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Revision as of 20:30, 7 September 2007

This table provides summary of comparison of various flash memory cards, as of 2007.

Common information

Card family Organization Varieties Entry date Picture[1] Major features
CompactFlash Microdia, SanDisk I 1994 Thinner (3.3 mm)
II Thicker (5 mm)
SmartMedia Toshiba 1995 Very thin (0.76 mm)
MMC Microdia, Siemens AG, SanDisk MMC 1997 -
RS-MMC 2003 Compact size
MMCmobile 2005 Compact size, dual voltage, faster, optional DRM
MMCplus 2005 Faster, optional DRM
MMCmicro 2005 Very compact size, faster, optional DRM
Memory Stick Sony Standard 1998-01 Memory up to 128MB, optional DRM
Pro 2003-01 Faster, Memory up to 4GB (expected maximum memory capable claimed to be 32GB), optional DRM
Pro Duo 2002-06 Compact size, optional DRM
Micro (M2) 2006-02 Very compact size (shown with converter to regular MS), optional DRM
Secure Digital Microdia, Panasonic, SanDisk, Toshiba SD 1999-08 -
miniSD 2003 Compact size
microSD 2005 Very compact size
SDHC 2006 High Capacity 4 GB - 32 GB, High speed, physically the same as SD
miniSDHC 2007 High Capacity 4 GB - 32 GB, Compact size, physically the same as miniSD
microSDHC 2007 High Capacity 4 GB - 32 GB, Compact size, physically the same as microSD[2]
xD Olympus, Fujifilm 2002-07 limited to 512M
Type M 2005 limited to 8G
Type H 2005 Faster, limited to 8G
USB flash drive various 2001 Lack of standardized size suits them to file transfer/storage instead of use in portable devices

Physical details

Note that a memory card's dimensions are determined while holding the card with contact pins facing up. Horizontal measurement is width, vertical measurement is length, depth is thickness. For most cards length is larger than width, but it's not always true. Also, most cards include a direction arrow to aid insertion; such an arrow should also be facing "up".

Card Width, mm Length, mm Thickness, mm Mass, g[2]
CompactFlash, Type I 43.0 36.0 3.3 3.3
CompactFlash, Type II 43.0 36.0 5.0
SmartMedia 37.0 45.0 0.76 2.0
MMC, MMCplus 24.0 32.0 1.4 1.3[3]
RS-MMC, MMCmobile 24.0 16.0 1.4 1.3
MMCmicro 14.0 12.0 1.1
Memory Stick Standard, Pro 21.5 50.0 2.8 4.0
Memory Stick Duo, Pro Duo 20.0 31.0 1.6 2.0[4]
Memory Stick Micro 12.5 15.0 1.2 2.0
SD 24.0 32.0 2.1 2.0
miniSD 20.0 21.5 1.4 1.0
microSD 15.0 11.0 1.0 0.27
xD 25.0 20.0 1.78 2.8
USB varies varies varies varies

Technical details

Card Varieties Actual Maximum storage capacity, MB Theoretical maximum capacity Data read speed, MB/s Data write speed, MB/s Read/write cycles Low-level access Operating voltage, V[5] Controller chip[6] # of pins
CompactFlash I 65536 137 GB 133[7] 133[7] NOR 3.3 and 5 Yes 50
II 12288 137 GB 133[7] 133[7]
SmartMedia 128 2 1,000,000 NAND 3.3 or 5 No 22
MMC MMC 8192 128 GB 52[8] 52[8] 1,000,000[9] 3.3 Yes 7
RS-MMC 2048 2[10] 2[10] 3.3 7
MMCmobile 2048 15[11] 8[11] 1.8 and 3.3 13
MMCplus 4096[12] 40 40 3.3 13
MMCmicro 2048 1.8 and 3.3 13
Memory Stick Standard 128 128 MB 2.5 1.8 3.3 Yes 10
Pro 4096 32 GB 20 1.8 3.3
Pro Duo 8192 20 10 3.3
Micro 8192[13] 20 18 1.8 and 3.3
Secure Digital SD 32768[14] 128 GB 20 20 3.3 Yes 9
miniSD 4096[15] 12 12 11
microSD 8192[16] 10 10 8
xD 512 512 MB 5 3 3.3 No 18
Type M 2048 8 GB 4 2.5
Type H 2048 8 GB 15 9
USB "Full speed" 65536 (2007) No Limit 1 1 5 Yes
"High speed" 40 40

Consumer details

Card Write protection switch[17] DRM
CompactFlash No No
SmartMedia Partial, sticker Partial (optional)
MMC, RS-MMC No No
MMCMobile Yes, secureMMC
Memory Stick Standard, Pro Yes Partial, MagicGate
Memory Stick Duo, Pro Duo No Partial, MagicGate
Memory Stick Micro No
SD Yes[18] Yes, CPRM
miniSD No
microSD No
xD Partial, sticker Partial [19]
USB Sometimes No

Compatibility

The following chart gives details on availability of adapters to put a given card (horizontal) in a given slot or device (vertical). This table does not take into account protocol issues in communicating with the device.

