Toshiba Debuts SmartMedia Storage

Four Megabyte Solid State Floppy Disk Card

As consumer electronics moves from analog to digital, so comes the demand for small and inexpensive digital storage solutions. This class of device—which includes systems such as digital cameras, digital recorders, and smart cellular phones—requires multi-megabyte capacities in a format smaller than the current PC Card standard.

Within this category, three “standards” have emerged: CompactFlash, Miniature Card, and Solid State Floppy Disk Card (SSFDC). Toshiba, the main proponent behind SSFDC, recently announced a new card called SmartMedia which provides 4MB of storage, available in both 5 and 3.3 V versions.

“SmartMedia provides 4MB of storage and is available in both 5 and 3.3 V versions.”

Toshiba’s SmartMedia card is an overmolded thin package (OMTP) mounted on a plastic carrier card which makes it convenient for handling. The card incorporates 32Mb NAND flash electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM).

Toshiba’s SmartMedia solution has already been designed into several digital cameras, including Fuji Photo Film’s DS-7 and Minolta’s Dimage V, among others. When used as digital film, the 4MB SmartMedia card is capable of storing around 50 medium resolution images at 640×480 and up to 190 lower resolution images.

When used with specially designed equipment such as digital cameras, the SmartMedia card inserts directly into the device. On other devices, SmartMedia cards can be used in a standard PC Card slot through the use of an adapter.