Swissbit INDUSTRIAL F-100 CFast™ Flash Storage Cards

Introduction

The CFast card 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 that allows for 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 300MB/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 3.3V (+ / -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 size 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.

Note - CFast is not the same as microSATA.

CFast to SATA adapter

A CFast to SATA adapter board is also available. This allows connection of CFast cards to a standard desktop PC via standard SATA cables (7 pin power and 15 pin data cables). The assembly is compatible with a standard 2.5" disk.