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View Full Version : Memory card formats... Are they getting out of hand?


Phoenix
12-13-2004, 07:31 PM
Here's a list of the memory card formats to keep track of:

CF II
CF I
IBM Microdrive
SD
MiniSD
MMC
RS-MMC
Memory Stick
Memory Stick Select
Memory Stick MagicGate
Memory Stick Pro
Memory Stick Duo
Memory Stick Duo Pro
Transflash
SmartMedia
xD

...and now the newest... MicroMMC.

That makes 17 different formats. Not to mention, people have to contend with the different read/write speed specs found among some of these card formats. No wonder people get confused!

Is this getting ridiculous, or what? Geesh! :crazyeyes:

Are there any others I haven't mentioned?

And they keep getting smaller, and smaller. I'm waiting for the Memory Sand Granule. :lol:

emuelle1
12-13-2004, 07:45 PM
And they keep getting smaller, and smaller. I'm waiting for the Memory Sand Granule. :lol:

Try keeping track of that in your pocket :mrgreen:

Brad Adrian
12-13-2004, 09:55 PM
And I just read today that ANOTHER fingertip-sized card has just been developed for use in those teeny, tiny mobile phones.

Phoenix
12-13-2004, 10:53 PM
And I just read today that ANOTHER fingertip-sized card has just been developed for use in those teeny, tiny mobile phones.

I think that's the MicroMMC that I mentioned.

That thing is so tiny! If anyone ever lost one, they'd never find it again.

applejosh
12-14-2004, 12:24 AM
While I agree that there are too many formats out there, it's interesting that Sony has 6 variations of the original memory stick. (And I don't know if that includes the newer "black" memory sticks, which are like the Pro's, except faster because of a different bus or something.) Plus I don't know if I'd really separate the microdrives and CF II, since they're the same form factor and can be (mostly) interchangable. But your point is valid. I'd like to see SD cards and CF cards, and that's it. Just my silly opinion.

Darius Wey
12-14-2004, 03:10 AM
Are there any others I haven't mentioned?

I think you can whack the Lexar UFC in there as well. ;)

GSmith
12-14-2004, 03:20 AM
My take on it is to pick devices carefully. I stuck with CF for a long time in cameras because the price of a given amount memory was cheapest with CF. Now, CF and SD memory price differences are smaller so this is not as big a difference as it used to be. As I've moved to Pocket PCs, I still much prefer devices with CF slot. You can convert almost anything to a CF card if you have to, plus a lot of peripherals are CF only (or their CF versions are cheaper or better performing). SD is pretty much a/the standard on Pocket PC devices so it is wise to go in this direction.

The next shift in my view/world is to the MS Smartphones with MiniSD. These cards come with(?) convertors to standard SD. So their compatibility on Pocket PCs is good. Flash memory is cheap enough now that for most users, you can buy a card, stick it in a device and leave it there.

I generally ignore all other formats. There will always be memory companies trying to get their memory format as standard. It is usually wise to ignore them rather than face the hassle and expense of carrying multiple formats. Not just in cards, but in converters and/or readers.

Unless of course a device that only supports one standard comes out with features you can't ignore. Then you buy a dedicated card and use it only in that device.

But most of this advice comes from a few years ago when memory was much more expensive and there was real benefit to sharing a card between multiple devices. Today, there might be a need to share your 1GB SD card full of music between your Pocket PC and your MP3 player. Or filling your card with music on your laptop then playing in on your MP3 player.

You just have to look at how you want to use it.

JustinGTP
12-14-2004, 05:34 AM
I find it so hard to shop for anything now, only because I want the memory to be "hot-swappable" for most of my devices. I want at least an SD in my PDA and Camera so that I can view the pics on a bigger screen, and then zap them to the big CF storage card in my PDA. Or, if I can have CF in my Camera - that would be okay too.

I just dislike Sony for the memory stick because and Windows Mobile device doesn't have Memory Stick (funny how the initials of that is MS, anyways) and then that forces you to buy a Palm etc. etc.

YES! There are far too many formats know, and all it achieves it to screw up the poor grannies and technological incompetent people on the planet when sales people sell you a CF when you asked for SD.....

-Justin.

Phoenix
03-11-2005, 04:35 AM
Alrighty, wanted to update the list... :)

As it stands, what do we have?


CF I
CF II
UCF
Microdrive
SD
MiniSD
MicroSD (previously known as TransFlash)
SD-Xtra
SD Plus
MMC
RS-MMC
MMCmicro
Memory Stick
Memory Stick Select
Memory Stick MagicGate
Memory Stick Duo
Memory Stick Pro
Memory Stick Pro Duo
SmartMedia
xD
UFC (not to be confused with UCF that I listed above)
C-Flash


This makes 22 different sizes/formats. Are we done yet???

Jonathon Watkins
03-12-2005, 12:44 AM
This makes 22 different sizes/formats. Are we done yet???

No. :cry:

jlp
03-12-2005, 01:30 AM
You can also add Miniature cards, a dead standard by Intel a few years ago, almost 10 years ago, at the time Sandisk came out with CF.

I just know of an Olympus digital voice recorder that used it.

It's dead as SmartMedia, tho obviously it never had any visibility.

