By Swissbit 429
The CFast card from Swissbit combines the original CompactFlash (CF) card form factor with a Serial ATA (SATA) interface. With this melding of two industry standards, the CFast card specification was created, allowing new applications in the embedded and industrial markets. Often in these markets, performance, speed, system downtime and flexibility are important design considerations. CFast addresses these considerations and more, while maintaining a small package size and providing high-speed data transfer.
The use of the SATA interface on CFast cards allows for a vast improvement over slower parallel data transfer methods by offering a bandwidth up to 300 MB/s. For engineers and designers CFast offers the small size, flexibility, and features of a CF card while providing the simplicity and speed of a SATA communication interface.
The CFast card can be operated using a single 3.3 V (+ / -5%) low power source and supports three SATA power management states: Active, Partial, and Slumber. The CFast is a perfect choice for both fixed and removable applications, where low to medium storage densities are required and the physical sizes of conventional mechanical or solid state hard drives are impractical. The migration effort to CFast is further simplified because it electrically complies with the Serial ATA International Organization standard and utilizes the same SATA command set.