Sandisk 32GB solid state drive
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Sandisk 32GB solid state drive
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36706
http://www.sandisk.com/Oem/Default.aspx?CatID=1478
Seems very interesting, but the price is still very prohibitive at $600 for 32GB.
What do you all think?
http://www.sandisk.com/Oem/Default.aspx?CatID=1478
Seems very interesting, but the price is still very prohibitive at $600 for 32GB.
What do you all think?
"Very nice product, aside from the price. I wonder why they chose 1.8" form factor when surely the big market would be 2.5" laptops..."
notebook manufacturers would jump on the reduced form factor in a second, and it also solves a lot of ipod failure issues. Of course this is ignoring prices for a minute.
60 MB/s is pretty damned good for solid state memory. For a traditional 7200 rpm drive, average transfer rate is 60-70 MB/s. The 60 MB/s for the SanDisk SSD UATA 5000 is not an average as it will maintain this over the whole storage area, no inner and outer tracks on a solid state device.
32 GB is plenty for an OS/programs disk.
see link below for comparison of current hard drives for transfer rates.
Of course the price will need to shrink considerable to compete with traditional storage methods.
http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q2/ba ... ex.x?pg=12
notebook manufacturers would jump on the reduced form factor in a second, and it also solves a lot of ipod failure issues. Of course this is ignoring prices for a minute.
60 MB/s is pretty damned good for solid state memory. For a traditional 7200 rpm drive, average transfer rate is 60-70 MB/s. The 60 MB/s for the SanDisk SSD UATA 5000 is not an average as it will maintain this over the whole storage area, no inner and outer tracks on a solid state device.
32 GB is plenty for an OS/programs disk.
see link below for comparison of current hard drives for transfer rates.
Of course the price will need to shrink considerable to compete with traditional storage methods.
http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q2/ba ... ex.x?pg=12
It does, but the smart flash cards compensate by writing data to different physical locations each time data is written. Since access is virtually instant anywhere it comes from, fragmentation is almost irrelevant since there's no moving parts anyway. The only reason fragmentation matters with hard drives is because you have rotational latency and seek lag to reach the needed sectors. Flash can randomly access any sector it wants to at any time.vick1000 wrote:But does'nt flash memory deteriorate with continued over-writes?
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I can't remember where I saw it, but I recall reading that wear levelling software could extend flash memory up to around 100,000 cycles. A quickie about this here as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wear_levellingAZBrandon wrote:It does, but the smart flash cards compensate by writing data to different physical locations each time data is written. Since access is virtually instant anywhere it comes from, fragmentation is almost irrelevant since there's no moving parts anyway. The only reason fragmentation matters with hard drives is because you have rotational latency and seek lag to reach the needed sectors. Flash can randomly access any sector it wants to at any time.vick1000 wrote:But does'nt flash memory deteriorate with continued over-writes?
I'm not sure I'm understanding the Wikipedia entry about Sandisk's software correctly though. What happens to static data that doesn't get altered? Is it basically never cycled through while any free space gets cycled a disproportionately higher number of times? That could be bad if you have a SSD that is nearly full.
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Some flash memories are good up to 1,000,000 cycles now.BrianE wrote:I can't remember where I saw it, but I recall reading that wear levelling software could extend flash memory up to around 100,000 cycles. A quickie about this here as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wear_levellingAZBrandon wrote:It does, but the smart flash cards compensate by writing data to different physical locations each time data is written. Since access is virtually instant anywhere it comes from, fragmentation is almost irrelevant since there's no moving parts anyway. The only reason fragmentation matters with hard drives is because you have rotational latency and seek lag to reach the needed sectors. Flash can randomly access any sector it wants to at any time.vick1000 wrote:But does'nt flash memory deteriorate with continued over-writes?
TrueFFS also does static data rotation. So even if the host computer isn't rewriting those sectors, they'll be moved around so that their remaining erase cycles are available to the whole system.I'm not sure I'm understanding the Wikipedia entry about Sandisk's software correctly though. What happens to static data that doesn't get altered? Is it basically never cycled through while any free space gets cycled a disproportionately higher number of times? That could be bad if you have a SSD that is nearly full.
