Since the debut of electronics and electronic data storage, such technologies have continued to improve and become more portable. With data storage devices such as memory cards, a number of portable electronic devices can store information easily. As a type of flash memory device, memory cards have consistently been improved and grown smaller as their applications diversify. Due to their widespread use and importance for common electronics such as mobile phones and computers, understanding their functionality and uses can be very useful.
As stated before, memory cards are a type of flash memory, meaning that they can be electrically erased and reprogrammed as needed. Memory cards are a type of NAND flash memory device due to the fact that they use NAND logic gates for their processes. Flash memory was first invented by Fujio Masuoka at Toshiba in 1980, and it quickly led to the creation of PC cards which served as the first commercially available memory cards. Later in 1994, a number of smaller memory cards began to enter the market, including Compact Flash, Smart Media, and Miniature Card devices. As compact digital cameras increased in popularity during that time and electronics began to grow smaller, an increased market demand for memory cards spearheaded further development.
During the initial years of memory card technology, the price per data ratio was quite high. In 2001, the average price for a memory card was $3 per megabyte of capacity. Since then, however, memory card capabilities and prices have radically changed. Nowadays, some memory cards can be picked up for prices as low as 10 cents per gigabyte, a testament to how far the technology has come since its infancy.
As another leading form of portable flash memory devices, USB flash drives are often compared to memory cards for their capabilities and use. Despite their similarities in being very portable and sometimes serving the same systems, both data storage device types are quite different in their operations and role. For one, USB flash drives are capable of connecting to any system that features a USB port, as is often seen on computers and gaming systems. With memory cards, physical sizes and shapes may vary much more, as different readers may be present depending on the system. For their memory capabilities, memory cards often have a much higher storage capacity and a lower price per gigabyte, allowing them to be suitable for large amounts of files such as photos. As such, memory cards often serve as a device for long term storage, while USB flash drives are highly recommended for those who need to constantly shift around data between devices.
Depending on the reader that is present on a given system, memory cards often come in the form of SD, miniSD, microSD, SDHC, miniSDHC, microSDHC, SDXC, and micro SDXC versions. Due to the wide variety of memory storage options, it is crucial that one refers to their particular device to see what is compatible. As many electronic devices are unable to function without a memory card as well, having one can be very beneficial.
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