Solid-state drives hit half a terabyte

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 18 Dec 2008 at 07:55

Toshiba will launch a 512GB solid-state drive at next month's Consumer Electronics Show.

The 2.5in drive will double the current maximum capacity of solid-state drives, with competitors currently topping out at 256GB.

Whilst not yet achieving parity with traditional mechanical hard disks, the new drive will certainly close the capacity gap and remove one of the few remaining barriers to solid-state adoption.

The Toshiba drive will be based on the company's 43-nanometer Multi-Level Cell NAND flash technology.

The drive will boast a maximum sequential read speed of 240MB per second, and write speeds of 200MB per second.

The device will be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, although it won't actually go on sale until the second quarter of 2009.

Toshiba has yet to announce pricing details of the device, although it will almost certainly carry a hefty premium over traditional hard disks of the same capacity. Intel's recently launched 160GB X25-M drive, for example, costs more than £500 including VAT.