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I was asking myself which which has the higher read/write speeds: A USB2.0 flash drive or a SD card.

Concerning the USB2.0 flash drives, I found that they have a maximal read/write speed of 30MB/s. But what about SD cards? I found that there exist several classes of them, but they only specify the minimal write speed and bus speed. What is the actual read speed of a SD card?

If I had a big program (>16 GB), that I wanted to run from flash drive or SD-card, which one should I choose?

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    It isn't not on topic, what you want to know just is confusing, the actual write and read speed will depend on the card reader used and what type of interface it is connected to the PC by.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 20:47
  • I cannot find anything other than drivers about my laptops internal card reader (RTS5209). Do you imply that it is common that card readers often don't support high data throughput rates?
    – Wauzl
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 22:13
  • There are USB 2.0, 3.0, SATA 3, PCI-E external and internal card readers. So be specific. You will get an answer. Until then don't be shocked at the votes you do receive. At least tell us the interface used...
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 22:15
  • "How long is a piece of string?" In this case it would depend on the flash drive, interface, card reader, class of the card....
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 23:58

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After doing a little looking around, it seems you can get a much cheaper SD with a much higher read speed than a USB that is not 3.0 as you've stated 2.0. This provides you the read @ 40mb/s.

However, you may also want to try this USB.

I was unable to find ANY specs on the speed, but it should be near the 30's no problem.

I personally have used both brands before and at this moment I have a 16GB Patriot that I use at work, which has out-shinned every other USB I've seen (when transferring files).

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