SanDisk CompactFlash Extreme III User manual

SanDisk CompactFlash Memory Card
OEM Product Manual
Version 12.0
Document No. 20-10-00038
02/2007
SanDisk Corporation
Corporate Headquarters
601 McCarthy Boulevard
Milpitas, CA 95035
[phone] Phone
[phone] Fax
www.sandisk.com

SanDisk CompactFlash Card OEM Product Manual
SanDisk® Corporation general policy does not recommend the use of its products in life support applications where in a failure
or malfunction of the product may directly threaten life or injury. Per SanDisk Terms and Conditions of Sale, the user of SanDisk
products in life support applications assumes all risk of such use and indemnifies SanDisk against all damages. Security
safeguards, by their nature, are capable of circumvention. SanDisk cannot, and does not, guarantee that data will not be
accessed by unauthorized persons, and SanDisk disclaims any warranties to that effect to the fullest extent permitted by law.
This document is for information use only and is subject to change without prior notice. SanDisk Corporation assumes no
responsibility for any errors that may appear in this document, nor for incidental or consequential damages resulting from the
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Corporation.
All parts of the SanDisk documentation are protected by copyright law and all rights are reserved.
SanDisk and the SanDisk logo are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries.
CompactFlash is a U.S. registered trademark of SanDisk Corporation.
Product names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of
their respective companies.
© 2007 SanDisk Corporation. All rights reserved.
SanDisk products are covered or licensed under one or more of the following U.S. Patent Nos. 5,070,032; 5,095,344; 5,168,465;
5,172,338; 5,198,380; 5,200,959; 5,268,318; 5,268,870; 5,272,669; 5,418,752; 5,602,987. Other U.S. and foreign patents
awarded and pending.
Document 20-10-00038 Rev. 12.0
Revision History
Date Revision Description
February 2007 12.0 Merged CFlash 11.2 manual with CF ExtremeIII
v1.2 to create v12.0; updated to comply with CFA
Spec v4.0.
© 2007 SanDisk Corporation i Rev. 12.0, 02/07

SanDisk CompactFlash Card OEM Product Manual
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02/07, Rev. 12.0 ii © 2007 SanDisk Corporation

Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
General Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-2
CompactFlash Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
PCMCIA Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-3
Related Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-3
Functional Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-3
CHAPTER 2 Product Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
System Environmental Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
System Power Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
System Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
System Reliability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-4
Physical Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-4
CHAPTER 3 Interface Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1
Physical Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-1
Electrical Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3
Electrical Specification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-8
Card Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-20
I/O Transfer Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-25
True IDE Mode I/O Transfer Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-26
CHAPTER 4 ATA Register Set and Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1
I/O Primary and Secondary Address Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . .4-1
Contiguous I/O Mapped Addressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-2
© 2007 SanDisk Corporation i Rev. 12.0, 02/07

Table of Contents SanDisk CompactFlash Card OEM Product Manual
Memory Mapped Addressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-3
True IDE Mode Addressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-4
ATA Registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-4
CHAPTER 5 ATA Command Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-1
ATA Command Set. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-1
Error Posting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-29
CHAPTER 6 CIS Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1
APPENDIX A Ordering Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-1
APPENDIX B Limited Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1
APPENDIX C Disclaimer of Liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-1
02/07, Rev. 12.0 ii © 2007 SanDisk Corporation

CHAPTER 1 Introduction
1.1 General Description
SanDisk CompactFlash® Memory Card products provide high capacity solid-state flash
memory that electrically complies with the Personal Computer Memory Card International
Association ATA (PC Card ATA) standard. (In Japan, the applicable standards group is
JEIDA.) The CompactFlash Memory Card Series also supports a True IDE Mode that is
electrically compatible with an IDE disk drive. The original CF form factor card can be used in
any system that has a CF slot, and with a Type II PCMCIA adapter can be used in any system
that has a PCMCIA Type II or Type III socket.
CompactFlash Memory cards use SanDisk Flash memory, which was designed by SanDisk
specifically for use in mass storage applications. In addition to the mass storage-specific flash
memory chips, CompactFlash Memory cards include an on-card intelligent controller that
provides a high level interface to the host computer. This interface allows a host computer to
issue commands to the memory card to read or write blocks of memory. The host addresses the
card in 512 byte sectors. Each sector is protected by a powerful Error Correcting Code (ECC).
The on-card intelligent controller in the CompactFlash Memory Card manages interface
protocols, data storage and retrieval as well as ECC, defect handling and diagnostics, power
management and clock control. Once the card has been configured by the host, it appears to the
host as a standard ATA (IDE) disk drive. Additional ATA commands have been provided to
enhance system performance.
The host system can support as many cards as there are CompactFlash and PCMCIA Type II or
III card slots. The original form factor CompactFlash Memory cards require a PCMCIA Type
II Adapter to be used in a PCMCIA Type II or Type III socket.
Figure 1-1 SanDisk CompactFlash Card Block Diagram
Host
Interface Flash Memory
SanDisk
Single Chip
Controller Control
Data In/Out
SanDisk CompactFlash
© 2007 SanDisk Corporation 1-1 Rev. 12.0, 02/07

