FORTASA BLOG

CompactFlash Memory Card Interface Modes and Capabilities

Fortasa CompactFlash Card and SATA Adapter

CompactFlash memory cards have been a preferred storage device in many of embedded application. Developers appreciate the compact physical size, high performance interface, environment robustness and ability to easily remove the device even during system operation. Most often the CompactFlash memory card is used as a direct replacement of a conventional magnetic Hard Disk Drive.

Most conventional operating systems, such as Windows or Unix/Linux, have standard device drivers that recognize CompactFlash cards as a HDD and enable transparent interface to the card. This handshaking is performed by the system device driver that reads the CompactFlash card's Device ID table to recognize the Flash card capability and sets up an appropriate level of interface to the card.

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Resolving CompactFlash Card UDMA Compatibility Issues

CompactFlash cards have been the dominant choice for embedded storage in Industrial Electronic Systems. Attracted by the universal standard in both interface and form factor, the CompactFlash cards have migrated from the storage media predominantly used in consumer devices such as Digital Cameras and MP3 players to Industrial Applications and non-consumer platforms.

Industrial CompactFlash card

In embedded applications, CompactFlash cards are generally used as a higher reliability and more robust storage system to replace traditional Hard Disk Drives. The CompactFlash card includes a TrueIDE interface to emulate the bus interface of the ATA/IDE bus and make Flash storage transparent to the host system.

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DOD 5220.22-M Requirement - Secure Data Purge From The Flash Storage Device

DoD 5520.22-M Security Data Purge

Another ubiquitous and popular data sanitization method to safely and securely erase sensitive data from a storage device, including Flash SSDs, is DoD 5220.22-M.  This method was initially defined by the US National Industrial Security Program (NISP) in the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM) and is one of the most commonly used data sanitization methods used in data destruction software. Another item to note is that the NISPOM does not define any US government standard for data sanitization. The Cognizant Security Authority (CSA) is truly responsible for data sanitization standards.

The DoD 5220.22-M data sanitization method is implemented in the following way in Fortasa Flash SSDs.:

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NSA Manual 130-12 Requirement - Secure Data Purge From The Flash Storage Device

National Security Agency
Media Sanitization Manual

A more detailed and elaborate data sanitization method to purge resident data from the storage media, including Flash Storage, quickly and securely is defined in NSA Manual, Section 130-12. Currently, the Manual 9-12 supersedes NSA/CSS Manual 130-12.

The NSA method requires the destructive sequence below to overwrite existing information on a hard drive, SSD, Flash card or other storage device. The NSA data sanitization method is defined to be implemented in the following way:

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