Toshiba Reveals Write-Once SD Card

[internetlad]

[citation][nom]jackfrost860[/nom]I think that Japanese companies should concentrate on how not to pump millions of tons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.[/citation]
they see me trollin'


Seriously though, I can't see this offering any advantage over a traditional SDHC card with the locking tab. It doesn't make sense that they'd be cheaper to manufacture, so i can't see any real price drop other than one that they add on because they KNOW they're less useful. I think this will end up as another obsoleted computer item that frustrates people when they're trying to figure out how to put more stuff on this card.

 

[spaceinvaderx]

This sounds like a good idea for government and legal situations, until someone figures out how to make them rewritable (don't count that out). What then? Also, will they be durable? I'm sure these things will be made to the lowest possible standards. I say poo-poo...

 

[liveonc]

Does it have the option to fry that sesitive data (if you don't have time to swallow, break, burn, or get rid of it fast?)

 

[rohitbaran]

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]i mean 2tbishand better than a hdd because if 1 goes, everything doesnt follow.[/citation]
Well, going through a pile of those one by one to find your favorite song out of your huge music collection doesn't sound like a good idea.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

does it also self destruct 10 seconds after being read?

 

[ProDigit10]

not really good!
If you want to lock your SD card from being written onto, just click the 'lock' switch on the card!
It's not that hard. This technology will be about as expensive as regular SD cards, but can not be overwritten, which is silly. A regular SD card can be overwritten, and can be locked.

I see no purpose in this!

 

[husker]

[citation][nom]internetlad[/nom]'Seriously though, I can't see this offering any advantage over a traditional SDHC card with the locking tab. It doesn't make sense that they'd be cheaper to manufacture, so i can't see any real price drop other than one that they add on because they KNOW they're less useful. I think this will end up as another obsoleted computer item that frustrates people when they're trying to figure out how to put more stuff on this card.[/citation]
There is a BIG advantage that no one here seems to realize. The problem with simply using the locking tab, is that there is no telling the history of the card before the tab was locked. If I hand you a file on my 3 year old card with a newly created file on it, how do you know for sure there wasn't any malware on the card from when my foolish cousin borrowed the card 2 years ago? Also, government agencies or other secure locations could easily have a policy forbidding the use of any mobile storage devices simply because there is no easy way to know for sure that, at some point in the history of the device it hadn't been inserted into an infected PC with the locking tab disabled. A write once card would mean that the only machine that could have infected the SD card would be the machine originally used transfer the file.

 

[vk_87]

[citation][nom]hellwig[/nom]That switch is just a piece of plastic, just like it was on casettes and floppies. It's up to the device to observe the no-writing nature.[/citation]

Its true. It is actually up to the card reader to support this. I have a chinese card reader that allows me to write to a SD card even if the switch is in lock position.

 

[eddieroolz]

Price wise, it should be cheap, since I'm assuming there's only circuitry modifications required when building one.

 

[growup]

Can't wait to hear how ppl bch that its a one-time use and the malware already wrote to it before they could load anything onto it.

 

[Reynod]

A good idea for secure data - like files from conferences.

Inspires a bit more trust ... depending on who you get it from.

A good idea but I would want to see it is no more than 20% of the price of current rewriteable media, unless there is a massive imprevement in the MBBTF of the device ... that is ... it is very difficult to destroy or damage.

 

[dread_cthulhu]

Imagine this use: Replacing DVD and BluRays for movies. 'Course, you'd need more than 1GB for HD movies, but if it's only able to be written to once, and can be copy protected, then I think it'd make the movie companies happy. 1GB cards are just step 1. And yes, I know, probably 90% of the people who post on here don't even buy DVDs or BluRays any more, but trust me someone does. And I don't think it would be too difficult to create an SD reader that can be hooked into a TV. Not a stretch of the imagination at all.

 

[nukemaster]

[citation][nom]hellwig[/nom]That switch is just a piece of plastic, just like it was on casettes and floppies. It's up to the device to observe the no-writing nature. Besides, this technology could extend to microSD cards where there is no such tab.This new product is actually incapable of being written-to more than once, like a CD.[/citation]
Good that someone noticed this, I have had many a reader that did not have its little tooth thingy work right and allow erasing of ANY SD cards.

As for how does it stop virus and malware. Well lets see now, copy files to it from a secure station(lets say some linux machine that is so locked down you cant even get on the net) then you can pass it all over without(office/home) fear of it spreading virus and malware to other systems from systems it has been passed through. So even if ALL the computers you pass it to are malware infested, it can not spread via this card using autorun or any other method.

 

[ctmk]

1GB too small, should be 1TB at least to be widely particle.
How much is it? how long is the data retention?

 

[cookoy]

"Toshiba's write-once SD cards could be a good way to share documents without gaining
additional malware along the way."

not if the source PC is already infected and the malware gets written onto the WO-SD card.
then the anti-virus won't be able to clean the SD card.

 

[brianb23]

What about a self-destructing SD card for sensitive information, this way you give it to the person who needs it , they can look at it, and it will self (auto-erase) or the material starts to deteriorate after a certain time. They have similar things like that not in SD form though.. then it's truly sensitive , secure.. If it was lost by the time someone finds it , it may have already started deteriorating erasing the confidential data...