SDXC set to blow your mind next year, with 64GB capacity out of the gate

Kevin Schader, director of communications for the SD Association and all-around great guy, just stated that SDXC cards should be hitting us as early as next year, with a 64GB capacity to begin with. The spec was released to member companies in April, and though Pretec has been parading around a 32GB card, we haven't had a release window of any sort before now. Naturally, it's going to be a slow build up to the theoretical limits of SDXC, with 52MB per second speeds and 64GB cards, instead of the 300MB per second, 2TB cards of our dreams, but we promise not to complain too much along the way.

[BLToday @ Jun 12th 2009 5:16PM]

enough space for 1080p in a slim profile camera. yea!!!

[DR House @ Jun 12th 2009 6:22PM]

2010 64GB
2011 128GB
2012 256GB
2013 512GB
2014 1TB
2015 2TB

It seems that they going to do this (like SD cards)

[LondonConsultant @ Jun 13th 2009 4:56AM]

So, in 2015, one of those cards will have enough space to store everything that 2000 different human brains could memorise in their lifetimes.

[omgwtfhax @ Jun 13th 2009 6:59PM]

Actually, the storage capacity of the human brain is about 2 petabytes, which is 2000 terabytes.

[Lazarpandar @ Jun 13th 2009 11:57PM]

I refuse to believe that our brains store information in a way that is measurable in bytes.
And I find it hard to believe that they're capacity is measurable at all.

[Jason @ Jun 14th 2009 7:40AM]

@LondonConsultant

What are you talking about? Human brains don't work like computer memory.

We recreate our memories every time we think of them. That's why courts consider eye-witness one of the worst kind of evidence. All human memories are fabricated and change over time.

It's much more like hallucinating past experiences than reading a disk.

It's like our vision. You think you have HD vision, when in fact only a tiny fraction of your retina has any real density of resolution. Your eye constantly scans a scene and the brain hallucinates the view you perceive.

[blakecr @ Jun 12th 2009 5:26PM]

I knew there was a reason for the new SD slot in the new Macbook pros!

[Carlton @ Jun 12th 2009 6:40PM]

Except, it won't support SDXC (not this model; just wait a bit).

[awbhoops @ Jun 12th 2009 5:22PM]

Impressive. I remember reading a while back that the theoretical limit to these types of cards was 2048GB instead of the 32GB that has been generally accepted. Maybe I'll be using a PMP to hold all of my files at lossless in the near future after all.

[anexanhume @ Jun 12th 2009 5:58PM]

Actually, there wasn't a reason to create the SDXC standard. SDHC theoretically supports 2TB already.

[Precurse @ Jun 12th 2009 6:16PM]

They have exFAT as the filesystem of choice now by default. It's mandatory when selling the cards. Fixes up a lot of FAT and FAT32's original limitations

[ajoan0077 @ Jun 13th 2009 12:45PM]

lossless + flash PMP[with more then 16gb] + Ultimate Ears Super fi 5 = yay!

[Fanfoot @ Jun 12th 2009 5:22PM]

Honestly, I can't believe they spec'd the max size at 32GB when they defined SDHC a few years ago. Seems ridiculous we're already blowing thru the physical compatibility limits. Lots of people use computers/gadgets longer than a few years folks. Those brand-spanking new laptops Apple just announced at WWDC won't support these SDXC cards when they come on the market.

Oh well, technology marches forward. The speed improvements will certainly be appreciated.

[David @ Jun 12th 2009 5:24PM]

Are you sure previous SD readers can't support the new format? It seems like the interface is still the same... Firmware? Or am I just way too hopeful.

[jon @ Jun 12th 2009 5:56PM]

@david

We don't have enough data to say for sure, not many details of SDXC are out right now.

It could be possible, but I wouldn't make any decisions based on that hope.

[Temple @ Jun 12th 2009 6:42PM]

This is the serious problem with the SD format.

Current readers won't be able to read SDXC media, so basically don't expect to be able to use SDXC with any of your current devices. Exactly the same thing happened with SDHC, older SD devices are incompatible with the SDHC. Ignoring the micro and mini variants there are already too many incompatible variants with the "SD" format.

For all the negatives of the memory stick format, Sony had the foresight to have the maximum limit of the MS Duo to be 2TB. But the thing is all of that probably doesn't matter anyways, every time you buy a new device the memory prices change dramatically. If I bought a camera a three years ago I was probably spending a good chunk of money for a 256-512MB SD card, if I bought a camera today the same amount of money would likely get 16-32GB card. So irrelevant to SD, SDHC, SDXC or even Memorystick people more then likely just buy new media every time they make a major CE purchase, the format really doesn't matter.

[MegaBite @ Jun 13th 2009 9:45PM]

They should raise the max size of SDXC to something ridiculous, like 1024 exobytes.

And by the way, Apple would most likely not update the firmware in older macs to read these cards. Why would they remove one more reason to shell out the dough for a new mac?

[iDavey @ Jun 12th 2009 5:23PM]

Alright! This just made the 3G[S] 32GB look even less impressive....
Now...this is what I need

A beautiful Android phone (preferably Huawei G3 style or Touch Pro 2)
16/32GB onboard memory
SD slot capable of supporting said 64GB card
3.5-4in AMOLED screen
at the least 5MP camera with a GOOD lens and full suite of camera functions

And I'll be happy as who knows what!

[mirakutea @ Jun 12th 2009 5:28PM]

the iPhone doesn't have expansion slots right? another artificial limitation for lock-in purposes?

[Patriks7 @ Jun 12th 2009 5:30PM]

You dream too much......

[iDavey @ Jun 12th 2009 5:33PM]

No the iPhone does not have slots..

And yes I can dream can't I! UGH!

[iDavey @ Jun 12th 2009 5:42PM]

Oh...and I meant to add a Snapdragon chipset to the mix!!

