CompactFlash grows to 144PB
The latest version of the CompactFlash standard allows for cards of up to 144PB in size - although it'll be a while before we hit that limit.
As reported over on Electronista, the CompactFlash Association - the body behind the CF standard - has unveiled CompactFlash version 5.0, which increases the theoretical maximum capacity of a CompactFlash card.
While current cards are limited to 137GB - which is still a pretty impressive figure when you consider the form factor we're talking about here - the new CompactFlash 5.0 specification increases the address space from 28 bits to 48 bits, potentially allowing for 144PB of storage on a single card. For those unfamiliar with the remarkable and little-seen 'petabyte,' that's 147,456 terabytes - or the contents of 16,063,292 dual-layer DVDs.
Of course, we won't be seeing such capacious cards any time soon: although the underlying technology used to address CompactFlash devices has changed, it still uses either a miniaturised mechanical drive - usually known as a MicroDrive - or traditional flash storage at its heart, and the state of the art in both fields is a long way from cramming even a single petabyte into a CompactFlash-size form factor. As data densities grow, however, the new CompactFlash standard should be able to keep up with whatever the storage industry can throw at it.
With CompactFlash being largely aimed at pro-level photographers, there's some good news in the new standard beyond mere capacity increases: version 5.0 allows up to 32MB of data to be thrown around in a single transfer instruction, compared to a mere 128KB in the current implementation of the standard. With sensor sizes increasing and an increasing number of people choosing to shoot RAW-format images over lossy compression formats like JPEG, that's a feature which is going to come in handy.
Additional features of the new standard include TRIM-like performance tuning, quality of service guarantees for streaming video data, and a new connector which the Association claims offers "better card design."
So far no manufacturer has come forward with an estimated release date of a card or device which supports the new 5.0 standard, so the race is on to be the first flash storage specialist or camera maker to tick the box on the product sheet.
Are you impressed with the potential of the new standard, or is 48-bit addressing a waste in such a small form factor? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyThough any advances in small form factor storage technologies are more than welcome - mechanical, flash or otherwise.
they did say theoretical max so we will never hit that high no matter what people say
we may get clsoe but not that much
or 578 constant days downloading lol
i.e. 1 kilobyte is 1000 bytes, 1 kibibyte is 1024 bytes (base 10 vs base 2)
Thus:
1 Petabyte (PB) is 1000 terabytes (TB)
1 Pebibyte (PiB) is 1024 tebibytes (TiB)
So 144PB is 144000 TB, however 144 PiB is 147456 TiB.
144PB is actually 130967 TiB. Come on bit-tech, simple mathematics!
yewww
Got to love CF though. There used to be how many formats and now all we can all feel safe knowing whatever we buy will require CF :)
I thought current cards would hold up to 650GB? :?
backwards compatible?
i.e. 1 kilobyte is 1000 bytes, 1 kibibyte is 1024 bytes (base 10 vs base 2)
1Kb is actually 1024 bytes. Or it used to be!
collectively- you can get a better understanding if you think of bits as light switches
all 8 bits in a byte:
bit #1 = 1
bit #2 = 2
bit #3 = 4
bit #4 = 8
bit #5 = 16
bit #6 = 32
bit #7 = 64
bit #8 = 128
now like mentioned each bit only has 2 values- like a light switch on or off, 0 or 1.. so if they are all 0, the byte is = 0
now let's flip some switches bitches hehe.. say we turn on bit 7 and 5.. 64+16 = 80
now flip on bit 1.. 64+16+1 = 81
flip them all on and you have 255 (256 total if you include 0).. you can see using these 'switches' we can assign any number between 0 and 255 to 8 bits.. 9 bits, just one more bit than we have now.. we can now count up to 512 (bit #9 = 256).. 10 bits 1024.. ect..
that might be a little easier to understand for people who are trying to learn the basics.. why we have 1024 bits in a kilobit.. 1024 bytes in a kilobyte.. ect..
I actually taught this stuff in school to the rest of the class, the instructor was trying too hard
2^48 = 281.474.976.710.656
2^47 = 140.737.488.355.328
However. Storage manufacturers have typically used base 10 when it comes to things like hard drives, which is why your 1TB hard drive doesn't actually have 1TB of usable storage space.
Fixed that for you.
Bah - anyone can make a typo ;)