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SmartMedia is an obsolete
flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid ...
memory card A memory card is an electronic data storage device used for storing digital information, typically using flash memory. These are commonly used in digital portable electronic devices. They allow adding memory to such devices using a card in a so ...
standard owned by
Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure system ...
, with capacities ranging from 2 MB to 128 MB. The format mostly saw application in the early 2000s in digital cameras and audio production. SmartMedia memory cards are no longer manufactured.


History

The SmartMedia format was launched in the summer of 1995 to compete with the MiniCard,
CompactFlash CompactFlash (CF) is a flash memory mass storage device used mainly in portable electronic devices. The format was specified and the devices were first manufactured by SanDisk in 1994. CompactFlash became one of the most successful of the e ...
, and
PC Card In computing, PC Card is a configuration for computer parallel communication peripheral interface, designed for laptop computers. Originally introduced as PCMCIA, the PC Card standard as well as its successors like CardBus were defined and devel ...
formats. Although memory cards are nowadays associated with
digital camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile device ...
s,
digital audio player A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...
s, PDAs, and similar devices, SmartMedia was pitched as a successor to the computer
floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...
. Indeed, the format was originally named Solid State Floppy Disk Card (SSFDC), and the physical design resembles a miniature 3.5" floppy disk. The SSFDC forum, a consortium aiming to promote SSFDC as an industry standard, was founded in April 1996, consisting of 37 initial members. A SmartMedia card consists of a single
NAND flash Flash memory is an Integrated circuit, electronic Non-volatile memory, non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for t ...
chip embedded in a thin
plastic card A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The term ''#Plastic card, plastic card'' includes the above and as an identity document. These are similar to a credi ...
, although some higher-capacity cards contain multiple linked chips. It was one of the smallest and thinnest of the early memory cards, only 0.76 mm thick, and managed to maintain a favorable cost ratio as compared to the others. SmartMedia cards lack a built-in controller chip, which kept the cost down. This feature later caused problems, since some older devices would require firmware updates to handle larger capacity cards. The lack of built-in controller also made it impossible for the card to perform automatic
wear levelling Wear leveling (also written as wear levelling) is a technique Wear leveling techniques for flash memory systems. for prolonging the service life of some kinds of erasable computer storage media, such as flash memory, which is used in solid-state dri ...
, a process which prevents premature failure of any individual block by ensuring that write operations are evenly distributed across the whole device. SmartMedia cards can be used in a standard 3.5" floppy drive by means of a
FlashPath FlashPath (FlashPath Floppy Disk Adapter) were a series of devices produced by SmartDisk that allowed a variety of memory cards to be used in a 3.5" Floppy disk drive. The initial version introduced in May 1998 allowed SmartMedia cards to be us ...
adapter. This remains one of SmartMedia's most distinctive features. This method was not without its own disadvantages, as it required special drivers offering only very basic file read/write capability (or read-only on Macintosh systems) and was limited to floppy-disk transfer speeds. However, this was not so troublesome in the earlier days of the format, when card sizes were limited (generally 8–16 MB), and USB interfaces were both uncommon and low-speed, with digital cameras connecting by "high-speed" serial links that themselves needed drivers and special transfer programs. The 15 minutes taken to read a nearly full 16 MB card directly to hard disk by Flashpath using the slowest (128 kbit/s) PC floppy controller was still simpler and slightly faster than the quickest reliable (115.2 kbit/s) serial link, without the need for connection, synching and thumbnail previewing, and only beaten by expensive parallel-port-based external card readers that could do the same job in 2 minutes or less (≳1000 kbit/s, comparable to USB 1.0) when connected to a compatible high-speed ECP or EPP port (and ~5 minutes using a basic PPT in failsafe mode). Typically, SmartMedia cards were used as storage for portable devices, in a form that could easily be removed for access by a PC. For example, pictures taken with a
digital camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile device ...
