Compact Flash Store

Compact flash or CF memory cards are small rugged memory cards used in a variety of devices such as digital cameras, GPS devices and now with the micro cf cards even cellphones.

They are much more durable and therefore are well suited for mobile type devices.  They use flash memory with requires no battery.  Therefore  CF cards are a good for a storage in mobiles.

Another reason for the long life of the CF form is that they only need 5% of the power of small drive disks yet have a good  transfer rate for data. the capacity of the cards has grown and are now up to 16GB.

There used to be 2 types , Type l and Type ll.  Type ll was thicker but it is no longer made.  This is an improvement in design and adds to the CF versatility.

You may have upgraded the memory in your digital camera with a new CF card.  They are easily found at drug stores, camera shops even Walmart now a days.  CF cards were developed by SanDisk in 1994.

No doubt they helped to minitarize and make moble many devices.  Now another newer memory type is the flash stick which is great for quick downloads of files from a pc.

Back to the CF card.  It is electrically the same as a PC card and has been incorporated into some  well known technologies such as Blue tooth, WiFi, Ethernet and magnetic strip readers.

So the next time you see an electronic tag on a piece of clothing realize that it may contain a compact flash in that strip reader.

CF card memory are a part of our lives in many ways.

Here's formatting a cf card for a mpc 500