Did you know that the SD card is divided into several types according to the capacity and speed of data transfer. If you plan to buy, you need to pay attention to the specification of the memory card so as not to choose wrong.
Wrong-wrong, SD card performance can not be maximal, maybe even not compatible with gadgets. What are some things to note?
History of SD Card
SD or Secure Digital cards are portable data storage media that was first sparked in 1999. The making of SD cards is a joint project of three giant electronics companies, SanDisk, Panasonic (Matsushita), and Toshiba.
The SD card is not really a new item, but the evolution of the MultiMediaCard (MMC) that SanDisk made with Siemens. Thirdly, the originators of SD cards form associations and companies authorized to license patents and set standard SD cards on the market.
One of the most important factors behind their backs is backward compatibility. So even though new SD card types are popping up, all devices must be ensured compatible with the old SD card.
Currently SD (SD Association or SDA) association already has approximately 1,000 member companies. These include Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, LG Electronics, Motorola, Samsung, NEC, Sharp, and more. Standardization is one of the advantages of SD cards that make it popular, in addition to portability and capacity of a qualified course.
Main Types of SD Card
In general, there are three types of SD cards that you can currently get on the market, namely SDSC, SDHC, and SDXC. The difference is in the default file system format used, as well as the maximum capacity of each type of card.
SDSC (Secure Digital Standard Capacity) is the earliest SD card type. This type has a maximum capacity of 4 GB and uses the FAT16 file system. SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) was launched in 2006, and carries a maximum capacity of 32 GB and FAT32 file system. While SDXC (Secure Digital eXtended Capacity) is the latest version that uses exFAT file system, with capacity up to 2 TB.
This file system type you need to pay attention, especially if you use SDXC. exFAT is a standard file system made by Microsoft that age is still quite new. If you intend to read SDXC on a computer with an older operating system (generation before Windows Vista) and Linux, you will need special updates or third-party application help.
Other Variants
Three main SD card types are also released in smaller form, miniSD and microSD. There is no difference in features between the variations, only when this article is written there is no microSDXC that has a capacity of 2 TB. The largest capacity of microSDXC made by SanDisk reaches 400 GB released in August 2017.
In addition to the three main types before, you will probably find other variants that are less prevalent in the market. For example, Toshiba has FlashAir, an SD card equipped with a wireless LAN adapter, so you can transfer content directly over a WiFi network. SanDisk and Transcend also have products with similar features.
Other "weird" variants such as the so-called smartSD media, which is a microSD card that contains smart features such as security features and NFC. There is also an SD card that has two types of plugs at once, namely SD and USB, so you do not have to bother looking for card reader again. One of Taiwan's electronics companies, A-DATA, has even released a SD card equipped with a screen.