Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
In 2009 Sony announced the Memory Stick XC (eXtended Capacity) format in order to
compete with SDXC.
Because the Memory Stick formats are proprietary and only used in Sony devices, I re-
commend avoiding them wherever possible. In order to avoid using expensive and hard
to find proprietary memory, make sure any device you purchase accepts industry standard
memory such as SD. Fortunately Sony's newer devices are including support for industry
standard SD memory formats in response to the negative backlash against its proprietary
Memory Stick.
ATA Flash PC Card
Although the PC Card (PCMCIA) form factor has been used for everything from game
adapters to modems, SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) cards, network cards, and
more, its original use was computer memory, as the old PCMCIA (Personal Computer
Memory Card International Association) acronym indicated.
UnlikenormalRAMmodules,PCCardmemoryactslikeadiskdrive,usingthePCMCIA
ATA (AT Attachment) standard. PC Cards come in three thicknesses (Type I is 3.3mm,
Type II is 5mm, and Type III is 10.5mm), but all are 3.3-inch long by 2.13-inch wide.
Type I and Type II cards are used for ATA-compliant flash memory and the newest ATA-
compliant hard disks. Type III cards are used for older ATA-compliant hard disks; a Type
III slot also can be used as two Type II slots.
xD-Picture Card
In July 2002, Olympus and Fujifilm, the major supporters of the SmartMedia flash
memory standard for digital cameras, announced the xD-Picture Card as a much smaller,
moredurablereplacementforSmartMedia.Inadditiontobeingaboutone-thirdthesizeof
SmartMedia—making it the smallest flash memory format yet—xD-Picture Card media
has a faster controller to enable faster image capture.
Both16MBand32MBcards(commonlypackagedwithcameras)recorddataatspeedsof
1.3MBps, whereas 64MB and larger cards record data at 3MBps. The read speed for all
sizesis5MBps.ThemediaismanufacturedforOlympusandFujifilmbyToshiba,andbe-
cause xD-Picture media is optimized for the differences in the cameras (Olympus's media
supports the panorama mode found in some Olympus xD-Picture cameras, for example),
you should buy media that's the same brand as your digital camera.
Just as with the proprietary Sony Memory Stick formats, I also recommend avoiding the
proprietaryxD-Picturecardformatwhereverpossible.InsteadIonlyrecommendpurchas-
ing devices that use industry standard memory card formats such as SD. Because of the
