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kingston.com/flash
Digital Media Guide
Portable digital media for computers, digital cameras, and other devices
®
Kingston, the world’s leading independent manufacturer of memory products, sells a
broad range of flash cards and USB flash drives (collectively called flash storage
devices) that employ flash memory chips for storage as well as ultra-portable PC Card
hard drives. This Digital Media Technical Guide’s purpose is to explain the various
technologies and digital media offerings that are
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kingston.com/flash 1.0 Flash Memory: Empowering A New Generation of Flash Storage Devices Toshiba invented flash memory in the 1980s as a new memory technology that allowed stored data to be saved even when the memory device was disconnected from its power source. Since then, flash memory technology has evolved into the preferred storage media for a variety of consumer and industrial devices. IN CONSUMER DEVICES, FLASH MEMORY IS WIDELY USED IN: • Notebook computers • Digital cameras • Personal D
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kingston.com/flash 3.Reserving some cells to serve as “spares.” Flash memory cells have a long but finite lifetime. Therefore, some cells are held in reserve to replace any memory cells that may fail over time. 4.Creating a File Allocation Table (FAT) or other directory. To enable flash storage devices to conveniently store and access customer files, a file management system must be created to allow any device or computer to identify the files stored in the flash storage device. The most commo
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kingston.com/flash • Small Physical Size (or Form Factor): Flash storage devices are designed to be easily transported. Convenience is an important criterion, especially for consumer and corporate applications. • High Data Reliability: Flash memory is very reliable and many of the flash storage device types also include Error Correction Code (ECC) checking to detect single- ® bit errors. For example, Kingston’s CompactFlash cards have a rated error specification of less than one (1) bit in 1,000
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kingston.com/flash • High-Quality Connectors: Kingston’s flash storage devices have connectors rated for more than 10,000 insertions. • Operating Temperature and Humidity: 0° C ~ 60° C, 5% ~ 95% humidity • High-Capacity: Flash storage devices can provide large storage capacities in a very small form factor. This flexibility makes them ideal for consumer uses, such as digital film or storage for MP3 music, where portability and convenience are important. ™ The DataPak is the Please note: Some of
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kingston.com/flash (and pictures) remains saved on the flash storage device. The ability to retain data is key for flash memory applications such as digital film for digital cameras, cell phones, PDAs and other transportable devices. There are two major technologies of flash memory: NOR and NAND. Each technology has its strengths that make it ideal for different kinds of applications, as Kingston Flash cards summarized in the table below: were rated the best in read and write performance by NOR
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kingston.com/flash For example, most digital cameras use NAND-Flash based digital film, as pictures are usually taken and stored sequentially. NAND-Flash is also more efficient when pictures are read back, as it transfers whole pages of data very quickly. As a sequential storage medium, NAND Flash is ideal for data storage. NAND Flash memory is less expensive than NOR Flash memory, and can accommodate more storage capacity in the same die size. CompactFlash cards were the first small Flash memo
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kingston.com/flash Intel Corporation has introduced NOR StrataFlash™; AMD has introduced NOR MirrorBit™ Flash. Other semiconductor manufacturers also manufacture their own multi-level cell technologies. NAND MLC Flash technologies were introduced in late 2002, and Kingston has incorporated MLC Flash memory into its line of standard Flash cards. USB flash memory 5.3 MULTI-BIT CELL (MBC) FLASH TECHNOLOGY offers an easy way to transfer files from Multi-bit technology is a competing technology to
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kingston.com/flash For details on USB Performance, refer to Appendix A. Some flash memory product manufacturers provide “speed” ratings. However, due to a lack of industry standards, comparing different flash products may prove difficult for consumers. Kingston continuously works closely with global semiconductor and controller manufacturers to ensure that Kingston flash cards deliver superior price/performance to its customers. For enthusiasts and advanced customers demanding the highest Kings
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kingston.com/flash DATATRAVELER 2.0: INTERFACE FLASH TYPE VOLTAGE PIN COUNT SIZE IN MM Hi-Speed USB 2.0 NAND 5 Volts 4 25.42 x 98.17 x 15.40 7.2 COMPACTFLASH (CF) CARDS CompactFlash, or CF cards, were the first small form factor flash cards introduced in Secure Digital cards 1994. CF cards incorporate a controller and are about the size of a matchbook. feature cryptographic CompactFlash cards incorporate an Integrated Device Electronics (IDE) interface security protection and similar to hard dri
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kingston.com/flash Kingston offers standard SD cards as well as high-performance Elite Pro SD cards. INTERFACE FLASH TYPE VOLTAGE PIN COUNT SIZE IN MM Secure Digital NAND 2.7–3.3 Volts 9 32 x 24 x 2.1 (Built-in controller) MultiMediaCards are 7.4 MULTIMEDIACARD (MMC) commonly used in MP3 players and other MultiMediaCards are one of the smallest flash cards available, about the size of a devices that require a postage stamp. They were introduced in 1997 and initially used in the mobile phone sma
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kingston.com/flash Digital media reader-writers can enable the uploading and downloading of data at higher speeds than a host device is capable of supporting; for example, a USB reader- writer will be much faster than a host device (such as a digital camera) using a serial interface. If a host device does not support high-speed transfers, the faster reader- writers will significantly reduce the data transfer times. Specifically designed for high-speed image Kingston markets a number of digital
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kingston.com/flash • High Capacity: Up to 5 GB (5,000,000,000 bytes) of uncompressed storage capacity in a compact form-factor. Note that some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions and thus is not available for data storage. • Operating Systems Compatibility: Compatible with PC and Macintosh operating systems. The DataPak also supports disk compression. • Plug and Play Support: Kingston’s DataPak supports plug and play. With plug and play technology and compatible com
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kingston.com/flash Flash Memory Chip In general, flash storage devices built with Single-Level Cell (SLC) NAND Flash, such as Kingston’s Elite Pro Flash cards or Technology the Hi-Speed USB DataTraveler 2.0, will deliver higher performance than the standard Multi-Level Cell (MLC) Single-Level Cell (SLC) vs. Multi- NAND Flash or Multi-Bit Cell (MBC) NAND Flash based Level Cell (MLC) and Multi-Bit cards or DataTraveler. Cell (MBC) Standard flash cards or the DataTraveler USB flash drives deliver t
