Today we will examine a product not widely known to retail customers, however industrial and enterprise users are very familiar with the products of this company. Greenliant is a major supplier of solid-state storage, controller and flash memory products to leading automotive, industrial and networking companies. Greenliant develops products built to withstand the most extreme conditions, for long-life applications. For knowing better of Greenliant, please visit their website.

What is a CFast memory card? CFast is a high-performance variant of the well-known CompactFlash (CF) format, mainly used in portable electronic devices. Traditional CompactFlash cards use the Parallel ATA (PATA) interface, but in 2008, CFast was announced, based on the Serial ATA (SATA) interface. CFast cards are widely used in professional imaging, video and industrial applications. These removable storage products surpass traditional hard disk drives (HDD) in their security, reliability, ruggedness and low power consumption.

Greenliant’s CFast ArmourDrive™ combines hardware error correction capabilities with wear-leveling algorithms and bad block management to significantly extend the life of the card. With SATA 6Gb/s support, the 91 PX Series offers high performance and an easy upgrade path from legacy PATA-interface CompactFlash cards. The CFast ArmourDrive™ family consists of high-reliability, industrial flash memory cards in a wide selection of capacities and endurance specifications. The 91 Series implements advanced NAND flash management technology to preserve data integrity and extend memory card lifespan. Built in the standard CFast form factor and backed by Greenliant’s technical support, CFast ArmourDrive gives industrial, medical, gaming, video and imaging customers added flexibility when selecting reliable, hot-swappable solid-state storage for space-constrained, embedded systems.

Today we will examine the GLS91CP256G3 CFast ArmourDrive PX Series which is a high-performance, low-power industrial memory card. It has 256 GBytes (GB) of NAND flash memory with an advanced SATA NAND controller in the standard CFast card form factor. This product has 3-bit-per-cell (TLC) 3D NAND configurations. Operating at extreme temperatures, CFast ArmourDrive is ideal for applications requiring removable data storage able to withstand the most demanding environments.

The NAND flash controller with built-in advanced NAND management firmware communicates with the host through the standard SATA protocol. It does not require any additional or proprietary software such as the Flash File System (FFS) and Memory Technology Driver (MTD). The firmware effectively optimizes the use of NAND flash memory’s program/erase (P/E) cycles and minimizes write amplification.

Key Features

Form Factor and Interface
- 36.40mm x 42.85mm x 3.60mm
- Supports SATA 6Gb/s, 3Gb/s and 1.5Gb/s
- Compliant with SA and TA Revision 3.2

High Performance
- Sequential Read / Write performance up to 550MB/s / 490MB/s
- Native Command Queuing up to 32 commands

Energy Efficient
- 3.3V low power supply
- Standby Mode less than 325mW
- Sleep Mode less than 180mW
- DevSleep Mode support

Data Security
- Secure Erase for quick data wipe/factory reset

Pre-programmed Firmware
- Field-upgradeable firmware to add new features and enhance device performance
- Configurable algorithms optimize data retention based on the usage model
- Embedded FFS enables seamless capacity upgrade with no change to host software

Advanced Flash Management
- Dynamic and static wear leveling algorithms maximize product lifespan
- Supports TRIM commands to remove invalid data which is no longer in use

Bad Block Management
- Replaces bad blocks with spare blocks in the NAND flash to prevent uncorrectable errors

Built-in ECC
- Uses advanced bit error detection and correction optimized for 3D NAND

SSD Lifespan Monitoring
- Supports SMART command-based alerts indicating the remaining useful product life

Power Interrupt Data Protection
- Helps prevent data loss during unexpected power failure events

Wide Range of Capacities
- SLC (EX Series): 8 GB - 128 GB
- MLC (MX Series): 16 GB - 64 GB
- TLC (PX Series): 64 GB - 256 GB

Full I-temp Capability
- Industrial operation: -40°C to +85°C

Applications
— Transportation
— Vending machine
— Gaming
— Industrial PC
— Navigation
— Infotainment
— Digital signage
— Point-of-sales
— Security / Surveillance
— Industrial automation & control
— Data logger
— Healthcare
— Test & measurement
— Video conferencing
— Set-top box
— Professional video / photo