ProGrade Digital’s Latest Software Lets You Update a Memory Card’s Firmware
ProGrade Digital has updated its Refresh Pro computer software — a tool for maximizing the performance of a card and monitoring product health — with the ability to update the firmware of its memory cards.
Memory cards have typically not come packed with the ability to update firmware — what buyers get out of the box is usually the end of the story. The update to Refresh Pro Version 3.1 now includes the ability to do so though on CFexpress Type B cards, SD cards, and microSD cards.
Wes Brewer, founder and CEO of ProGrade Digital, says that the feature is a tool that will allow photographers to ensure their cards are always safely operating at maximum capability. The company says that the new “new field-firmware-upgradable (FFU) capability” allows customers to upgrade the firmware in their memory cards by themselves, which it says will ensure greater compatibility with new camera releases.
Additionally, ProGrade Digital gains the ability to release enhancements to card functionality that may be needed to, as Brewer says, “assure premium operation on a continued basis.”
Version 3.1 comes with three highlighted features: the aforementioned firmware upgrade capability for CFexpress Type B, SD, and microSD cards, eject functionality of individual cards, and early detection of compatible ProGrade Digital cards to improve the user experience. Cards that are compatible with Refresh Pro are denoted by the “R” logo seen above which will be physically printed on the card.
Refresh Pro was originally released in 2019, separate from the Recovery Pro software, with the promise that it could allow photographers to check on the overall health of a memory card and then “refresh” it to perform in a factory new condition. This “health check” feature tells photographers whether a memory card should be “confidently used, cautiously used, or replaced” depending on detected usage. If the card has less than 10% life remaining based on “design limits,” the software will suggest photographers avoid using it for critical shoots and replace the card as soon as possible.
The restoration of a card to “factory condition” is part of Refresh Pro’s “Sanitize” function, and while it can’t undo the normal aging process of a card, ProGrade Digital says it allows a card, regardless of its age, to perform faster and respond better to write operations of the camera.
Refresh Pro is available for $10 per year directly from ProGrade Digital after a six-month free trial.
Image credits: ProGrade Digital
