CenSin Posted September 12, 2014 Share #1 Posted September 12, 2014 It's been a while since SecureDigital memory cards have gone up in size. Back in September 2012, Lexar announced the world's first 256GB SDXC card, and then just a few months ago, PNY released their own 256GB SDXC card becoming one of the two major producers of 256GB SDXC cards. Today, Sandisk has come out with a 512GB card even though the rest of the competition is still producing cards only a quarter of the size. SAMSUNG, for example, has never released any cards larger than 64GB, and Kingston has been comfortable topping out at 128GB. Read about it here: http://gizmodo.com/sandisks-ridiculous-new-512-gb-sd-card-costs-800-1633455491 http://www.tomshardware.com/news/sandisk-storage-sdhc-512gb-capacity,27651.html http://www.slashgear.com/sandisk-512gb-extreme-pro-sdxc-a-high-capacity-memory-card-for-pros-11345937/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacemak3r Posted September 12, 2014 Share #2 Posted September 12, 2014 Sooner or later, you'd think flash drives would die out and SD cards take over? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CenSin Posted September 12, 2014 Author Share #3 Posted September 12, 2014 Sooner or later, you'd think flash drives would die out and SD cards take over? I've read the same comment on a number of forums. The thing is, the SecureDigital form factor is just to small to compete with SSDs or even USB thumb drives. USB thumb drives, have some extra design freedoms that allow more NAND dies and better controller chips. SSDs have even more. A lot of compromises go into designing these cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realizm Posted September 12, 2014 Share #4 Posted September 12, 2014 Hmmm... thats a thought. Flash drives becoming obsolete. It may take a while but I wouldnt be suprised if the technology dies out in say the next ten years due to its vunerabilities. My goodness, $800 dollars for a SD card? It would be useful from a techie point of view, you can keep several images of different operating systems and diagnostics on one card for troubleshooting. Aside from that the only way I see this useful from the consumer end is if they shoot alot of videos using the camcorder or is heavy into photography (on the photography end of the multimedia industry wit would be a bit of an overkill), but thats about it. Well come to think of it it might be useful on the multimedia end with the larger media groups and the press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CenSin Posted September 12, 2014 Author Share #5 Posted September 12, 2014 Has anyone noticed that SanDisk is releasing 256GB and 512GB cards simultaneously? It has been late to the 256GB card market for 2 years, and now it suddenly leapfrogs ahead of everyone. In February 2014, they were the first to come out with a 128GB MicroSDXC card while everyone else was still selling 64GB cards. It was only last week that Lexar became the second to come out with one of those. Looks like 2014 is a good year for SanDisk. They mention nothing about the new 256GB cards, but apparently, even their 256GB cards are only up for preorder! Here are the SKUs listed on their website: 128GB SDSDXP-128G-A46 (Americas) SDSDXPA-128G-G46 (Global) 256GB SDSDXP-256G-A46 (Americas) SDSDXPA-256G-G46 (Global) 512GB SDSDXP-512G-A46 (Americas) SDSDXPA-512G-G46 (Global) Hmmm... thats a thought. Flash drives becoming obsolete. It may take a while but I wouldnt be suprised if the technology dies out in say the next ten years due to its vunerabilities. I doubt USB flash drives will ever become obsolete. There are inherent vulnerabilities in any technology. You can only use good judgement to combat such threats. Who's to say that a can of soda being brought into an airport isn't a complete bomb with all the parts assembled behind the Coca Cola façade? My goodness, $800 dollars for a SD card?It would be useful from a techie point of view, you can keep several images of different operating systems and diagnostics on one card for troubleshooting. Aside from that the only way I see this useful from the consumer end is if they shoot alot of videos using the camcorder or is heavy into photography (on the photography end of the multimedia industry wit would be a bit of an overkill), but thats about it.Well come to think of it it might be useful on the multimedia end with the larger media groups and the press. For $800, it's only going to be used by the time-constrained professionals shooting RAW+JPEG and videos. I've gone through long hikes in places with a heavy camera, and I swear I hate the annoyance of having to change batteries or memory cards while moving about. But, at $800, this isn't for me