TF card (T-Flash cards) are the smallest memory cards in the world, specially designed for small size electronic gadgets, including mobile phones. TF cards were first introduced by SanDisk in 2004 as Secure Digital memory cards, upgraded by NAND MLC for technology management. Accordingly, they have different technical characteristics (amount of information storage and data processing speed).
In connection with the powerful development of computer technology, portable audio and video devices, game consoles, mobile phones and other electronic devices that work with large amounts of digital information, the demand for universal compact storage media has increased very seriously. After all, all digital technology is focused primarily on powerful software, which, in turn, can effectively interact with equipment, only by expanding the technical capabilities of storage devices.
Modern technologies in digital technology largely owe their dynamic development to an increase in the speed of information processing, the volume of stored data and the compact size of devices in which they are processed and stored. In this context, memory cards make an irreplaceable contribution to the overall positive trend. After all, they are designed for these manipulations with digital information and fully comply with the requirements for them.
Currently TF cards occupy a leading position in this segment of digital devices. And their manufacturers attach particular importance to improving technical characteristics and minimizing size, due to which these memory cards can be fully considered as universal devices for storing and processing digital information.
Following the release of SD and miniSD cards, the SD Card Association announced TransFlash as the third form factor memory card in the secure digital family. The adoption of the TransFlash standard by the corporation led to the change of the name of the new product to microSD. It should be noted that microSD has the same specifications and dimensions as a flash card, and therefore their use can be called interchangeable. However, microSD, unlike TF, has support for SDIO mode, which allows you to work in Bluetooth, GPS and Near Field Communication (NFC) modes without using memory, which is quite defining in some cases.
TF card size and difference with Micro SD card
The physical size of the tf card is 15mm x 11mm x 1mm. This device has various modifications, the storage capacity of which has 128 mb, 256 mb, 512 mb, 1 gb, 2 gb, 4 gb, 6 gb, 8 gb, 16 gb, 32 gb and gb GB.
It is important to understand that the external resemblance of a TF card (TransFlash) to a microsd tf device is not a confirmation of their complete identity. The technological differences between these memory cards are as follows:
- availability of memory space;
- speed of information transfer (time of reading and writing data);
- card capacity (the maximum memory capacity in TF cards is 128 GB, and in SD cards - 2 TB);
- SD cards have more transistors;
- SD card is equipped with a switch on the security segment, whereas TransFlash does not have such a function;
In addition, there is a difference in physical size between TF and SD cards. The TF card is more compact and measures 15 mm × 11 mm × 1 mm, while the SD card is 24 mm × 32 mm × 2.1 mm.
The structural difference in these memory cards is related to the TF card slot. The minimum size of TF cards allows them to be used as flash drives. However, the TF card can be identified as a separate digital storage device for storing information.
Where is applied
TransFlash is commonly used in portable electronic gadgets such as computers, laptops, tablets, MP3 players, PDAs, game consoles, electronic keyboards, synthesizers, mobile phones, and digital cameras.
Micro SD card (2 GB) or TF card is used in computer technology with a special optional adapter designed to be installed directly into the memory card slot. And Trans Flash for mobile phones allows you to:
- Easily and quickly move files from your computer to external media;
- significantly increase the amount of mobile phone memory;
- exchange digital data (for example, music, videos or photos) with other gadgets.
Each memory card comes with an SD adapter, which allows it to be used as a full-size secure digital card in SD-enabled devices.
Reading speed
Usually, the speed of an SD card can be judged by its sequential speed when reading or writing information. It is the sequential principle that lies in the performance of this memory card, intended primarily for storing and outputting large (relative to the size of the blocks included in the flash memory structure) files. This applies primarily to multimedia and images.
In some cases where a tf card is used, small amounts of information (such as timestamps, sizes, and file names) may fall under the lowest random access speed limit. This can be a serious limiting factor.
An important characteristic of a memory card is its speed. The new generation of SD cards, including, of course, the TF card, is focused on accelerating their performance, including by increasing the speed of digital data transfer. Regardless of the bus speed, the card can signal to the host that it is “busy” until a read or write operation is complete. And achieving a higher speed is a guarantee of ensuring that the card limits the use of the busy indicator.
TF card features
For optimal use of TF cards, it is necessary to become familiar with a number of features during their use.
Protection. Trans Flash cards can protect their contents from erasure or modification. They are guaranteed to prevent unauthorized users from accessing and protect content through the use of digital rights management.
Commands to disable recording. The host device applies special commands (reversible and irreversible) to the memory cards data, with which they can reject the sequential write of information when reading the data. Thus, the TF card can only be available in limited functionality.
Open and blocked cards. The user of full-size TF cards has the ability to use them in read-only mode. To do this, he just needs to apply a sliding tab covering the label on the map.
Change Password. The TF card can be blocked from the host device using a password (up to 16 bytes) provided by the user himself. The locked card is usually in communication with the main device. The exception in this case is ignoring the commands for writing and reading information.
A locked TF card can only be restored to normal working condition after entering the same password as the one provided by the user. And after specifying the old password, the host device can unlock the card or provide a new password. It is important to know that without a password (as a rule, this happens when the user forgets it), the host device can force the card to erase the information on it for future reuse. The exception is data protected by DRM. However, there is no way to access existing information.