Introduction SanDisk CompactFlash Card OEM Product Manual
1.2 Features
SanDisk CompactFlash Memory cards provide the following system features:
• Up to 16 GB of mass storage data
• PC Card ATA protocol compatible
• True IDE Mode compatible
• Very low CMOS power
• Very high performance
• Very rugged
• Low weight
• Noiseless
• Low Profile
• +5 Volts or +3.3 Volts operation
• Automatic error correction and retry capabilities
• Supports power down commands and sleep modes
• Non-volatile storage (no battery required)
• MTBF >1,000,000 hours
• Minimum 10,000 insertions
1.3 Scope
This document describes the key features and specifications of CompactFlash Memory cards,
as well as the information required to interface this product to a host system. Retail
CompactFlash specifications are not covered in this manual.
1.4 CompactFlash Standard
SanDisk CompactFlash Memory cards are fully compatible with the CompactFlash
Specification published by the CompactFlash Association. Contact the CompactFlash
Association for more information.
CompactFlash Association
P.O. Box 51537
Palo Alto, CA 94303
USA
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
www.compactflash.org
02/07, Rev. 12.0 1-2 © 2007 SanDisk Corporation

SanDisk CompactFlash Card OEM Product Manual Introduction
1.5 PCMCIA Standard
SanDisk CompactFlash Memory cards are fully electrically compatible with the PCMCIA
specifications listed below:
•PCMCIA PC Card Standard, 7.0, February 1999
•PCMCIA PC Card ATA Specification, 7.0, February 1999
These specifications may be obtained from:
PCMCIA
2635 N. First Street, Suite 209
San Jose, CA 95131
USA
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
1.6 Related Documentation
ATA operation is governed by the ATA-4 specification published by ANSI. For more
information, refer to the American National Standard X3.221: AT Attachment for Interface for
Disk Drives document.
Documentation can be ordered from IHS by calling 1-800-854-7179 or accessing their Web
site: http://global.ihs.com.
1.7 Functional Description
CompactFlash Memory cards contain a high level, intelligent subsystem as shown in the block
diagram, Figure 1-1. This intelligent (microprocessor) subsystem provides many capabilities
not found in other types of memory cards. These capabilities include the following:
•Standard ATA register and command set (same as found on most magnetic disk drives).
•Host independence from details of erasing and programming flash memory.
•Sophisticated system for managing defects (analogous to systems found in magnetic disk
drives).
•Sophisticated system for error recovery including a powerful error correction code (ECC).
•Power management for low power operation.
•Implementation of dynamic and static wear-leveling to extend card’s life.
© 2007 SanDisk Corporation 1-3 Rev. 12.0, 02/07

Introduction SanDisk CompactFlash Card OEM Product Manual
1.7.1 Technology Independence
The 512-byte sector size of the CompactFlash Memory Card is the same as that in an IDE
magnetic disk drive. To write or read a sector (or multiple sectors), the host computer software
simply issues a Read or Write command to the card. This command contains the address and
the number of sectors to write/read. The host software then waits for the command to
complete.
The host software does not get involved in the details of how the flash memory is erased,
programmed or read. This is extremely important as flash devices are expected to get more and
more complex in the future. Because the CompactFlash Memory Card Series uses an
intelligent on-board controller, the host system software will not require changing as new flash
memory evolves. In other words, systems that support CompactFlash Memory cards now, will
be able to access future SanDisk cards built with new flash technology without having to
update or change host software.
1.7.2 Defect and Error Management
CompactFlash Memory cards contain a sophisticated defect and error management system.
This system is analogous to the systems found in magnetic disk drives and in many cases
offers enhancements. If necessary, the cards will rewrite data from a defective sector to a good
sector. This is completely transparent to the host and does not consume any user data space.
The CompactFlash Memory Card soft error rate specification is much better than the magnetic
disk drive specification. In the extremely rare case a read error does occur, CompactFlash
Memory cards have innovative algorithms to recover the data by using hardware on-the-fly
Error Detection Code/Error Correction Code (EDC/ECC), based on a BCH algorithm.
These defect and error management systems, coupled with the solid state construction, give
SanDisk CompactFlash cards unparalleled reliability
1.7.3 Wear Leveling
Wear Leveling is an intrinsic part of the erase pooling functionality of SanDisk CompactFlash
using NAND memory. The CF WEAR LEVEL command is supported as a NOP operation to
maintain backward compatibility with existing software utilities. Advanced features of
dynamic and static wear-leveling, and automatic block management are used to ensure high
data reliability and maximize flash life expectancy.
1.7.4 Using Erase Sector and Write Commands
SanDisk CompactFlash Memory cards support the CF ERASE SECTOR and WRITE
WITHOUT ERASE commands. In some applications, write operations may be faster if the
addresses being written are first erased with the ERASE SECTOR command. WRITE
WITHOUT ERASE behaves as a normal write command and no performance gain results
from its use.
02/07, Rev. 12.0 1-4 © 2007 SanDisk Corporation