BAD HARDWARE WEEK

CFast
A future versions of CompactFlash, known as CFast, will be based on the Serial ATA bus, rather than the Parallel ATA/IDE bus for which all previous CompactFlash are designed.

These cards will support a higher maximum transfer rate than current CompactFlash current. As of 2009 , SATA supports transfer rates up to 300 MB/s, while PATA is limited to 133 MB/s using UDMA 6. However, few if any current flash memory device support speeds greater than 133 MB/s, and CFast cards will not be physically or electronically compatible with CF cards, requiring new card readers and new digital cameras to take advantage of them. CFast cards use a 7-pin SATA data connector (identical to the standard SATA connector), but a 17-pin power connector that appears incompatible with the standard 15-pin SATA power connector, so an adaptor will be requiring to connect CFast cards in place of standard SATA hard drives.

Top-end CompactFlash today cards reach 45MB/sec. Cfast should be initially faster 3-4 times.

HDR camera mode should benefit? CFast cards are expected to reach market in late 2009. At CES 2009, Pretec showed a 32 GB CFast and announced that they should reach market within a few months.