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Memory Cards Information

A memory card or flash card is an electronic flash memory data storage device used for storing digital information. They are commonly used in many electronic devices, including digital cameras, mobile phones, laptop computers, MP3 players, and video game consoles. They are small, re-recordable, and they can retain data without power.

Contents

History

PC Cards (PCMCIA) were among first commercial memory card formats (type I cards) to come out in the 1990s, but are now mainly used in industrial applications and to connect I/O devices such as modems. In 1990s, a number of memory card formats smaller than PC Card arrived, including CompactFlash, SmartMedia, and Miniature Card. The desire for smaller cards for cell-phones, PDAs, and compact digital cameras drove a trend that left the previous generation of "compact" cards looking big. In digital cameras SmartMedia and CompactFlash had been very successful, in 2001 SM alone captured 50% of the digital camera market and CF had a stranglehold on professional digital cameras. By 2005 however, SD/MMC had nearly taken over SmartMedia's spot, though not to the same level and with stiff competition coming from Memory Stick variants, as well as CompactFlash. In industrial fields, even the venerable PC card (PCMCIA) memory cards still manage to maintain a niche, while in mobile phones and PDAs, the memory card market was highly fragmented until 2010 when micro-SD came to dominate new high-end phones and tablet computers.

Since 2010 the new products of Sony (previously only using Memory Stick) and Olympus (previously only using xD-Card) are offered with an additional SD-Card slot.[1] Effectively the format war has turned in SD-Card's favor.[2][3][4]

Data table of selected memory card formats

Name Acronym Form factor DRM
PC Card PCMCIA 85.6 × 54 × 3.3 mm No
CompactFlash I CF-I 43 × 36 × 3.3 mm No
CompactFlash II CF-II 43 × 36 × 5.5 mm No
SmartMedia SM / SMC 45 × 37 × 0.76 mm No
Memory Stick MS 50.0 × 21.5 × 2.8 mm MagicGate
Memory Stick Duo MSD 31.0 × 20.0 × 1.6 mm MagicGate
Memory Stick PRO Duo MSPD 31.0 × 20.0 × 1.6 mm MagicGate
Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo MSPDX 31.0 × 20.0 × 1.6 mm MagicGate
Memory Stick Micro M2 M2 15.0 × 12.5 × 1.2 mm MagicGate
Miniature Card 37 × 45 × 3.5 mm No
Multimedia Card MMC 32 × 24 × 1.5 mm No
Reduced Size Multimedia Card RS-MMC 16 × 24 × 1.5 mm No
MMCmicro Card MMCmicro 12 × 14 × 1.1 mm No
Secure Digital card SD 32 × 24 × 2.1 mm CPRM
SxS SxS Unknown
Universal Flash Storage UFS Unknown
miniSD card miniSD 21.5 × 20 × 1.4 mm CPRM
microSD card microSD 15 × 11 × 0.7 mm CPRM
xD-Picture Card xD 20 × 25 × 1.7 mm No
Intelligent Stick iStick 24 × 18 × 2.8 mm No
Serial Flash Module SFM 45 × 15 mm No
µ card µcard 32 × 24 × 1 mm Unknown
NT Card NT NT+ 44 × 24 × 2.5 mm No

Secure Digital card (SD)

MiniSD Card

CompactFlash (CF-I)

Memory Stick

MultiMediaCard (MMC)

SmartMedia

xD-Picture Card (xD)

Overview of all memory card types

Main article: Comparison of memory cards

Memory cards in video game consoles

This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (September 2009)
PlayStation memory card.

Many game consoles have used proprietary solid-state memory cards to store data. In recent years read-only optical discs have replaced these memory cards in most current home console systems. However most portable gaming systems still rely on custom memory cartridges, due to their low power consumption, smaller physical size and reduced mechanical complexity.

The sizes in parentheses are those of the official, first-party memory cards.

See also

References

Card Error References

  1. ^ http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10426683-269.html
  2. ^ "Format-Krieg entschieden: SD-Card setzt sich durch" ("format-war resolved: SD-card prevails"), Chip-online, 14. January 2010
  3. ^ "Camera trends come into focus for 2010", msnbc, 13. January.2010 "As much as the storage-format war cleared up a bit with Sony announcing that it would support SD and SDHC cards ..."
  4. ^ "FEATURE: Playing Your Cards Right at Retail", Peter K. Burian, 4. June 2010. "Some industry observers have suggested that this development signals an end to the 'format war,' ..."
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Memory card
Memory cards
Main articles Memory card reader · Comparison of memory cards •
Types CompactFlash (CF) • JEIDA • Memory Stick (MS/MS-PRO) • miCard • Microdrive (MD) • PC Card • SmartMedia (SM) • SxS • Universal Flash Storage (UFS) • USB • xD-Picture • Express Card
MMC/SD Variants MultiMediaCard (MMC) • Secure Digital (SD) • miniSD • microSD
Basic computer components
Input devices Keyboard · Pointing device (Light pen · Mouse · Touchpad · Touchscreen) · Microphone · Scanner · Webcam
Output devices Monitor · Speakers · Printer
Removable data storage Floppy disk · Compact Disc ReWritable/DVD Drive · USB flash drive · Memory card
Computer case Central processing unit · RAM · Video card · Sound card · Motherboard · Power supply · Hard drive · Network interface controller
Data ports Serial port · Parallel port · Universal Serial Bus (USB) · Ethernet

Categories: Solid-state computer storage media | Video game hardware

 

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