Deals: Get Crazy Savings On 400GB, 256GB And 200GB MicroSD Cards For Your Switch

I'd jump on that 400 if I was out of space but I have a fair amount left. By then it might be even cheaper when I do need it.

I'm pretty sure if you order an SD card from Amazon US to be sent to Europe you'll have to pay hefty tax on top, bringing it up to more or less the same price it would cost you in your own country. Same goes for any electrical goods.

I'd say anything between 20-40% of the value,which isn't too bad I suppose. Still cheaper than the UK anyway.

Holy crud, that 400GB card went cheap quickly.

I'm still ok with my 128, but I'm grabbing the 400 anyway. I know I wont be ok in another 3-6 months.

Just bought the 400! I hope it's easy for me to transfer all of my 200GB card over to it

Wow! Definitely grabbing a 256GB card. Won't need the 400 one just yet

@OorWullie the UK links are for Amazon UK

I'd wait for Black Friday but the 200GB has a good price.

@Bunkerneath Yeah but the price is considerably higher. My comment was aimed at the part in the article which says

"Amazon US do deliver to select European countries so you could always have one shipped over."

Yes you can but expect to pay a hefty chunk on top.

Those are good prices. Got a 400 GB last year for about $50 more than this and never looked back

400gb for $100 is awesome, soon I'll probably had to get one to get back all my software that were archive in the system.

ordered a 400gb for 100 eur on german amazon the other day. should arrive tomorrow, can't wait, this data management and choosing which game to delete or keep was getting tiring

I put a 200GB card in my switch when I bought it at launch and I still have plenty of room. I’m glad to see the prices on these going down. Hopefully if I get low on room the 400 or greater cards will be even lower by then.

I picked up a 128gb when I got my switch with the intention of going all digital but I ended up going all physical so I don’t think I’ll need any bigger

I have an old 50 GB external harddrive for my computer. It makes funny noises now.

Holy crap, 400GB! As an all-digital Switch dude, that sounds quite nice.

This is probably a stupid question, but I’d appreciate it if someone could help me out. I’m thinking of upgrading to the 400GB card and retiring my 128GB one. Is moving data from one card to another as simple as creating a folder on your PC, dragging and dropping the contents of the first card and then dragging and dropping them to the second card? If it’s that simple I might spring for it, but I’m afraid I’m going to screw something up and lose a bunch of data.

So of course this happens less than a week after I finally upgrade to 256....

Keep in mind though these cares are UHC-1 U1! That means 10MB/s sustained writes. The U3 cards have 30MB/s sustained writes. This means, depending on your internet speed, downloads to these cards are only 1/3 the speed they should be. I recently discovered the U1 card I was using was the source of my extremely slow download speeds on Switch.

However the U3 400MB/s cards are significantly more expensive (much more reasonable at 256 and below though.)

I had to weigh the tradeoff of U3 performance or 400GB storage and opted so far for the performance. Read speeds are roughly the same for U1 and U3, so it mostly affects downloads (though there's a slight bump in read as well, it's minor.)

Note also that Sandisk's own Nintendo Switch licensed cards (only goes up to 128GB) are of the faster U3 variety.

@thesilverbrick It's that simple.

Power off Switch (not sleep, actual power off.)
Remove old card
Insert new card
Boot up and format new card (not really necessary but it's better to use the OS's formatting just in case.)
Power down Switch again.
Copy the contents of Nintendo folder from the one card to the other.
And you're done. Insert the new card and boot up.

The copy may take a long time if it's a very full card. Hundreds of gigs across SD isn't exactly speedy.

This is awesome. I've been annoyed with how I have to delete and download games all the time. I've got a 256gb card, but didn't get interested in physical games until recently, so I've got a number of huge games in digital format...

@thesilverbrick Why not just keep the 128 gb card, get a 200 gb card, use them both, and save yourself a bunch of money?

I have a 250 (got it for $60) card with about 25 GB left...I jumped on this. Why? Because I eventually want the Naurto trilogy and that's an eshop only game that's like 17GB alone. Not to mention mor and more games are releasing with mandatory installs. So its just a matter of time before I run out

I haven't made a dent in my 128GB yet so I think I'll hold off for now.

@NEStalgia Thanks! That’s super helpful. Figured it was that simple, but I wanted to be sure. I appreciate you getting back to me.

@PanurgeJr I have zero desire to fumble with more than one MicroSD card. They are tiny, easy to lose and relatively fragile. I do not want to risk misplacing save data for dozens of games. I prefer to have everything on a single card that will never come out of my Switch.

@thesilverbrick Np!

Also, FYI, you won't lose any save data, save data is only stored on internal system memory and the cloud saves for NSO subscribers, never on SD (unlike 3DS.)

Only the actual game installs/patches and screenshots/video captures are stored on SD.

