The following chart gives details on availability of adapters to put a given card (horizontal) in a given slot or device (vertical). This table
does not take into account protocol issues in communicating with the device. Following labels are used: •
+ (native) – A slot is native for such card. •
D (
Directly compatible) – A card may be used in such a slot directly, without any adapters. Best possible compatibility. •
M (requires a
Mechanical adapter) – Such adapter is only a physical enclosure to fit one card sized into another; all electrical pins are exactly the same. •
EM (requires an
Electro-
Mechanical adapter) – Such adapter features both physical enclosure and pins re-routing as terminals are sufficiently different. No powered elements in such adapter exists, thus they're very cheap and easy to manufacture and may be supplied as a bonus for every such card. •
E (requires an
Electronic adapter enclosure) – These adapters must have components—potentially requiring external power—that transform signals, as well as physical enclosure and pin routing. •
X (requires an e
Xternal adapter) – Technically the same as
E, but such adapter usually consists of 2 parts: a pseudo-card with pin routing and physical enclosure size that perfectly match the target slot and a break-out box (a
card reader) that holds a real card. Such adapter is the least comfortable to use. •
XM (requires an e
Xternal electro-mechanical adapter) – Technically the same as
EM, but such adapter usually consists of 2 parts: a pseudo-card with pin routing and physical enclosure size that perfectly match the target slot and a break-out box (a
card reader) that holds a real card. Such adapter is the least comfortable to use. •
Empty cell – Card cannot be used in such slot, no single adapter is known to exist. Sometimes a chain of adapters can help (for example, miniSD→CF as miniSD→SD→CF). == References ==