New Pretec CompactFlash card gets super fast
Pretec, a maker of CompactFlash cards including very high-capacity ones, on Tuesday brought the speed of CF cards to a new high.
(Credit:
Pretec)
The company unveiled what we believe to be the world's first CF that offers speed up to 666x, which translates to about 100MBps. This is about four times the speed of a typical CF card and getting close to the theoretical maximum speed of the CF specification, which is 133MBps.
(To further increase the maximum speed of CF cards, the CompactFlash Association has released the new generation of the CF specification, called CFast, which breaks the 133MBps speed limit by using SATA II architecture that allows for speeds of up to 3Gbps while keeping the small and popular original CF mechanical form factor.)
The new Pretec 666x CF card will come in metal housing with a ruggedized construction. Pretec says the new card can resist impact and shock and is at least 10 times more durable than a typical CF card.
The new CF card comes in capacities ranging from 4GB to 64GB and will be available in April. Currently its pricing is unclear.
Dong Ngo is a CNET editor who covers networking and network storage, and writes about anything else he finds interesting. You can also listen to his podcast at insidecnetlabs.cnet.com. E-mail Dong. 
