Card - 256 GB

Fast Apps & Games Load Time with 160 MB/s Max Read Speed

Pc Expansion Slots

Need a high-performance Micro SDXC card with better apps and games optimization for your Surface devices, this SanDisk Extreme® PRO microSDXC™ UHS-I Card is what you need. With SanDisk engineering and UHS-I enabled Surface devices, it supports data read speed up to 160 MB/s which is faster than the standard UHS-I speed of 104 MB/s. On top of that, it also supports UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) and video class 30 (V30) that can maintain a stable 30MB/s for real-time 4K video recording.

You can expect faster apps and games load performance with this card rated with A2 app performance that supports random read and write speeds up to 4000 IOPS and 2000 IOPS respectively. It also has great protection with waterproof, temperature proof, shockproof, X-ray proof, and magnet proof to secure your data from accidentally damaged.

Note A2 performance only available on 64GB - 1TB cards. For 32GB cards support only A1 app performance with 1500 IOPS and 500 IOPS read and write speed.

• Available Storages
• Speed Metrics
  Class 10UHS-IU3V304KA2
• Product Features
  • Sequential Read Speed: 160 MB/s.
  • Sequential Write Speed: 90 MB/s.
  • Load apps faster with A2 app performance class up to 4,000 read IOPS and 2,000 write IOPS.
  • Waterproof, temperature proof, shockproof, and X-ray proof.
  • Included SD adapter.
  • Manufacturer lifetime warranty.
• Available Apps

Samsung EVO Select UHS-I U3 Micro SDXC Card - 128GB

Reliable Speed with U3 - 4K UHD Capability

The Samsung EVO Select UHS-I U3 card is one of the best Micro SDXC cards available that offer great and reliable performance at a very affordable price. It is also able to record the 4K UHD video recording and handle most apps and games without any problems. It does come with a MicroSD card adapter so you can use it on any computer with a full-size SD card slot.

It can transfer up to 100MB/s for the read speed. While the write speed varies by the size of the card, in this case, the 128GB card supports up to 60 MB/s write speed. If you want a faster write speed, the 512GB card supports up to 90 MB/s write speed.

• Available Storages
• Speed Metrics
  Class 10UHS-I4KU3
• Product Features
  • Read speed: 100 MB/s
  • Write speed: 60 MB/s
  • Reliable storage for storing and playback 4K UHD videos.
  • Waterproof, temperature proof, shockproof, and X-ray proof.
  • Included SD adapter.
  • 10-year limited warranty

Lexar Professional 1800x Micro SDXC UHS-II Card - 128GB

SuperSpeed UHS-II/U3 with 270 MB/s Card

If you need the fastest expansion storage on your Microsoft surface devices especially for the Microsoft Surface Book series that comes with UHS-II capable SD card reader, you can count on this Lexar Professional 1000x. It uses the latest UHS-II/U3 technology that can deliver the fastest transfer speed up to 270MB/s read speed and 150 MB/s write speed.

It will let you work on big documents or projects file that needs the high speed of both input and output. It’s verified to work great with GoPro cameras for capturing 4K UHD videos.

• Available Storages
• Speed Metrics
  Class 10UHS-IIU3V903D4K
• Product Features
  • Read speed: 270 MB/s
  • Write speed: 150 MB/s
  • Using high-speed UHS-II (U3) technology.
  • Verified to be compatible with GoPro cameras.
  • Can read can capture 4K UHD and 3D video.
  • Included a MicroSD UHS-II reader for the best possible transfer speed.
  • Lifetime limited warranty.

BASEQI Aluminum MicroSD Adapter for Surface Book 1-3

Turn a MicroSD Card into a Permanent Expandable Storage for Surface Book

If you are looking to expand the storage of your Surface Book, the only thing you can do is using the SD card slot. Since it is a full-sized SD card slot, you will need a full-sized SD card or SD card adapter. However the depth of the slot is about half-length of the card, so it’s not a good idea to use the full-sized SD card as a permanent solution to expand the storage.

Fortunately, there is a MicroSD Adapter made by BASEQI that is firm and nicely fit the Microsoft Surface Book card slot without sticking out. With that said, you can now use any microSD card to expand the storage on your Surface Book. It has the same color and aluminum designed just like the Surface Book’s chassis.

• Product Features
  • Designed for Surface Book 1-3.
  • Made from aluminum material.
  • Easy to insert/remove.
  • Supports UHS-I.
• Supported Model
  • Adapter Model 350A
    Surface Book (1st Gen) Surface Book 2 13.5”Surface Book 3 13.5”
  • Adapter Model 351A

Conclusion

Those are the best MicroSD cards in terms of capacity, speed, and price. If you want the most affordable large MicroSD card, we recommend the Sandisk Ultra 200GB Micro SDXC UHS-I card or Samsung 128GB EVO UHS-3 MicroSD card. If speed matter to you the most the Lexar Professional microSDXC is what you should consider. Finally, if you have Microsoft Surface Book you will need an additional special MicroSD adapter made specifically for Surface Book.

