new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

Just read this news item on the register regarding the new SHXC card format launched at CES http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/01...rmat_launched/

Anybody else up for 4 Terabytes of storage in an N800?

Might have to sell the house to afford them though....

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

DO NOT WANT.

SDHC already is naturally extendable to 2TB, but standardizing on the proprietary exFAT is just evil; FAT32 works up to 2TB, and exFAT has no real compatibility. (Platforms are Windows CE, Vista, and NT7 only.)

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

Yes, but FAT64 can store bigger files than FAT32. Is it going to be popular? Not yet...

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

heh, clever idea, just keep bumping the "bit-rate" on the fat ;)

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

If only it were just an increase in the address width, like FAT12->FAT16 or FAT16->FAT32. (To be clear, it does have 64-bit cluster addressing, but is not very similar to FAT32 in other respects.)

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

Yeah, I went by the SD working group's booth and ran across a LOT of information on this. It actually looks quite promising IMHO. :) Sure, it won't be normal drives for data access speed, but my gawds, imagine the long term storage possibilities in a very, very tiny form factor. ;)

I've got the press release on this if you guys want anymore details beyond what the register gave. I also find it odd that they got out the info on this so quickly as I didn't even see them there. Saw Reuters, BBC, Engadget and lots of others, but no Register guys.

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

Sadly, those needs could've been met just fine by SDHC without requiring that nasty exFAT (how long do you think it will be until OS X and Linux actually get to use these cards?).

Mostly, this just seems like a good way to alienate a lot of your market, put money into Microsoft's pockets and further confuse consumers.

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

Thank you for the heads up :)

What type of FS will we move to though? Ext2?

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

i suspect apple would just license it, as needed. not that i know of any official apple card readers, so maybe it would be licensed by whoever ends up providing a third party reader to apple products?

and long time storage? flash runs out of a charge at some point. but im reading some interesting news about mram ;)

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

Yeah, but will they provide that functionality for older OS releases, or will anybody who wants to use these damn things have to switch to bleeding edge?

Either way, it makes me sick to think that you'll have to license something from Microsoft to use a "standard".

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

bleeding edge, thats how they operate...

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

There were exFAT (aka FAT64 aka fatx) patches floating around for Linux before. In the worst case it will end up like (the unofficial) DVD support in Linux where it's available legally in some countries but its distribution is restricted in others. Eventually Linux also got a closed source, commercial DVD player, but I doubt anyone pays for that except OEMs. If the licensing isn't worked out, things may end up the same way this time.

All that being said, MS is against software patents, so suing some open source developers over implementing this or distributing it would not really mesh well with their lobbying activities. Also, recent court cases (in the US at least) have challenged the idea that things like business plans and software are even patentable.

Hopefully this will all have worked out in favor of Linux/Mac OS by the time these things are even on the market. :)

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

iirc, microsoft is not against software patents, they are against the current way they are filed.

software patents are basically what keeps microsoft ahead of the curve. but they want the system altered to get rid of those pesky patent trolls, and their expensive lawsuits...

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

Microsoft filed most patents last year... not sure about software patents. They surely liked to license FAT32.

You can get legal DVD support on Linux/x86 and Linux/AMD64 (and even other platforms; e.g. (Open)Solaris) quite easily via http://www.fluendo.com this is from the same folks who brought us the GStreamer framework. The MP3 decoder is free as in beer. The other decoders cost money, but are sold in bundles, and they're pretty cheap.

In EU this is probably not required; but in US this will give you legal codecs.

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

Yeah, MS is totally for software patents. It's what allows them to crush the competition so they don't have to compete. MS hates competition, and if software patents are what does the trick to achieve that, then so be it. Personally, I can't wait until someone actually finds a way to get software patents thrown out. I really feel they're stupid, counter productive, and anti-innovation, and anti-competition. Patents are great for technology that advances slowly, like large scale industrial machines and such. But in the fast paced tech world, by the time you patent it, the technology is already two generations obsolete. So why bother, short of using it as an offensive weapon to stop others from bypassing you? (or extorting them for grievous amounts of cash to stop them from competing against you)

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

funny thing is that while the time between concept and product have decreased, the time of legaly supported monopoly have either remained static, or increased.

i would say piece of software spends more time in copyright or patent limbo then it do available for sale/license...

Re: new SDXC format - 2TB SD cards!
 

exFAT is relevant only if you want to share the devices with other systems - and those other systems will not be able to read/write large FAT32 volumes, which is not very likely. If the card is only in the N8x0 or only shared with linux systems, then any filesystem may be used.

The real question is if it is going to be a software only upgrade as SD to SDHC was.