Sandisk announces write once SD cards

SanDisk announced today a Write Once Read Many (WORM) SD digital memory card. The cards are intended for professional uses such as police investigations, court testimony, electronic voting and other applications where data files must be protected from alteration or deletion.

Analog recording media such as film and audio tape are rapidly becoming obsolete, driving demand for a solution suitable for today’s digital devices. But conventional rewritable memory cards do not meet legal requirements to prevent data tampering.

Digital data written to the cards is effectively locked as soon as it is recorded; there is no physical way to alter or delete individual recorded files. Yet viewing the data is simple, because the cards are readable in any standard SD slot attached to a computer or other SD-compatible device.

SanDisk promises that the cards also offer 100-year archive life, when kept under appropriate storage conditions. 

The cards are available now worldwide in 128-megabyte capacity and are expected to be available in higher capacities later in the year. Pricing is available on request.