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Miniaturization is evident in memory card creation; over time, the physical card sizes grow smaller while their respective logical sizes grow larger. The memory cards listed from left to right are:
Compact flash (32 MB),
SD (128 MB),
miniSD (1.0 GB), and
microSD (2.0 GB).
A memory card or flash memory card is solid-state electronic flash memory data storage device capable of storing digital contents. These are mainly used with digital cameras, handheld and Mobile computers, mobile phones, music players, digital cinematography cameras, video game consoles, and other electronics. They offer high re-record-ability, power-free storage, small form factor, and rugged environmental specifications. There are also non-solid-state memory cards that do not use flash memory, and there are different types of flash memory. Many cards incorporate wear levelling algorithms in their design.
Most memory cards are used in digital cameras, game consoles, cell phones, and industrial applications. PC Card (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 came out, including CompactFlash, SmartMedia, and Miniature Card. In other areas, tiny embedded memory cards (SID) were used in cell phones, game ds[clarification needed]. 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 strangle hold 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 cell-phones and PDAs, the memory card market is highly fragmented.
[edit] Data table of selected memory card formats
[edit] Overview of all memory card types
- PCMCIA ATA Type I Flash Memory Card (PC Card ATA Type I)
- PCMCIA Type II, Type III cards
- CompactFlash Card (Type I), CompactFlash High-Speed
- CompactFlash Type II, CF+(CF2.0), CF3.0
- MiniCard (Miniature Card) (max 64 MB (64 MiB))
- SmartMedia Card (SSFDC) (max 128 MB) (3.3 V,5 V)
- xD-Picture Card, xD-Picture Card Type M
- Memory Stick, MagicGate Memory Stick (max 128 MB); Memory Stick Select, MagicGate Memory Stick Select ("Select" means: 2x128 MB with A/B switch)
- SecureMMC
- Secure Digital (SD Card), Secure Digital High-Speed, Secure Digital Plus/Xtra/etc (SD with USB connector)
- MU-Flash (Mu-Card) (Mu-Card Alliance of OMIA)
- C-Flash
- SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module)
- Smart card (ISO/IEC 7810, ISO/IEC 7816 card standards, etc.)
- UFC (USB FlashCard) [1] (uses USB)
- FISH Universal Transportable Memory Card Standard (uses USB)
- Disk memory cards:
- Intelligent Stick (iStick, a USB-based flash memory card with MMS)
- SxS (S-by-S) memory card, a new memory card specification developed by Sandisk and Sony. SxS complies to the ExpressCard industry standard. [2]
- Nexflash Winbond Serial Flash Module (SFM) cards, size range 1 mb, 2 mb and 4 mb.
[edit] Memory cards in video game consoles
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 parenthesis are those of the official, first-party memory cards.
- Microsoft Xbox line:
- Nintendo line:
- Sega Dreamcast Visual Memory Unit (VMU) (128 KB divided in 200 blocks)
- Sega Saturn memory unit can hold 20 blocks of save games.
- Sony PlayStation line:
- GP2X GNU/Linux based portable games console, uses SD/MMC.
- Neo Geo AES, released in 1990 by SNK, was the first video game console able to use a memory card. AES memory cards are also compatible with Neo-Geo MVS arcade cabinets.
[edit] See also
Memory cards |
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Main articles |
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Types |
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MMC/SD Variants |
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