It has come to our attention that Sony and SanDisk will be collaborating once again in furthering the development of high capacity Memory Stick. Set to debut in 2007, the new generation Memory Stick will be known as the “Memory Stick PRO-HG” and will have a maximum capacity of 32GB!
“Memory Stick PRO-HG” media offers high performance to meet the stringent demands of end users. This new media format uses an enhanced, 8-bit parallel interface in addition to a conventional serial and 4-bit parallel interface. The interface clock frequency also increases to 60MHz from 40MHz. This means that maximum data transfer speed increases up to 480Mbps, or 60MB/s (theoretical value), three times as fast as that of “Memory Stick PRO” media. The minimum write speed at 8-bit parallel transfer is 120 Mbps, or 15MB/s (*in the case of optimized compliant host devices). These enhancements allow large data amounts of up to several gigabytes to be quickly transferred, as well as the real-time recording of high-resolution video and still images.
Since “Memory Stick PRO-HG” is an extended format of the “Memory Stick PRO” format, “Memory Stick PRO-HG” compliant host devices support the conventional “Memory Stick PRO” media as well as “Memory Stick PRO-HG” media. In addition, the “Memory Stick PRO-HG” media can be used with conventional “Memory Stick PRO” compliant host devices as well as “Memory Stick PRO-HG” compliant host devices (*when using “Memory Stick PRO-HG” media with “Memory Stick PRO” compliant host devices, “Memory Stick PRO-HG” media functions as “Memory Stick PRO”).
According to Sony Corporation’s press release, licensing for the development of “Memory Stick PRO-HG” compliant host devices is scheduled to commence in January 2007 and actual Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo media will be made available in 2007.
Major Specifications of Memory Stick PRO-HG
Dimensions: Duo size (31 × 20 × 1.6) mm
Connector Pin: 14-pin
Capacity: 32GB (format maximum) (*This data does not guarantee that Memory Stick PRO-HG 32 GB media will be introduced to the market. Memory Stick PRO-HG product lineup is not yet fixed. Memory Stick PRO-HG recording capacity, transfer speed etc. will depend on specifications of compliant host devices)
Max. Data Transfer Rate: 480 Mbps (theoretical)
Min. Write Speed
★ 120 Mbps (*in the case of optimized compliant host devices; as of 8-bit parallel transfer)
★ 40 Mbps (*in the case of optimized compliant host devices; as of 4-bit parallel transfer)
Operating Voltage: 2.7 to 3.6 V
Interface: 8-bit / 4-bit parallel I/F and Serial I/F
Max. Clock frequency: 60MHz (*8-bit parallel transfer specification)
Copyright Protection Technology: MagicGate
