kingston.com.flash Flash Memory Guide Portable Flash memory for computers, digital cameras, cell phones and other devices Kingston®, the world’s leading independent manufacturer of memory products, offers a broad range of Flash cards and USB Flash drives (collectively called Flash storage devices) that employ Flash memory chips for storage. The purpose of this guide is to explain the various technologies and Flash memory offerings that are available.
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.
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. Kingston’s CompactFlash cards have a rated error specification of less than one (1) bit in 1,000,000,000,000,000 bits read, or one (1) bit per 1015 bits read. 4. Creating a File Allocation Table (FAT) or other directory.
kingston.com/flash For example, Kingston’s CompactFlash® cards have a rated error specification of less than one (1) bit in 1,000,000,000,000,000 bits read (1 bit per 1015 bits read). • Kingston Flash Data Retention: Kingston Flash storage devices are rated for up to 10 years under normal use. Important information should also be backed up on other media for long-term safekeeping.
kingston.com/flash • 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. Please note: Some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions and thus is not available for data storage. Please see Section 2 for details.
kingston.com/flash There are two major technologies of Flash memory: NOR and NAND. Each technology has strengths that make it ideal for different kinds of applications, as summarized in the table below: NOR Flash NAND Flash High-speed Access Yes Yes Page-Mode Data Access No Yes Random Byte Level Access Yes No Cell Phones* BIOS Storage for PCs Networking Device Memory PDAs Digital Cameras Cell Phones** MP3 players Solid State Disk Drives Set-Top Boxes Industrial Storage Typical Uses 4.
kingston.com/flash 5.0 Die-Stacking and Multi-Level Cell/Multi-Bit Cell Flash technologies In order to economically increase the amount of bit-storage that a Flash memory chip can accommodate, manufacturers often utilize die-stacking and multi-level cell or multi-bit cell technologies. These technologies result in a Flash memory chip having the capability to store more data in a single chip. 5.1 DIE-STACKING CompactFlash cards were the first small form factor Flash memory cards.
kingston.com/flash 6.0 Flash Storage Device Performance Flash card storage device performance depends on the following three factors: USB Flash drives offers an easy way to transfer files from a digital device to a computer. • The specific Flash memory chips used: Generally, there is a tradeoff between the high-speed and more expensive Single-Level Cell (SLC) Flash chips, and the standard speed and more affordable Multi-Level Cell (MLC) or Multi-Bit Cell (MBC) Flash chips.
kingston.com/flash 7.0 Kingston’s Flash Card Product Lines There are several types of Flash storage devices that are available from Kingston: - USB Flash Drives (DataTravelers) - Secure Digital Cards (SD, SDHC, miniSDHC, microSD, microSDHC) - CompactFlash® Cards 7.1 USB Flash drives Introduced in 2002, USB Flash drives offer an incredible combination of high storage capacity, fast data transfer rates, and great flexibility, all in the palm of your hand.
kingston.com/flash 7.3 Secure Digital cards (SD, SDHC, miniSDHC, microSD, microSDHC) Secure Digital, introduced in late 2001, is a second-generation derivative of the MultiMediaCard (MMC) standard (see section 7.4). Kingston offers a wide range of Secure Digital Cards The Secure Digital format includes several important technological advancements over MMC. These include the addition of cryptographic security protection for copyrighted data/music.
kingston.com/flash 7.4 MultiMediaCard (MMCmobile) Specifically designed for high-speed image transfer, Kingston Flash media readers are an ideal solution for quickly viewing your digital images on your computer. MultiMediaCards, like SD cards, are one of the smallest Flash cards available, about the size as a postage stamp. They were introduced in 1997 and initially used in the mobile phone and pager markets. Today, they are commonly used in digital cameras, MP3 players and other digital devices.
kingston.com/flash For Flash media, Kingston recommends the flexible and convenient Media Reader, a single reader that supports nineteen Flash card formats and can be connected to any computer with a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port. Kingston also offers convenient portable readers, MobileLite 9-in-1, DataTraveler Drive + Reader and microSD Readers for high-performance data transfers to systems supporting Hi-Speed USB 2.0. 9.0 Electromagnetic Compatibility information to the user 9.
kingston.com/flash 10.0 For More Information: For additional information on Kingston products, please visit: kingston.com/flash. Appendix: USB Performance The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is emerging as the preferred interface to connect Flash card readers to computers. The latest USB specification is USB 2.0. The older specification was USB 1.1. The USB 2.0 specification includes the USB 1.1 speeds for backward-compatibility reasons.
kingston.com/flash Flash Memory Chip Technology Single-Level Cell (SLC) vs. Multi-Level Cell (MLC) and Multi-Bit Cell (MBC) In general, Flash storage devices built with Single-Level Cell (SLC) NAND Flash, such as Kingston’s Elite Pro/Ultimate Flash cards or the DataTraveler II, II Plus – Migo Edition or Secure / Secure – Privacy Edition USB Flash drives, will deliver higher performancean the standard Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND Flash or Multi-Bit Cell (MBC) NAND Flash based cards or DataTraveler.
