Different types of Memory Cards

Different types of Memory Cards

Memory cards are a popular storage medium for many of today's consumer electronic devices, including digital cameras, cell phones, handheld devices and other small electronic devices. Flash memory is nonvolatile, which is the memory card will not lose its data when removed from the device, and the cards can also be erased or reformatted and reused. This way the transfer of data is become very easy at very low cost. Instead of using CD/DVD’s like in older days memory cards play an important role in data transfer such as Image files, text files etc.

For most consumers, when buying a memory card you have to consider price, capacity and compatibility. Some devices will support up to a specific size of memory card, and a specific type of memory card as well. It’s important to read the information that came with your device to ensure you purchase a memory card that will work in your device.

Common Types of Memory Cards

PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association)

The PCMCIA standard has been expanded several times and is suitable for many types of devices. There are three types of PCMCIA cards. All three have the same rectangular size (85.6 by 54 millimeters), but different widths:

• Type I cards can be up to 3.3 mm thick, and are used primarily for adding additional ROM or RAM to a computer.
• Type II cards can be up to 5.5 mm thick. These cards are often used for modem and fax modem cards.
• Type III cards can be up to 10.5 mm thick, which is sufficiently large for portable disk drives.

CompactFlash (CF)

Invented by SanDisk Corporation in 1994, CompactFlash cards can support 3.3V and 5V operation and can switch between the two, in contrast to other small-form factor flash memory cards that can operate only at one voltage. The card was designed based on the PCMCIA PC Card standard and can fit into a PCMCIA slot with an adapter. There are two types of CompactFlash cards to accommodate different capacities:

• Type I cards are 42.8mm x 36.4mm x 3.3 mm thick
• Type II cards are 42.8mm x 36.4mm x 5.5 mm thick.

Secure Digital Card (SD card)

SD cards are used in many small portable devices such as digital video camcorders, digital cameras, handheld computers, audio players and mobile phones. In use since 1999, SD Memory Cards are now available in capacities between 16 Megabytes and 1 Gigabyte, and still growing. An SD card typically measures 32 mm x 24 mm x 2.1 mm and weighs approximately 2grams.

MiniSD Card

After the success of the SD Card (Secure Digital Card), the miniSD Memory Card was developed to meet the demands of the mobile phone market. The MiniSD Card provides the same benefits as the SD Card, but is smaller than the original SD Card. MiniSD Cards are typically found in many newer mobile phones with features such as built-in digital cameras, downloading and games, basically the mobile phones where the miniSD can meet the requirements for increased data storage. MiniSD cards are 21.5 mm x 20 mm x 1.4 mm and generally provide 16MB to 256MB of storage.

MicroSD

Mainly used in mobile phones and other small handheld devices the MicroSD format is currently available in capacities up to 4GB, and it roughly 1/4th the size of the SD card at 15mm W 11mm W 0.7mm. The MicroSD card is also the smallest memory card available.

Card adapters can be purchased that enable backwards compatibility — this would allow MicroSD cards to work in SD and MiniSD slots, and also for MicroSD cards to work in SD card slots.

MultiMediaCard (MMC)

The MultiMediaCard (MMC) standard was introduced by SanDisk and Siemens in 1997. The card itself is 32 mm x 24 mm x 1.4mm and is often used in place of the SD card. Transfer speeds of a MMC is around 2.5MB/s and they can often be used in SD Card readers.

Sony Memory Sticks

Sony Memory Sticks are light, compact and designed for a wide variety of devices including digital cameras, recorders, and more. With the use of an adapter most Sony Memory Sticks can be used with almost all Memory Stick PRO compatible products.

Memory Stick Micro (M2): 15 mm x 12.5 mm x 1.2 mm

Memory Stick PRO: 50 mm x 21.5 mm x 2.8 mm. The Memory Stick PRO format has an an 8-bit parallel interface with theoretical transfer rates up to 480Mb/s. It is commonly used in high megapixel digital cameras and digital camcorders.

Memory Stick PRO DUO: 31 mm x 20 mm x 1.6 mm. The Memory Stick PRO Duo media is about one-third the volume and half the weight of standard-size media, but offers all the advanced functions of Memory Stick PRO media.

SmartMedia

Introduced by Toshiba in 1995 the SmartMedia cards are now considered obsolete despite its popular usage for five years. SmartMedia cards are 45 mm x 37 mm x 0.76 mm and could be found in their peak times in 16MB, 32MB, and 128MB versions. Even as an obsolete card, it is still sought after by users of older devices which cannot use memory cards larger than 128MB.

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