Toshiba announces 32GB, 16GB SDHC cards

Yeah, Toshiba just announced an 8GB microSDHC card and even a massive 16GB full-size SDHC card (launching in October for ¥40,000, about $350), but it's the friggin 32GB card we're eyeballing. Due out January of next year for ¥80,000, soon enough you'll be plunking down seven bills for what's surely the last memory card you'll need for, what, six months?

[Via Engadget Japanese]

[Tristan @ Aug 22nd 2007 1:49AM]

damn

[Billy Fiul @ Aug 22nd 2007 2:04AM]

This looks like an excellent way to quadruplicate the capacity of your 8GB media player.

Too bad silly iPod has no way of upgrading its capacity :(

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Aug 22nd 2007 2:09AM]

Oh, Snapple! So instead of buying sixteen 2GB SDs for $25 a piece (prices may vary), you can just get one big 32GB SD for about $350 then!

But is it still a good idea? Or will prices continue to drop?

[CL @ Aug 22nd 2007 2:17AM]

"Or will prices continue to drop?"

Of course prices will continue to drop, this is a tech product. Do you remember how expensive a 1GB SD card was a few years ago?

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Aug 22nd 2007 2:31AM]

I mean "drop" by seeing record-low prices as with the 1-2GB memory cards that we're seeing these days.

I don't wanna plunk down $350 just so it can decrease by 75% in price in just two years. As far as I know, ever since the 2000s, memory cards have been expensive up until 2005 now.

[David @ Aug 24th 2007 3:07PM]

I payed 65 dollars for my 8GB SDHC card for my Canon SD1000..
Anyone remember when these used to cost 250 a pop..
Simply amazing engineering.. Keep it going!!!

[db26 @ Aug 22nd 2007 3:52PM]

Of course the price will decrease by 75% in 2 years. That is how things have always and will always work. The question is when do you want it - when it's cutting-edge or industry-standard?

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Aug 24th 2007 3:10PM]

It's something that I haven't really thought about that much. I'm just surprised to see such low pricing. Maybe some time this week I'm gonna finally pick me up a 2GB card for my Casio camera. ;)

[Hammoudith @ Aug 22nd 2007 2:22AM]

i like where this is going. hopefully it'll be affordable soon.

[PM @ Aug 22nd 2007 2:38AM]

In other news, the same Toshiba will announce 64Gb SDHC card 6 months from now. This is technology people...what's great now will be crap 2 months from now. That's the way which it's always worked and always will work.

[James @ Aug 22nd 2007 5:55AM]

Sorry, the SDHC standard only goes to 32GB so it looks like they will have to find a different type of cards after this. Maybe SD-HHC?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital_card#SDHC

[Panq @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:11AM]

"...thus theoretically reaching a maximum capacity of up to 2048GB"

Where'd you get the 32GB limit from?

[TC @ Aug 22nd 2007 1:38PM]

Probably best to use SanDisk as a reference!:

http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1441

32Gb max, because 32Gb is the maximum partition size Fat32 can handle. That's not to say they can't squeeze more memory in a SD enclosure, but it won't be SDHC compatible - multiple partitions of 32gb are not supported by the standard (unless it uses some rubbish manual switch partition like the old MemoryStick Selects used to), So yes, there probably would need to be another standard.

[Al @ Aug 22nd 2007 2:39AM]

Nokia N800 internet tablet with 64 gigs of data will soon be a reality.

[engadget @ Aug 22nd 2007 2:41AM]

Now if only my devices (Cameras / PDAs / Phones) would support the larger Cards :D

[pinchies @ Aug 22nd 2007 2:44AM]

Jaw-drop. Now all I need is a SDHC device to use it in. Palm, nope, phone, nope, cardreader, nope, camera, nope...
'640K should be enough for anybody' - somebody

[Ballog @ Aug 22nd 2007 3:42AM]

ummphh! and ASUS new UMPC the Eeepc is coming with just 2GB storage!

[Diogo @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:27AM]

Actually, you can use an SDHC card in Palm's Treo 680. I have a 8GB SDHC card on mine and it works great. Make sure to get a Transcend Class 6 (6MB/s if I'm not mistaken) card though, there were reports of cards from other brands dying after a couple months. Still cheaper to get 2 8GB cards at $ 89 each than one 16GB at $350 though...

[pinchies @ Aug 22nd 2007 4:45PM]

I heard about the 'classes' of cards... but again, I have no devices to use it on, and my palm is a T3 :-S

[Craig @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:50AM]

Most of the recently introduced Treos (as in past 18 months) support SDHC cards (some after a firmware update), so if your "Palm" is a Treo, then you could be rockin' 16GB of lovely storage.

