Kingston kicks its SDHC game up to 32GB

It was a bit late to the party with its 16GB SDHC card, and Kingston looks to be playing catch-up again when it comes to 32GB cards, with it only now releasing its first such high capacity wonder. It's also not making any attempts to contend with the fastest cards around, as this particular one is only a Class 4 card that promises to maintain a speed of 4MB/sec, which is a good deal off the pace of Panasonic's 20MB/s Class 6 SDHC card. Of course, at "just" $308, you can also get two of these for the price of one of Panasonic's speedy cards, which should tide you over until the inevitable 64GB SDHC cards start showing up.

[somewhatboxes @ Aug 12th 2008 2:08PM]

Um... Doesn't PNY have a 32 GB card for about $130? It's also Class 4, so it seems like Kingston is still behind on this one, and it doesn't even seem particularly cheap for this capacity.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178212

[Speeddemon2008 @ Aug 12th 2008 2:13PM]

well if you look at newegg you can also see the kingston is $208, not $308.

[David Hamby @ Aug 13th 2008 7:19AM]

I've had a PNY Class 4 32GB SDHC for over a month now and it works great. I use it in my Treo 700P and use it everyday 10+ hours a day.

[Saffy @ Aug 12th 2008 2:11PM]

Or you could, maybe, pick up a class 4 PNY 32GB card for around $125.

And I don't know why Kingston is inflating their own retail prices, but NewEgg seems to already have this for sale for $209.

[kjb434 @ Aug 12th 2008 3:12PM]

Kingston always charges more than PNY because PNY is not up to the same quality.

PNY is know for making shaky RAM modules the overhead and cause the blue screen of death.

[Mike10010100 @ Aug 12th 2008 2:13PM]

Use a few of them in combination with that SD card hard drive thing that engadget had on before, and you have a high capacity SSD, albeit an expensive one.

And one more thing: Why can't we have a 64 GB ipod touch(or any other SSD music player for that matter)? This seems like (even if it is a bit expensive) it is possible.

[Christian Walters @ Aug 12th 2008 2:27PM]

"Albeit an expensive one", dude-WTF? Even at 500 or so USD, that would be a CHEAP ASS 128GB SSD.....not expensive at all!

[thatrotierkid @ Aug 12th 2008 2:48PM]

Cards
128GB = 4 x 32GB = 4 x $208 = $832

Adapter
$91
http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/11/diy-ssd-adapter-takes-6-sdhc-cards-the-cake/

Total
$923


Regular 128GB SSD
$479
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227345

[bot @ Aug 12th 2008 4:59PM]

You could try looking up the Cowon D2. The highest internal flash memory they offer is 16GB but it comes with a SDHC slot that has been confirmed to work with 32GB cards, I believe. So, you could have a 48GB flash player that has the footprint of a credit card. It's also praised for its high audio quality. The only problem is that the stuff on the SD card does not get integrated with the internal memory. No player with expandable memory seems to be able to do that yet.

Alternatively you could also try the Creative Zen 32GB + 32GB card (assuming they work, I haven't researched) for a full 64GB, but that player has more problems...

[helloUser @ Aug 12th 2008 2:16PM]

arent SDHC cards supposed to 'max out' at 32gb? apparently SDHC doesnt support 64gb or some shit....i remember reading comments here on engadget which made those claims...somebody correct me if im wrong....

[somewhatboxes @ Aug 12th 2008 2:21PM]

If you follow the version 2.00 spec strictly, then 32 GB is the max, however the theoretical max is 2040 GB, if they don't adhere strictly to the standard. I don't know what that threshold means, though. It's possible that by the time you have 2048 GB cards you're completely disregarding the 2.00 spec, but the Wikipedia article doesn't elaborate.

[Rich @ Aug 12th 2008 2:22PM]

I was about to post the same thing. I believe SDHC tops out at 32GB.

Then we'll need to move to SDEHC (Secure Digital Even Higher Capacity) cards.

[steve @ Aug 13th 2008 12:54PM]

SDHC devices used the FAT32 file system, which has the convenient 32GB barrier. I am sure there will be some devices getting around this by using ext3 (or insert your favorite FS here) for larger cards sooner or later....

[atom @ Aug 13th 2008 4:53AM]

@Rich

64GB+ will be called as "SDUC" (SD Ultra Capacity)...
This is confirmed.

[atom @ Aug 13th 2008 4:57AM]

Oh, one more thing,

The major file system of SDUC cards will be exFAT ...

This is also confirmed. AFAIK, SDA (SD Card Associates) are still working on it.

[Mac @ Aug 12th 2008 2:17PM]

1GB sd card used to cost $300 back in 2004, mmm..

[Chuck @ Aug 12th 2008 2:33PM]

I'll pick one of these up on the $20 rack next Thanksgiving Day sale

[Seanross @ Aug 12th 2008 2:42PM]

I will learn to wait until the price comes down even lower. I remember buying a 1GB Memory Stick Pro Duo for $100 when they first came out for the PSP now the darn things are like $12 :'(

[thedesolate1 @ Aug 12th 2008 8:42PM]

Im right there with you brother.. I remember thinking I was so special because nobody else could afford a 1 GB card....it seemed HUGE at the time... sigh. Man i got robbed because the prices were slashed within months. NEVER AGAIN.

[Andrew @ Aug 12th 2008 2:51PM]

Playing catch-up? In Canada I don't see anything larger than 16G for sale so if you mean playing "catch up" on paper, then sure.

[hugh @ Aug 12th 2008 3:19PM]

ouch. if 4mb/sec write speeds are to be believed, it'll take 2hours 20mins to fill this bad boy up. time for a cuppa?

[livefire @ Aug 12th 2008 3:39PM]

Make a 32 GB Memory Stick Duo for the PSP and a firmwire update so the PSP can recognize the full capacity of the memory. Then I will be happy.

[pardyj @ Aug 12th 2008 8:49PM]

Me too. Think about the media you could have on your PSP with a memory stick that size. I remember paying a fortune for a 1GB memory stick a few years ago and now they, as well as 2GB and 4GB are relatively cheap. Sometime last year I got a 8GB on eBay new (genuine Sony) for $100... not sure how much they are now.

[digitallysick @ Aug 12th 2008 4:17PM]

class 4 ?? lame need class 6 at an afford able cost. I got a 16gb class 6 from newegg for about 45 dollars. Can't beat that

[pardyj @ Aug 12th 2008 8:46PM]

$308 is a lot for a memory card, however 32GB could hold a seriously high amount of stuff.