The world’s largest SD card has grown from 512 MB to 512 GB in 11 years

SanDisk – the flash memory behemoth – has just announced what is to be considered the world’s largest SD card, a 512 GB monster. At half a terabyte in capacity, the SanDisk Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-I memory card is well suited for videographers seeking to record in glorious 4k (3840 x 2160p) resolution and photographers exerting their right to practice burst photography at the highest possible resolution. The card’s massive capacity reinforces the notion of “set it and forget it,” as users have quite the buffer before storage capacity reaches peak.

“4K Ultra HD is an example of a technology that is pushing us to develop new storage solutions capable of handling massive file sizes,” said Dinesh Bahal, SanDisk's vice president of product marketing, in the press release. A single minute of 4K footage can potentially write up to 5 GB of storage, depending on the compression of the footage and other camera settings. 

Most users, however, won’t need to work under the robustness of 4k resolution as the format is still nascent and costly enough to bar mass adoption. For these user, recording in standard HD will prove more than satiable, and the SanDisk Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-I is the perfect storage medium. It can write at speeds of up to 90 MB/second and transfer post work data at 95 MB/second. 

The card marks a 1000-fold increase in storage capacity since the release of SanDisk first SD card – a 512 MB card – in 2003. Experts speculate that SD cards could eventually reach 2 terabytes of storage before Moore’s law runs its course. The card includes a lifetime limited warranty, which is not wholly unexpected given the card’s $799 cost.

Via SanDisk