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Flash MEdia
Toshiba Launches Dynabook SS RX2/WAJ with 512GB SSD
By Mike Hanlon
23:49 May 14, 2009 PDT
May 15, 2009 Toshiba has announced a new top-of-the-range Dynabook SS RX2/WAJ," the world's first PC with an integrated 512GB SSD (Solid State Drive). The new model is available in two versions from today at Toshiba's on-line shop for the Japanese market. The Toshiba-developed 512GB SSD employs a 2-bit-per-cell multi-level NAND flash memory to realize, the world's largest capacity SSD, with four times the density of SSD integrated into currently available products. A new controller that realizes high-speed parallel processing with the multi-level NAND flash memory boosts data access speeds by approximately 230% for read (max. 230MB per sec) and 450% for write (maximum 180MB per sec), compared with the SSD integrated into current PCs. It also boosts data access speed by approximately 300% for read and 250% for write, compared to a hard disk drive. SSDs are free of mechanical structures such as a rotating disc, and ideal for integration into mobile notebook PCs, making them more resistant to vibration and shock. Read More
LaCie takes USB keys literally
By Darren Quick
00:53 March 10, 2009 PDT
As portable USB drives have gone forth and multiplied across the planet they have evolved into all sorts of different shapes and sizes. We’ve seen credit card shaped drives and even coin shaped drives and all varieties in between. Now LaCie has announced a range of USB drives designed to appear right at home on your key-ring. Read More
SanDisk & Toshiba Flash memory advances
By Darren Quick
22:22 February 11, 2009 PST
The cooperative relationship between SanDisk and Toshiba in the development and manufacturing of advanced Flash memory is producing results with the companies announcing key technology advances at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco, California. The advances include the production of a 32-gigabit (Gb) 3-bits-per-cell (X3) memory chip that is expected to quickly enable greater capacities and reduce manufacturing costs for products ranging from memory cards to Solid State Drives (SSD). The companies also announced the fabrication of the world’s first 64Gb chip that applies 4-bit-per-cell (X4) technology without an increase in chip size, while achieving a write speed performance of 7.8MB/s. Read More
SDXC Memory Cards to provide 2TB storage in defacto standard format
By Mike Hanlon
01:17 January 8, 2009 PST
January 8, 2009 The next-generation SDXC (eXtended Capacity) memory card specification was announced today and while it promises the inevitable seemingly limitless capacities we always knew would arrive eventually, it certainly paints a picture of digital life being quite different in the future. The new SDXC specification provides up to 2 terabytes storage capacity and accelerates SD interface read/write speeds to 104 megabytes per second this year, with a road map to 300 megabytes per second. The day is not far away when a single chip can store weeks of high-definition video, a lifetime photo collection, and months of music. Enough to store your entire life and its soundtrack in your mobile phone. Professional hi-def video equipment form factors will become incredibly small. Read More
Sandisk Cruzer Enterprise: the first secure flash drive to support OS X
By Tim Hanlon
15:58 December 4, 2008 PST
When we pointed out that the AES encryption functionality on board Iomega's eGo Encrypt hard drive didn't function under OS X, turns out we might have been unfairly singling it out - as Sandisk's Cruzer Enterprise has just claimed the title of the world's first encryptable flash drive to fully function on Macintosh operating systems. Read More
Kanguru e-Flash drive with eSATA and USB connectivity
By Darren Quick
19:23 November 24, 2008 PST
The new Kanguru e-Flash drive features both USB and eSATA connectivity, which gives it the dual advantages of widespread connectivity through the USB2.0 standard as well as allowing it to achieve speeds never before obtainable with standard USB drives thanks to an eSATA connection. Using eSATA's 3Gbit/sec throughput, the drive potentially offers five times the throughput of USB 2.0’s 480Mbit/sec and the eSATA connection is powered so no additional power source is required. Read More
Sandisk releases Sansa slotMusic Player
By Darren Quick
21:34 October 15, 2008 PDT
SanDisk is looking to expand its market with the introduction of the Sansa slotMusic Player. The plug & play, portable music player was specially designed for use with the new slotMusic cards available today in the US. SanDisk are pushing slotMusic as a new format of high-fidelity, DRM-free MP3 music on a microSD card, which gives consumers the ability to listen to and quickly swap music between a mobile phone, personal computer, and any MP3 player with a microSD slot. Read More
Gresso's limited edition 192Gb USB pendant
22:40 September 24, 2008 PDT
The latest high-end tech offering from Gresso is a cleverly designed USB Flash drive pendant that incorporates three separate 64 Gb memory sticks into a single unit made from 200-year-old African Blackwood with diamond and gold trimmings. A limited run of 99 pieces has been announced for the ENIGMA collection, but prospective buyers will have to dig deep. Read More
