New SD Spec Allows for 2 TB Cards

[Chris Gohlke]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.sdcard.org/home/' target='_blank'>http://www.sdcard.org/home/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"The next-generation SDXC (eXtended Capacity) memory card specification, announced today at the 2009 International CES, dramatically improves consumers&rsquo; digital lifestyles by providing the portable storage and speed needed to store weeks of high-definition video, years of photo collections and months of music to mobile phones, cameras and camcorders, and other consumer electronic devices. The new SDXC specification provides up to 2 terabytes storage capacity and accelerates SD interface read/write speeds to 104 megabytes per second this year, with a road map to 300 megabytes per second."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1231401901.usr1.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></p><p>Don't get too excited, remember this is just the specification we are dealing with here.&nbsp; I'm imagining it will be many years before we actually see 2 TB of storage in something the size of an SD card.&nbsp;</p>

[Pony99CA]

Don't get too excited, remember this is just the specification we are dealing with here.&nbsp; I'm imagining it will be many years before we actually see 2 TB of storage in something the size of an SD card.
True, but as was mentioned at Mobility Site, if you get to about 256 GB (only four steps from today's 16 GB cards), you might be able to start replacing hard drives in laptops (currently about 250 - 500 GB). Today it would take too many cards, but at 256 GB, even if laptops come standard with 1-2 TB by then, you'd only need 4-8 cards. You could put a card reader bank where the hard drive used to go. :eek:

They might cost more and be slower, so they wouldn't be for budget-conscious people or niche applications, but how cool would that be?

Steve

[V-iPAQ]

very nice. and if the 300mb/s is as fast as my 20mb/s card (ie, about 100kb/s) then we'll all be living in the fast lane!
;)

who knows, in 5yrs or so WM8 may have 20mb binaries to make up for our extra space!
and 50mp digicams will roll 50mb jpegs , so we'll still be short on space.

[Stinger]

Apparently they're planning to start with 64GB cards. I can't wait to see phones that take these cards as it would allow me to carry around my entire music collection on one card. :)

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Oh well. Time to buy new card readers again.

[beq]

Will they also have the microSDXC (and I presume miniSDXC) formfactors as part of the SDXC standard? Would the microSDXC formfactor share the same 2TB theoretical max capacity and 104-300 MByte/sec theoretical speed limit as part of the specs?

Furthermore, does the SDXC standard specify a new set of Class-based minimum-sustained-speed ratings (like the Class 2/4/6 ratings for SDHC)? With 104-300 MByte/sec as the maximum speed limit, I hope we will see a lot faster (20MB/sec and up) minimum-speed ratings!

Devices adding SDXC slots will likely use a faster interface bus, which is a good thing at least. There have been too many devices with SD/SDHC slots that are too slow and pose as the bottleneck!

In the meantime, I wonder if most users will choose an SDXC reader that's based on 5Gbps USB 3.0 or (e)SATA (the current 3Gbps or the new 6GBps). It's interesting that all these new SD/USB/SATA developments are making a splash at the same time in CES...

[Pony99CA]

Will they also have the microSDXC (and I presume miniSDXC) formfactors as part of the SDXC standard?
Probably, but isn't MiniSD kind of dead? I've seen some 4 GB MiniSDHC cards, but all of the 8 GB or higher cards I've seen advertised were either SD or MicroSD.

When I bought my Motorola Q9m, which has a MiniSD slot, it included a 128 MB MicroSD card and an adapter.

Steve

[nmcclana]

Thank god! Another memory card format! I thought that SDHC was fat32, which should do 2TB.

[k1darkknight]

Thank god! Another memory card format! I thought that SDHC was fat32, which should do 2TB.
Well, at least they keep the same form factor with each new SD spec. Can you say Sony? I've ranted about Memorystick before, so I'll spare everyone here, this time.
As for SDHC and fat32. Yes, fat32 can do 2TB, but they put the 32GB limitation in as an artificial limit in the SDHC specification. It's not a technological limit, it's a format limit. Probably not the best example of foresight on the part of the SD planners, but SDXC seems to be the solution for the future.
At least they didn't wait until SDHC had been widely available for 3 or 4 years... ;)

[Craig Horlacher]

I don't think it will be too long before we see 2TB cards. You can already buy a 16GB MicroSDHC for $70 and they are *much* smaller than the SD form factor. Two years ago, you may not have been able to get 2GB MicroSD cards and now they're like $5.

[k1darkknight]

I realize this thread has been more or less dead for over 2 years, but maybe someone will reply here anyway.

I was just wondering if, from a technological standpoint, devices with SDHC slots should be able to be driver/firmware upgradeable to be SDXC compatible? Or for that matter, is it possible that some devices that were marketed as SDHC, actually ARE already SDXC compatible, just because they use the same architecture, just with a new standard?
I've been looking for a while at getting an Android tablet, most likely in the 10" range. I'd REALLY like something that can take SDXC cards (preferably full-size, not micro), but also something that is 3G/4G capable. For me, SDXC trumps the 3G/4G issue, unless SDHC tablets could be made SDXC compatible. So far, the only one marketed as SDXC that I've seen is the Toshiba Thrive, so if I end up with other options, that'd be great!