SanDisk Announced 64GB Solid State Drives

SanDisk Corporation has announced at Computex 2007 show in Taipei its 64-gigabyte 2.5-inch and 1.8-inch solid state drives (SSDs), which can be used as a replacement for notebooks’ standard hard drives.

“Laptop manufacturers have requested more memory capacity for systems that use the Microsoft Vista platform, which can require a number of preloaded accessories and security suites,” said Doreet Oren, SanDisk director of SSD product marketing. “Also, there is interest in developing laptops for gaming, and the SSD is well-suited for the performance and memory requirements of those users. Thus, by offering greater capacities on our SSD products, we are making our products more appealing to a wider customer base.”

According to SanDisk, SSDs offer key benefits to computer manufacturers and their customers, when compared to conventional hard drives. These are improved durability and reliability, higher performance and lower power consumption. For example, SanDisk solid state drives are claimed to deliver 2 million hours mean time between failures (MTBF), which is approximately six times more than notebook hard disks. SanDisk says laptops equipped with the Company’s 2.5-inch SSD can boot Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise in 30 seconds and access files at an average speed of 0.11 milliseconds, while the notebook using a hard disk requires an average 48 seconds to boot and an average 17 milliseconds to access files. Compared to a typical hard disk drive, which consumes 1.9 watts during active operation, SanDisk SSDs consume 1.0 watt (0.5 watts for 1.8″) while active and as little as 0.4 watts (0.2 watts for 1.8″) while idle, according to flash memory maker.

The Company plans to offer engineering samples of SSDs with 64GB storage capacity in the third quarter, with mass production planned to commence prior to the end of the year. SanDisk 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch solid state drives with 32GB capacity are already available in the market.

Press Release