An SD card holds as much data as hard drives once did.
A Secure Digital (SD) card is approximately the size of a postage stamp, yet it can contain several gigabytes of data. Many computers and consumer devices support SD cards, making them excellent removable storage devices. If you do not own an SD card now, there is a good chance that you will purchase one for your next camera, mobile phone or game console.
Storage for Small Devices
The SD card format has enjoyed widespread adoption among consumer devices. Many game consoles, digital cameras, PDAs and mobile phones have SD card slots. If you purchase an SD card with a device such as a digital camera, it is likely that you will be able to use the same card with your next camera.
Backup Device
Many laptop and desktop computers have built-in readers for SD cards. Inexpensive external USB card readers are available for computers that do not have internal readers. Even entry-level SD cards have room for several gigabytes of files, so an SD card is likely to provide sufficient space to store backups of the most important content on your computer such as your documents and photos.
Portable Storage
SD cards are perhaps the smallest mass storage devices currently available for computers--they are smaller than USB thumb drives, floppy diskettes and optical discs. If your work or school computer has a card reader, an SD card provides a convenient way to transfer data between it and your home computer. Additionally, if you have other devices in your home with SD card slots, you can use an SD card to bring files from those devices to your computer. For example, you can transfer photos from your digital camera without a cable or dock simply by removing the SD card.
Emergency Boot Disk
Some computers have the ability to use SD cards as boot devices. Using this feature, you could turn an SD card into an emergency boot disk, using the extra space on the card to store useful utilities such as a virus scanner. If your operating system does not load, boot the computer from the SD card and use the utilities on the card to troubleshoot and repair the problem.
Tags: card slots, card with, computers have, consumer devices, devices your