Flash Card Memory Roundup 2005

[Chris Gohlke]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.livedigitally.com/flash1.html' target='_blank'>http://www.livedigitally.com/flash1.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The humble flash memory card quietly provides the storage for today's electronic devices. Handheld computers, iPods and other portable music players, digital cameras, and even some cellphones and camcorders utilize flash cards. These cards are available in more varieties than Baskin Robbins ice cream flavors, and there's always some new smaller card that just came out with some reported advantage. Thankfully, selecting a memory card format to invest in is not as random as selecting a roulette number at Vegas, and the key is putting the house advantage in your favor. This article reviews the current cards on the market with their potential advantages and uses, and highlights some future directions. No one likes choosing a dying standard, and I'll point out the likely winners of this high wager business. After all, no one needs a drawer full of expensive, but outdated and useless memory cards.</i><br /><br />Personally, I am old school and still partial to CF. Everything else just is too small and I end up not being able to find it.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

So far it's just CF and SD for me. Trying very hard to resist any devices that use other memory card formats, including MiniSD.

[Doug Johnson]

I am almost exclusively SD now. In my Canon 20D i use SD with a SD-CF adapter, and get considerably faster write times than the CF cards I have used. The great thing about SD, though, is that it is now universal amongst the devices I use regularly: iPAQ 5550, Canon 20D (through an adapter), Nikon Coolpix 5200, Averatec 3300 notebook. So now I only have to carry one flash memory format no matter what I might be doing.

[Godsongz]

I'm also exclusively SD and CF right now too, and hope to stay that way for the near future. In fact I'm in the market for a large (4-6gb) CF card/microdrive for my 300D. Going to a week long concert festival this summer and it would be nice to have LOTS of storage in my camera. That would also free up my 512mb CF card for permanent use in my iPaq 2215 to store a bunch of music and other data.

I don't need/want another format in my life just yet.

[Jonathon Watkins]

CF and SD all the way! (Maybe with mini SD, depending on the phone I get).

[Jason Dunn]

Myself, I'm CF and SD, with a dash of miniSD for my Smartphone. I don't mind the miniSD format too much because it comes with an adaptor for SD slots, and it stays in the phone and doesn't come out...

[OSUKid7]

I'm using SD and CF now. miniSD would be okay for the reasons Jason mentioned. If SD speeds would increase, I'd really like to dump CF and go to SD exclusively.