In today’s digital world, the demands of smart and digital electronic devices are increasing rapidly like smartphones, cameras, camcorders, etc. Memory cards are one of the very commonly used items. Every person uses a memory card in his/her smart devices like smartphones, cameras, etc., to store the data. But since many different types of memory flashcards are available in the market, a user always gets confused about which one should buy.
SD and SDHC are the two such cards whose demands are increasing very much when advanced technology has arrived. SD cards and SDHC cards look very similar, and the dimensions are also the same, so it is very difficult to make a difference between these two. There is very little distinction between SD and SDHC cards which many peoples don’t know, and information about it is very essential for anyone who is going to buy any type of memory card.
SD vs SDHC Cards
The main difference between an SD card and an SDHC card is that SDHC cards are available in more storage capacities as compared to SD cards. An SD card offers a maximum of 2GB of storage capacity, while SDHC can offer a maximum of 128 GB of storage in the cards. Both the cards are easy to assemble but tough to handle with care as they are very small. Just put the cards in the desired slots of your devices to enjoy a greater memory space, easy data read, and the right speed.
SD cards are used for storing data like photos, documents, files, and many more. These are flash memory cards that can be used in different electronic devices to expand their capacity. SD cards are used for mobile devices like smartphones, cameras, etc. The process of assembling these cards is very simple, and they are easy to use by anyone.
SDHC cards are a more efficient and upgraded form of SD cards that provides more storage space and data transfer speed. These cards are more compatible friendly provides data transfer speed by giving a variety range of class. These SDHC cards are not backwards compatible with the old legacy devices of SD cards.
Comparison Table Between SD and SDHC Cards
| Parameters of Comparison | SD Cards | SDHC Cards |
| Stands For | Secure Digital Card. | Secure Digital High Capacity Card. |
| Speed | SD cards are slower as compared to SDHC. | SDHC cards are faster and efficient than SD cards. |
| Storage Capacity | The capacity of SD cards are up to 2 GB. | The capacity of SDHC cards is from 4 GB to 32 GB. |
| Compatibilities | SD cards are compatible with older devices. | SDHC cards are compatible with new standard |
| File Systems | SD card uses the FAT 12 and 16. | SDHC cards uses the FAT 32. |
What are SD Cards?
SD cards stand for Secure Digital cards, which are firstly developed by the combining efforts of SanDisk, Matsushita, and Toshiba company in the year 1999. The dimension size of an SD card is 24mm x 32mm x 2.1mm. Generally, all the SD cards are sold with a capacity of 4, 8, 16,32,64,128,256, and 512MB and a maximum of 1 to 2 GB.
SD cards are supported in the older devices, and these devices cannot be compatible with the new standard devices of SDHC. These cards are available in mainly three types- Standard SD cards, mini SD cards, and micro SD cards. The data transfer speed plays an important role in its overall performance, which depends upon which class it has. SD cards have a class range from 2 to 4, which gives a data transfer ranging between 2mbps to 4mbps.
What are SDHC Cards?
The SDHC cards stand for Secure Digital High Capacity, which is a more upgraded form of SD cards. SDHC cards are developed by the SD card association. The dimension size of an SDHC card is similar to an SD card that is 24mm x 32mm x 2.1mm. These cards are made with the following memory capacity- 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB.
SDHC cards are compatible with modern SDHC devices as well as with old SD card devices because these cards have the same dimensions and electrical form factor as older SD cards. These cards are also available in mainly three types- SDHC cards, mini SDHC cards, and micro SDHC cards. SDHC is also known as a 2.0 version of SD cards. An SDHC card provides a class range of 4 to 10 and a speed range between 4mbps to 10mbs.
Main Differences Between SD and SDHC Cards
- The SD card cannot work in a standard SDHC device, but an SDHC card can easily work in SD devices.
- SD cards usually have low memory size, whereas SDHC cards come with higher memory size capacities.
- SD cards cost cheaper, while the SDHC cards are much costlier than the normal SD cards, sometimes doubles.
- SD cards provide a lower data transfer speed, whereas SDHC cards provide a faster speed while transferring the data.
- The SD cards give a transfer speed of 2MB to 4MB per second, while the SDHC card has a transfer speed of 4MB to 15MB per second.
Conclusion
Among so many different types of multi-media cards, people often choose those cards which are compatible with the device which they have and the overall performance. So whenever a person goes to buy a memory card, he has to keep in mind his right choice as per his need. If anyone is buying a memory card to store applications, videos, and large files, he should go for the SDHC cards.
And on the other hand, an SD card is useful for a user to store pictures only. But it is always good to buy an SD or SDHC card from reputed brands like SanDisk, Samsung, Hi-tech, etc. rather than the cheaper SD cards. In the above, we try our best to resolve the difference between what an SD and SDHC card is and their uses and advantages.
References
- https://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTotal-SXJX201201026.htm
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3141/2365-12
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6429051/