Comparison of memory cards

This table provides summary of comparison of various flash memory cards, as of 2017.

Common information
unless otherwise indicated, all images to scale
Card family Standards organizations Varieties Entry date Maximum commercially available capacity Picture[1] Main features
CompactFlash SanDisk I 1994 512 GB (CF5 128*250 bytes) Thinner (3.3 mm), flash only, now up to 512 GB, although standard goes up to 128 PB since CF 5.0[2]
II Thicker (5.0 mm), older flash, but usually Microdrives, up to 128 PiB[2]
CFexpress CompactFlash Association 1.0 2017 1TB XQD form factor (38.5 mm × 29.8 mm), PCIe 3.0 x2 (2,0 GB/s), NVMe
- - - - PCIe 3.0 x8 (8,0 GB/s), NVMe
SmartMedia Toshiba 3.3/5 V 1995 128 MB Very slim (45.0×37.0×0.76 mm), no wear leveling controller, up to 128 MB. This particular example shows the write protect sticker (the silver disc).
MultiMediaCard Siemens AG, SanDisk MMC 1997 16 GB Slim and small (24×32×1.4 mm), up to 16 GB
RS-MMC/MMC Mobile 2003/2005 16 GB Compact (24×18×1.4 mm), up to 16 GB
MMCplus 2005 16 GB Compact (24×32×1.4 mm), swifter, optional DRM, up to 16 GB
MMCmicro 2005 4 GB Subcompact (14×12×1.1 mm), optional DRM, 16 MB to 4 GB
Secure Digital SanDisk, Panasonic, Toshiba, Kodak, SD Association SD 1999 4 GB Small (32×24×2.1 mm), DRM, up to 4 GB. (2 GB and 4 GB cards use larger block sizes and may not be compatible with some host devices. See Article)
miniSD 2003 4 GB Compact (21.5×20×1.4 mm), DRM, up to 4 GB. (2 GB and 4 GB cards use larger block sizes and may not be compatible with some host devices. See Article)
microSD 2005 4 GB Subcompact (15×11×1 mm), DRM, up to 4 GB. (2 GB and 4 GB cards use larger block sizes and may not be compatible with some host devices. See Article)
SDHC 2006 32 GB Same build as SD but greater capacity and transfer speed, 4 GB to 32 GB (not compatible with older host devices).
miniSDHC 2008 32 GB Same build as miniSD but greater capacity and transfer speed, 4 GB to 32 GB. 8 GB is largest in early-2011 (not compatible with older host devices).
microSDHC 2007 32 GB Same build as microSD but greater capacity and transfer speed, 4 GB to 32 GB.[3](not compatible with older host devices)
SDXC 2009 1 TB Same build as SD/SDHC, but greater capacity and transfer speed, 32 GB and higher. Standard goes up to 2 TB (not compatible with older host devices).
microSDXC 2009 1 TB Same build as microSD/microSDHC, but greater capacity and transfer speed, 32 GB and higher. Standard goes up to 2 TB (not compatible with older host devices).
SDUC 2018 64 GB Same build as SD/SDHC/SDXC, but greater capacity and transfer speed. Standard goes up to 128 TB (not compatible with older host devices).
microSDUC 2018 ? Same build as microSD/microSDHC/microSDXC, but greater capacity and transfer speed. Standard goes up to 128 TB (not compatible with older host devices)
Memory Stick Sony, SanDisk Standard 1998 128 MB Slim and narrow (50×21.5×2.8 mm), optional DRM, up to 128 MB
PRO 2003 4 GB
(not to scale)		 Slim and narrow (50×21.5×2.8 mm), swifter, optional DRM, up to 4 GB
Duo 2003 128 MB Compact (31×20×1.6 mm), optional DRM, up to 128 MB
PRO Duo 2002-2006 32 GB Compact (31×20×1.6 mm), optional DRM, up to 32 GB
PRO-HG Duo 2007-2008 32 GB Compact (31×20×1.6 mm), swifter, optional DRM, up to 32 GB
Micro (M2) 2006 16 GB Subcompact (15×12.5×1.2 mm), optional DRM, up to 16 GB
Sony PS Vita Memory Card 2012 64 GB Subcompact (15×12.5×1.6 mm[4]), compulsory DRM, up to 64 GB, proprietary (can be used on PS Vita only)
XQD Sandisk, Sony, Nikon, CompactFlash Association Standard 2011-2012 >2 TB High-capacity, high-speed standard using PCIe as interface
xD Olympus, Fujifilm Standard 2002-2007 512 MB Slim and small (20×25×1.78 mm), electrically identical to SmartMedia, no wear-leveling controller, up to 512 MB[5]
Type M 2005 2 GB Slim and small (20×25×1.78 mm) but slower read/write, no wear-leveling controller, up to 2 GB[5]
Type H 2005 2 GB Slim and small (20×25×1.78 mm) and swifter, no wear-leveling controller, up to 2 GB[5]
Universal Flash Storage Card Extensions Samsung UFS Card 2016 >256 GB Packages the flash memory, currently soldered in shipping smartphones, into a removable card form factor. Uses the SCSI command set including queuing. The electrical interface makes use of differential signaling, which enables high bus speeds and robustness under noisy conditions and reduced pin count (compared to parallel bus alternatives such as UHS-I).
USB flash drive Various USB 1.1/2.0/3.0/3.1 2000/2001 1 TB+
(not to scale)		 Universally compatible across most non-mobile computer platforms, their greater size suits them better to file transfer/storage instead of use in portable devices

