Are you in the dark about which type of memory card or memory stick fits your camera, cell phone, or MP3 player? Abt's buying guide for memory cards should make your search easier. It's important to know which memory storage is compatible with your device. If you're not sure, you can search for your product on our website. Also, the manufacturer has listed the memory storage type in the owner's manual for your product. For additional information on memory storage and devices, contact our knowledgeable Abt sales staff at 888-228-5800.
Compact Flash Type I is the most popular memory storage device on the market. Compact Flash Cards, or CF cards, are about the size of a matchbook and are most often used with Canon, Nikon, Hewlett-Packard, Minolta, and pre-2002 Kodak digital cameras, as well as some PDAs. Type I cards are also compatible with Compact Flash Type II slots, and will often fit in a standard laptop PC slot with the use of an inexpensive adapter.
36.3mm x 42.9mm x 3.3mm
Digital cameras, PDA’s, MP3 players
Comes in very large capacities; fast; widely supported; competitively
priced
Less durable than SD/MMC, Memory Stick, or xD-Picture Card; larger than many of the new formats
Compact Flash cards can be used in a PCMCIA slot if you have an adaptor. Also, some devices have slots for both Compact Flash and Smart Media. Otherwise, you need to have a device with a Compact Flash Type I slot in order to use a Compact Flash card.
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The compact flash Type II memory card is a thicker version of the Type I, allowing for more memory storage. The most popular Type II card is the Microdrive Card, a miniaturized hard drive developed by IBM. Microdrives are available in capacities of up to 1 GB. Note: A product with a Type II slot is not necessarily Microdrive compatible; check your owner's manual or the product manufacturer's website for certainty.
36.3mm x 42.9mm x 3.3mm
Digital cameras, PDA’s, MP3 players
Comes in very large capacities; fast; widely supported
Less durable than SD/MMC, Memory Stick, or xD-Picture Card; larger than many of the new formats
Compact Flash cards can be used in a PCMCIA slot if you have an adaptor. Also, some devices have slots for both Compact Flash and Smart Media. Otherwise, you need to have a device with a Compact Flash Type I slot in order to use a Compact Flash card.
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Multimedia Cards (MMC) are generally the size of a postage stamp. A Secure
Digital (SD) memory card is basically a second-generation MMC card. SD
cards are slightly thicker than MMC cards and include additional digital-rights
management circuits designed to deter unauthorized copying of files. Cameras
and camcorders that take SD cards are usually also designed to accept
MMC cards. SD and MMC cards are often used with Palm handhelds, Panasonic
camcorders with digital still mode, Toshiba, and some MP3 players.
Secure Digital cards have been on the market for
around 10 years. Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) cards are a more
advanced version of SD cards and are designed to provide more memory as
well as faster data transfer rates. SD and SDHC cards are a removable
storage solution for compatible digital devices including digital cameras,
camcorders, MP3 players, and more.
Secure Digital card capacities range from 8MB to
4GB. Secure Digital High Capacity memory cards are flash memory cards
with a minimum capacity of 2GB.
The increasing demand for high-capacity flash memory
springs partially from the use of high-definition video and high-resolution
digital photography. SDHC cards meet the challenge of these demanding
products not only by providing greater storage but also faster data transfer
speed.
24mm x 32mm x 2.1mm
PDA’s, MP3 players, cell phones, digital video cameras
Very popular across consumer electronics devices; small; fast; wide range of capacities; small size permits compact devices
Not compatible with old MMC slots
Devices that use Secure Digital cards will also accept Multimedia
Cards. Devices that use Multimedia Cards may also accept Secure Digital
cards. Most devices made after the middle of 2006 support SDHC, but the
majority of the external card readers do not. Consult your user manual
or manufacturer's website before purchasing an SDHC card for your device.
Many manufacturers provide downloadable firmware updates for devices and
are adding SDHC support.
SD cards have different speed grades available, which are measured
with the same system as CD-ROMs, in multiples of 150 kB/s (1x = 150 kB/s).
