Table of Contents

The SD card (Security Digital device) is a specialized non-volatile storage device that is used to hold information. It was first developed in August 1999 by SanDisk, Panasonic (Matsushita), and Toshiba. Camera systems, smartphones, and portable gaming systems are the principal use for it.

The SD card is lighter, thinner, and smaller than other types of data storage, such as hard drives, USB flash drives, and CDs.

sd cards

Read/write speeds for SD cards

An SD card's typical read and write speed is 12.5 MB/s. High-Speed Mode (25 MB/s), which supports digital cameras with a 1.10 standard version, was introduced.

Subsequently, certain SDHC and SDXC devices are permitted to use the Ultra High Speed (UHS) bus. Additionally, UHS has three tiers. The read-write frequency for UHS-I is 50 MB/s or 104 MB/s. A greater speed, 156 MB/s full-duplex or 312 MB/s half-duplex, is offered by UHS-II. And UHS-III offers speeds of 624 MB/s half-duplex or 312 MB/s full-duplex.

Additionally, the Express bus was made available with at least 985 MB/s full-duplex.

Understanding SD cards

The MultiMediaCard was replaced by the SD card, which originally appeared in 1999. (MMC). It was one of many rival micro sd card technologies used by portable electronics, including the now-defunct Memory Stick from Sony and the much-less-common CompactFlash card.

The SD card is comparable in size to a typical thumbnail. the Business Insider's Dave Johnson The initial SD card specification was modified multiple times to accommodate bigger capacity as the electronics sector developed. As a result, there are various varieties of SD cards available and in use today.

  • SD: No longer manufactured in the initial SD card. It utilized the FAT16 file system and could store up to 2 GB at a time.
  • Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC): The SDHC card made its debut in 2006. It utilizes the FAT32 file system and offers sizes up to 32 GB.
  • 2009 saw the launch of the Secure Digital eXtended Capacity (SDXC) standard. ExFAT file system storage capacity is 2 TB.
  • Secure Digital Ultra Capability (SDUC) cards were first introduced in 2018 and had a 128 TB per card exFAT capacity.

Usage examples for SD cards

An SD card, also known as an Embedded Integrated card, is a type of detachable sd card used in a broad variety of mobile phones, cameras, intelligent watches, and more to read and write huge amounts of data.

It is now the industry standard memory card for the majority of commercial gadgets (though a smaller version, the Micro SD card, is commonly used in phones and other devices).

Given its relatively tiny size and ability to store terabytes of data at a low cost, SD cards are frequently used in a variety of consumer gadgets. Digital cameras, video gaming machines, set-top devices, home entertainment equipment like Blu-ray players and Internet of Things (IoT) gadgets like surveillance cameras all have them. Early cellphones utilized SD cards, however today the majority of smartphones use the smaller Micro SD card type.

Due to the widespread usage of SD cards, many personal computers come included with an SD card reader. For those who don't, there are affordable USB hubs and media swipe cards that plug into a free USB port.

How to use an SD card with Windows?

Step 1. Using the Windows PC, insert an SD card.

Check to see if your Windows machine has an SD card slot beforehand. The SD card slot is often found in the back of a laptop or at the front of a tower. The SD card should then be inserted, with the working electrode towards the interior of the slot.

Arrange an SD card adaptor if the SD card is not functional with the slot. After that, connect the SD card to your Windows by placing it into the adapter.

Purchase an SD card reader if there isn't a slot. After that, attach the SD card reader to the computer and put the SD card into the scanner.

Step 2. On Windows, access the SD card.

Open Start > File Explorer on Windows to go to the SD card. You can see the files that are on the SD card by selecting it.

Step 3. Protectively take an SD card out of Windows.

You need to right-click the SD card and choose "Eject" to remove it. After that, unplug your computer's SD card reader or SD card adapter. Next, using clean hands, carefully remove the SD card from the card reader/adapter.

Formatting an SD card

You can reformat an SD card if it has become faulty, if you wish to alter the storage device, or if you just want to wipe out the data-filled SD card. Although formatting an SD card is easy, data will be lost. Don't forget to restore or back up crucial files from the SD card before moving further.

Guide and tips:

Recover deleted, formatted and lost data from SD card >>

Format SD card on Windows and Mac >>

Permanently wipe SD card before disposing of it >>

DoYourData Products

Do Your Data Recovery

Do Your Data Recovery

Recover deleted, formatted or corrupted data from hard drive or external device.

Free Trial
Super Eraser

DoYourData Super Eraser

Permanently delete data from any device or disk to prevent data recovery.

Free Trial
DoYourClone

DoYourClone

Quickly back up photos/videos/documents on PC and Mac OS & clone disk.

Free Trial
DoYourData Author

Written & Updated by Justin Kenny

Justin Kenny is a writer & editor of DoYourData. He joined DoYourData in 2016 and focuses on writing articles about Windows data recovery, Mac data recovery, external device data recovery, hard drive clone, data erasure, Mac cleanup, computer issue fixes, etc. He is a super fan of Apple devices and is big on testing new digital device and system utility software.

Read full bio