The usage of SD memory cards is very common. We have them in our digital cameras, cell phones, MP3s, game consoles and we use them as storage unit for data that could be easily accessible anywhere and everywhere. We are living in the world which moves fast and we want to move faster. External memory units have not only helped us by giving that additional space to store our favourite stuff but have also enhanced the performance of computers. The new generation computers can perform faster and efficiently because now the main memory of the computer doesn’t take the load of saving endless data. Even our entertainment has been influenced so much by the technology that we can now squeeze our hundreds of music and picture files in one small one in device. We can easily carry it anywhere we go and share it with our friends and families without any hassle. A standard SD card can be used on a desktop or laptop. A miniSd card is usually used in digital cameras and a microSD card is used in mobile phones. There must be various use attached to this small wonder of technology however it s important that we get the right product that will meet all our needs. There are more than 8000 electronic devices by hundreds of manufacturing companies which are manufactured keeping SD standards in mind.
So what should we look for when choosing an SD card? There are few specifications which we need to take care of before opting for an SD card and we will discuss that now. First is the physical size of the SD cards. As mentioned earlier a regular SD card is used widely with desktops, laptops and printers. Even a miniSD card can be used in a regular SD card slot with the help of an adapter or card reader. MicroSD cards are mainly used in cell phones. An adapter is a device which can be used in a regular SD card slot but a smaller SD card can be inserted into it before connecting it to the computer or laptop. The next specification to look for is the capacity of the SD card. The initial phases of flash memory cards have shown the storage capacity in MB like 512 MB, 256 MB, and 125 MB etc. But the modern family of SD cards can not only have capacity in GB but in TB. However all the devices that support SD cards cannot read SD cards of all sizes? SD cards depending upon their storage capacity are commonly divided into 3 sections. A regular SD card has capacity of 1 to 4 GB. A high capacity SD card (SDHC) has capacity varying between 4GB and 32 GB. The third category of SD card family is SDXC which is an extended capacity memory card and comes in size ranging from 32 GB to 1 Tb (2048 GB). The maximum storage capacity of any SD card is specified in technical details mentioned on the card. One should pay attention to this information when buying it for electronic devices like cell phones, camera and computers. The reason for it is not all the devices support the SD card of all the sizes. For example a cell phone which is compatible to work with an 8 GB SD card would not be able to read a 32 GB or 1 TB SD card. Hence the memory capacity specification should be paid extra attention because then one might just end up wasting the money.
The next thing one should be aware of about SD card is the class of the SD card which specifies the speed of the card. Class 0 cards are the initial SD cards designed even before the speed rating criteria was defined by the SDA. Class 2 SD cards have write speed of 2 Mbps (per second). Class 4 is 4 Mbps, Class 6 is 6 Mbps, and Class 10 is 10 Mbps and so on. Also one need to remember that the class speed rating only defines the writing speed of the SD card, the reading speed would be much faster. Hence look for the x-speed rating which also mentions the reading speed of the card.
