Contents

• 1 Data table of selected memory card formats

• 2 Overview of all memory card types
• 3 Memory cards in video game consoles

Memory card

A memory card or flash memory card is a solid-state electronic flash memory data
storage device used with digital cameras, handheld and Mobile computers,
telephones, music players, 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.

There are many different types of memory cards and jobs they are used for. Some
common places include in digital cameras, in game consoles, in cell phones, and in
industrial applications. PC card (PCMCIA) were among first commercial memory
card formats (type I cards) to come out in the 1990s, but are now only mainly used
in industrial applications and for I/O jobs (using types I/II/III), as a connection
standard for devices (such as a modem). Also 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 consoles started using proprietary memory card formats, and
devices like PDAs and digital music players started using removable memory cards.

From the late 1990s into the early 2000s a host of new formats appeared, including
SD/MMC, Memory Stick, xD-Picture Card, and a number of variants and smaller
cards. The desire for ultra-small cards for cell-phones, PDAs, and compact digital
cameras drove a trend toward smaller cards 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, xD, 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.

Nowadays, most new PCs have built-in slots for a variety of memory cards; Memory
Stick, CompactFlash, SD, etc. Some digital gadgets support more than one memory
card to ensure compatibility.

Data table of selected memory card formats

Name Acronym Form factor DRM

PC Card PCMCIA 85.6 × 54 × 3.3 mm None

CompactFlash I CF-I 43 × 36 × 3.3 mm None

CompactFlash II CF-II 43 × 36 × 5.5 mm None

SmartMedia SM / SMC 45 × 37 × 0.76 mm None

Memory Stick MS 50.0 × 21.5 × 2.8 mm MagicGate

Memory Stick Duo MSD 31.0 × 20.0 × 1.6 mm MagicGate

Memory Stick PRO Duo MSPD 31.0 × 20.0 × 1.6 mm MagicGate

Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo MSPDX 31.0 × 20.0 × 1.6 mm MagicGate

Memory Stick Micro M2 M2 15.0 × 12.5 × 1.2 mm MagicGate

Multimedia Card MMC 32 × 24 × 1.5 mm None

Reduced Size Multimedia

RS-MMC 16 × 24 × 1.5 mm None
Card

MMCmicro Card MMCmicro 12 × 14 × 1.1 mm None

Secure Digital card SD 32 × 24 × 2.1 mm CPRM

SxS SxS

Universal Flash Storage UFS

miniSD card miniSD 21.5 × 20 × 1.4 mm CPRM

microSD card microSD 11 × 15 × 0.7 mm CPRM

xD-Picture Card xD 20 × 25 × 1.7 mm None

Intelligent Stick iStick 24 x 18 x 2.8 mm None

Serial Flash Module SFM 45 x 15 mm None

µ card µcard 32 x 24 x 1 mm Unknown

NT Card NT NT+ 44 x 24 x 2.5 mm None

Since many EEPROM devices only allow a finite number of write cycles, some of
these cards incorporate wear levelling algorithms to spread the wear and to avoid
wearing out specific places which are often written to.

Overview of all memory card types

Main article: Comparison of memory cards

Miniaturization is evident in memory card creation; over time, the physical sizes of
the memory cards 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).

• PCMCIA ATA Type I Flash Memory Card (PC Card ATA Type I) (max 8 GB
(8 GiB) flash as of 2005)
o PCMCIA Linear Flash Cards, SRAM cards, etc.
o PCMCIA Type II, Type III cards
• CompactFlash Card (Type I), CompactFlash High-Speed (max 32 GB as of
2008)
 • CompactFlash Type II, CF+(CF2.0), CF3.0
o Microdrive (max 6 GB as of 2005)
• 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)
o miniSD Card
o microSD Card (aka Transflash, T-Flash)
o SDHC
• MU-Flash (Mu-Card) (Mu-Card Alliance of OMIA)
• C-Flash
• SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module)
• Smart card (ISO 7810 Card Standard , ISO 7816 Card Standard, etc.)
• UFC (USB FlashCard) [1] (uses USB)
• FISH Universal Transportable Memory Card Standard (uses USB)
• Disk memory cards:
o Clik! (PocketZip), (40 MB PocketZip)
o Floppy disk (LS120, 2-inch, 3.5-inch, etc.)
• 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 Moduel (SFM) cards, size range 1 mb, 2 mb

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, although this
is not always the case. Also, most cards include a direction arrow to aid insertion;
such an arrow should also be facing "up".