ProGrade Digital’s New Software Tells You When Your Card is About to Die
Memory Card maker ProGrade Digital has unveiled an interesting new piece of software called “Refresh Pro.” When used with compatible ProGrade memory cards and card readers, the software can tell you the health of your memory card and “refresh” your card’s performance to “factory new” condition.
As the company’s name suggests, ProGrade is all about professional grade memory for creatives, and Refresh Pro seeks to deliver on this promise in a novel way. When you plug in a Refresh compatible ProGrade memory card—indicated by the R in the bottom right-hand corner—into a ProGrade card reader, the software will allow you to run either a Health Check or a Refresh.
The Health Check will tell you “whether a memory card should be confidently used, cautiously used or replaced” depending on the amount of usage the software detects. If the card has less than 10% life remaining based on “design limits,” the software will suggest that you avoid using it for critical shoots and replace the card as soon as possible. A handy function to be sure.
The Refresh or “sanitize” function in Refresh Pro defragments and reformats the card “to a factory new state” so that you know you’re getting the best possible memory card performance.
To learn more about Refresh Pro, head over to the ProGrade Digital website, where the software is currently available for Windows only (Mac version coming soon) at a price tag of $30. What do you think of this idea? Would you like other card makers to follow suit, or do you see it as a gimmick?
(via DPReview)
