It’s just a prototype now, but Western Digital Corporation yesterday unveiled the SanDisk 1TB (yes, terabyte) SD (secure digital) memory card at a major video and photography tradeshow in Germany. How much storage is a terabyte? Probably more than you have in your laptop computer. It’s enough storage for 500+ movies. It’s an unbelievable amount of storage. Well, not exactly unbelievable, as there’s a computer science theory called the (Mark) Kryder Law that, like Moore’s Law predicts processing speed and price, predicts that by 2020, a 2.5 disc will hold 40 terabytes and cost $40.
The price of the card was not revealed, but likely be a lot more than $40, perhaps $500 or more. However, it is being aimed at the market of professional photographers and videographers who no longer will have to change cards during a photo shoot or video assignment.
“Sixteen years ago we introduced the first SanDisk 64MB SD card and today we are enabling capacities of 1TB. Over the years our goal has remained the same; continue to innovate and set the pace for the imaging industry,” said Dinesh Bahal, vice president, product management, Content Solutions Business Unit, Western Digital.
“Just a few short years ago the idea of a 1TB capacity point in an SD card seemed so futuristic – it’s amazing that we’re now at the point where it’s becoming a reality. High-capacity cards allow us to capture more without interruption, streamlining our workflow, and eliminating the worry that we may miss a moment because we have to stop to swap out cards,” said Sam Nicholson, CEO of Stargate Studios and member of the American Society of Cinematographers.