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.

Card Width (mm) Length (mm) Thickness (mm) Volume (mm³) Mass (g)[6]
CompactFlash, Type I 43.0 36.0 3.3 5,108 3.3
CompactFlash, Type II 43.0 36.0 5.0 7,740
SmartMedia 37.0 45.0 0.76 1,265 2.0
MMC, MMCplus 24.0 32.0 1.4 1,075 1.3[7]
RS-MMC, MMCmobile 24.0 18.0 1.4 605 1.3
MMCmicro 14.0 12.0 1.1 185
SD, SDHC, SDXC, SDIO 24.0 32.0 2.1 1,613 2.0
miniSD, miniSDHC, miniSDIO 20.0 21.5 1.4 602 1.0
microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC 11.0 15.0 1.0 165 0.27
Memory Stick Standard, PRO 21.5 50.0 2.8 3,010 4.0
Memory Stick Duo, PRO Duo, PRO-HG, XC 20.0 31.0 1.6 992 2.0
Memory Stick Micro (M2), XC 12.5 15.0 1.2 225 2.0
PS Vita Memory Card 15 12.5 1.6 300 0.6[4]
XQD card 38.5 29.8 3.8 4,360
xD 25.0 20.0 1.78 890 2.8
USB varies varies varies varies varies

Speed comparison
Standard SD UFS Card CFast XQD CFexpress
Version 3.0 4.0 6.0 7.0[8] 1.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 ?
Launched 2010 Q2 2011 Q1 2017 Q1 ? Q2 2016 ? 2008 Q3 2012 Q3 2011 Q4 2014 Q1 2017 Q2 ?
Bus UHS-I UHS-II UHS-III PCIe UFS 2.0 UFS 3.0 SATA-300 SATA-600 PCIe 2.0 x1 PCIe 2.0 x2 PCIe 3.0 x2 PCIe 3.0 x8
Speed

(full-duplex)

 104 MB/s 156 MB/s 624 MB/s 1970 MB/s (?) 600 MB/s 1200 MB/s 300 MB/s 600 MB/s 500 MB/s 1000 MB/s 1970 MB/s 7880 MB/s

Technical details
Card Varieties Max storage capacity (nom. in GiB) Theoretical max. capacity (nom. in GiB) Max read speed (MB/s) Max write speed (MB/s) Read-write cycles Low-level access Operating voltage (V)[9] Controller chip[10] # of pins
CompactFlash I 512 128 PiB[2]
(134,217,728 GiB)		 167[11] 167[11] NOR/NAND 3.3 and 5 Yes 50
II 12 128 PiB[2]
(134,217,728 GiB)		 167[11] 167[11]
SmartMedia 128 MiB
(0.125 GiB)		 2 1,000,000 NAND 3.3 or 5 No 22
MMC MMC 8 128 2 2 1,000,000[12] 3.3 Yes 7
RS-MMC 2 2[13] 2[13] 3.3 7
MMCmobile 2 15[14] 8[14] 1.8 and 3.3 13
MMCplus 4[15] 52[16] 52[16] 3.3 13
MMCmicro 2 1.8 and 3.3 10[17]
eMMC 2 TiB
(2048 GiB)		 104 104 1.8 and 3.3 Yes Varies
Secure Digital[18] SD (SDSC) 512 4 25[19] 25 3.3 Yes 9
miniSD 8 25 25 11
microSD 4 25 25 8
SDHC 32[20] 32 104 (UHS-I) 104 (UHS-I) 1.8 and 3.3 Yes 9
miniSDHC 4[21] 104 (UHS-I) 104 (UHS-I) 11
microSDHC 32[3] 104 (UHS-I) 104 (UHS-I) 8
SDXC 512[22] 2 TiB
(2048 GiB)		 104 (UHS-I) 104 2.7–3.6[23] Yes 9
microSDXC 1 TiB [24] 104 (UHS-I) 104 (UHS-I) 8
Memory Stick Standard 128 MiB
(0.125 GiB)		 128 MiB
(0.125 GiB)		 2.5 1.8 3.3 Yes 10
PRO 4 2 TiB
(2048 GiB)		 20 20 3.3
PRO Duo 32[25] 20 20 3.3
PRO-HG Duo 32[26] 30 (actual;[27]
theoretical: 60[28])		 30 (actual;[27] theoretical: 60[28]) 3.3
Micro (M2) 16[29] 32 20 20 1.8 and 3.3
xC 2 TiB
(2048 GiB)		 60 60 3.3
xD 512 MiB
(0.5 GiB)		 512 MiB
(0.5 GiB)		 5 3 3.3 No 18
Type M 2 8 4 2.5
Type H 2 8 5 4
Type M+ 2 8 6 3.75
XQD 64 2+ TiB
(2+ GiB)		 168 168 5
USB Full speed (USB 1) 2048[30]
(2 TiB)		 No hardware limit 1 1 5 Yes 4
High speed (USB 2.0) 40 40
Super speed (USB 3.0) 240 160

