Memory card - Definition and Overview

Memory cards are solid-state electronic flash memory data storage devices used with digital cameras, handheld and laptop computers, phones, music players, video game consoles and other electronics. They offer re-recordability, power-free storage, small form factor and rugged environmental specifications.

Flash cards have been suggested as a possible replacement for the floppy disk, but this has not happened, largely because of the lack of standardisation in the flash memory card market. USB Keydrives, which work on almost any computer with a USB port, are filling this role instead.

Since all sorts of EEPROM devices only allow a finite number of write cycles, some of these cards incorporate wear levelling algorithms to spread the wear and to avoid wearing out specific places which are often written to.

See also: keydrive.