WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.060 There's a good chance that at some point, you're gonna need to buy an SD card. 00:00:04.060 --> 00:00:09.780 But there are so many confusingly different options that pop up if you just go and search for one on Amazon. 00:00:09.780 --> 00:00:13.400 How do you know which one to pick? SD cards are different from each other 00:00:13.400 --> 00:00:18.660 in only three important ways. The physical size of the card, the data capacity, 00:00:18.660 --> 00:00:22.900 and the speed. Let's start out by talking about the different sizes, 00:00:22.900 --> 00:00:26.020 standard SD, mini SD, and micro SD. 00:00:26.020 --> 00:00:30.500 Standard SD was the original SD card, and it's still quite common in cameras, 00:00:30.500 --> 00:00:33.820 while you often see micro SD in smaller portable devices, 00:00:33.820 --> 00:00:36.980 such as the Nintendo Switch, and the smattering of smartphones 00:00:36.980 --> 00:00:41.380 that actually allow you to expand their storage. The good news is that you don't really have to worry 00:00:41.380 --> 00:00:45.260 about mini SD anymore, as that was a tweener size 00:00:45.260 --> 00:00:48.540 that virtually no newly manufactured devices are using. 00:00:48.540 --> 00:00:52.020 It's that awkward in between phase, you know? Kinda stinky. 00:00:52.020 --> 00:00:55.060 These two sizes offer similar speeds and capacities, 00:00:55.060 --> 00:00:59.140 so just make sure whichever one you buy will actually fit into your device. 00:00:59.140 --> 00:01:04.780 But if you want to right protect your card to make sure nothing is accidentally overwritten or erased, 00:01:04.780 --> 00:01:07.820 you can only do that on a standard-sized SD, 00:01:07.820 --> 00:01:13.120 although you can get the same effect on micro SD by using one of these handy little adapters. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:16.860 Now let's take a look at storage capacity, which is a little more complicated. 00:01:16.860 --> 00:01:23.380 The modern SD spec can theoretically hold up to 128 terabytes on one card. 00:01:23.380 --> 00:01:26.620 Wow! But in reality, it's currently difficult 00:01:26.620 --> 00:01:31.100 to find anything above one terabyte. The only other thing you need to remember about capacities 00:01:31.100 --> 00:01:35.940 is to look for these symbols. An SD symbol without anything appended to it 00:01:35.940 --> 00:01:40.460 means you're looking at an older-style card that can only hold up to two gigabytes. 00:01:40.460 --> 00:01:45.380 SDHC, which stands for High Capacity, will give you up to 32 gigabytes. 00:01:45.380 --> 00:01:49.200 XC, or Extended Capacity, up to two terabytes, 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:52.980 again, in theory. And UC or Ultra Capacity will let you reach 00:01:53.020 --> 00:01:56.680 that 128 terabyte mark if such SD cards 00:01:56.680 --> 00:02:00.140 ever become readily available. It's not just about size, though. 00:02:00.140 --> 00:02:05.660 Be sure to pick whichever combination of letters your device asks for, as some older devices 00:02:05.660 --> 00:02:08.780 won't support the new XC and UC cards, 00:02:08.780 --> 00:02:12.580 though you might get them to work with a reduced capacity if you format the new card 00:02:12.580 --> 00:02:18.500 with the older FAT32 file system. We're now going to talk about speed. 00:02:18.500 --> 00:02:23.540 The speed of an SD card is important if you're often using it to work with large files, 00:02:23.540 --> 00:02:26.900 such as game downloads, and it can be very important 00:02:26.900 --> 00:02:31.260 if you're using a nicer camera, as slower cards can't keep up with recording 00:02:31.260 --> 00:02:35.620 HD 4K or 8K video. But the reason it's so complicated 00:02:35.620 --> 00:02:40.780 to figure out what you need is that the markings that SD cards use to tell you their speeds 00:02:40.780 --> 00:02:45.540 are rather cryptic. So let's break them down. First, you're gonna see a number, 00:02:45.540 --> 00:02:50.620 either within the letter C or the letter U. The C is used for slower cards 00:02:50.660 --> 00:02:54.300 with the number indicating the right speed in megabytes per second, 00:02:54.300 --> 00:02:59.300 while U is for faster cards called UHS for ultra high speed. 00:02:59.460 --> 00:03:03.620 And here, the numbers work a bit differently. A number one inside the U means it gets 00:03:03.620 --> 00:03:09.660 at least 10 megabytes per second of right speed while a three indicates at least 30 megabytes per second. 00:03:09.660 --> 00:03:14.300 But that's not all. UHS cards will additionally have a Roman numeral. 00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:18.660 This indicates the bus interface or a maximum theoretical speed 00:03:18.660 --> 00:03:22.540 that you're more likely to get close to for reads rather than for writes. 00:03:22.540 --> 00:03:26.540 Most cards currently on the market are UHS-1 or UHS-2, 00:03:26.540 --> 00:03:31.540 but UHS-3 delivers up to a whopping 624 megs per second, 00:03:31.940 --> 00:03:38.300 about the same as you'd get on a SATA SSD. But if you see an EX or Express instead of a Roman numeral, 00:03:38.300 --> 00:03:42.260 it means that the SD card supports the PCI Express bus, 00:03:42.260 --> 00:03:48.820 meaning you'll get close to one terabyte per second and possibly even more if that card supports newer versions 00:03:48.820 --> 00:03:52.260 of PCI Express or uses multiple lanes. 00:03:52.260 --> 00:03:57.860 Finally, another marking you might see alongside the others is a letter V with a number after it. 00:03:57.860 --> 00:04:02.540 The V stands for video speed class and is just another quick way to show 00:04:02.540 --> 00:04:05.540 how many megabytes per second can be written to the card. 00:04:05.540 --> 00:04:13.100 V30 is recommended for HD, with V60 a good amount for 4K and V90 for 8K. 00:04:13.260 --> 00:04:18.580 You know, it would be so much easier if they just clearly printed the speed on the card itself, 00:04:18.580 --> 00:04:22.740 but I guess sexy branding like XC and Ultra 00:04:22.740 --> 00:04:27.580 draws people in more effectively. Oh God, our GBSD cards are coming, aren't they? 00:04:27.580 --> 00:04:31.920 And thank you for coming to this place to watch this video all the way through. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.660 Hey, like the video if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it, check out our other videos 00:04:35.660 --> 00:04:40.500 and comment below with video suggestions. And don't forget to subscribe and follow us, 00:04:40.500 --> 00:04:44.820 but just so you know, all the videos are gonna be here so you can just come back here.