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For all those happy-go-clicking photographers, the
digital cameras seem to have been a true blessing.
However, while one can click as many pictures at a
time without the worry of a film roll getting over,
one still needs to be aware of the varied forms of
storage of digital images. This is because sometimes
one overlooks the need to store he images in a
backup format and may just end up losing all the
images. Given here is a list of the varied storages
for digital images:
• Exchangeable image file format (Exif): This is a
set of file formats, which is specified for digital
cameras. This consists of the TIFF, JPEG and RAW
image format.
• Secure Digital card (SD): This is also known as
Secure Digital Memory Card. This is a flash memory
card which provides storage for the digital cameras,
cellphones and PDAs. The SD Cards utilize the same
32x24mm form factor which is used as the
MultiMediaCard (MMC). However, the SD cards are
slightly thicker (2.1mm as against the 1.4mm). The
SD cards were introduced in 1999 by Panasonic,
Toshiba and SanDisk. There are cards that have a
capacity up to 4GB. There are typically two types of
SD cards:
o MiniSD cards
o MicroSD cards
• CompactFlash (CF-I and CF-II): This was introduced
by SanDisk in 1994. CompactFlash (CF) cards are
larger than the other flash formats that are
available. These cards appear as a hard disk to the
camera and uses the PC Card/ATA interface.
• Memory Stick: This is basically a flash memory
card which is used as digital storage on digital
cameras and camcorders, as well as other handheld
gadgets. The storage capacity of the available
memory sticks go up to 1GB.
• Multi Media Card (MMC): this is a flash memory
card standard. These cards originally used a 1-bit
serial interface, however, the newer versions permit
transfers of 4 to 8 bits at a time.
• SmartMedia: This is an ultra-compact flash memory
format, which was introduced in 1995, and was
developed by Toshiba. One can plug these cards into
a SmartMedia socket. Alternatively the card can be
plugged into a standard Type II PC Card slot with a
PC Card adapter.
• XD Picture Card (xD): This was introduced by Fuji
and Olympus in 2002. These were the smallest
available cards till the mini SD card was
introduced. These cards provide high speed data
transfer (3 to 5 Mbytes/sec), and utilize low power.
They have a capacity of up to 512MB.
• USB flash drive: This is a flash memory card which
is plugged into the computer's USB port. It is small
enough to hook onto a key chain and functions like a
small disk drive, allowing data to be easily
transferred.
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