about COMPACTFLASH

What are CompactFlash cards?
What is the difference between CompactFlash Typ I and CompactFlash Typ II cards?
What are the caracteristics of CompactFlash cards?
Capacities?
Voltage Support?
Connector?
Cost?
Temperature?
Shock?

What are CompactFlash cards?

CompactFlash is a small, removable mass storage device, with high capacities up to 64GB).

Compared to a 68-pin PCMCIA card, a CompactFlash card has 50 pins but still conforms to ATA specifications. Thus it can be easily slipped into a passive 68-pin PCMCIA Type II adapter.

What is the difference between CompactFlash Typ I and CompactFlash Typ II cards?

At 43mm (1.7") x 36mm (1.4") x 3.3mm (0.13"), the CompactFlash Type I card's thickness is less than one-half of a current PCMCIA Type II card. It is actually one-sixth the volume of a PCMCIA card.

At 43mm (1.7") x 36mm (1.4") x 5mm (0.19"), the CompactFlash Type II card's thickness is equal to a current PCMCIA Type II card. It is actually less than one-half the volume of a PCMCIA card.

The only difference between CompactFlash Type I and CompactFlash Type II cards is the card thickness.

- CompactFlash Type I is 3.3 mm thick

- CompactFlash Type II is 5 mm thick

A CompactFlash Type I card will operate in a CompactFlash Type I or CompactFlash Type II slot.

A CompactFlash Type II card will only fit in a CompactFlash Type II slot. The electrical interfaces are identical.

CompactFlash is available in both CompactFlash Type I and CompactFlash Type II cards, though predominantly in CompactFlash Type I cards. The Microdrive is a CompactFlash Type II card.

What are the caracteristics of CompactFlash cards?

CompactFlash cards are designed with flash technology, a nonvolatile storage solution that does not require a battery to retain data indefinitely.

CompactFlash storage products are solid state, meaning they contain no moving parts, and provide users with much greater protection of their data than conventional magnetic disk drives.

They are five to ten times more rugged and reliable than disk drives including those found in PC Card Type III products. CompactFlash cards consume only five percent of the power required by small disk drives.

CompactFlash data storage cards are also available using magnetic disk (Microdrive).

Capacities?

CompactFlash cards are available in capacities from 8MB to 64GB.

Voltage support?

CompactFlash cards support both 3.3V and 5V operation and can be interchanged between 3.3V and 5V systems.
This means that any CompactFlash card can operate at either voltage. Other small form factor flash cards may be available to operate at 3.3V or 5V, but any single card can operate at only one of the voltages.

Connector?

The connector used with CompactFlash is similar to the PCMCIA Card connector, but with 50 pins.

Years of field experience in portable devices have proven the reliability and durability of this connector in applications where frequent insertions/ejections of the card are required.

Cost:

CompactFlash provides the lowest cost flash storage solution for capacities of 32MB and above.
With the built-in controller, a wide variety of low cost flash technologies can be used.
The built-in controller lowers costs further by allowing defective cells to be mapped out, thus increasing flash chip yields and by reducing costs in the host device.

Temperature:

CompactFlash cards are able to withstand extremely rapid increases or decreases in temperature. Industrial version CompactFlash cards are offered with an extended operating temperature range of -40 C to +85 C.

Shock:

CompactFlash cards have an operating shock rating of 2,000 Gs. With typical usage, a CompactFlash card can be used for more than 100 years with no loss or deterioration of data.

When compatibility, interoperability, reliability, cost, and performance count, CompactFlash cards are the ATA-compatible solution that delivers.

More information at www.compactflash.org

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