How to get a 400 GB SD card cheap!

Buy it and split the cost among 7 other people.

Love my 400 GB card though.

I keep seeing recent Amazon reviews for these products which claim that they received counterfeit/fake cards which perform at greatly reduced read/write speeds and storage capabilities. Some customers even claim that Amazon told them that the items are not eligible for returns...and these are sold by Amazon!
I want to take advantage of these prices but I'm worried that I'll waste my money.

@NEStalgia didn't know that you could copy them. What Nintendo recommends and I did before was to download the games from the eshop personal page

I have a 128gb one but already had to delete a few. I am buying more physical now and will wait for a price under 30£ for 256

Waiting till black Friday and or boxing day for another sd card

@subpopz No reason it can't work, you can copy it to an SD card at any time. The only thing that "wouldn't work" is of course you can't put it in a different switch because the encryption is keyed using that hardware's fingerprint/TPM. So the backup won't save you if your Switch is damaged since the encryption won't unlock on any other switch, but it can save you if the SD card dies (which does happen...)

Still haven't used up my 32GB internal yet, one year on....no rush.

Soooo a 700+GB Micro SD Card announcement soon?

Something to keep in mind if you order from Amazon, there's a chance you might get a counterfeit card (even if it's sold/shipped directly from Amazon).

I'm in Canada and had to return a 128GB micro-SD because it was a fake. They sent a replacement no problem however, and that one was fine.

Probably a good idea to test any cards you get from there before using them in your Switch.

@sevex What's the best way to test them?

I bought the 400 the last time it went on sale (although this is the cheapest it has been) but darn Perfume CD or SD card. Decisions, decisions.

@NEStalgia This also is helpful information. I feel foolish for not knowing it sooner. Sounds like even if I just bought a brand new SD card, I could just re-download everything and keep all my existing save data, without having to deal with a PC. Granted, it would take longer, but it would be simpler. It’s nice to know my options. Thanks again!

Already got two 128GB microSD cards on sale at Best Buy for my hacked Wii (shut it) and Switch, so I'm pretty much set on everything except my PS4. Need an external for that thing due to all the PS Plus games I got on sale over the years.

256GB is $52 in on Amazon in the U.S. and €100 on Amazon France. Go figure...

@FatPigeon There's a free tool called H2testw. It'll basically just fill the card with data, read it back, and let you know the speeds, and how much of it was writeable. Takes a little while, but gives you some peace of mind.

In my experience however, the fake card I had showed problems immediately. I wasn't even able to format it without issues.

I got a 200GB card but the space is filling up quickly. Got a about 60GB left. Think I may upgrade to the 400GB card. That’s a really great price. Probably $50 less than the previous low.

If people are wondering, the prices of these micro SD cards have likely come down because the faster 400 GB Micro SD card was released.

@OorWullie Plus a handling fee of £8-12 (or more?) on top of the % value in import tax. I think that's a sliding scale dependent on the value too.

Ohh, I wish I could jump on this. I definitely need to make my Switch games digital.

@Medic_alert Hmm, that's pretty weird. I wonder if something went wrong with the copy or something? IIRC even the official FAQ describes doing it that way (unless an older firmware had an issue back when it had less stability? ) Also possible an antivirus or some such messed with the files.

@subpopz Yeah. IIRC only Nintendo encrypts the drive. Sony and MS let you move a drive from box to box no problem. It's weird, because without the account login, or the license file that's on the primary system, the games are useless. On paper it keeps out dataminers/modders, but they seem to have no problem getting in anyway, so it doesn't seem like it actually matters that it's encrypted at all, let alone machine locked.

I didn't think you could transfer like on the 3DS so I just redownloaded everything. I have three 128s but I would much rather have a 400 gb.

Bought the 400 GB card a few months ago as my 128 GB was full and then some. I did not manage to transfer my games through the computer method. Couldn't get it unlocked or correctly formated it seemed. So I had to download everything again. Took its time, but worth it

It had to be on the american website, hadn't it . Not gonna risk paying up 60€ in customs taxes.

I'm still on my 32gb micro sd card i bought at launch since you can archive your games you don't play as much. Not to mention, I still have an untouched 128gb from Christmas. If I was running out of space this would be in the shopping cart right away. I'm almost mad I have space left 😃

I picked up a 200GB card for my Switch a couple of weeks ago, thinking it will be enough for five years, just like the 32GB card in my 3DS.

Now I have less than 75GB free space on it.
Dayum!

@ryancraddock

I’ve been meaning to mention that (forever) when clicking your amazon links from an Australian location, it goes to ‘Amazon.au’ which is a non existant address... should be ‘amazon.com.au’

Space is only a issue with more of the downloadable games. I prefer physicals when possible and have a 160gb left n my original 200gb that I bought at launch. I might go ahead and get that 40gb though so I don't ever need to worry about it until the 1tb cards are out probably.

