Toshiba breaks perception barriers with 512GB SSD

by Stevie Smith - Dec 19 2008, 13:00

Although consumers may acknowledge solid state drives (SSDs) as quicker, more efficient and more stable than conventional hard disk drives (HDDs), their enthusiasm might take something of a hit when considering the significant shortfall of SSD technology when it comes to storage capacity.

However, while commercial HDDs are now hitting terabyte sizes and the storage gap does still exist, Japanese electronics giant Toshiba Corp. has this week moved to reduce it by unveiling a thoroughly respectable 512GB solid-state solution.

Described by Toshiba as an industry first, the second-generation 2.5-inch drive and its 512GBs of storage are built on 43 nanometer (nm) Multi-Level Cell NAND technology, designed to provide high levels of performance and endurance for use in notebook computers along with gaming and home entertainment systems.

“The solid state drive market is evolving rapidly, with higher performance drives to meet market requirements, and differentiated product families targeted for appropriate applications,” commented Toshiba Semiconductor vice president Kiyoshi Kobayashi.

“This new 43nm SSD family balances value/performance characteristics for its targeted consumer applications, through use of MLC NAND and an advanced controller architecture,” he added.

According to Toshiba, the advanced MLC controller will enable the delivery of a maximum sequential read speed of 240MBs per second, and a maximum sequential write speed of 200MBs per second, which will result in improved general computing, faster boot ups, and quicker application load times.

Sample units are expected to be ready for shipping in the first quarter of 2009, with Toshiba indicating that mass production of its 512GB SSDs will shift into gear in the second quarter.

Around the Web