Intel introduces solid state drives for notebooks and desktops
By Darren Quick
03:55 September 9, 2008 PDT
The writing is definitely on the wall for traditional hard drives with the continuing rise of Solid State Drives (SSDs) using flash memory. With no moving parts, SSDs run cooler and quieter and are a more reliable option than hard drives so now Intel have joined the party with the announcement of two new SSDs based on multi-level cell NAND flash technology for laptop and desktop computers. The 1.8-inch X18-M drive and the 2.5-inch X25-M promise several advantages including faster overall system response, boot and resume times. Read More
Sony's high-speed Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX
By Kyle Sherer
17:14 September 8, 2008 PDT
Sony is releasing the Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX this October, in 4GB and 8GB capacity. The memory card has a reading speed of 20MB/s and a writing speed of 15MB/s - and when used with the supplied USB adaptor, it transfers data one third faster than the Memory Stick PRO Duo (Mark 2). Read More
Micron's next-Generation RealSSD Solid State Drives
By Darren Quick
08:53 August 8, 2008 PDT
August 8, 2008 Solid State Drives (SSDs) have found a happy home in laptop computers in recent times due largely to their size, durability and low power consumption compared to traditional hard drives. Now, with SSD capacities increasing, Micron Technology believe SSDs can also find a new home in enterprise server systems where historically hard disk drives have reigned. Read More
Toshiba launches world's lightest laptop with 128GB Solid State Drive
By Darren Quick
17:50 June 29, 2008 PDT
In the world of laptops slim is definitely in. Toshiba’s Digital Products Division has announced the addition of a 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD) to the latest incarnation of its Portégé laptop series. The 2.4 pound Portégé R500-S5007V with a 128GB SSD is billed as the world’s lightest laptop, beating the much hyped Macbook Air, which weighs in at 3 pounds and, unlike the Macbook Air, even manages to include a built-in optical drive into a unit that measures as thin as 0.77-inches. This does mean that the Macbook Air 0.76-inch high Macbook Air retains its world’s thinnest title and it does feature a slightly bigger display – 13.3-inches to the R500’s 12.1-inches. Read More
World's fastest 2.5-inch 256GB SSD from Samsung
By Darren Quick
18:52 May 26, 2008 PDT
May 27, 2008 Following on from last year's 64GB solid state drives (SSD) with SATA II interface, Samsung has upped the ante by developing a 2.5-inch, 256 Gigabyte (GB) multi-level cell (MLC) based solid state drive using a SATA II interface, which it claims is the world’s fastest. With a sequential read speed of 200 megabytes per second (MB/s) and sequential write speed of 160MB/s, Samsung's MLC-based 2.5-inch 256GB SSD is about 2.4 times faster than a typical HDD. Samsung are also laying claim to title of the thinnest drive with the largest capacity to be offered with a SATA II interface - it measures only 9.5 millimeters (mm) thick, and has dimensions of 100.3x69.85 mm. Read More
SanDisk's new line of premium mobile phone memory cards
By Darren Quick
01:12 May 23, 2008 PDT
May 23, 2008 Using mobile phones for multimedia activities has increased as phones have crammed more and more multimedia capabilities into their ever shrinking housings. SanDisk’s new Mobile Ultra microSD/microSDHC and Memory Stick Micro (M2) flash mobile memory cards, aim to meet the storage and speed requirements of digital photography, music downloads, videos, and GPS functionality that have become standard on such devices. Read More
IronKey 8GB Secure USB Drive
By Mike Hanlon
17:43 May 4, 2008 PDT
Flash drives are becoming almost ubiquitous these days, and with Flash memory continuing to follow its own version of Moore’s Law, capacities that were groundbreaking a year or two ago are now low-cost promotional items and the overall effect is that all flash drives become disposable within a short time. This is sad, because once the public’s mind has perceived an item as being of no enduring value, that becomes the truth. It’s particularly sad when an item such as the IronKey comes along, because it has all the virtues of a state-of-the-art flash drive and delivers great bang-per-buck for its unique functionality. Read More
IBM set to supercede Flash with superfast, high capacity, low cost Racetrack memory
By Loz Blain
22:58 April 10, 2008 PDT
April 11, 2008 Nanotechnology was more science fiction than fact when Dr. Eric Drexler released his seminal 'Engines of Creation: the Coming Era of Nanotechnology' in 1986. 20 years later, this revolutionary discipline, which focuses on the manipulation of matter at an atomic or sub-atomic level, is starting to bear fruits in a vast array of bleeding-edge technologies. With nanotech innovations spurring the latest advances from solar energy capture that works in the dark, to long-range, high-power, quick charging batteries for electric cars, to fog-free glass and smart self-thermoregulating fabrics already maturing as viable technologies, the latest advances in nanowire data storage from IBM seem set to thrash both hard drives and flash memory at their own games. It'll be incredibly fast, virtually indestructible thanks to no moving parts, its capacity will be absolutely enormous, it'll use next to no power and produce next to no heat - and it will be 100 times cheaper per byte than flash memory. What's more, IBM says the public debut of this amazing "Racetrack" memory "could be closer than you think." Read More
