How does sd cards have 32gb, 64gb and 128 gb of storage when theyre exactly the same size?
In: Engineering
The same way one sheet of paper can contain 32 words, 64 words, 128 be words, etc. You simply store the data in a smaller space.
Think about a box. You can put a small thing, a medium sized thing, or a large thing in a large box. Looking at a box and wondering how it can hold different amounts of things while still being the same size doesn’t make much sense, does it?
That is the same thing as your question about memory cards.
The size of the card is a standard for fitting in the slot. The internal circuitry will be different. Some of them will contain more circuitry than others, and newer cards will have more dense circuitry.
That’s just the overall size of the card. The part that actually stores the data is much smaller and is contained on the tiny circuitry embedded in the card itself.
The storage is based in the chip on the circuit board.
The process is called binning. Integrated circuit manufacturing isn’t necessarily perfect. Once a wafer is completed, cut, and packaged, it gets tested. How much memory is working on the card? Round the device down to the nearest standard unit, stick a label on it, and sell it. They do the exact same thing with microprocessors – Intel doesn’t make hundreds of different processors on purpose, they have only a few production lines, their goal is to make top-end processors every time; but they know they don’t have that much control and random parts all over the chip aren’t going to work. So they disable those broken sections and sell it as a lesser model. Though, sometimes, when the manufacturing process gets perfected, they make too many good parts. Instead of dropping the price of their top of the line product, they may instead artificially limit a perfectly good chip and sell it as a lesser variety in order to continue capturing that market segment. They do the math and come to that conclusion when it’s more economical than to drop prices. Overclockers seek these particular devices out, and aim to reenable these sections of the chip. This is called unlocking. It’s not a trivial hobby.
Latest Answers