23 November 2010
Bigger is no longer better as the world’s consumers constantly demand for ever smaller and lighter gadgets. Digital and video cameras, mobile phones, MP3 players and computers all are in a race to be the smallest. This trend necessitates the use of correspondingly tiny data storage media. And this necessity gave birth to the memory card.
A memory card, also known as flash memory card, flash card or storage card is an electronic data storage device used to store data such as texts, pictures, audio and video files. Memory cards are now as small as a postage stamp and as such can be discreetly inserted into small, portable or remote computing devices. Electronic devices which use memory cards include digital cameras, mobile phones, laptop computers and video game consoles.
Memory cards being solid state media, have no moving parts and are protected from mechanical damage.
The history of the memory card goes back to the 1990’s when PC cards were the first memory card formats commercialized. Now, the market is abound with a wide array of memory cards such as the Compact Flash card or CF card, the SmartMedia or SM card, the Memory Stick, the Multi Media Card or MMC and the Secure Digital card or SD. These memory cards range in sizes from that of a matchbox to that which is smaller than the aforementioned postage stamp.
The advantages of the memory card are numerous. Memory cards, because of their minute size, are extremely portable, being solid state media, have no moving parts and thus are more protected from mechanical damage and are absolutely silent. They also have what is known as constantly powered non-volatile memory which simply means they can store data even without power.
The most common use of memory cards is as data storage medium for digital cameras. In fact, it is the advent of digital cameras that revolutionized the photo industry. Whereas the now-obsolete film photography naturally requires scrimping on the number of shots to lower the cost, digital photography can now have virtually non-stop picture-taking as images can just be selected and deleted at will. Pictures are now more candid, less artificial, not to mention a world sharper and richer than those of bygone days.
Because picture-taking is such a breeze with memory-card-filled digital cameras, the tendency is for there to be multitudes of pictures stored in them, and unfortunately these files are at risk of being lost should the card fail, be damaged or become corrupt. Experts issue a grave warning that if you ever lose data on a memory card, you should immediately stop using it.
If your memory card is no longer working it cannot be solved by data recovery software, in fact this can often worsen the problem. If the pictures are very, very important, as in the case of a wedding photographer who runs the risk of being sued for losing his clients’ wedding pictures, the only solution is going to a data recovery company. When your pictures are so important as to affect your livelihood, your relationships or your sanity, recover them through the expertise of Kingdom Data Recovery.