Consumer details
Card Write protection switch [31] DRM
CompactFlash No No
SmartMedia Partial, sticker Partial (optional)
MMC, RS-MMC No No
MMCMobile Yes, secureMMC
SD Yes [32][33] Yes, CPRM
miniSD No
microSD No
Memory Stick Standard, PRO Yes Optional, MagicGate
Memory Stick Duo, PRO Duo No Optional, MagicGate
Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo No Optional, MagicGate
Memory Stick Micro (M2) No Optional, MagicGate
PS Vita Memory Card No Yes, Proprietary
xD No Partial [34]
USB Sometimes No

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).
Card
Slot
 CF CFast SM MMC Memory Stick SDSC SDHC SDXC xD XQD
I II MMC RS-MMC, MMCmobile Std PRO PRO Duo Micro SDSC miniSD microSD SDHC miniSDHC microSDHC SDXC microSDXC Std M H
ExpressCard E[35] E[35] E[36] E[37] E[37] E[36] E[36] E[36] E[38] E[36] E[36] E[36] EM
PCI Express Mini Card EM
mSATA XM
PC Card EM[39] EM[39] E[40] E[41] E[41] E[41] E[41]
PCMCIA EM[39] EM[39] E[40] E[41] E[41] E[41] E[41]
CF I + + E E[42] E[43] E[43] E[44] E[42] E[45] E[45] E[45]
CF II + E E[42] E[43] E[43] E[42] E[45] E[45] E[45]
CFast +
SM + X[46] X[46] X[46]
xD E[47] + + +
XQD +
MMC + M D[48]
MS X[49] + + M M X[49] X[49] E[50]
SDSC D M + EM EM
miniSD + EM
microSD +
SDHC D[51] EM EM + EM EM
miniSDHC D[51] EM + EM
microSDHC D[51] +
SDXC uscb D[52] EM EM D[52] EM EM + EM
microSDXC D[52] D[52] +
IDE PATA EM[53] EM[53] E[54][55]
Serial ATA E[56] E[56] EM
PCI Express EM
USB X[57] X[57] X[57] X[57] X[57] X[57] E[58] E[58] E[59] E[60] X[57] X[57] X[57] X
Floppy E[61] E E + M E E
Nintendo DS Slot-1 E[62]
Nintendo DS Slot-2 E[63] E[63] E[63]