Sansa Fuze rounds out SanDisk’s media player product line
By Darren Quick
18:20 March 12, 2008 PDT
March 13, 2008 SanDisk has unveiled the Flash-based Sansa Fuze MP3 player, a well specced entry level unit which joins the pint-sized Sansa Clip and the video-centric Sansa View in Sandisk's media player line. Read More
Kingston adds 16GB model to SDHC Memory Card line
21:30 March 9, 2008 PDT
March 10, 2008 Kingston has doubled its the capacity of what was previously its largest SDHC offering by announcing a 16GB SDHC Flash memory card with minimum transfer rates of 4MB per second. Read More
Corsair to release 16GB Flash Voyager GT high performance USB drive
By Emily Clark
21:31 February 28, 2008 PST
February 29, 2008 Corsair has announced a new 16GB high performance USB 2.0 flash drive dubbed the “GT” which offers a significant boost to data transfer speeds. Read More
Toshiba and SanDisk to expand NAND Flash Memory production
By Darren Quick
22:58 February 24, 2008 PST
February 25, 2008 Toshiba Corporation and SanDisk have announced the signing of a non-binding memorandum of understanding to form a new production joint venture and construct a new 300 millimeter (mm) wafer fabrication facility (fab), in Japan to meet the anticipated future demand for NAND flash memory. This latest announcement underscores the commitment of Toshiba and SanDisk to the rapidly expanding market for NAND Flash memory, which has become the storage technology of choice for a growing number of consumer and computing devices, including memory cards. Read More
Mtron develops a 128Gb-1.8 Inch High Capacity SSD
By Darren Quick
16:12 February 24, 2008 PST
February 25, 2008 South Korean Solid State Drive (SSD) products manufacturer Mtronstorage Technology has completed the development of a new 1.8 Inch ZIF-type SSD for laptop PCs. Mtron’s new SSD with Single Level Cell (SLC) Flash memory supports PATA (ZIF-type) interface and has a maximum reading speed of 120MB/s and writing speed of 100MB/s - more than 6 times faster than the current 1.8 inch HDD. Therefore when it’s used in laptop PC and UMPC, Mtron claims it delivers much faster performance than desktop PCs. Mtron has also released a 1.8 inch SSD with Multi Level Cell (MLC) Flash memory, which provides maximum memory capacity of up to 128 GB along with a maximum reading speed of 110 MB/s and writing speed of 40MB/s. Read More
Sandisk ups the capacity of iNAND embedded flash drive to 16GB
By Darren Quick
13:40 February 17, 2008 PST
February 15, 2008 Today's mobile handsets and portable handheld media players have become multimedia centers, packed with features such as digital cameras, games and music and video players. As the features for such devices increase, so too does the need for greater storage capacity. To address this SanDisk has announced the 16GB iNAND embedded Flash drive (EFD). The 16GB iNAND doubles the capacity of Sandisk’s 8GB iNAND and, thanks to recent advances in multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash technology, retains the standard JEDEC, (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council), 12x16mm package. Adhering to the JEDEC package and ball-out requirements, common throughout the industry, provides virtually “plug and play” integration and allows the drives to be designed into mobile handsets quickly. Additionally, iNAND devices utilize the industry-leading and field-proven SD interface and are designed to support mobile TV, multimedia downloading and other storage-hungry applications on portable systems such as mobile handsets, digital audio/MP3 players, gaming applications, GPS applications, personal media players and PDAs. Read More
Panasonic to release 32GB SDHC Memory Card
19:36 February 12, 2008 PST
February 13, 2008 The options for consumers looking to boost storage capacity for their increasingly sophisticated Camcorders just keep getting better. In the latest development, Panasonic has announced it will release a 32 Gigabyte SD High Capacity (SDHC) Memory Card with Class 6 speed specification in April 2008. Read More
Intel and Micron unveil world’s fastest NAND Flash memory
23:49 February 5, 2008 PST
February 6, 2008 Intel Corporation and Micron Technology Inc. have developed a high speed NAND Flash memory technology targeting data-munching consumer electronics applications that's five times faster than conventional NAND. Read More
SanDisk boosts speed and capacity for Ultra II SD memory card line
16:40 February 1, 2008 PST
February 2, 2008 In more good news for camera enthusiasts and their memory hungry devices, Sandisk has announced the upcoming release of a 32GB SDHC card with significantly increased read and write speeds along with an 8GB version of its two-in one, USB-ready SDHC Plus line. Read More
Robert Ferry
- July 3, 2009 @ 15:42 UTC
