What size SD/SDHC card to get?

I just picked up a Wii yesterday and wanted to ask here before I went out and bought memory for it. With the recent update I know there are a lot more options in terms of cards I can use, but I've had a penchant in the past for going with TOO much memory.

I'd rather just buy one card and forget about it, but I want something with enough space for game saves and maybe a dozen or so virtual console game eventually. I really have no idea how much memory these things take up, so I thought I'd ask some Wii vets. I appreciate any help.

[quote name='bvharris']I'd rather just buy one card and forget about it, but I want something with enough space for game saves and maybe a dozen or so virtual console game eventually. I really have no idea how much memory these things take up, so I thought I'd ask some Wii vets. I appreciate any help.[/QUOTE]

If you are serious (only a dozen or so games) then I think that 512 MB probably has you set. No kidding, most downloadable games on Wii are pretty darned small...

But I wouldn't recommend going small like that, because it might be limiting later. My recommendation is to get a 2 GB card because (a) it's more than big enough for most people to hold all their VC/WiiWare titles, and (b) it sits at that sweet spot for giving you lots of memory for a still cheap price. I've got 2 GB with about 3 dozen VC/WiiWare games, a couple hundred (resized) photos, a dozen MP3s for games that support them, and lots of room to spare.

The other recommendation I'm going to give is to keep all your save files on the Wii itself, instead of the SD card. Otherwise you have to manually move them back and forth anytime you want to play that game, because the Wii doesn't read save files off the SD slot. Putting a save file on SD is only useful if you want a backup copy. You'll have lots of space to keep all your save files on the Wii as long as you download VC/WiiWare directly to the SD card.

Edit: One last recommendation - make sure you buy SDHC for the speed increase over normal SD. It's worthwhile.

Whatever storage size you buy, buy a micro sd card with adapters in case you want to repurpose down the line.

Thanks for the help.

Yes, but I thought SDHC cards were incompatible with current games? For example I had read that Rock Band 2 doesn't recognize an SDHC card. Is that not true?

1mb is about 8 blocks

Wiiware/VC limit is 320 blocks about 40 MB (most are less than this)
I have a 1gb card, a little under 8000 blocks
I would say a 1gb card is probably enough, and more than 2gb is overkill- but seeing as how sd cards are used in other devices, and it's pretty cheap, if you have a camera or other device, might want to go large.

I have an sd card, can't speak regarding sdhc

[quote name='crunchewy']Yes, but I thought SDHC cards were incompatible with current games? For example I had read that Rock Band 2 doesn't recognize an SDHC card. Is that not true?[/QUOTE]

Hmm... that's odd. A quick Google suggests that SDHC isn't compatible with games released before the 4.0 firmware update, so RB2 might require a non-SDHC card. I was sure that MP3s worked in Endless Ocean, but would've stopped playing that game just about the same time I upgraded... so maybe that was using my old SD card. (I'll test tonight to find out, and post the result.)

Maybe getting a 2 GB non-SDHC card just to be safe is a better choice.

[quote name='ejamer']... (I'll test tonight to find out, and post the result.)
[/QUOTE]

Confirmed that MP3 playback in Endless Ocean does NOT work with SDHC.

The only games where this would really be a big deal are Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour, where DLC is stored on SD cards. ExciteTruck and Endless Ocean won't offer MP3 playback... but that's fairly minor IMO.

I'll probably just go with a 2GB SD card for now. Given compatibility issues, I don't think I need an SDHC card yet, despite the speed improvement. I can wait. I can always upgrade later.

Thanks for all the help guys.