FlashPath (FlashPath Floppy Disk Adapter) were a series of devices produced by the company SmartDisk, which allowed a variety of
memory cards to be used in a
3.5" Floppy disk drive. The initial version introduced in May 1998 allowed
SmartMedia
SmartMedia is an obsolete flash memory, flash memory card standard owned by Toshiba, with capacities ranging from 2 MB to 128 MB. The format mostly saw application in the early 2000s in digital cameras and audio production. SmartMedia m ...
cards to be used with a floppy drive. Later,
Memory Stick
The Memory Stick is a removable flash memory, flash memory card format, originally launched by Sony in late 1998. In addition to the original Memory Stick, this family includes the Memory Stick PRO, a revision that allows greater maximum storage ...
and
Secure Digital
Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of portable consumer electronics, including digi ...
/
Multi Media Card versions were made as well. FlashPath adapters were sold both branded by SmartDisk, and as
OEM devices under other brand names.
FlashPath is hardware compatible with all standard 3.5" High-Density Floppy disk drives, but is not a drop-in replacement for real floppy disks. A special software
device driver
In the context of an operating system, a device driver is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer or automaton. A driver provides a software interface to hardware devices, enabli ...
must be installed on the computer that is to access data via FlashPath. Thus, FlashPath is only usable with computers and operating systems for which such a driver exists and can be installed.
SmartDisk was sued by PC Connector Solutions, LLC over alleged U.S.
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
infringement by SmartDisk's Smarty and FlashPath products in 2000. However, the court ruled in favor of SmartDisk; a final ruling was made in 2005.
In 2007, SmartDisk sold its intellectual property assets to
Verbatim
Verbatim means word for word. It may refer to:
* ''Verbatim'' (album), a 1996 album by Bob Ostertag
* "Verbatim" (song), a 2015 song by Blackbear
* Verbatim (brand), a brand of storage media and flash memory
* Verbatim (horse)
Verbatim (1965 ...
, creating the
patent holding company
A patent holding company (PHC) exists to hold patents on behalf of one or more other companies but does not necessarily manufacture products or supply services based upon the patents held.
Patent holding companies may exist for tax reasons. Pate ...
SMDK Corp. The holding company issued a new set of
patent infringement
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
lawsuits in 2008.
However, since the product was already effectively obsolete by then, most computer users were not affected by the lawsuits.
See also
*
Cassette tape adaptor
*
Digital cameras
A digital camera, also called a digicam, is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film or film stock. Digital cameras are now ...
References
External links
*{{web archive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010330184735/http://flashpath.com/, title=Official FlashPath website
Review of using a FlashPath adapter for SmartMedia(October 1998/February 1999)
Computer peripherals