Comparison of memory cards

This table provides summary of comparison of various flash memory cards, as of 2017^[update].

Common information

Unless otherwise indicated, all images are to scale.

Physical details

Note that a memory card's dimensions are determined while holding the card with contact pins upwards. The length of cards is often greater than their width. Most cards show a directional arrow to aid insertion; such an arrow should be upward.

Speed comparison

Technical details

Consumer details

Compatibility

The following chart gives details on availability of adapters to put a given card (horizontal) in a given slot or device (vertical). This table does not take into account protocol issues in communicating with the device.

Following labels are used:

+ (native) – A slot is native for such card.
D (Directly compatible) – A card may be used in such a slot directly, without any adapters. Best possible compatibility.
M (requires a Mechanical adapter) – Such adapter is only a physical enclosure to fit one card sized into another; all electrical pins are exactly the same.
EM (requires an Electro-Mechanical adapter) – Such adapter features both physical enclosure and pins re-routing as terminals are sufficiently different. No powered elements in such adapter exists, thus they're very cheap and easy to manufacture and may be supplied as a bonus for every such card.
E (requires an Electronic adapter enclosure) – These adapters must have components—potentially requiring external power—that transform signals, as well as physical enclosure and pin routing.
X (requires an eXternal adapter) – Technically the same as E, but such adapter usually consists of 2 parts: a pseudo-card with pin routing and physical enclosure size that perfectly match the target slot and a break-out box (a card reader) that holds a real card. Such adapter is the least comfortable to use.
XM (requires an eXternal electro-mechanical adapter) – Technically the same as EM, but such adapter usually consists of 2 parts: a pseudo-card with pin routing and physical enclosure size that perfectly match the target slot and a break-out box (a card reader) that holds a real card. Such adapter is the least comfortable to use.
Empty cell – Card cannot be used in such slot, no single adapter is known to exist. Sometimes a chain of adapters can help (for example, miniSD→CF as miniSD→SD→CF).