In our original review, we found that Surface Pro X is one capable detachable notebook, but we didn’t like Microsoft’s Apple-inspired storage pricing. We took the matter into our hands and managed to get 1TB M2 2230 SSD from Kioxia. The 2230 M2 standard in space-constrained and limited to 3cm (1.18 inch), and it is the smallest of M2 standard drives. The fact that you can pack 1TB on it doesn’t cease to amaze us. Kioxia is a new company started in October 2019 that inherits Toshiba memory legacy. KIoxia is now the company that competes in flash memory and solid state drives (SSDs) market.
Microsoft Surface X Pro starts at $999 + tax in the US with a lousy 128GB storage option. Getting to 256GB boosts the price to $1,300, and the only way to officially get 512GB storage is to get 16GB RAM and spend a whopping $1,800.

In our case, the Kioxia OEM BG4 1TB didn’t have a price tag since it was an OEM device, but 512GB options available in e-tail sell for around 100ish Euro or 120ish USD. You can imagine that double the storage could cost close to double that.

How to

At the backside of the detachable machine hide doors concealing the nano-SIM and is the slot for M.2 2230 SSD.

For the first time, Microsoft has opened the door to a comfortable and accessible way to replace the SSD with minimal fuss. Although Microsoft recommends that the hard drive is “not user-removable” and should be replaced by a trained Microsoft technician.

Our device came with 128 GB SSD, and we decided to replace it with the Kioxia BG4 1TB SSD drive.

We were hoping that we would not only get an ample storage option but also improve the performance.

Replacing the SSD on Surface Pro X is not a difficult task. All you need is a SIM ejector tool (or paperclip) and a Torx T4 screwdriver. First, you’ll need to latch the kickstand and locate the place at the right bottom. Unlatch the door, which is magnetically attached to the SIM ejector. Now the SIM and SSD tray is exposed, and you can continue with the upgrade. Then you need to unscrew the small Torx screw with a T4 tool.
The SSD is easily detached by a light pull towards you. At this point, you would want to clone your SSD or prepare the Windows 10 bootable installation USB drive. If you are following the latter option, then you’ll either need a USB type-C drive or an adapter from type-C to Type A USB.

The next step is to slide in your new SSD and tighten the screw to secure it. The finishing touch is to put the cover over the nano-SIM and SSD, and you're ready to go.

If you have cloned your SSD drive, you are good to go and boot into Windows. I reinstalled Windows 10 from the USB key. You need to make sure to change the boot order in the BIOS. Once Surface has turned off, press and hold the volume-up button. With the volume-up button held down, press and release the power button. Continue holding the volume-up button until the Surface or Windows logo no longer appears on the screen. Then you can rearrange the booting sequence.

After we installed and configured Windows, it was time to check the performance against the OEM 128 SSD drive.

Benchmark

An increase in performance was clearly evident from some test as it scored up to 3X

CrystalDiskMark 7.0 Read speeds clearly benefit the new bigger drive, and there is a dramatic difference in Sequential 1MiB Q=1 T=1 as it scores close to three times faster. The story looks a bit better in Sequential 1MiB Q=8 T=1 where the 1TB Kioxia drive is slightly faster, and the cores are rather close in Random tests with a slight advantage to the 128GB drive.

The CrystalDiskMark 7.0 write part of the test clearly likes the 1TB Kioxia BG4 drive. The drive scores more than double the write speed of the OEM 128GB drive. Having a jump from 841MB to 1838 MB/s is quite a jump. Even in Sequential 1MiB Q=8 T=1 the new drive is 18 percent faster while the random 4KiB performance is very similar.

AS SSD Benchmark in read state shows that the 1TB drive gets you to 2372 MB/s read a massive 33 percent better read compared to the 128GB OEM drive. 4K performance in this test works dramatically faster in Kioxia, scoring almost double the OEM performance. Even 4K-64 Thrd repeats the same scenario as the Kioxia 1TB drive scores close to two times faster.

The write part of the test AS SSD 2.0 Benchmark shows dramatic performance in write speed. The sequential test scores three times faster on the Kioxia 1TB drive. Not only that, but you also get eight times the capacity at the same time you get three times faster speed. It is money well spent as people usually spend serious money to get a fraction of performance increase, let alone three times.

The 4K performance is two times faster on the Kioxia 1TB drive, while the 4K 64Thrd scores 77 percent faster.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, this is money well spent. With the 512 GB option selling for around 100ish USD or Euro, if you can find it available, you get faster speeds and four times the storage. Kioxia BG4 1TB gets you eight times storage for a fraction of what Microsoft charges. Bear in mind that 512GB option sells for 800 USD more than 128GB, but to be fair to the Redmond giant, the 1800 USD machine does come with 16GB RAM.

Sim Card Slot Surface Pro

Anyone who knows to use a screwdriver and install Windows with USB, and some basic knowledge of BIOS can do it. We don’t encourage anyone to rip a machine open, the choice is always yours, but we wanted to show you that it is not rocket science, and it gets you much needed storage and performance.

Motherboard Expansion Slots

Kioxia did a great job, and we just hope that there will be a way for consumers to buy these drives in etail.