Editing CompactFlash (section)

===CFast===
{{Anchor|CFast 1.0|CFast 2.0}}
[[File:CFast Kontakte (cropped).jpg|thumb|Pins of a CFast card]]

A variant of CompactFlash known as '''CFast''' is based on the [[Serial ATA]] (SATA) interface, rather than the [[Parallel ATA]]/IDE (PATA) bus for which all previous versions of CompactFlash are designed. CFast is also known as CompactFast.

CFast 1.0/1.1 supports a higher maximum transfer rate than current CompactFlash cards, using [[Serial ATA#SATA revision 2.0 (3 Gbit/s, 300 MB/s)|SATA 2.0]] (300&nbsp;MB/s) interface, while PATA is limited to 167&nbsp;MB/s using [[UDMA#ATA standards versions, transfer rates, and features|UDMA 7]].

CFast cards are not physically or electrically compatible with CompactFlash cards. However, since SATA can emulate the PATA command protocol, existing CompactFlash software drivers can be used, although writing new drivers to use [[AHCI]] instead of PATA emulation will almost always result in significant performance gains. CFast cards use a female [[SATA#Data connector|7-pin SATA data connector]], and a female 17-pin power connector,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hsc-us.com/pdf/Evolution_of_cf_whitepaper.pdf|title=CFast&nbsp;– Evolution of the CompactFlash Interface|publisher=CompactFlash Association|date=2008-04-14|access-date=2010-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205005403/http://www.hsc-us.com/pdf/Evolution_of_cf_whitepaper.pdf|archive-date=2008-12-05|url-status=dead}}</ref> so an adaptor is required to connect CFast cards in place of standard SATA hard drives which use male connectors.

The first CFast cards reached the market in late 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.engadget.com/2008/02/25/cfast-compactflash-cards-now-said-to-be-coming-in-18-to-24-mont/|author=Donald Melanson|date=2008-02-25|publisher=[[Engadget]]|title=CFast CompactFlash cards now said to be coming in "18 to 24 months"}}</ref> At [[Consumer Electronics Show|CES]] 2009, Pretec showed a 32&nbsp;GB CFast card and announced that they should reach the market within a few months.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dpreview.com/news/0901/09010902preteccfaststoragecards.asp|publisher=[[DPReview]]|date=2008-01-08|title=Pretec release CFast card with SATA interface}}</ref> Delock began distributing CFast cards in 2010, offering several card readers with [[USB 3.0]] and [[eSATAp]] (power over eSATA) ports to support CFast cards.

Seeking higher performance and still keeping a compact storage format, some of the earliest adoptors of CFast cards were in the gaming industry (used in slot machines), as a natural evolution from the by then well-established CF cards. Current gaming industry supporters of the format include both specialist gaming companies (e.g. [[Aristocrat Leisure]]) and OEMs such as Innocore (now part of [[Advantech Co., Ltd.]]).

The CFast 2.0 specification was released in the second quarter of 2012, updating the electrical interface to [[Serial ATA#SATA revision 3.0 (6 Gbit/s, 600 MB/s)|SATA 3.0]] (600&nbsp;MB/s). As of 2014, the only product employing CFast 2.0 cards was the [[Arri]] Amira digital production camera,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arri.com/amira/|title=ARRI Group: AMIRA|website=ARRI Group|access-date=18 March 2018}}</ref> allowing frame rates of up to 200 fps; a CFast 2.0 adapter for the [[Arri Alexa|Arri Alexa/XT]] camera was also released.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arri.com/camera/alexa/news/news/in-camera-cfast-20-for-alexa/|title=ARRI Group: News|website=ARRI Group|access-date=18 March 2018}}</ref>

On 7 April 2014, [[Blackmagic Design]] announced the URSA cinema camera, which records to CFast media.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicursa|title=Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro – Blackmagic Design|first=Blackmagic|last=Design|website=www.blackmagicdesign.com|access-date=18 March 2018}}</ref>

On 8 April 2015, [[Canon Inc.]] announced the [[Canon XC10|XC10]] video camera, which also makes use of CFast cards.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canon-europe.com/for_home/product_finder/camcorders/professional/xc10/|publisher=[[Canon Europe]]|date=2015-04-08|title=Canon XC10 – Professional camcorder}}</ref> Blackmagic Design also announced that its URSA Mini will use CFast 2.0.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}}

As of October 2016, there are a growing number of cameras, video recorders, and audio recorders that use the faster data rates offered by CFast media.

As of 2017, in the wider embedded electronics industry, transition from CF to CFast is still relatively slow, probably due to hardware cost considerations and some inertia (familiarity with CF) and because a significant part of the industry is satisfied with the lower performance provided by CF cards, thus having no reason to change. A strong incentive to change to CFast for embedded electronics companies using designs based on Intel PC architecture is the fact that Intel has removed native support for the (P)ATA interface a few design platforms ago and the older CPU/PCH generations now have end-of-life status.