[***BRY*** @ Sep 4th 2007 5:43PM]

My ancient Treo 650 is using an 8GB SDHC card right now. It took some firmware modification to make the software use it, but the device works fine with SDHC cards.

[Laxe @ Aug 22nd 2007 3:44AM]

Nice! If only my N95 could support these new cards.

[ishtar @ Aug 22nd 2007 5:42AM]

Pretty soon they will have more storage then blu-ray, the next HD format may be flash memory perhaps. What's the transfer rate?

[shaunj66 @ Aug 22nd 2007 6:00AM]

@Laxe. The N95 DOES support SDHC cards.

[Jason @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:20AM]

really? N95 suports full SDHC standard, as in 8GB+ microSDHC?

I've heard of non SDHC 4GB cards working, but I have not heard of SDHC working above 4GB.

Anyone tried this with their N95?

[Mindfield @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:02AM]

I was wondering when they'd finally get around to releasing truly high capacity cards. 7 bones, though ... I'll wait 'til they get cheaper. I can get 8gb SDHC (OCZ branded) cards for C$88 each right now.

[Alex @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:10AM]

Put this in the iPhone. Now please.

[Jon @ Aug 22nd 2007 11:05AM]

No expansion slot like other phones out there.

[drsilverworm @ Aug 30th 2007 6:18PM]

If you didn't want a gimped product, you shouldn't have bought an iPhone

[Kozzi @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:20AM]

I'm glad that I chose SDHC port over built-in memory

[Tor @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:17AM]

Those of you with cameras should check with your vendor's website, often they provide firmware upgrades. First thing I chcked with my camera, and sure enough there was an upgrade that included SDHC support.

[jonthedog @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:39AM]

When is Palm going to release a patch for the Treo 650 to support these SDHC cards? I mean, the "fix" I currently have works, but is sketchy at best.

[v_dogg @ Aug 22nd 2007 11:38AM]

ok if they have freakin 32gig sd cars, why the crap do we still use hard drives. flash is so cheap to produce, just lower the price and replace all hds with flash. gosh dang this is taking forever

[quique @ Aug 22nd 2007 11:44AM]

Does anyone know if these would work with Windows Vista Ready boost? I don't like the flash drive sticking out.

[quique @ Aug 22nd 2007 11:46AM]

Does anyone know if these would work with Windows Vista Ready boost? I don't like the flash drive sticking out.

[JM @ Aug 22nd 2007 1:25PM]

can't wait to get a couple of these for my n800

[bla @ Aug 22nd 2007 1:33PM]

grass is cool.

[Al @ Aug 22nd 2007 4:40PM]

32gig will be nice going in an 8gig(or even 4gig) Cowon D2. 40gigs(or 38) of flash sounds real nice.

[Natedog @ Aug 28th 2007 8:22PM]

You, sir, beat me to it and are my hero. I love my D2 more than life itself. I have a 4GB D2 with a 4GB SDHC card, but 16GB looks tempting. Lots of movie potential there. However, I believe you mean 4 and 2 gig D2s. Or have they made an 8GB one?

[Natedog @ Aug 22nd 2007 5:03PM]

You, sir, beat me to it and are my hero. I love my D2 more than life itself. I have a 4GB D2 with a 4GB SDHC card, but 16GB looks tempting. Lots of movie potential there. However, I believe you mean 4 and 2 gig D2s. Or have they made an 8GB one?

[Natedog @ Aug 22nd 2007 5:05PM]

Oops... that's weird.

[NewJohnny @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:56PM]

SDHC has got to be the worst format ever. Hardly a year goes by, and it's already obsolete. 32GB limit? What the hell were they thinking? Look at this July 2006 Engadget post for more rants:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/17/sandisk-joins-the-sdhc-club/

[Jason @ Aug 24th 2007 8:12AM]

SDHC has "a maximum capacity of up to 2048GB" because it uses sector addressing instead of byte addressing.

Besides how long do you keep your gadgets? I used to freak out every time a new memory card format came out. Now I realize they still last longer than my gadgets.

[NewJohnny @ Aug 24th 2007 1:58PM]

Yes, you're right. I was referring more to the file system limit (FAT32). I still get irritated with this sort of thing because it makes for trouble when working with older hardware. The 137GB/48-bit LBA drive limit is one example of short-sightedness on maufacturers parts.

[bobinfur @ Aug 28th 2007 5:45PM]

I remember when a 1GB Hi-cap memorystick from sony's camera accessories was like 500 bucks only 3 or 4 years ago. Imagine in another 3 years, 64 and 128GB cards are gonna be like $50. In 5 years we're gonna have like 2TB cards, awesome.