SD memory card or the famous SD memory has different uses in digital devices such as digital cameras, MP3 players, mobile phones, and so on.
In fact, the most vital application of a memory card is its use in digital cameras. For this cause, these types of memory cards are also known as camera memory cards.
In the continuation of this article, in addition to introducing the types of SD memory cards and their specifications, we will give guidance on the diverse classes of SD memory cards to make it easier for users to pick the desired model.
Because these types of memory cards have dissimilar types and are designed and produced according to dissimilar requirements
What is the Memory Card?
A memory card is basically is a kind of device that is used for the storage of videos, photos & other multipurpose data files. The medium that is used for storage consists of volatile and non-volatile mediums that are the main domains used for data storage.
A memory card is also referred to and known as flash memory. The common use of memory cards can be seen in different devices like mobile phones, digital cameras, game consoles, digital camcorders, game consoles, MP3 players, laptops, printers, and many other devices.
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What Are The Different Types Of Memory Cards?
Searching for a memory card that fulfills our needs is not always a simple task. Since there are several classes and within the same class, there are a variety of cards with special qualities.
Common Types Of Memory Card
In this article, we will explain in detail about different types of memory cards. So that you can get help to distinguish and find the card that best matches your needs.
As well as you can also distinguish, for example, two SD cards with equal capacity but with totally different transfer rates. Let’s start with the classification.
- SD Cards (Secure Digital)
They are perhaps the trendiest type of memory card. They are used in a variety of devices such as digital cameras or GPS devices.
The highest storage capacity of this type of card is 2 GB. However, we can also find this category of cards up to 4 GB in the market.
- SDHC Cards (Secure Digital High Capacity)
These are similar to the SD cards but with a larger capacity. SDHC and SD cards are the same in size and shape. The major difference is that SDHC cards are the latest and have a higher storage capacity. But the SD cards can have a maximum of 4 GB storage capacity.
- SDXC Cards (Secure Digital Extra Capacity)
They are cards with a huge higher storage capacity than SDHC cards. These are the cards with a storage capacity of up to 2 TB.
SDXC cards use a proprietary file format designed by Microsoft called exFAT. So to read the stored content of these cards we must require a computer with a file system capable of reading this storage system.
All versions of Windows 7 and the latest are capable to read the exFAT format. This format is also understandable by Linux, Windows 7, and OSX.
But if your PC has Windows XP, then you should need to install this patch to add the essential compatibility to your system to read this file system.
These cards are also used the same slot as SDHC cards. So in general any device that is compatible with SDHC cards will also compatible with SDXC cards. In any case, please make sure before acquiring a memory of this type.
These categories of memory cards are capable store up to 256 GB of data. They were invented by SanDisk in 1994.
The recent memory cards of this format support storage up to 2 TB. Nowadays, there are adapters that enable to insert of this type of card in PCI, PCMCIA, IDE, or SATA slot.
This makes it possible for this memory to work as a solid-state disk in any type of computer and in any Operating system.
Cards with more than 2 GB storage capacity can usually use the FAT32 file format. Obviously, if this memory card can be used as a hard drive we can easily format it, with any file format. (NTFS, ext4 …)
MicroSD is the most common type of card being used by a multitude of mobile phones. It’s very the smallest of all the models that we have analyzed so far. They have approximately a size of a fingernail.
Although they are smaller in size capable to hold up to 2 GB of data and 4 GB Micro SDHC cards up to 64 GB of data. The use of this type of memory is reduced to devices where size is important, such as mobile phones, GPS systems, etc.
XD Picture CARD was developed by Olympus and Fujifilm for the purpose to use in older models of digital cameras. They are capable to store data from 512 Mb to 2 GB. The truth is that this type of memory has been replaced by SD / SDHC technology.
This type of memory card has been produced by Sony and is used mostly in their devices. They are capable of storing up to 256 GB, (theoretical up to 2 Tb).
These types of cards are used to store multimedia images on portable devices so that the information can be easily extracted to a computer. Recently, the newest models of Sony digital cameras also support the SD / SDHC format.
The design of Media Card or MMC Looks similar to the old 3.5-inch floppy disks that have already vanished. It lacks the security tab that lets us know not to accidentally overwrite data. We can discover cards of this type of memory up to 8 GB of storage capacity.
Finally, the last memory card of this classification was launched in January 2012. It has a storage capacity of up to 2 TB of information and can transfer at a very high transfer rate of up to 500 Mb / sec.
The recently developed version of this type of memory card increases the transfer rate up to 1000 Mb / sec. These types of memory cards are used in high-definition digital cameras and recorders.