What is the maximal limit for SD card?

[Tolga]

some products have limitations about the SD cards storages. (i.e: max 8Gb SD/microSD memory supported by some PDAs) is there any limitations at R-Pi about SD card storage? or what is our limit? what is the maximum SD card support ?

[cnxsoft]

I'm not sure if there is a limit.

If you don't have one yet, you'd better take one of the SD cards reported to work.

http://elinux.org/RPi_Verified.....s#SD_cards

[The Aussie Genius]

That's easy enough to answer.

I'm surprised all of you missed the most obvious answer.

According to http://elinux.org/RPi_Easy_SD_Card_Setup, if you are using a Windows PC then you need the Win32DiskImager utility to prepare your SD card so that your Raspberry Pi can boot off it but the SD card must be first formatted using FAT32 file system and the maximum storage limit with the FAT32 file system is 32 Gb.

And that's your answer! 32 Gb should be the maximum, 32 Gb is better than the 2 Gb / 4 Gb / 8 Gb prepared SD cards that some Raspberry Pi vendors are selling, and a 32 Gb SD card is much much cheaper than a 64 Gb SD card.

Hope that this settles the question.

I am considering buying a RP myself too, and running both Raspbian and RISC OS on the RP - used to have a BBC Micro B in the 1980s, but never could afford a RISC OS computer until now.


TAG

[mahjongg]

If only it was that simple, but it isn't!
Only the first partition on the card is FAT32 (or FAT16), but the other partitions are linux partitions, and potentially can be much larger than 32MB!

[redhawk]

Is it cost effective to buy the biggest SD Card possible for the Pi when you consider the wear and tear of write cycles??
So you have a simple choice:
- a cheap 8GB SD card that goes bad after excessive use
- a really expensive 64GB SD card that goes bad after excessive use
which sounds better??

Personally I would stick to 8GB memory cards there's more than enough room to host an Operating System and many media files.
Obviously if you're run out of space there's always the USB flash drive / external hard drive option.

Richard S.

[plugwash]

but the SD card must be first formatted using FAT32 file system

I don't use win32diskimager myself but I know that dd on linux doesn't care what was on the card before.

and the maximum storage limit with the FAT32 file system is 32 Gb.

Not exactly the fat32 formatter in windows 2K/XP/vista/7 is artificially limited to 32GB but the filesystem itself works fine on larger drives.

I know people have used the Pi with 64GB cards succesfully.

[MattHawkinsUK]

I use a card suitable for the task I expect the Pi to perform. No point using a 32GB card if you aren't going to fill a 4GB card.

Hardware SD card limitations are usually down to whether it supports SD, SDHC, SDXC etc.

[The Aussie Genius]

If only it was that simple, but it isn't!
Only the first partition on the card is FAT32 (or FAT16), but the other partitions are linux partitions, and potentially can be much larger than 32MB!

Well ... we shall see when i actually get my hands on a rp ...

[cyrano]

I suspect 32 GB is as big as it will get. It's the maximum supported by the SDHC standard:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital#SDHC

Over 32 GB it's SDXC and I don't believe that's supported by the Pi.

[plugwash]

AIUI the only significant difference between HC and XC is the standard filesystem but that doesn't really matter for uses like the Pi since the first thing you do is blow away said standard filesystem and replace it with a multi-partition image.

[kalehrl]

Code: Select all

- a cheap 8GB SD card that goes bad after excessive use 

I bought a Transcend 8gb SDHC10 card for 7 euro and it comes with a 60-month guarantee (Yeah, that's right - 5-year guarantee) so I don't care if it goes bad as long as I make regular backups.

[W. H. Heydt]

http://www.amazon.com/Lexar-Professiona ... s=SD+256GB
http://www.amazon.com/Lexar-Professiona ... s=SD+256GB

Those are the largest SD cards I know of. I don't think anyone has tried one in a Pi yet...but I could be wrong.

[cyrano]

AIUI the only significant difference between HC and XC is the standard filesystem but that doesn't really matter for uses like the Pi since the first thing you do is blow away said standard filesystem and replace it with a multi-partition image.

That's what I figured. But the one HDXC card I have tested (64 GB Sandisk), didn't boot the RPi.

[wirelessmonk]

64GB SanDisk Class 10. Works just fine. Imaged on a Mac in terminal.

[mahjongg]

The biggest problems you might encounter with very large SD-cards is that they need to switch to a lower working voltage, (like 1,8 Volt) at some time in their initialization sequence, and the PI cannot support that, its SD-card supply is strictly 3,3 Volt only!

[wirelessmonk]

Intriguing...

and also why I love forums.

The only issues remotely related to the SD (Micro w/ adapter if it matters to anyone) card I've had have been immediately after removal and replacement. On the 256 RPi this is most likely due to a damaged pin on the receptacle.

I've only been putting any wear on the card in the last two months. If I see any issue arise, I'll know the probable cause. Good reason to free up this card for something else.

If I do have any issues, I'll be sure to mention it. Otherwise, just count me as one of the freaks running 64GB on a 512 RPi.

[WeUsePis]

I know that is a cheat as answer, but if you really need a lot of storage space buy an inexpensive 8GB card and hook up an external USB drive. I have to try it, but I got an external 320GB laptop drive. Not only does that offer much more capacity, access time should be better than from SDHC as well.

[goci]

I am using a Platinum 128GB SD card.

works fine:

root@b:~# df -h /
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mmcblk0p2 120G 68G 51G 58% /

Curious to know if 256GB are supported.