References

^ Pictures are given in relative scales; they're sized to be WYSIWYG when viewing using 81 PPI monitor.
^ a b c d CompactFlash Association announces CF 5.0 standard supporting up to 128 PiB of storage Archived 2010-11-22 at the Wayback Machine
^ a b c d e f g h i "Capacity (SD/SDHC/SDXC/SDUC) | SD Association". www.sdcard.org. 2020-12-11. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
^ a b "Why Do microSD Cards Have a Maximum 32GB capacity? - Pocketnow". 31 July 2010.
^ "Kioxia 2 TB micro sd".
^ a b "PS Vita Memory Card Instruction Manual". Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
^ a b c FUJIFILM Global | xD-Picture Card and Adapters Archived 2008-01-28 at the Wayback Machine
^ Plexus Outbursts specifications Archived 2006-06-27 at the Wayback Machine
^ Apacer's MMC specifications Archived 2006-06-24 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Lexar nCARD NM Card - Lexar". Archived from the original on 2021-09-01. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
^ Pinto, Yosi. "SD + PCIe/NVMe card New Innovations in SD Cards Lead the Way to Mobile Everything" (PDF). Flash Memory Summit.
^ Voltage table at All Memory Cards, note that some cards support both voltages (and), and some cards are available in distinct versions (or)
^ "Parked at Loopia". www.allmemorycards.com.
^ a b c d CompactFlash Specification Rev. 6.0 Archived 2010-11-21 at the Wayback Machine
^ ACP-EP Specifications Archived 2006-06-22 at the Wayback Machine
^ a b ACP-EP RS-MMC card features list Archived 2006-06-19 at the Wayback Machine
^ a b ACP-EP MMCmobile card features list Archived 2006-06-19 at the Wayback Machine
^ Transcend MMCplus 4 GiB
^ a b MMC transferred at up to 52 MiB/s Archived 2007-02-08 at the Wayback Machine
^ Transcend MMCmicro card (TS128MMCM) datasheet
^ Maximum transfer speed is not defined by SD standards. Bus speeds are quoted.
^ "Bus Speed - SD Association". Archived from the original on 2014-02-09. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
^ "Toshiba : Press Releases 22 August, 2007". www.toshiba.co.jp.
^ New 4 GiB miniSDHC card Archived 2007-12-15 at the Wayback Machine
^ PNY Technologies. "PNY 512GB Elite Performance Class 10 U3 SDXC Flash Memory Card : Electronics". Amazon. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
^ "Capacity (SD/SDHC/SDXC) - SD Association". www.sdcard.org. 11 December 2020.
^ "Amazon.com: SanDisk 1TB Extreme MicroSDXC UHS-I Memory Card with Adapter - A2, U3, V30, 4K UHD, Micro SD - SDSQXA1-1T00-GN6MA". www.amazon.com.
^ Burns, Matt. "Sony bumps the Memory Stick PRO Duo capacity up to 32GB". Archived from the original on 2009-10-25. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
^ http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666322869&tab=featuresTab ^{[dead link]}
^ a b Sony Introduces Faster MS Pro HG Duo Card Archived 2013-01-21 at archive.today
^ a b "Sony Global - News Release - SANDISK AND SONY DEVELOP "MEMORY STICK PRO-HG" FORMAT". www.sony.net.
^ SanDisk®. "SANDISK MOBILE ULTRA MICROSDHC AND MEMORY STICK MICRO (M2) PREMIUM MOBILE MEMORY CARDS INCREASE CAPACITY TO 16 GIGABYTES". www.sandisk.com.
^ "Press". Kingston Technology Company.
^ "Write protection switch at All Memory Cards". Archived from the original on 2016-04-20.
^ Some early SD cards may not have a write protection switch.
^ The write protect switch signals to the host, which is responsible for write protection. The write protect switch is not connected to the internal circuitry of the card. (SD Card Simplified Physical Layer Specification Archived 2010-07-07 at the Wayback Machine)
^ "Fujifilm accessories xD-Picture Card". Archived from the original on July 11, 2007.
^ a b "DataFab Systems Inc.-The Leader of Innovative Technology in Portable Storage Systems". www.datafab.com.
^ a b c d e f g DataFab EXP 12 in 2 Archived 2007-11-13 at the Wayback Machine
^ a b DataFab exp 12 in 1 Archived 2007-12-14 at the Wayback Machine
^ DataFab exp M2+microSD Archived 2007-12-14 at the Wayback Machine
^ a b c d "Loading..." www.transcendusa.com.
^ a b "Loading..." www.transcendusa.com.
^ a b c d e f g h "Loading..." www.transcendusa.com.
^ a b c d "Minolta SD-CF1 SD-to-CompactFlash adapter". Archived from the original on 2006-06-16. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
^ a b c d "Transcend MemoryStick-to-CompactFlash adapter". Archived from the original on 2007-02-24. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
^ "Shortage everywhere! Sony MSAC-MCF1N Memory Stick Duo Adaptor for CompactFlash Slot". www.camerahacker.com.
^ a b c d e f Olympus MACF-10 xD-to-CompactFlash adapter Archived 2006-12-10 at the Wayback Machine
^ a b c "Hama xD-to-SM adapter". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
^ In March 2008, Olympus started shipping the MASD-1 microSD-to-xD adapter along with its latest compact digital cameras, with a shape designed to fit only in those latest cameras Archived 2011-06-25 at the Wayback Machine. The physical adapter is in fact purely electromechanical, although the xD and SD protocols are completely incompatible. This demonstrates that the cameras themselves must understand the SD protocol, and thus the adapter is more properly termed an electronic adapter, with the electronic logic contained in the camera rather than the physical accessory.
^ SD cards are usually thicker than MMC ones, and although it uses perfectly compatible pins, not every MMC slot may allow thick SD card to be inserted
^ a b c "PSP Expand Memory Converter" – via Amazon.
^ KingMax microSD to MS PRO Duo Adapter^{[permanent dead link]}
^ a b c SDHC devices are backward-compatible with normal SD cards. ("About Compatibility with Host Devices - SD Association". Archived from the original on 2011-11-21. Retrieved 2012-01-03.)
^ a b c d SDXC devices are backward-compatible with SD and SDHC cards. ("About Compatibility with Host Devices - SD Association". Archived from the original on 2011-11-21. Retrieved 2012-01-03.)
^ a b "PC Engines flash storage solutions". www.pcengines.ch.
^ Star Empery PT110 SD Card To ATA IDE 3.5 inch Hard Drive Adapter
^ "The do-it-yourself SSD adapter". 19 February 2007.
^ a b "Tom's Hardware Articles - Find and Filter Our Latest Articles". Tom's Hardware.
^ a b c d e f g h i There are many USB-connected "n-in-1" memory card readers, for example Belkin's "Hi-Speed USB 2.0 15-in-1 Media Reader & Writer".
^ a b MS Duo and M2 adapters have appeared in the last 12 months which look like USB memory sticks
^ "SanDisk @ CES - SD card with built-in USB adapter". 6 January 2005.
^ A-Data microSD to USB Adapter Archived 2007-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
^ DCRP Special Report: FlashPath Adapter Archived 2007-10-26 at the Wayback Machine by Tom Beardmore
^ R4 microSD to NDS Slot-1 Adapter Archived 2007-10-31 at the Wayback Machine
^ a b c Supercard to NDS Slot-2 Adapter Archived 2008-03-25 at the Wayback Machine

External links

GumstixDocsWiki Frequently Asked Questions: Are SD cards interchangeable with MMC cards?
Types of Memory Cards
USB mass storage device class: Mass Storage device class specification 1.4 Date: Feb 19, 2010 — on the site of the USB Implementers Forum.