Working Of Memory Card

Memory Card is a small , portable storage device which uses NAND flash memory technology to store and access the data working of memory card can be explained by dividing it into parts below it is explained in several section lets know how the memory card works.

Lets first get to know about components of memory card so that its working and operations can be explained.

Components Of Memory card

• NAND Flash Memory: NAND flash memory technology is a non volatile storage technology which retain data even when the power is turned off, this make memory card suitable and trustworthy for storing information. The NAND flash memory are made up of memory cells which are further organized into pages , each memory cell is capable of storing multiple bits of data and combination of this bits from data which is stored in memory card in form of binary code. Pages which is organized form of memory cell further get grouped to form a block and block is the smallest erasable unit of the NAND flash memory even at time of modification , the entire block is first erased and then the new data is written, this characteristic of NAND flash memory is known as erase-before-write process.
• Controller: Each memory card has a single controller attached to it, commonly it is just a small chip whose function is to manage the data which is stored in the card. Controller is the most responsible component of memory card it is responsible for many task like reading and writing operations, wear leveling, error correction, and other tasks which ensure the reliability and efficiency of the memory card.

Working Process and Operations

• Read Operations: For accessing data from the memory card the controller firstly read the appropriate memory cells in which binary codes is stored , and this operation is also responsible for retrieving the data from the NAND flash memory to the device which has requested for information to further use it.
• Write Operations: Write operation is a not as simple as read operation but it is a bit more involved process for writing data, let us suppose if the data being written need to update an existing information then the controller will first perform a erase operation on the entire block and after block become empty new data will be written in the empty block, now a wear leveling is present just to ensure that this write and erase cycle is distributed evenly across the memory cells , so that’s why wear leveling is a important process because it help in extending the longevity of memory card by preventing cells from wearing out faster.
• Error Correction: Due to several factors (such as electrical noise or gradual degradation over time) NAND flash memory is susceptible to many errors , and hence the controller in memory card has a error correction algorithms which detect these errors and then correct them and this safeguard the integrity of the stored data and make data error free.

In this age of digitalization, where most of the information is already converted into digital format a compact chip become basic requirement to store this huge amount information. As result memory card already have become very common in our modern electrical devices, memory card can be considered amazing because, despite being small and portable they increase the storage capacity of gadgets to new heights. The devices in which they are commonly seen are smartphone and camera. In this article we will be learning about memory card What is it?, its working, types, advantages and disadvantages, and many more.