CompactFlash Memory Card Product Manual
SanDisk CompactFlash Memory Card Product Manual © 1998 SANDISK CORPORATION 7
1.0 Introduction to the CompactFlash Memory Card
The SanDisk CompactFlash™ Memory Card
(CF™) products provide high capacity solid state
flash memory that electrically complies with the
Personal Computer Memory Card International
Association ATA (PC Card ATA) standard. (In
Japan, the applicable standards group is JEIDA.)
The CompactFlash Memory Card Series also
supports a True IDE Mode that is electrically
compatible with an IDE disk drive.
CompactFlash Memory Cards provide up to 48
million bytes (Megabytes, MBytes or MB) of
formatted storage capacity and with the PCMCIA
Adapter SDCF-03 can be used in any system that
has a PCMCIA Type II or Type III socket.
The CompactFlash Memory Card Series uses
SanDisk Flash memory chips which were
designed by SanDisk specifically for use in mass
storage applications. In addition to the mass
storage specific Flash memory chips, the
CompactFlash Memory Cards include an on-card
intelligent controller that provides a high level
interface to the host computer. This interface
allows a host computer to issue commands to the
memory card to read or write blocks of memory. A
block of memory consists of 512 bytes of data and is
protected by a powerful Error Correcting Code
(ECC).
The CompactFlash Memory Card on-card
intelligent controller manages interface protocols,
data storage and retrieval as well as ECC, defect
handling and diagnostics, power management and
clock control. Once the CompactFlash Memory
Card has been configured by the host, it appears
to the host as a standard ATA (IDE) disk drive.
Additional ATA commands have been provided to
enhance system performance.
CompactFlash Memory Cards are offered in a
variety of capacities up to 48 MB. The host system
can support as many cards as there are
CompactFlash and Type II or III PCMCIA card
slots. CompactFlash Memory Cards require the
PCMCIA Adapter SDCF-03 to be used in a
PCMCIA Type II or Type III socket.
SanDisk also offers an industrial version of the
CompactFlash Memory Card Series, which has a
broader operating and non-operating temperature
range than the standard product. Please see
Section 2 for detailed specifications.
Figure 1-1 CompactFlash Memory Card Block Diagram
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