Why do people say “Scan-disk” when they are talking about “SanDisk?”

The two meanings are completely different and only vaguely related. Many people often refer to the world’s most popular flash memory brand SanDisk as Scan-disk when talking about a particular flash memory card or USB flash drive. Have a look on the web, do a quick search on Google, web searches are littered with this spelling error, albeit some are deliberate. Try a quick search on Google, e.g. “scandisk ultra” or “scandisk extreme”

Well, just in case you don’t know what the difference is here goes:

“SanDisk” is a multinational corporation which designs and markets flash memory card products. SanDisk is US based and became a publicly traded company on NASDAQUS in 1985. SanDisk is simply a massive company with manufacturing facilities in ten locations throughout the world.

“ScanDisk” is a Microsoft utility that checks and repairs file systems and bad clusters on your PC, normally run as part of your routine hard disk maintenance.

What connects the two? ..well they sound the same and maybe you could use a Sandisk product on your PC which may also be running ScanDisk at the same time.

If you say ScanDisk, why, what makes you say it ?

SDHC card - 30MB/s Edition has just been announced. The new cards are available worldwide. The 4gb, 8gb and 16gb will be available first, with 32gb to follow. They are designed to deliver peak performance when used with the new digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras, such as the Nikon D90.

The Nikon D90 is the industry’s first DSLR camera to support SanDisk Extreme SDHC 30MB/s Edition cards at increased performance. Featuring a 50-percent speed boost from previous 20MB/s cards, the new SanDisk Extreme SDHC 30MB/s Edition card makes it possible to record 39 images in continuous shooting mode at 4.5 frames per second with a file size of 6.0 mb JPEG L Fine per image. The Nikon D90 camera captures high-resolution, 12.3 megapixel still images, and it is Nikon’s first DSLR to offer movie recording capability.

With ever-increasing technology advancements in DSLR cameras, higher megapixel growth and new video capturing capabilities, SanDisk Extreme SDHC 30MB/s cards make it easy for consumers to capture and store more high-resolution images and video content. When placed in SanDisk’s new ImageMate Multi-Card USB 2.0 Reader/Writer (not yet available), still images and video can be transferred from the new SDHC card to a computer up to 30MB/s, greatly reducing the waiting time to offload large files from the card to the computer.

Susan Park, director of consumer product marketing for SanDisk’s performance cards commented: “The high capacities and performance of the SanDisk Extreme 30MB/s Edition SDHC cards give users the freedom to shoot lots of high-resolution photos and video clips, the combination of our new SanDisk Extreme 30 MB/s Edition SDHC card technology and the Nikon D90 camera maximises performance.”

Global sales of DSLR cameras grew by 41 percent last year, which was nearly twice the growth rate of the overall digital camera market worldwide.

“Increasingly we’re seeing more second- or third-time digital camera buyers upgrading to more technologically-advanced prosumer DSLRs because they offer richer feature sets at more affordable prices than ever before,” said Chris Chute, research manager of IDC’s Worldwide Digital Imaging Solutions Group. “The new SanDisk Extreme cards provide optimal performance levels and high-capacity points to match that latest technology innovation.”

“Whether capturing a special moment in sports, a wilderness hike, or just your toddler running across the room, life doesn’t always stop when you want to take a picture. The combination of the new Nikon D90 camera and SanDisk Extreme 30MB/s Edition SDHC cards helps ensure that photographers capture winning action shots and experience quicker transfer of files from the camera’s memory card to a computer,” said Mr. Koichiro Kawamura, General Manager, 1st Designing Department, Imaging Company Nikon Corporation

Beyond their high capacities and performance levels, all SanDisk Extreme cards are capable of functioning in varying extremes of temperature, from -13 to 185 degrees Fahrenheit or -25 to 85 degrees Celsius. The cards also carry a lifetime limited warranty. SanDisk Extreme SDHC cards 30MB/s Edition , which have a Class 10 performance rating, are fully backwards-compatible; working in any camera, card reader or other device that supports SDHC cards.