Memory Cards for Digital Cameras - MicroDrive

The MicroDrive was first developed and launched in 1999 by IBM. MicroDrive memory cards for digital cameras are actually miniature hard drives but they make use of the CompactFlash Type II housing. Therefore, MicroDrive memory cards are able to fit into devices using Type II CompactFlash cards.

However, because of their hard drive design, MicroDrive memory cards have moving parts that can wear out, or be damaged, resulting in failure. In this respect, MicroDrive memory cards are considered to be more delicate and unreliable.

However, when handled normally, they are very reliable. Given how careful most people are with their digital cameras, it is unlikely that the MicroDrive memory cards within their cameras will be abused.

Also because of their moving parts, MicroDrive memory cards use more battery power than cards using flash memory. Therefore they may not work on certain low-power devices.

Capacity

Before 2006, MicroDrive memory cards for digital cameras were the memory cards with the highest capacity. Today, they continue to house a large capacity, commonly from 2 GB to 8 GB of memory space. However, with flash memory technology achieving up to 4 GB of memory space, the MicroDrive's advantage of larger capacity is being severely undermined.

Transfer Speed

To save power, the hard drives within the cards stop spinning when not in use. When retrieving memory, hard drives require a short spin up for its memory to be read, resulting in longer latency. The start up of the drive also requires a higher power than normal spinning efforts. The more frequently the drive start ups, the more power it consumes and camera battery drains quickly.

Transfer speeds of MicroDrive memory cards for digital cameras typically vary from 33 MB/s up to 90 MB/s. This is slower than high speed flash drives but most flash drives do not normally transfer at rates higher than this.

Compatibility

MicroDrive memory cards are essentially compatible with any camera that provides a connection to Type II CompactFlash cards. However, MicroDrive memory cards for digital cameras are almost ubiquitous in using the FAT32 file system. Any camera not using the FAT32 file system will not be able to read MicroDrive memory cards.

Unfortunately, not many digital cameras today provide Type II CompactFlash connections and consequently, MicroDrive memory cards are not commonly used as memory space in the arena of digital cameras.

Compared to flash memory, MicroDrive memory cards for digital cameras are slower in seeking and transfer speeds. However, hard drives do not suffer from the limited write cycles of flash memory. Among the field of DSLRs, Type II CompactFlash connection is usually possible and users tend to favour the higher capacity, but cheaper prices (cost to memory space ratio) of MicroDrive memory cards.