INTRODUCTION

   From the very first PCMCIA, CompactFlash (CF), SmartMedia (SM/SMC), MultiMedia (MMC), Memory Stick (MS) and SD cards released throughout the 90's to the first microSD cards released in the mid-2000s and the latest Universal Flash Storage (UFS) and CFexpress cards released since 2016 the flash memory industry has done its best to advance technology and support both consumers and professionals alike. Yes, the usual competition between manufacturers and their various standards/media formats did end up "confusing" the market for a few years but as of today things are pretty much clear with only Samsung supporting another standard (UFS) as opposed with the rest of the industry/market (SD/MicroSD/CFexpress). Now if you're reading these lines chances are you know just how fast the latest CFexpress cards are and even though Type C cards are still not here (at least not to my knowledge) Type B cards are more than enough and the Professional Diamond CFexpress 256GB model by Lexar seems to be the fastest one yet.

   For more than 25 years, Lexar has been a trusted leading global brand of memory solutions. Our award-winning lineup includes memory cards, USB flash drives, card readers, solid-state drives and DRAM. With so many options, it’s easy to find the right Lexar solution to fit your needs. All Lexar product designs undergo extensive testing in the Lexar Quality Labs with more than 1,100 digital devices, to ensure performance, quality, compatibility, and reliability. Lexar products are available worldwide at major retail and e-tail stores. For more information or support, visit www.lexar.com.

   As mentioned in my previous CFexpress reviews all three CFexpress card standards (A/B/C) are based around the PCIe 3.0 NVMe v1.3 specification (Gen3x1 for Type A, Gen3x2 for Type B and Gen3x4 for Type C) thus allowing for speeds of up to 1000MB/s, 2000MB/s and 4000MB/s respectively (theoretical ones always). Of course, this obviously means that in the near future we may witness a CFexpress standard based on either PCIe 4.0 or PCIe 5.0 (which in turn should allow for speeds up to 8000MB/s and 13000MB/s respectively) but until that happens the upcoming Type C models are the fastest planned. As for the Professional Diamond CFexpress 256GB model it's also available in 128/512GB capacities, Lexar covers it with a limited lifetime warranty and always according to its published specifications it can reach speeds of up to 1900MB/s in reads and 1700MB/s in writes thus allowing even for smooth 8k RAW video recording. So, time to see just how fast the flagship CFexpress Type B model by Lexar really is.