Thread: microSD or microSDHC?
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sjgadsby is offline sjgadsby
2010-06-18 , 17:50
Posts: 5,335 | Thanked: 8,187 times | Joined on Mar 2007 @ Pennsylvania, USA
#21
Originally Posted by cheve View Post
So it means I can only go upto to 64GB for my N800 -- I am a bit disappointed :-) Would n900 be modified to support microSDXC?
Basically, here's the situation:
  • In terms of hardware, SDXC slots are exactly the same as SDHC slots.
  • Linux (including Maemo) has supported the extra addressing bits needed for SD cards larger than 32GB since SDHC support was originally added to it.
  • The FAT32 filesystem, as used by SD and SDHC cards, can't grok storage larger than 32GB, so SDXC uses a new Microsoft filesystem: exFAT. Windows Vista SP1 and above support it.
  • Yes, Microsoft does demand royalties from everyone else who uses exFAT. Thanks for asking!
  • A company named Tuxera has signed contracts with, and paid money to, Microsoft for exFAT and has developed exFAT support for embedded Linux systems. The driver isn't free by any meaning of the word.
  • Android uses Tuxera's solution and was the first mobile OS with SDXC support.
  • MeeGo uses Tuxera's solution. Really.
  • SDXC cards reformatted with other, Linux-supported, non-exFAT filesystems will work fine in Linux, Maemo included. Technically, the cards are no longer SDXC cards though, and they won't work in devices or computers that don't support those alternative filesystems. So, 64GB of videos on an Ext3-formatted SDXC card popped out of your N800 will likely completely fail to be recognized in the SDXC slot of your Windows notebook/television/Blu-ray player/toaster.
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