Related: The CompactFlash Association (CFA) developed the CFexpress standard in 2016 to leverage the PCI Express interface and NVM Express protocol for removable storage in the professional imaging industry. A recently announced technology upgrade brings the performance of the CFexpress card to the level of the SSD class.
CFA has just introduced the CFexpress 4.0 standard, with new logical and physical specifications intended to significantly increase the theoretical performance of existing CFexpress 2.0 cards. CFexpress 4.0 removable media remains backward compatible with existing devices, allowing customers to maintain their previous investments in the CFexpress ecosystem.
CFexpress 2.0 leverages PCIe Gen3 to achieve a full-duplex top speed of 4 gigabytes per second. CFexpress 4.0 can “theoretically” twice as much power Thanks to the PCIe Gen4 interface with a peak throughput performance of 8 GB/s. CFA says CFexpress 2.0 cards will still be available for purchase, giving the user enough “flexibility” to choose when it comes to power, performance, and size — and money — requirements.
CFexpress 4.0 cards also maintain the same form factors as the previous generation, with three different card types (Type A, Type B, Type C) with different sizes, the number of PCIe Gen4 lanes supported, and speed and performance requirements. Type-A cards offer 2 GB/s data throughput, while Type-C cards achieve 8 GB/s data throughput by using 4 PCIe Gen4 lanes. As usual, smaller cards can fit into larger card sockets with an adapter.
According to CFA Board Co-Chair Hiroshi Noda, the increased performance of CFexpress 4.0 removable media storage will meet “current and future” needs of photographers, videographers and cinematographers. Professionals have standards and now have access to higher resolutions, faster frame rates and richer color depths thanks to the faster PCIe Gen4 interface.
The three form factors offered by CFexpress 4.0 maintain a “consistent” electrical, logical, and physical interface, noted CFA Board Member Hiroshi Machida. Professionals can easily adapt the new standard in their devices, while host manufacturers can “significantly” shorten the development cycle.
The CFexpress 4.0 specifications are only available to CFA members, with Canon, Sony, Nikon, Lexar and other major companies already on board. The CFA is also preparing a new Video Performance Guarantee (VPG) specification for higher duration video recording applications, but this technology will be released at a later date.