SanDisk's 32GB class 10 SDHC card competes for world's fastest

When it comes to claims of being the world's first or fastest, there's a big difference between announcing product and actually delivering it for retail. So let's be clear, SanDisk might be announcing the world's fastest 32GB SDHC card today, but it won't be shipping until August. It's not even the first 32GB class 10 SDHC card announced since Panasonic did its unveiling more than a month ago -- and this is where SanDisk's speed claims get confusing. That "class 10" logo is supposed to be a standard means of identify the card's speed as rated by the SD Association. Yet SanDisk claims a max read/write speed of 30MBps whereas Panasonic claims a max of just 22MBps. Guess we'll have to see head-to-head benchmarks to know the truth. Regardless, it is fast and that makes it suitable for capturing 160 minutes of full HD (1920x1080 pixels) video recorded at 24Mbps.

[Michael Scrip @ Jun 25th 2009 4:20AM]

I'd like to have 2 of these cards in one of these:

http://pro.jvc.com/prof/attributes/features.jsp?model_id=MDL101851

[macserv @ Jun 25th 2009 11:02PM]

As of earlier today, I have the Panasonic 32GB card in one of these: http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&modelNo=AG-HMC150

I can't tell you how happy I am kiss MPEG-2 compression goodbye.

[Michael Scrip @ Jun 25th 2009 11:16PM]

Nice camera, macserv!

What do you edit with? Do your camera's files work seamlessly with your NLE?

I'm rockin' the Panasonic DVX100B.... still tape based for me :(

[macserv @ Jun 26th 2009 12:44AM]

Sadly, my editing setup doesn't handle AVCHD natively yet... Right now, I have to transcode AVCHD to Apple ProRes, which is annoying but still better than dealing with tape, and the quality is stellar. The Final Cut Pro suite has served us so well over so many years that I'm willing to give Apple a a fair amount of time to get their act together in that one regard.

[dannyboy414 @ Jun 25th 2009 4:28AM]

And let's start making them fit mini/micro now. I don't want to be ousted by all to Gs owners w/ there 32gb storage.

[Zane @ Jun 25th 2009 4:47AM]

I'm still on a class 10 4 giger and have been looking to upgrade but they need to get the pricing down. Pana's 32GB Class 10 is already available for 200 pounds across the pond and that's friggin expensive.

[darkmax @ Jun 25th 2009 5:14AM]

200 English Pounds?! That's ridiculous.

[Kelmon @ Jun 25th 2009 6:58AM]

Indeed. I'm honestly quite happy with a few 2GB Extreme II cards for my Nikon D90. Larger and faster would be nice but I can't justify the additional cost given that the current cards I am using are cheap as chips. I certainly wouldn't spend £200 on an SD card.

[Bad Beaver @ Jun 25th 2009 5:27AM]

Uhm... I mean, SanDisk already sells the Class 6 Extreme III 30MB/s Edition. What gives? Will this one be cheaper? Or is it just about "Class 10" so those unhappy to read product descriptions have less of a hard time finding the faster card?

[xussogigas @ Jun 25th 2009 5:47AM]

Do you think that current products will support the new class 10 cards out of the box?
I smell firmware updates, new "class 10 compatible" products for higher price...

Any comments?

[Ruben @ Jun 25th 2009 8:50AM]

Depends on if the device controller can transfer a sustained 10 MB/s to the SD card. The new Class 10 specification is not a new type of transfer type, but more so a sustained minimum write speed. If the device has no issue transferring at that speed, then it will write at at least 10 MB/s to the card.

This isnt like SD -> SDHC. Its not the same thing at all.

The other thing that is not properly identified in this article is the difference between Sandisk's speed rating and the SD standard speed rating (or the Class designation). The SD rating indicates a minimum speed. Sandisk has found that they can reach a maximum of 30MB/s with their cards due to faster chips that they use.

People often write off Sandisk cards as being higher priced versions of Patriot and OCZ SD cards, but they are not. Those lower priced cards usually sit around the Class 10 speed levels, while the Sandisk cards tend to perform much better depending on which one you pick up. Is it worth the money? Well, if you have a 4.5 fps DSLR taking raw images, its worth every penny. I know from experience that these are actually faster than the lower priced counterparts in terms of write speeds. Read speeds don't matter in this case.

[Robin Jacobs @ Jun 25th 2009 6:31AM]

The 30Mb/s (22 for the Panasonic) denotes READ speed, Class 10 (both devices) states the MINIMUM WRITE speed is 10Mb/s.

[jholl016 @ Jun 25th 2009 7:04AM]

MB/s not Mb/s. And the press release clearly states "up to 30 MB/s read and write".

[jholl016 @ Jun 25th 2009 7:05AM]

but I think you're right about the minimum sustained write speed (10 MB/s)

[bighap @ Jun 25th 2009 10:53AM]

That is great and all, but when in the hell can we get 32GB microSD cards for us smart phone junkies?

[hansning @ Jun 25th 2009 11:56AM]

as commenters have pointed out, the class rating on newer newer SDHC cards refers to the minimum sustained speed of the card, and not the maximum. This is the exact opposite of the CF speed that are advertised. I personally find it more useful to know the prior.

[Henry @ Jun 25th 2009 11:32AM]

To clarify all of the very understandable confusion:

The "Class" rating is ONLY a rating of the cards MINIMUM write speed. In this case, the card should always write at least as fast as 10 MB/s (yes, bytes, not bits).

The other speed ratings, such as the 30 MB/s or "195x" (where 1x = 150 kB/s), indicate MAXIUMUM transfer speeds.

Write and read speeds may be different, with write speeds typically being slower. Using the write speed for classification is more useful, especially for recording video or pictures.

relevant wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital_card#Speeds

tl;dr, Class = min, others = max