nor for any ordinary consumer. PNY's 256GB card retails for as little as $100 (and some claim $80 when on sale). One of these 512GB cards could buy you around 2TB worth of storage in PNY cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quill Depot Posted September 14, 2014 Share #6 Posted September 14, 2014 I don't understand why these things don't just replace SSD's in laptops, and also Flash Drives Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realizm Posted September 14, 2014 Share #7 Posted September 14, 2014 I don't understand why these things don't just replace SSD's in laptops, and also Flash Drives Most likely because of the price tag, as solid state drives or hard disk drives used currently are less costly to manufacture. To add, flash drives are in fact SSDs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quill Depot Posted September 14, 2014 Share #8 Posted September 14, 2014 Most likely because of the price tag, as solid state drives or hard disk drives used currently are less costly to manufacture. To add, flash drives are in fact SSDs. Bulking up on the cheap 16GB ones seems decent, cause they sell for $10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realizm Posted September 14, 2014 Share #9 Posted September 14, 2014 I can bank on the fact that eventually the new SecureDigital technology for larger capacity storage mediums will be implemented on a wider scale as mass production brings down costs. I wouldnt be suprised if it did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quill Depot Posted September 14, 2014 Share #10 Posted September 14, 2014 Anyway, multiple 16GB SD cards seems much more efficient than a single external HD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realizm Posted September 14, 2014 Share #11 Posted September 14, 2014 What I meant to say is that with electronics in general, after its introduced to the market, over time, as the manufacturer steps up production the retail cost of the product goes down. Therefore if the new SD 512GBs sells, the prices will gradually begin to drop. Thats how it works... I think that was the point... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quill Depot Posted September 14, 2014 Share #12 Posted September 14, 2014 What I meant to say is that with electronics in general, after its introduced to the market, over time, as the manufacturer steps up production the retail cost of the product goes down. Therefore if the new SD 512GBs sells, the prices will gradually begin to drop. Thats how it works... I think that was the point... In a few years well be using these in cameras. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CenSin Posted September 14, 2014 Author Share #13 Posted September 14, 2014 A boatload of MicroSDXC cards would hold more data than any boatload of hard drives. MicroSDXC cards have some of the highest storage densities available to consumers, and the larger-sized SDXC cards aren't far behind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacemak3r Posted September 14, 2014 Share #14 Posted September 14, 2014 Anyway, multiple 16GB SD cards seems much more efficient than a single external HD. Multiple? You better have some 10 slot SD card reader to be efficient unless you'd rather take the time to eject and insert the SD cards. a single large HD will always be more efficient than multiple cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quill Depot Posted September 14, 2014 Share #15 Posted September 14, 2014 Multiple? You better have some 10 slot SD card reader to be efficient unless you'd rather take the time to eject and insert the SD cards. a single large HD will always be more efficient than multiple cards. I understand and I see how hard it is for a big reader. Anyway, one more question, why are SD cards so cheap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CenSin Posted September 18, 2014 Author Share #16 Posted September 18, 2014 I understand and I see how hard it is for a big reader. Anyway, one more question, why are SD cards so cheap? I typed up a pretty long paragraph a few days ago only to delete it. I think it's best explained this way: Solid state drives (SSD) are the best way to take advantage of flash technology through parallelism amongst multiple internal memory chips. Faster interfaces Performant quality controllers High quality, performant memory chips Many memory chips to exploit parallelism for speed Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash drives can be as good as an SSD or worse than a typical SD. Middling interface speeds Varying quality of controllers Varying quality of memory chips Varying quantity of memory chips SecureDigital (SD) cards are compact solid state devices much