CFast is a variant of Compact Flash. A traditional Compact Flash card is based off ATA or IDE bus for data transfer. Since most CF cards are used for embedded applications, the forum was looking to increase speed. They did this by creating CFast which is a technology based of Serial ATA bus.
This means the connector is completely different for Compact Flash cards and CFast cards. So if you are thinking about increasing your performance of a CF card while using your traditional CF card Reader, you’ll be S.O.L. The CFast uses a different connection type. In addition, if you are using the CF cards for camera’s, you’ll have to get a new camera…one that supports CFast connection. CFast cards use a 7-pin SATA data connector (identical to the standard SATA connector).
The data transfer rate of CFast is about 3 times faster than Compact Flash. So we’ve jumped from 100MB/s to about 300MB/s.
Kicking around in technology since 2002. I like to write about technology products and ideas, but at the consumer level understanding. Some tech, but not too techie.
Posting on Quora.com as well.