[jon @ Jun 12th 2009 5:48PM]

Davey

Give it 9 months, of course by that time you'll want more.;)

[iDavey @ Jun 12th 2009 5:49PM]

Jon

You know me oh so well, LOL

By that time I'll expect a TB card with 320GB onboard and 50MP sensors in phones hehe

[Matt @ Jun 12th 2009 5:24PM]

52MB per second... look for burst mode on all P&S cameras in two years.

[chuuchdizzle @ Jun 12th 2009 5:24PM]

when does microsdxc come out?

[mirakutea @ Jun 12th 2009 5:27PM]

64gb for $10, yes please.

[crazypenguin @ Jun 12th 2009 5:28PM]

some one please enlighten me because this seems..... incredible to say the least? if something like this is apperently in the works, does that mean the use of huge hard drives will be no more? as in i could just get one of these super awesome things in the future to expand my memory on lets say my ps3 or computer? i understand the issue is loading on with 52 MB per second, but i think that'll do for almost all video files i wish to watch (or a lot of games i want to play. )

please and thank you on a response, and i apologize for being so tech-spec-noob-like.

[mirakutea @ Jun 12th 2009 5:30PM]

Yea pretty much they should do away with lots of the HDs in the world.

[mirakutea @ Jun 12th 2009 5:31PM]

so many HDs are for low intensity operations and redundant backup.

[Peter @ Jun 12th 2009 6:12PM]

Spinning platter drives are still far cheaper on a cost per Gig basis. SSD will be used for speed, small size and durability. Traditional drives will be used for archiving, backup, data center storage, and anything else where capacity is more important than performance.

[mirakutea @ Jun 12th 2009 6:39PM]

Spinning platters aren't going to be used forever.

[jay jay @ Jun 12th 2009 5:36PM]

great but can he say when are 32gb microsdhc cards are coming out?

[Rob47 @ Jun 12th 2009 5:39PM]

That would be nice to keep stuff on when i get one of the new macbook pros.

[miko34 @ Jun 12th 2009 5:49PM]

I wonder if this is the reason Apple doesn't want to add an SD slot for the iPhone....
hmmmm...

[KevinC @ Jun 12th 2009 6:29PM]

@miko34 - They don't put expansion slot in the iPhone so that they can make you buy a whole new phone next year when they up it to 64 and 128 gig. Also, they are charging 199 for the 16gig and 299 for the 32gig. You could by the 16 and then spend 30 bucks on a 16gig sd card. They don't want you eating up their profit, now do they?
-K

[mirakutea @ Jun 12th 2009 7:08PM]

Yea, the catch with apple is that some people have to take it up the butt.

[mirakutea @ Jun 12th 2009 7:09PM]

Like in the UK, they are charging $400 not $200 for the new 3G(s).

[Fanfoot @ Jun 12th 2009 6:01PM]

Just because this comes up every time... NO, THIS DOESN'T MEAN THERE WILL BE 2TB SD CARDS ANY TIME SOON.

It just means the SPEC ALLOWS devices up to 2TB. It could be YEARS before a 2TB device is on the market.

[chris @ Jun 12th 2009 6:37PM]

great, all my card readers are allready junk because they didnt support the HC variations of my memory cards etc.. now all the new ones i just bought are probably not going to work with this junk also. bullcocky!

[Al @ Jun 12th 2009 7:04PM]

I remember my Treo 700w and my i760 didn't accept SDHC/Microsdhc with out me installing a driver hack(since I upgrade to WM6.1 there is no need for a hack). So, I would assume based on past experience that with certain device all that would be need is a firmware/drive upgrade?

[totalundone @ Jun 12th 2009 7:26PM]

Well... I had a pda that was initially sold with only SD support. However, the hardware was SDHC. They eventually released a driver update to enable SDHC (and eventually people ported that over to other PDAs).

I believe SDXC is a hardware change. It will be backward capatible with SD and SDHC but those readers won't read SDXC

[adam1drift @ Jun 12th 2009 7:22PM]

wow! man i remeber when i bought my first 1GB hard drive... thought i'd never fill that thing up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOhRI61PKow

[Ed T @ Jun 12th 2009 8:07PM]

I remember when I bought my first 20 MB hard drive (no it wasn't steam powered). That was 1987 and it took at least two or three years to fill it up. What the hell is anybody going to do with 2 TB of data? We're not _that_ important.

[jon @ Jun 12th 2009 9:17PM]

@Ed T

How far we've come in 22 years. I've got 2 TB of Tentacle porn alone.

[William Su @ Jun 13th 2009 1:05AM]

i cant wait for 2016 and 2010 for me every 6 years somthing amazing happens

[htd @ Jun 12th 2009 9:01PM]

saw a post saying today fry's has a 16G microSD for $32.99 instore $35.99 online, which makes 64G SDXC card capacity seems very normal

[pika2000 @ Jun 12th 2009 10:59PM]

This will be perfect for upcoming consumer digicams with ultra giga pixel res on a microscopic sensor, giving users an extremely large file containing super blurry/noisy picture. =P

[Eric @ Jul 30th 2009 10:21AM]

Right on. It drives the optical engineers of the world mad!

Its not the CCD, its the lenses in front of it.

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Jun 12th 2009 11:29PM]

What gives with the n00bs on here?

This is just a spec. It doesn't mean that you're gonna see 2TB cards any time soon.

What it really means is that it is possible to make cards that are larger than the current max size of SDHC. It also means many devices won't be compatible with them. To be honest, this is nothing to crow about, it's actually a confusing and annoying period for customers when a spec (like SD) has to be transitioned like this. Ask anyone who went through the Memory Stick to Memory Stick Pro (>128MB) transition, or the voltage transitions that killed Smart Media.