BackFlash memory card compatibility
15 Apr 2011
Slight modifications in 2016 -
All of our rugged handheld computer products provide internal flash storage memory as well as support for flash (and limited other type) memory cards to be inserted for adding additional storage memory. Information regarding flash memory cards and their compatibility with each of our rugged handheld computer product models is provided in this article.
Secure Digital (SD)
A full size Secure Digital (SD) card slot is provided in our Mesa Rugged Notepad and the original Archer Field PC model products. A Micro SD card slot is provided in our Allegro 2, Archer 2, Allegro MX Field PC, and TK6000 products. All support the original SD format (pretty much FAT16) which has been available up to 4GB capacity (though now most often can only be found up to 2GB capacity). All (except for the original Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system on the previous Archer) also support the SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) format (pretty much FAT32) which is usually available up to a 32GB capacity. The Allegro 2 and Archer 2 can support up to Class 10 speed cards.
There have been limited reports of issues encountered while trying to perform an operating system update such as from a 32GB SDHC card in the Mesa, but most cases were easily resolved or worked around.
Compact Flash (CF)
A Type 1 and 2 Compact Flash (CF) card slot is provided in the previous Archer Field PC model. Recommended storage memory formats include FAT16 and FAT32. Compatible storage memory capacities up to 64 GB are most often currently available. Limited compatibility testing has been performed on other format and larger capacity cards.
There have been limited reports of issues encountered while trying to perform an operating system update from a card that was not of the FAT16 format (2 or 4 GB maximum capacity), but most cases were easily resolved or worked around. Some other potential issues may be briefly described at the following web page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompactFlash#Filesystems
PC Card (PCMCIA, ATA)
A Type 1 and 2 16-bit PCMCIA card slot is provided in older Allegro Field PC models. PC Card type flash memory is generally no longer available, but adapters for inserting a CF type card are still fairly common. Using a CF card in a PC Card adapter has the same compatibility as explained in the Compact Flash (CF) section above, but with additional limitations with Allegro DOS models as explained in the following article.
