Revision 1.0 MultiMediaCardRS-MultiMediaCard Product Manual
© 2004 SanDisk Corporation 1-4
051304
1.9 Endurance
The SanDisk MultiMediaCard and RS-MultiMediaCard have a typical endurance specification for each sector of 100,000 writes reading a logical sector is unlimited. This
far exceeds what is required in nearly all card applications. For example, very heavy use of the MultiMediaCardRS-MultiMediaCard in cellular phones, personal communicators,
pagers and voice recorders will use only a fraction of the total endurance over the device’s typical lifetime. That means it would take over 34 years to wear out an area of the card on
which a file of any size from 512 bytes to maximum capacity was rewritten 3 times per hour, 8 hours a day, 365 days per year. However, for the vast majority of users employing
typical applications, the endurance limit is not of any practical concern.
1.10 Automatic Sleep Mode
A unique feature of the SanDisk MultiMediaCardRS-MultiMediaCard is automatic entrance and exit from sleep mode. Upon completion of an operation, the card enters the
sleep mode to conserve power if subsequent commands are not received within five milliseconds. The host does not have to take any action for this to occur. In most systems,
the MultiMediaCardRS-MultiMediaCard are in sleep mode except when the host is accessing them, thus conserving power.
When the host is ready to access the card in sleep mode, any command issued to it will cause the exit from sleep and respond.
1.11 Hot Insertion
Support for hot insertion will be required on the host but will be supported through the connector. Connector manufacturers will provide connectors that have power pins long
enough to be powered before contact is made with the other pins. This approach is similar to that used in PCMCIA and MMCA devices to allow for hot insertion and applies to
MultiMediaCard and SPI modes.
1.12 MultiMediaCard Mode
The following sections provide valuable information on the MultiMediaCard and RS- MultiMediaCard in MultiMediaCard mode.
1.12.1 MultiMediaCard Standard Compliance
The MultiMediaCard and RS-MultiMediaCard are fully compliant with the MultiMediaCard Standard Specification, v3.3. The structure of the Card Specific Data
CSD Register is compliant with CSD Structure v1.2.
1.12.2 Negotiating Operating
Conditions
The MultiMediaCard and RS-MultiMediaCard support the operation condition verification sequence defined in the MultiMediaCard Standard Specification, v3.3. If the host defines
an operating voltage range not supported by the card, the card will go into an inactive state and ignore any bus communication. The only way to get a card out of an inactive state is by
powering the card down and up again.
Revision 1.0 MultiMediaCardRS-MultiMediaCard Product Manual
© 2004 SanDisk Corporation 1-5
051304
In addition, the host can explicitly send either card to an inactive state by using the GO_INACTIVE_STATE command.
1.12.3 Card Acquisition and Identification
The MultiMediaCard and RS-MultiMediaCard bus is a single master host application and multi-slaves cards bus. The host can query the bus and determine how many cards, and of
which type, are connected. The card’s CID Register is pre-programmed with a unique card identification number used during the identification procedure.
In addition, the card host can read either card’s CID Register using the READ_CID command. The CID Register is programmed during MultiMediaCard and RS-
MultiMediaCard testing and formatting procedures during manufacturing. The card host can only read, and not write to the CID Register.
1.12.4 Card Status
The MultiMediaCard and RS-MultiMediaCard status is stored in a 32-bit status register that is sent as the data field, in the card response to host commands. The Status Register
provides information about the card’s active state and completion codes for the last host command
The card status can be explicitly polled with the SEND_STATUS command.
1.12.5 Memory Array
