Ian Grayson13 December 2007, 4:38 AM
Driving another nail into the coffin of notebook hard disks, Toshiba has announced a range of flash drives that can swallow up to 128 gigabytes of data.
 Toshiba's grunty new 128GB flash drive |
If you're buying a new notebook computer next year, the chances of it not having a hard drive just got stronger.
Rapid capacity advances in flash memory capacities have removed the biggest reason to stay with conventional platter-based hard disks - capacity. Add reliability and falling prices and you've got a compelling argument to make a move.
Early in the new year Toshiba will start shipping a new range of solid state (SSD) drives with capacities of 32, 64 and 128GB. The NAND-based devices will have write speeds of 40 megabits-per-second and read speeds of 100 megabits-per-second.
The first models will be in a module form, however the company says later next year they will begin shipping them in 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch form factors. They will also be compatible with Serial ATA-300 connections.
Prices are yet to be announced, but 128GB flash products from other manufacturers sit around the $US4000 mark, so, although there are hopes that pricing will eventually drop to be comparable with hard drives, don't expect to see a 128GB flash drive in the rumoured ultraportable MacBook Pro.
Toshiba has been able to pack such massive capacities into the drives by using so-called Multi-level cell (MLC) technology that allows data to be stored in more than one layer with the device. Conventional flash storage uses just a single layer.
Flash memory offers significant benefits for notebook users. As well as being more resistant to bumps and shocks, it also requires much less power than a conventional spinning disk.
The new Toshiba storage drives will be publically displayed for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Volume production is expected to begin during the first few months of the year.