Like its name a Compact flash is one standard of FLASH in compact form. Compact flash is a thin card that can be used with as a storage device for embedded or highly integrated systems. Compact Flash cards are mostly used in portable devices. The compact flash cards are available in the market ranging from 8 MB to 12 GB capacities.
Compact flash card is available in three types or versions.
- Type I compact Flash Card (CF I)
- Type II compact flash card (CF II or CF 2.0)
- Type III compact flash card (CF III or CF 3.0)
Type I Compact Flash
Type I compact Flash card was the first standard and based on NOR-Flash technology. It was the most successful standard of its time and best possible alternative for Type I PC memory Cards. Its compactness was the ideal to work with Cameras. It flourished in Camera market.
Type I compact flash came in the time when hard disk capacity was only 4 GB. As the hard disk capacity and other storage technologies developed, compact flash also moved towards enhanced phase. The result was Type II Compact Flash Card.
Type II Compact FLASH Cards
Type II CF cards also known as CF+ or CF 2.0. They are faster in speed and larger in capacity. In accordance with CFA – compact Flash Association CF+ supports 16 MBs per seconds data transfer and up to 137 Gigabytes of capacity. Micro drive is one major application of CF 2.0.
Microdrive
Generally speaking Microdrive is a hard disk. It is miniature one-inch design that can be fit in the Type II Compact FLASH slot. Data storage and manipulation n microdrives is better than flash memory. They can consume more power than flash memory.
Type III Compact FLASH Cards
Type III compact Flash card is the latest version and known as CF 3.0. It is the fastest up to 66 MBs per second data transfer rates.
Compact FLASH Interface
The physical interface of a compact flash card is similar to PCMCIA-ATA interface. Meaning that it works as hard disk for other devices in the systems. For this purpose compact flash card contains a small IDE integrated controller. The card is in about 38 mm deep case with the 43 mm wide connector. Type II CF cards (5mm) are thicker than Type I CF cards (3mm). Type I fits in Type II's slot but Type II is too thicker to be fit in Type I slot.