PCMCIA can also be considered a flash/memory standard. Some early digicams (Canon PowerShot 600), as well as some Kodak digicams (probably a few other brands as well) used it.

It's also a very little known fact that Sony also used CF cards for their early models. Obviously just before they invented their late, inferior and very expensive MemorySH!T card formats.

jlp
03-12-2005, 01:41 AM
A quick Google returned a page at JasonDunn.com (http://www.jasondunn.com/velo/hardware_issues_ram.htm) :D concerning his WinCE Philips Velo 1 H/PC.

DRAM Miniature Cards were used for RAM expansion and Flash Miniature Cards were storage cards on this device.

Jonathon Watkins
03-12-2005, 03:15 PM
It's also a very little known fact that Sony also used CF cards for their early models.

And their later newest ones of course. It looks like Sony may be getting sensible at last. The standard for serious cameras is CF and will remain so for a while due to all the advantages that CF has; speed, capacity, physical resilience, price etc.

gibson042
03-12-2005, 06:58 PM
This makes 22 different sizes/formats. Are we done yet???
Don't forget μcard (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=272095)! :twisted:

jlp
03-13-2005, 12:26 AM
It's also a very little known fact that Sony also used CF cards for their early models.

And their later newest ones of course. It looks like Sony may be getting sensible at last. The standard for serious cameras is CF and will remain so for a while due to all the advantages that CF has; speed, capacity, physical resilience, price etc.

It should read "And some of their later newest prosumer ones of course..." You will never find CF slots in their compact models (for obvious reasons), and neither you will find SD slots in the latter as well.

jlp
03-13-2005, 12:37 AM
By the way, UFC (USB Flash Card) is NOT a card format per se. A card format is a card that requires both a dedicated connector and slot. While USB Flash Cards are not much more than small USB keys that are something like a longer USB connector and within this "extended" back part they fit the memory chips.

Pretec has such tiny USB keys since 2 years ago already. And the PQI I-Stick uses the same idea, except they just have the internal part of the USB connector (the internal hard plastic that's inside the metal rectangular shell, the part thats usually black, but sometimes white too) Behind the bare connector, the PQI card has a small housing that holds the chips and that is approximately the size of an SD card.

Pretec iDisk Tiny:
http://www.pretec.com/idisc_tiny5.jpg

PQI Intelligent Stick (I-Stick):
http://www.pqi.com.tw/upload/basic/Istick2.0%201G(2).jpg

Link to PQI Istick updated to reflect the PQI site change.

Phoenix
10-03-2005, 09:48 PM
Yes, folks, it's time the MCL ("memory card list", as I'm dubbing it) is updated once again for accuracy (including moniker typos, etc.)...

And only cards that are current or will be available soon (meaning "not extinct" - no longer produced, sold, or used).


CF I
CF II
Microdrive
SD
miniSD
microSD (previously known as TransFlash)
SD Xtra
SD Plus
MMC
RS-MMC
MMCmicro
Memory Stick
Memory Stick Select
Memory Stick MagicGate
Memory Stick Duo
Memory Stick PRO
Memory Stick PRO Duo
Memory Stick Micro M2 new!
SmartMedia
xD
C-Flash (meant to compete with microSD and MMCmicro)


(I removed UFC from the list as that isn't a card, as well as UCF as it won't be available for purchase (at least AFAIK)).


This makes 21 different sizes/formats. Yippee! :crazyeyes:

Jonathon Watkins
10-04-2005, 12:12 AM
Yes, folks, it's time the MCL ("memory card list", as I'm dubbing it) is updated once again for accuracy (including moniker typos, etc.)...


Yup, I'm just about to do a post about the new Memory stick micro card. 21 types and counting.......... :|

Down8
10-04-2005, 10:00 PM
As far as I'm concerned, there are two types:

CF (and it's varients, for it's commonality and speed)
and
SD (and it's varients, for it's compactness).

Anything else is an incompatible, proprietary POS.

-bZj

Phoenix
10-06-2005, 10:55 PM
CF I
CF II
Microdrive
SD
miniSD
microSD (previously known as TransFlash)
SD Xtra
SD Plus
MMC
RS-MMC
MMCmicro
Memory Stick
Memory Stick Select
Memory Stick MagicGate
Memory Stick Duo
Memory Stick PRO
Memory Stick PRO Duo
Memory Stick Micro M2 new!
SmartMedia
xD
xD Type M
C-Flash (meant to compete with microSD and MMCmicro)


I just added "xD Type M". Not sure if this counts as a separate format from standard xD per se, but the Type M cards won't work in certain cameras where as standard xD will (different architecture). However, this is no different than some of the Memory Sticks which share the same size and shape, yet have different architectures.

So we could now say 22 different sizes/formats! :crazyeyes:

The PocketTV Team
10-06-2005, 11:02 PM
> CF II
> CF I
> IBM Microdrive

IBM Microdrives are Compact Flash Type II cards (CF II). They are no different as far as the interface goes, and devices that support CF II will support Microdrives. The only difference is in the inside implementation.

Microdrives use a small hardware which costs less to store large amount of data, e.g. 6 GB, compared to flash, but they use a bit more power when spinning.

So You should list:

CF II (including Microdrive) on the same line, I think...