like an SSD, but using less-powerful controllers and lower-quality, lower-quantity memory chips. Slow interface speeds Slow controllers Lower-quality memory chips than SSDs Fewer memory chips internally due to space constraints Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quill Depot Posted September 18, 2014 Share #17 Posted September 18, 2014 Thanks for clarifying! You're sure smart in the field of tech man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CenSin Posted September 18, 2014 Author Share #18 Posted September 18, 2014 One wonders when Lexar will release their 512GB cards given that Lexar is a direct competitor to SanDisk, and was the first to introduce a 256GB card two years ago. If Moore's Law is followed, we should be further ahead, seeing 1TB cards in less than a year. SAMSUNG is in the best position to do this and more given that they are the only one mass-producing high-density V-NAND right now, while the rest of the competition are only demolishing their factories to make way for V-NAND production facilities; I'm surprised SAMSUNG chooses only to make 64GB cards. Lexar even came out with a high speed, 64GB, UHS II, Class 3, SDXC card capable of 300MB/s yesterday, putting SAMSUNG in an awkward position with its product line: no high-end cards, but plenty of low-end and average cards competing in an already-crowded market. Thanks for clarifying! You're sure smart in the field of tech man! Why, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CenSin Posted November 15, 2014 Author Share #19 Posted November 15, 2014 Kingston has just released their new 256GB SDXC cards and 128GB MicroSDXC cards. With the addition of these cards, there are now 4 major competitors providing cards at this capacity, closing the years-long gap where Lexar was the only option with a price of around $400 per card. The price of 256GB SDXC cards have dropped significantly since PNY first introduced theirs. Now they are offered by Lexar, PNY, Sandisk, and Kingston. Hopefully, this will pressure other competitors into making higher capacity offerings, namely SAMSUNG which would most definitely produce the highest-quality cards. http://techgage.com/news/kingston-launches-class-10-128gb-microsd-and-256gb-sd-cards/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Up Front Posted November 15, 2014 Share #20 Posted November 15, 2014 I sure could use one of these cards... don't know where I'll get $430 (including tax). I have a lot of movies and cartoons spread across hard drives right now and I'd rather be able to watch them without plugging an external drive in... I had one go bad on me already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CenSin Posted November 15, 2014 Author Share #21 Posted November 15, 2014 I sure could use one of these cards... don't know where I'll get $430 (including tax). I have a lot of movies and cartoons spread across hard drives right now and I'd rather be able to watch them without plugging an external drive in... I had one go bad on me already. PNY's 256GB SDXC card costs $110. I'm pretty sure Kingston's will be around the same price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qjtransitmaster Posted November 16, 2014 Share #22 Posted November 16, 2014 Hell yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CenSin Posted November 28, 2014 Author Share #23 Posted November 28, 2014 PATRIOT is next to release a 256 GB card. And Sony releases an un-newsworthy 128 GB card. Finally, everyone seems to be doing some catch-up. But SANDISK leads the pack so far with their 512 GB cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CenSin Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share #24 Posted March 20, 2015 A 200GB MicroSDXC card is being released soon! The tiny-sized version of the larger SDXC cards found in DSLRs are going to be available for pocket cameras, tablets, smartphones, and other devices. http://inventorspot.com/articles/sandisk-announces-200gb-micro-sdxc-memory-card Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CenSin Posted June 13, 2015 Author Share #25 Posted June 13, 2015 Boy, the progress of technology never slows. SanDisk unveiled a 200GB MicroSDXC card in March 2015 saying it was the best it could muster since 256GB was too challenging. But just less than 2 weeks ago, a relatively unknown company came out announcing a 512GB MicroSDXC card. That’s the largest full-sized SDXC card SanDisk has to offer crammed into a MicroSDXC size! And the SanDisk 512GB SDXC card only came out in September. http://www.slashgear.com/microdia-has-a-512gb-microsd-card-you-probably-cant-afford-03386696/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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