Toshiba fuel SSD growth by unveiling 128GB drive

[HEXUS]

SSDs (Solid State Drives) are expected to become mainstream in the very near future and Toshiba has revealed three new products that look set to make SSD growth faster than expected.

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[Funkstar]

well they have the capcity now, just need to work on the pricing. I'd love to replace the 120GB drive in here with a 128GB SSD.

[chuckskull]

So are the they noticeably faster than a raptor yet?

[Funkstar]

It depends on the what you are measuring doesn't it?

They will be a damn sight better than a 5400rpm laptop drive though

[Sinizter]

How much are these supposed to cost ? The 64GB samsung ones are close to £600.

[Stoo]

Well, that's the thing, with data densities going up, the price will come down dramatically.

By the time these hit full production, I'd guess that they'd end up about £300, and steadily lower over time, just like normal flash memory has

Right now however, they're a bit pricey.. Newegg.com - SUPER TALENT FSD28GC25M 2.5" 128GB SATA Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Retail .. about £1600 of pricey...

[Funkstar]

now thats pricey!

You are right though, the price of these will drop dramatically.

I would also speculate that once SSDs become common place, the costs will scale a lot better than regular hard drives. At the moment the smallest few sizes of drives are really close in price, you can pay a few pounds more and double or tripple your capacity. Thats because they all need the same basics (motors, heads, platers, controller boards, power regulators etc.). SSDs have less of these. They don't need a large cast chunk of metal like 3.5" disks, motors, heads, platters (well obviously). So they use a lot fewer actual components to manufacture.

In fact taking this a step further, are SSDs actually more environmentally friendly to manufacture? Anyone want to see if we can dig up a carbon footprint for the production of SSDs compaired to regular disks?

[chrestomanci]

So are the they noticeably faster than a raptor yet?

AnandTech have done a Comparative review of some SSD drives vs Raptors. The SSD beats the raptor in most categories, but is hampered by the maximum transfer speed the chipset supports.

[nichomach]

I can only hope that the pricing of these goes the same way as flash memory pricing generally has - down, fast! I work for a construction outfit and these'd be just the job, though probably not at over a grand and a half just for the hard disk alone...

[usxhe190]

i still remember people thinking SSD will never become mainstream

hybrid drives and SSD will be definitely be mainstream hard drive in 4-5 years time

[Sinizter]

much faster than that.

[Ciber]

I can see myself and many others getting an SSD drive sometime in 2008.

[Stoo]

I think once Apple and a few others start using SSD's in their ultraportables it'll signal the watershed and the prices will tumble.

It's worth noting that the £1600 SSD's currently available are very much a niché product compared to the mass-market offering that Toshiba are planning - those are very much a mainstream channel product