References
  1. Pictures are given in relative scales; they're sized to be WYSIWYG when viewing using 81 PPI monitor.
  2. CompactFlash Association announces CF 5.0 standard supporting up to 128 PiB of storage Archived 2010-11-22 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Why Do microSD Cards Have a Maximum 32GB capacity? - Pocketnow". 31 July 2010.
  4. "PS Vita Memory Card Instruction Manual". Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  5. FUJIFILM Global | xD-Picture Card and Adapters Archived 2008-01-28 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Plexus Outbursts specifications Archived 2006-06-27 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Apacer's MMC specifications Archived 2006-06-24 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Pinto, Yosi. "SD + PCIe/NVMe card New Innovations in SD Cards Lead the Way to Mobile Everything" (PDF). Flash Memory Summit.
  9. Voltage table at All Memory Cards, note that some cards support both voltages (and), and some cards are available in distinct versions (or)
  10. "Parked at Loopia". www.allmemorycards.com.
  11. CompactFlash Specification Rev. 6.0 Archived 2010-11-21 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ACP-EP Specifications Archived 2006-06-22 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ACP-EP RS-MMC card features list Archived 2006-06-19 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ACP-EP MMCmobile card features list Archived 2006-06-19 at the Wayback Machine
  15. Transcend MMCplus 4 GiB
  16. MMC transferred at up to 52 MiB/s Archived 2007-02-08 at the Wayback Machine
  17. Transcend MMCmicro card (TS128MMCM) datasheet
  18. Maximum transfer speed is not defined by SD standards. Bus speeds are quoted.
  19. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-02-09. Retrieved 2014-02-09.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. "Toshiba : Press Releases 22 August, 2007". www.toshiba.co.jp.
  21. New 4 GiB miniSDHC card Archived 2007-12-15 at the Wayback Machine
  22. https://www.amazon.com/PNY-Elite-Performance-512GB-P-SDX512U3H-GE/dp/B00XJRX01M/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
  23. "Capacity (SD/SDHC/SDXC) - SD Association". www.sdcard.org.
  24. "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.
  25. Burns, Matt. "Sony bumps the Memory Stick PRO Duo capacity up to 32GB".
  26. http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666322869&tab=featuresTab
  27. Sony Introduces Faster MS Pro HG Duo Card Archived 2013-01-21 at Archive.today
  28. "Sony Global - News Release - SANDISK AND SONY DEVELOP "MEMORY STICK PRO-HG" FORMAT". www.sony.net.
  29. SanDisk®. "SANDISK MOBILE ULTRA MICROSDHC AND MEMORY STICK MICRO (M2) PREMIUM MOBILE MEMORY CARDS INCREASE CAPACITY TO 16 GIGABYTES". www.sandisk.com.
  30. "Press". Kingston Technology Company.
  31. "Write protection switch at All Memory Cards". Archived from the original on 2016-04-20.
  32. Some early SD cards may not have a write protection switch.
  33. 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)
  34. "Fujifilm accessories xD-Picture Card". Archived from the original on July 11, 2007.
  35. "DataFab Systems Inc.-The Leader of Innovative Technology in Portable Storage Systems". www.datafab.com.
  36. DataFab EXP 12 in 2 Archived 2007-11-13 at the Wayback Machine
  37. DataFab exp 12 in 1 Archived 2007-12-14 at the Wayback Machine
  38. DataFab exp M2+microSD Archived 2007-12-14 at the Wayback Machine
  39. "Loading..." www.transcendusa.com.
  40. "Loading..." www.transcendusa.com.
  41. "Loading..." www.transcendusa.com.
  42. "Minolta SD-CF1 SD-to-CompactFlash adapter". Archived from the original on 2006-06-16. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
  43. "Transcend MemoryStick-to-CompactFlash adapter". Archived from the original on 2007-02-24. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
  44. "Shortage everywhere! Sony MSAC-MCF1N Memory Stick Duo Adaptor for CompactFlash Slot". www.camerahacker.com.
  45. Olympus MACF-10 xD-to-CompactFlash adapter Archived 2006-12-10 at the Wayback Machine
  46. "Hama xD-to-SM adapter". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
  47. 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. 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.
  48. 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
  49. "PSP Expand Memory Converter" – via Amazon.
  50. KingMax microSD to MS PRO Duo Adapter
  51. SDHC devices are backward-compatible with normal SD cards. ("Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-11-21. Retrieved 2012-01-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link))
  52. SDXC devices are backward-compatible with SD and SDHC cards. ("Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-11-21. Retrieved 2012-01-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link))
  53. "PC Engines flash storage solutions". www.pcengines.ch.
  54. Star Empery PT110 SD Card To ATA IDE 3.5 inch Hard Drive Adapter
  55. "The do-it-yourself SSD adapter".
  56. "Tom's Hardware Articles - Find and Filter Our Latest Articles". Tom's Hardware.
  57. 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".
  58. MS Duo and M2 adapters have appeared in the last 12 months which look like USB memory sticks
  59. "SanDisk @ CES - SD card with built-in USB adapter".
  60. A-Data microSD to USB Adapter Archived 2007-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
  61. DCRP Special Report: FlashPath Adapter Archived 2007-10-26 at the Wayback Machine by Tom Beardmore
  62. R4 microSD to NDS Slot-1 Adapter Archived 2007-10-31 at the Wayback Machine
  63. Supercard to NDS Slot-2 Adapter Archived 2008-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
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