Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

M-Flash, Yet Another Flash Memory Format

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the it-remembers-so-you-don't-have-to dept.

Verteiron writes "Despite all the (mostly incompatible) flash memory/card formats out there already, a consortium made up of several Taiwan-based manufacturers are preparing to unveil a new one at the upcoming CeBIT. The memory itself, called M-Flash, will form the backbone of the new M-Card format. According to C-One, a member of the M-Card group and the maker of Pretec brand flash devices, the M-Flash memory architecture is cheap to manufacture and allows for devices 2/3 the size of existing MMC products. The M-Card format uses the USB 2.0 I/O specification, but C-One claims it will transfer data at twice the speed of USB 2.0 while using about a third the power required by current devices. To encourage adoption of the new card format, it has been designed to be compatible with the existing SD/MMC format at reduced speeds. C-One also plans to make the currently proprietary format an open standard. Palm Blvd. and the EE Times (free reg. required) have articles with a few more details."

4 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Aaaargh by cyberfunk2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not ANOTHER format.. now i'll need to buy a 7-way-card reader instead of the currenet 6-way beasts of devices companies put out.

    Cant we all play nice ???

  2. Stop complaining! by lemonylimey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    With digicams heading towards 14 megapixels, I can see the need for faster data storage (ever waited for a 60mb RAW file to save to a CF card?), and introducing something that combines backwards compatibilty with SD/MMC cards and native USB2.0 support (No more card readers, just an adaptor cable, or possibly even a set of built-in contacts like the new SD/USB cards.) seems like a suspiciously common-sense approach.

  3. sd card compatibility by sometwo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The palm boulevard article says special drivers maybe needed for existing sd card readers. I guess this won't be working in my digital camera anytime soon.

    Also I think it's pronounced Micro-card.

  4. Re:The incredible shrinking flashcard by Doppler00 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think SD cards are a bit too small also, except maybe in the use of cellphones. What is so wrong with compact flash? If they are going to keep decreasing the size of the memory cards, we won't have any increases in capacity. I for one would rather have a 8GB CF memory card in my camera, than a 512MB fingertip sized memory card.

    And Sony, please stop already trying to produce your proprietary memory cards. No one cares about your cards and you are frustrating consumers.