Following labels are used:

  • + (native) - a slot is native for such card.
  • D (Directly compatible) - a card may be used in such a slot directly, without any adapters. Best possible compatibility.
  • M (requires a Mechanical adapter) - such adapter is only a physical enclosure to fit one card sized into another; all electric pins are perfectly the same.
  • EM (requires an Electro-Mechanical adapter) - such adapter features both physical enclosure and pins re-routing as terminals are sufficiently different. No powered elements in such adapter exists, thus they're very cheap and easy to manufacture and may be supplied as a bonus for every such card.
  • E (requires an Electronic adapter enclosure) - these adapters are the most advanced ones with some chips (may be requiring external power) that transform signals, as well as physical enclosure and pin routing. Original card must be smaller in size than emulated one in slot, as original card have to fit inside an enclosure.
  • X (requires an eXternal adapter) - technically the same as E, but such adapter usually consists of 2 parts: a pseudo-card with pin routing and physical enclosure size that perfectly match the target slot and a break-out box (a card reader) that holds a real card. Such adapter is the least comfortable to use.
  • Empty cell - card can't be used in such slot, no single adapter is known to exist. Sometimes a chain of adapters can help (for example, miniSD→CF as miniSD→SD→CF)
Cards → CF SM MMC Memory Stick SD xD
↓ Slots I II MMC RS-MMC, MMCmobile Std Pro Pro Duo Micro SD mini micro Std M H
PC card EM[20] EM[20] E[21] E[22] E[22] E[22] E[22]
CF I + E E[23] E[24] E[24] E[25] E[23] E[26] E[26] E[26]
CF II + + E E[23] E[24] E[24] E[23] E[26] E[26] E[26]
SM + X[27] X[27] X[27]
MMC + M D[28]
MS + + M M
SD D + EM EM
IDE PATA EM[29] EM[29]
Serial ATA E[30] E[30]

References

  1. ^ Pictures are given in relative scales; they're sized to be WYSIWYG when viewing using 81 PPI monitor.
  2. ^ Plexus Outbursts specifications
  3. ^ Apacer's MMC specifications
  4. ^ See Plexus Outbursts specs above, also MemoryStick.com FAQ states that Duo card are half the weight of original
  5. ^ Voltage table at All Memory Cards, note that some cards support both voltages (and), and some cards are available in distinct versions (or)
  6. ^ Explanation of controller chip at All Memory Cards
  7. ^ a b c d CompactFlash Specification Rev. 4.1
  8. ^ a b MMC transferred at up to 52MB/sec
  9. ^ ACP-EP Specifications
  10. ^ a b ACP-EP RS-MMC card features list
  11. ^ a b ACP-EP MMCmobile card features list
  12. ^ Transcend MMCplus 4GB
  13. ^ Sandisk First to Offer 8-Gigabyte Memory Stick Micro (M2) Cards For Mobile Phones
  14. ^ [1]
  15. ^ new 4 GB miniSDHC card
  16. ^ "Samsung develops 8GB microSD card"
  17. ^ Write protection switch at All Memory Cards
  18. ^ Some early SD cards may not have a write protection switch
  19. ^ http://www.fujifilm.ie/digital/digital/accessories/xdcard/index.htm
  20. ^ a b Transcend CompactFlash-to-PC Card adapter
  21. ^ Transcend SmartMedia-to-PC Card adapter
  22. ^ a b c d Transcend 5-in-1 Adapter
  23. ^ a b c d Minolta SD-CF1 SD-to-CompactFlash adapter
  24. ^ a b c d Transcend MemoryStick-to-CompactFlash adapter
  25. ^ Sony MSAC-MCF1N and AD-MSCF1 PRO Duo to CF adapters
  26. ^ a b c d e f Olympus MACF-10 xD-to-CompactFlash adapter
  27. ^ a b c Hama xD-to-SM adapter
  28. ^ SD cards are usually thicker than MMC ones, and although it uses perfectly compatible pins, not every MMC slot may allow thick SD card to be inserted
  29. ^ a b PC Engines IDE to CompactFlash adapters
  30. ^ a b Accelerated Compact Flash: The Addonics SATA CF Adapter
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