$35 for 200 GB and $99 for 400 GB... why not just get 2 200 GB cards for $70?

My 400GB card only has 22.3GB left on it (168 games), so I may get another one at some point.

for those with the 400GB how much actual space is it when you put it in? obviously there is that round up factor with storage

I bought a 512 gb card the other day for $15. It was miss labeled at Walmart and I complained enough about the fact that it was advertised as $15 on the packaging and the label on the shelf. Great time. Screw those prices.

@kevin74 curious how much of the 400GB is actually useable? you know how a card shows a slightly smaller number then the number on the package ?

Nice, just placed an order for a 400GB.
Finally, I can download all my purchases without having to remove games.

@NEStalgia Although what you say is ‘generally’ correct... a 10MB/s sustained write means that you can still max out your internet speed at 80Mb/s download..

Clearly my internet provider must be behind, but where on earth do normal people get 240 Mb/s download - and there’s no way the Switch is capable of those wifi speeds surely!?! (30MB/s)?

@ValhallaOutcast There are sometimes other factors involved, but if you convert to bytes that will give the approx amount (in theory).

ie 400 / 1.024 (in Gigabytes),
so approx 390GB.. but as mentioned, depends on how they calculate, results may vary.

@Medic_alert
Not true - labeling/storing can be easily achieved using one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DiMeCard-microSD-ANDROID-HONEYCOMB-writable/dp/B00ANNF8VK

It's no bigger than a credit card (so it can be easily carried around) and holds up to 8 microSD cards.
Conveniently, the slots are already numbered so there's no need for additional labeling really.

Then, you can use this android app to keep track of what's on each card:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yiannose.NintendoSwitchSDCardManager&hl=en

@FTL @ValhallaOutcast No, its more like 370GB. (Usable space after formatting)

Thank god Switch game is small, SD CARD can still be relevant. New games on PS4 like Red Dead Redemption 2 is 105 GB, even 1 TB HDD is begging for mercy.

@FTL True, but I should clarify that the advertised speeds and testing methodologies tend to be....let's say..."massaged" in these things Yeah Switch internet sucks. I'm getting consistent tests showing 40/8 which is far below what my line is capable of. I'm guessing that's the max write speed of the internal storage, though, which it probably writes a file to while testing download speed. And 8 might be that new fixed cap to Nintendo. However, from my own testing and yt videos I've found and posted in the Switch Thread, the speed difference of writes is pretty extreme. the "official" ratings of SD is some magic far outside reality. I'm guessing they test not writing to an actual file system but a raw serial dump onto the bare flash sequentially from byte 0 to get those "10/30" numbers of U1/U3, with no chance of a read op occurring simultaneously.

One side effect I've noticed is, oddly, loading the eShop. The little tones that play as the orange sweeps across used to get through one complete left to right, right to left, pause, and and then one more sweep left to right, then load. Now it does one left to right, right to left, and loads right when the pause used to start. Weird that the SD card is affecting the store, but I'm guessing it scans installed games on load to prep your "redownload" list, meaning the read speed bump is actually noticeable as well, which honestly that surprises me.

I buy 80% of my stuff physical anyway, only Indie games digital. I'll prob just grab a 256 one but i won't need more than that, took me 3 months before i needed storage to begin with and only got a 64 gig in for £18. Been ok until recently,that 256 will keep me until the end i would think.

@Medic_alert

Don't get me wrong - of course it's ideal to have everything on one card, but sometimes/for some of us it's not always possible.

I mean I already bought/started-with a 128gb card. I wasn't gonna put it aside (as I don't have any other device that needs one) just to buy a 400gb one - specially at those prices.

At the time I could only afford a second 128gb card so I went that route.
I'll use whatever-capacity cards I have available/can afford as much as I can.

Plus what I'm proposing as an alternative (microSD card holder) doesn't cost more than £7.
Yeah it takes some housekeeping/organization I but I think it's a viable alternative.

Anyways, at the rate Switch titles get released, this time next year -for some people- the 400gb won't be enough. What happens then?
Scrap the 400gb one to buy a bigger one (1TB?) or buy/start using an additional 400gb card?

There's no right/wrong here, just a matter of approach, economics, etc.

I have two 256GB cards, one of them is full and the other has only 40GB left. And I buy physical, except for indies. This happens when you have a huge backlog. I am reaching the 400 game mark. Would love to buy a 512GB card.

I now have a 128gb micro-sd from Samsung. However, it only contains 119gb. And a game like Hollow knight is 5,2gb, yet it eats 6 gb. I paid 33 Euro, so that isn't that bad. However, I am not that fond of the memory I am losing. I probably should just have gotten a official Sandisk-one, but those are more expensive.