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True, but most people aren't willing to sacrifice the versatility and ease of use of Windows. I'm not saying Windows is good, I'm just saying everyone's used to it and every program conforms to it (most of time). They need to make it 64GB and get the price down to about $1.50/GB. Then they will sell like crazy. I expect it to get down there sometime late this year or early next year. Hopefully, there'll be some Black Friday deals .loz wrote:Windows isn't the only OS, and you can find alternative light versions of Windows...
P.S. Hmmm, maybe its time to buy some SanDisk stock . . .
Yeah for a lot of people, a 2gb Windows XP image, another gig for MS Office, and a few gigs for random stuff is all that they need. I know at least two people who only use their computer for browsing the internet and occasionally downloading pics from their digital camera so they can be posted to myspace. For them even an 8gb hard drive would probably be enough.
new Adtron SSD 160GB
How about his one? Looks promising.
Re: new Adtron SSD 160GB
Indeed. I just sent them an email asking about pricing and availability. I'd actually be perfectly fine with the 32gb model probably, like for my already passive linux server to make it truly silent.kater wrote:How about his one? Looks promising.
Re: new Adtron SSD 160GB
Please let us know what you hear, if anything!AZBrandon wrote:Indeed. I just sent them an email asking about pricing and availability. I'd actually be perfectly fine with the 32gb model probably, like for my already passive linux server to make it truly silent.kater wrote:How about his one? Looks promising.
Re: new Adtron SSD 160GB
Yeah, nothing so far, but I'll let you know when I do hear something. That's actually a local company for me, maybe 15 miles from where I live. Unfortuantely in searching online to try to find more information, I saw one page saying they might be $80-100 per gigabyte. That would put even the 32gb model at $2500. I personally have trouble believing that's possible when the Sandisk is supposedly $600 for a 32gb drive, but I hope to find out maybe in the next day or two.Eunos wrote:Please let us know what you hear, if anything!
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Gotcha. Well they never wrote back and I suspect they have no interest in getting back to me anyway. I guess Sandisk is the one to watch in this arena. Heck, I think I could fit a pretty decent linux build even on a 4gb drive, I just would want it to be a flash device truly intended to be a hard drive, rather than using a consumer grade flash card as a drive. I dunno, maybe I'll get ambitious and experiment some day down the road.highlandsun wrote:Adtron is one of the most expensive industrial brands out there. Definitely not in the consumer price range.
Update: Looks like it will actually be priced at $350. Still too expensive for me to consider it currently. However, if volume picks up and prices come down, this can be affordable very soon.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6466
http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/PressR ... px?ID=3732
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6466
http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/PressR ... px?ID=3732
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Yeah but when will we see these in the usual distribution channels?
It's nice to read about and all, but "launch" and "available to manufacturers" doesn't mean it's showing up as in-stock item at NewEgg. I would like to upgrade my laptop and until it shows up in the usual e-tailer shops it's not really available, to me.
The limited number of form-factors and interfaces seems a problem also. Lots of laptops with 2.5" format and PATA, so having only SATA means it's not going to fit.
It's nice to read about and all, but "launch" and "available to manufacturers" doesn't mean it's showing up as in-stock item at NewEgg. I would like to upgrade my laptop and until it shows up in the usual e-tailer shops it's not really available, to me.
The limited number of form-factors and interfaces seems a problem also. Lots of laptops with 2.5" format and PATA, so having only SATA means it's not going to fit.
To clarify, the articles indicate that the $350 buys a 2.5" SATA version of the 1.8" announced in January - and that price only applies to bulk orders.
If Sandisk are serious, they will offer test samples to PC publications (especially to SPCR ) make sure it's well marketed and available to buy ASAP.
If Sandisk are serious, they will offer test samples to PC publications (especially to SPCR ) make sure it's well marketed and available to buy ASAP.
XP Pro and a LOT of apps on my system adds up to under 10 g. I would not want a Vista that hogs up 30G. Obviously EVERYTHING in life is trade-offs,and in large part-that's what this whole site is about. This is a technology that will get more effective and less expensive. Remember the first CD burners? The first DVD Rom drives? LCD monitors? Remember WAY back (about 3-4 years) when the "power" CPU was about = to a Sempron 3000 in performance but 8x the price?NoiseFreeGuy wrote:Oh really?link1896 wrote:32 GB is plenty for an OS/programs disk.
Win XP Media Centre takes up 9G, pre-installed.
Windows Vista takes up anywhere from 10-40G !!! (depending on version)