Top 7 Reasons why SiliconSystems PCMCIA and CF Cards are hard to find

1.  Western Digital purchased SiliconSystems.

2.  After the acquisition Western Digital discontinued production of the PCMCIA ATA Cards.  They still continue to offer compact flash cards…For now..

3.   The old “-3012” series SiliconSystems cards are no longer available.  The new series is the 4000 series.  Typically a 6-8 week lead time when purchased in quantities of 60 or more.

4.  Why off the shelf cards are not compatible  as drop in replacements?  SiliconSystems used a proprietary combination of flash and controller to assemble their cards and drives.  Many solution providers ensured that their hardware required only SiliconSystems cards to operate.

5. Are any of their options such as SiPurge, SiDestroy still available?  There other drives on the market that offer these features.  However, they are very expensive and typically cost prohibitive to anyone except the military.

6. Can I make any changes to adapt to these new cards?  Yes, typically it was the software that was configured to look for certain sectors on the SiliconSystems card.  If you have access to the code you can change it to write to any sector of a card.

7.  As the market for flash memory decreases the cost associated to develop, manufacture and promote these products continue to increase.  In a shrinking market it is difficult for companies to spend millions of dollars and operate in the black.  As a result we will continue to see legacy products disappear from the marketplace.

What options are available to continue to service and maintain legacy hardware still in operation today?  In the past five years we have had PCMCIA cards make a resurgence.  Specially industrial grade high temperature rated PCMCIA cards.  Older voice PBX  systems, routers and large scale locomotives all still require this form factor.  In all of these sectors it is not cost effective to upgrade the hardware to accommodate a card with a modern chip configuration.

PCcardsDirect has assembled a compatible PCMCIA ATA PC Card with an enhanced controller for better compatibility with older SiliconSystems cards.  Before you scrap your old hardware you will want to test a this new card.  Available from 64MB to 16GB capacities at: www.pccardsdirect.com…

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