For many years, SLC (Single-Level Cell) flash technology has been widely used in commercial and industrial applications that require high performance and long-term reliability. However, it is quickly disappearing from the market, primarily due to its high production cost. In fact, over the last two years almost all SLC chips above 4GB are essentially unavailable at any price.

There Are Very Good Alternatives to SLC

Where there is demand there will be a solution. SLC has been superseded by MLC (Multi-Level Cell) and TLC (Triple-Level Cell) technologies, which provide great alternatives at a much lower cost. The cost to produce SLC compared to MLC and TLC is exponentially higher and at increased capacities is simply not feasible from a cost perspective.

Most manufacturers are beginning to offer MLC and TLC-based solutions which support the Industrial Wide-Temperature range and are switched to “pseudo SLC mode,” allowing MLC or TLC chips to store one bit per cell like SLC. This, combined with additional on-chip storage allocated to wear-leveling makes these solutions as durable as SLC.

Here at OEMPCWORLD we’re getting good results with the Transcend 230I SLC Mode microSD solution.

These industrial-grade microSDHC/SDXC cards provide for a wide temperature tolerance (-40°C to 85°C) for industrial use. They are the ideal solution for small form factor/write-intensive applications such as POS terminals, medical devices and surveillance systems.

Transcend has provided more in-depth information about this and we recommend that you review it.

Delkin also provides a similar solution, where they take a 64GB MLC chip and switch it to “pseudo mode” so it stores only 32GB, running in a faster, more durable configuration which rivals SLC, yet at a better price.

We have many customers who have replaced SLC cards with these solutions with excellent results. Please contact us any time for a quote and delivery schedule, or even if you have technical questions.

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