Standard cards transfer data up to six times (6x) the data rate of the
standard CD-ROM speed (900 kB/s vs. 150 kB/s).
SDHC cards falls into three Classes according to Data Transfer
Speed (DTS) as follows:
Class 2: minimum sustained DTS of 2MB/sec (13x Speed)
Class 4: minimum sustained DTS of 4MB/sec (26x Speed)
Class 6: minimum sustained DTS of 6MB/sec (40x Speed)
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Memory stick storage is among the newest forms of memory storage. This format is almost exclusive to Sony products, which include digital cameras, camcorders, handhelds, portable music players, and notebook computers. Some devices require a special version of the Memory Stick with digital-rights management features. This variety of card is known as one of the following: Magic Gate Memory Stick, MagicGate Memory Stick Duo Media, or Memory Stick PRO Duo Media.
36.4mm x 42.8mm x 3.3mm
Digital Cameras, digital music players, digital voice recorders, Sony MP3 audio recorders, video cameras, and computers with a Memory Stick slot.
Holds large capacities
Not supported by camera manufacturers other than Sony
The Micro Vault USB Storage M
edia allows users to share and transport data via their
computer's USB port.
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Smart Media cards are often called SSFDC cards, which stands for Solid-State Flash Digital Cards. Smart Media cards are as thin as a credit card, about the size of a matchbook, and can be easily identified by the gold-plated contacts on the face of the card. Smart Media cards are used in most Olympus digital cameras, Sharp camcorders with digital still mode, and some MP3 players.
37mm x 45mm x .76mm
Digital cameras, PDA’s, MP3 players
Allows for storage space.
Old, dying format being replaced by xD-Picture Cards; slow; limited
capacities
Some devices have slots for both Smart Media and Compact Flash. Otherwise, you need to have a Smart Media slot in order to use a Smart Media card.
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The most common use for the xD Picture Card is in digital still cameras. Expansion into other video components is underway. xD cards are mostly exclusive to the Olympus brand. The Olympus xD card is the only card that supports the Panorama function found on most Olympus digital cameras. The xD-Picture Card boasts the smallest form factor of any digital memory card, making it exceptionally portable. xD cards can be used in a Compact Flash slot if you have an adaptor. Also, some devices have slots for both xD and Smart Media. Otherwise, you need to have a device with an xD slot in order to use an xD-Picture Card.
24.6mm x 24.9mm x 1.7mm
Digital Still Cameras.
Small format means smaller devices
New format; not used by many digital camera makers.
xD cards can be used in a Compact Flash slot if you have an adaptor. Also, some devices have slots for both xD and Smart Media. Otherwise, you need to have a device with an xD slot in order to use an xD Picture card.
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Micro SD memory is very similar to SD and MMC. The only real difference is in the physical size of the card. A 1GB Micro SD card stores just as much information as an SD card would, but at a fraction of the size. Micro SD cards come with adaptor cards that they slip into, allowing them to be used in regular SD memory card slots. They are used primarily in camera cell phones.
½ in x 3/5 in in x ¼ in
Cell phones
Allows for storage space.
Very small, can be easy to misplace if swapped out of your cell phone regularly
Adaptor card allows it to be used in items that require standard-size SD memory cards
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Smallest form of USB storage drive available. Allows for quick storage of information via a simple USB connection.
1.2in x 5 in x 6.1 in
Backing up information on your computer and for quick transfer of information between computers when you no longer have the ability to copy to 3.5" computer disks or don't want to waste a whole CD to copy a small bit of info.
Small, quick transferable storage device.
Relatively small; to back up large files of pictures, you may want to create a picture CD
Any computer with a USB connection.
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Larger version of the Microvault. Various storage capacities are available.
2 ½ in x .83 in x 2/5 in
Backing up information on your computer and for quick transfer of information
between computers.
Small storage device; slightly larger than the Microvault
Relatively small; limited storage size.
Any computer with a USB connection.
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