SanDisk announces world's first 8TB SD and 4TB microSD cards

SanDisk has produced the first-ever 8 terabyte SD card and the world's first 4TB MicroSD card. SanDisk's parent company, Western Digital, hasn't released much detail about the two cards in its press release – only that the 8TB SD offering will be a UHS-I card, so it won't be breaking any speed records. There's no indication about pricing or availability.

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The card will however receive an SDUC designation. This is a new SD class exclusively for cards over 2TB in capacity. Sounds impressive, but the reality could be more inconvenient. SDUC cards can only be used in devices that specifically support SDUC memory cards, so you won't be able to stick an SDUC card into any old camera with an SD slot.

But that's assuming you'll be able to get your hands on an SDUC card in the first place. It's currently almost impossible to find even 2TB SDXC cards, and it was only in April this year that SanDisk announced it was working on 4TB SD cards, which it suggested may hit shelves some time in 2025. Considering this, an 8TB SD card could well be several years from being widely available.

Then there's the issue of whether anyone actually needs such a high data capacity on a single SD card. SD is no longer the format of choice for high-performance cameras, as CFexpress has now far surpassed it for read and write speed. SanDisk's 8TB SD card being UHS-I further impedes its real-world utility, rendering it only practical for mid-range cameras topping out at high bit rate 1080p video, which itself doesn't demand a card as big as 8 terabytes.

SanDisk's 4TB microSD card would be a more compelling proposition, as high-capacity microSD cards are still unrivalled in many use cases - the best camera phones , action cameras , gaming devices and drones .

Again, SanDisk's 4TB offering is a UHS-I card, which isn't ideal for speed-intensive applications, but it's less of a deal-breaker than in the full-size SD segment.