It’s hip2b2

Now this is one big solid state storage device! In tgdaily.com, it reports that “Samsung launches 32GB Flash disk for mobile computers“.

Samsung is first to announce a Flash storage device that aims to completely replace the traditional hard drive in some mass market mobile computers. The 32 GB solid state disk (SSD) drive comes in a 1.8″ form factor and reads data at more than twice the speed of hard drives. Best of all: The SSD is promised to consume 95% less power than a hard drive.

This is not surprising since solid state storage devices are more durable in certain environments than their mechanical counter parts. The only thing left going for mechanical storage devices is their storage sizes and their high read-write duty cycle. But with the release of a small form factor 32GB flash device, it should not be difficult to cascade a number of these to form a large solid state storage device. It is currently at 1.8 inches making it suitable for mobile devices. There is nothing much we can do about the read-write duty cycles yet.

This is definitely useful for certain environments where mechanical disks fall flat such as:

• Rugged and non-environmentally controlled locations like factories and warehouses
• Environments with inadequate cooling and ventilation such as the outdoors
• Experimental and laboratory setups
• Moving environments such as cars and portable devices
• … and many more

There is some interesting discussions in Slashdot about other uses of these drives. Will this be the end of mechanical storage devices? Not so long from now, will there be a version of this we can wear around our necks? Now if only the prices of these devices decrease as fast as their storage size increases.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006 at 6:21 am and is filed under Hardware. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.