would be stored as image files on a SmartMedia card. A user could copy the images to a computer with a SmartMedia reader. A reader was typically a small box connected by
USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad v ...
or some other serial connection. Modern computers, both
laptops A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...
and desktops, occasionally have SmartMedia slots built in. While availability of dedicated SmartMedia readers has dropped off, readers that read multiple card types (such as 4-in-1, 10-in-1) continue to include the format, but even these have decreased in quantity, with many dropping SmartMedia in favour of
MicroSD Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices. The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...
and/or
Memory Stick Micro The Memory Stick is a removable flash memory card format, originally launched by Sony in late 1998. In addition to the original Memory Stick, this family includes the Memory Stick PRO, a revision that allows greater maximum storage capacity and ...
. Some digital audio production equipment of the early 2000s relied on SmartMedia storage, such as the
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
QY100 Music Sequencer, Roland MC-09 “PhraseLab” synthesizer, and
Korg Triton LE , founded as Keio Electronic Laboratories, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners. Under the Vox brand name, the ...
workstation. SmartMedia was popular in digital cameras and reached its peak in about 2001, when it garnered nearly half of the digital-camera market. It was backed especially by
Fujifilm , trading as Fujifilm, or simply Fuji, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the realms of photography, optics, office and medical electronics, biotechnology, and chemicals. The offerings from th ...
and
Olympus Olympus or Olympos ( grc, Ὄλυμπος, link=no) may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Les ...
, though the format started to exhibit problems, as camera resolutions increased. Cards larger than 128 MB were not available, and the compact digital cameras were reaching a size where even SmartMedia cards were too big to be convenient. Eventually
Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure system ...
switched to smaller, higher-capacity
Secure Digital card Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices. The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...
s, and SmartMedia ceased to have major support after
Olympus Olympus or Olympos ( grc, Ὄλυμπος, link=no) may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Les ...
and
Fujifilm , trading as Fujifilm, or simply Fuji, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the realms of photography, optics, office and medical electronics, biotechnology, and chemicals. The offerings from th ...
both switched to xD. It did not find as much support in PDAs,
MP3 player A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...
s, or
pager A pager (also known as a beeper or bleeper) is a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays alphanumeric or voice messages. One-way pagers can only receive messages, while response pagers and two-way pagers can also acknow ...
s as some other formats, especially in North America and Europe, though there was still significant use. SmartMedia cards larger than 128  MB were never released, although there were rumors of a 256 MB card being planned. Technical specifications for the memory size were released, and the 256 MB cards were even advertised in some places. Some older devices cannot support cards larger than 16 or sometimes 32  MB without a firmware update, if at all. SmartMedia cards came in two formats 5 V and the more modern 3.3 V (sometimes marked 3 V) named for their main supply voltages. The packaging was nearly identical, except for the reversed placement of the notched corner. Many older SmartMedia devices only support 5 V SmartMedia cards, whereas many newer devices only support 3.3 V cards. In order to protect 3.3 V cards from being damaged in 5 V-only devices, the card reader should have some mechanical provision (such as detecting the type of notch) to disallow insertion of an unsupported type of card. Some low-cost 5 V-only card readers do not operate this way, and inserting a 3.3 V card into such a 5 V-only reader will result in permanent damage to the card. Dual-voltage card readers are highly recommended. There is an oversized xD-to-SmartMedia adapter that allows xD cards to use a SmartMedia port, but it does not fit entirely inside a SmartMedia slot. There is a limit on the capacity of the xD card when used in such adapters (sometimes 128 MB or 256 MB), and the device is subject to the restrictions of the SmartMedia reader as well. SmartMedia memory cards are no longer manufactured as of around 2006. There have been no new devices designed for SmartMedia for quite a long time now. Smartmedia cards are still frequently available on eBay mostly in used condition, with new cards coming up from time to time.


