CARDSPEED Benchmarks · Market Overview · Information · Express/34 Adapter · USB Readers
For a long time, there were exactly three cards available: SONY MS PRO-HG Duo with 1GB (MS-EX1G), 2GB (MS-EX2G) and 4GB (MS-EX4G) models.
SanDisk was involved in the original press release from December 2006 announcing the MS PRO-HG standard, but it took until May 2008 until they announced their first series. Although their Extreme IV product line with 40MB/s read/write would have been the appropriate speed range at that time, the first series was the SanDisk Extreme III Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo with 4GB (SDMSHX3-004G-A31) and 8GB (SDMSHX3-008G-A31), with a way unterrated read/write speed of 30MB/s.
Towards the end of 2008, SONY introduced a new series, SONY MS PRO-HG HX. 4GB (MS-HX4G) and 8GB (MS-HX8G) were available at that time, the 16GB (MS-HX16G) model was announced for March 2009. In the meantime, a 32GB (MSHX32G) version is available. Finally, SanDisk released the Ultra Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo series with capacities from 4GB (SDMSPDH-004G) to 32GB (SDMSPDH-032G).
| Card | Read | Write | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SanDisk Ultra Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo 32GB | 40.21MB/s | 274x | 31.95MB/s | 218x | ||
| SONY Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX 32GB | 38.71MB/s | 264x | 18.80MB/s | 128x | ||
| SanDisk Extreme III Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo 8GB | 40.94MB/s | 279x | 41.80MB/s | 285x | ||
| SONY Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo 4GB | 37.85MB/s | 258x | 32.65MB/s | 222x | ||
| Brand | Series | Cap. | Item Number |
|---|---|---|---|
| SONY | Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo | 1GB | MS-EX1G |
| SONY | Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo | 2GB | MS-EX2G |
| SONY | Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo | 4GB | MS-EX4G |
| SanDisk | Extreme III Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo | 4GB | SDMSHX3-004G |
| SanDisk | Extreme III Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo | 8GB | SDMSHX3-008G |
| SONY | Memory Stick PRO-HG HX Duo | 4GB | MSHX4G |
| SONY | Memory Stick PRO-HG HX Duo | 8GB | MSHX8G |
| SONY | Memory Stick PRO-HG HX Duo | 16GB | MSHX16G |
| SONY | Memory Stick PRO-HG HX Duo | 32GB | MSHX32G |
| SanDisk | Ultra Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo | 4GB | SDMSPDH-004G |
| SanDisk | Ultra Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo | 8GB | SDMSPDH-008G |
| SanDisk | Ultra Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo | 16GB | SDMSPDH-016G |
| SanDisk | Ultra Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo | 32GB | SDMSPDH-032G |
Memory Stick PRO-HG will currently be available in Duo size only. Compared to the Memory Stick PRO, the maximum clock rate is raised from 40MHz to 60MHz, while the bus width is doubled from 4bit to 8bit. This is done by using longer pads of about 6.3mm length instead of about 4.8mm length. The previous four data pads are then split up in a front half and a rear half to double the bus width. These two measures raise the theoretical data rate from 19MB/s to 57MB/s.
The Memory Stick PRO-HG will be fully compatible with existing Memory Stick PRO devices at up to 40MHz and 4bit bus width. This means that a Memory Stick PRO-HG will act exactly as a regular Memory Stick PRO when used with a decive that is not aware of the Memory Stick PRO-HG standard.
While all previous ExpressCard based Card Readers only used the USB 2.0 link of the ExpressCard interface, the SONY MSAC-EX1 is a true PCIe x1 adapter with a theroretical bandwidth of about 238MB/s.
The adapter identifies as "Sony Memory Stick Duo ExpressCard Adaptor", shows up as PCI device PCI\VEN_104D&DEV_8211&REV_00, and is handled by the service "SonyEXMS" using SonyEXMS.sys.
Of course, Memory Stick PRO-HG can be read with any Memory Stick PRO device. Tests with current card readers without MS PRO-HG support showed read rates of about 16MB/s and write rates of about 14MB/s.