Copy protection

Many SmartMedia cards include a little-known copy-protection feature known as "ID". This is why many cards are marked with "ID" beside the capacity. This gave every card a unique identification number for use with copy-protection systems. One of the few implementations of this primitive
DRM DRM may refer to: Government, military and politics * Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd * Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar * Direction du renseignement militai ...
system was by the Korean company
Game Park Game Park was a South Korean company that was founded in 1996 and went bankrupt in March 2007. It is responsible for creating the GP32 and the never-released XGP. GamePark Holdings was founded by former employees of Game Park in 2005. Foundatio ...
, which used it to protect commercial games for the
GP32 The GP32 (GamePark 32) is a handheld game console developed by the South Korean company Game Park. It was released on November 23, 2001, in South Korea and distributed in some parts of Europe. History The GP32 was shown at E3 in 1999, 2000, 2001 ...
handheld gaming system.
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
's 1999 Yepp Hip-Hop MP3 player also used the feature in order to implement
Secure Digital Music Initiative Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) was a forum formed in late 1998,Leonardo ChiariglioneRiding the Media Bits. Opening content protection chiariglione.org, 2003 composed of more than 200 IT, consumer electronics, security technology, ISP and re ...
DRM.


Format errors and data loss

SmartMedia cards frequently become corrupted and unusable when the cards are read or written in a card-reading device. Affected SmartMedia cards will be unusable, and the camera or device will be unable to format, read or write to the card. Data loss and a change in the capacity that the device displays are also signs of a low-level format corruption or a corrupted CIS (Card Information System).


Specifications

* Mass: * Size: * Capacities: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 MB * Uses 16-Mbit, 32-Mbit, and 64-Mbit Toshiba TC58-compatible NAND-type
flash memory Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both us ...
chips ''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. It follows the lives of two motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The serie ...
* Flat electrode terminal with 22 pins — (32M & 64M compatible) * 8-bit I/O
interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * ''Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics'' * '' Inte ...
(16-bit in some cases) * Data transfer rate: 2 MB/s * write cycles * 10 years storage time without power * Metallic write-protect sticker * Compatible with
PCMCIA The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) was a group of computer hardware manufacturers, operating under that name from 1989 to 2009. Starting with the PCMCIA card in 1990 (the name later simplified to ''PC Card''), i ...
with an
adapter An adapter or adaptor is a device that converts attributes of one electrical device or system to those of an otherwise incompatible device or system. Some modify power or signal attributes, while others merely adapt the physical form of one con ...
* Compatible with CompactFlash Type II with an adapter * Compatible with 3.5"
floppy drive A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...
s using
FlashPath FlashPath (FlashPath Floppy Disk Adapter) were a series of devices produced by SmartDisk that allowed a variety of memory cards to be used in a 3.5" Floppy disk drive. The initial version introduced in May 1998 allowed SmartMedia cards to be us ...
adapter


In popular culture

A SmartMedia card, and the
FlashPath FlashPath (FlashPath Floppy Disk Adapter) were a series of devices produced by SmartDisk that allowed a variety of memory cards to be used in a 3.5" Floppy disk drive. The initial version introduced in May 1998 allowed SmartMedia cards to be us ...
adapter, is used as a plot device in the film ''
Colombiana ''Colombiana'' is a 2011 French English-language action thriller film co-written and produced by Luc Besson and directed by Olivier Megaton. The film stars Zoe Saldaña with supporting roles by Michael Vartan, Cliff Curtis, Lennie James, Callum ...
'' (2011), during the opening scenes set in the mid-1990s. A card is swallowed by the 9-year-old orphaned victim to hide it, then regurgitated.


See also

*
Comparison of memory cards This table provides summary of comparison of various flash memory cards, . Common information :''unless otherwise indicated, all images to scale'' Physical details Note that a memory card's dimensions are determined while holding the card w ...


References


External links


SSFDC News Site
with PDF document listing news of the 256 MB SmartMedia card technical specifications being released in SmartMedia NEWS 2002.1 NO.1
Olympus Emporium page on xD/SM to PCMCIA adapter

SmartMedia format introduction (software considerations)

SmartMedia card pinout
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smartmedia Solid-state computer storage media Toshiba brands Computer-related introductions in 1995 Discontinued media formats