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SimpleTech Announces 8GB Compact Flash Card

Posted by timothy on from the priced-just-for-nasa dept.

alterego writes "Digital Photography Review is reporting that SimpleTech has announced 2, 4, 5 and 8GB Type II Compact Flash Cards utilizing its patented IC Tower stacking technology. This comes just a month after Hitachi announced its 4GB HD in under an inch, and less than one year after Lexar announced the first 4 GB CF card, marking a huge leap in drive density. And at only $5,999 it is sure "to meet budget and performance requirements.""

8 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Re:can I replace my laptop hard drive now? by MoronGames · · Score: 5, Informative

    The access times, I think, are much faster than hard drives, but the transfer rates are somewhat lower. If I remember correctly.

    --
    hey!
  2. trouble with CF is that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    after a certain number of writes (many fewer than hard disks) it dies.

  3. what about life span of these things? by deadmongrel · · Score: 4, Informative

    If I remember right(somebody correct me if I am wrong) flash cards have some max rewrite cycle. Even if its high, it still won't beat my 2.1 GB seagate from yesteryear in lifespan.

    1. Re:what about life span of these things? by Smallpond · · Score: 4, Informative

      My 2.1G drives had stiction problems and ended up in the trash.

      Flash is still on the order of 100,000 writes, but good software will write evenly and manage bad blocks. The big problem is still the 10^2 cost difference. Notebook drives are around $0.33/MB.

  4. 4GB Hitachi for around $200 in mp3 players by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    here is a post on fatwallet about removing it, to use in other devices. since it retails for around $500 this can be a good deal.

    post

  5. Re:can I replace my laptop hard drive now? by mst76 · · Score: 4, Informative
    seriously.. what does it take to yank my hard drive, insert one of these, and drop that weight/power consumption/fragility of my drive?
    About 20 bucks.
    what would the access times be like? comparable to a 42000 rpm drive? 5400? 10,000 sata?
    I would guess that access time is much faster than hard disks, but throughput is much lower. Current CF cards operate in PIO mode, with a max of 8MB/s. The new specification allows up to 16MB/s (still PIO I think). But the speed of current flash chips are still way below that.
  6. Re:Boot from USB/Flashcard by mst76 · · Score: 4, Informative

    > How feasible is it to make a 'boot from USB' option to a PC BIOS?
    > I know its not an option currently, [...]

    Actually, it's been in lots of PC BIOSes in for a few years now. The problem is that it is still not as reliable as floppy/hd/cdrom boot: some usb devices work, some don't. Also, there seem to be a number of different usb boot standards, usb-fdd, usb-zip, usb-cdrom, usb-hdd.

  7. Actual, factual information. by Masque · · Score: 4, Informative

    The 2, 4 and 5 are type I, not type II. Here's the actual press release:

    New 8 GB Card Utilizes Company's Patented IC Tower Stacking Technology

    SANTA ANA, Calif., Feb. 9 PRNewswire-FirstCall -- SimpleTech, Inc. (Nasdaq: STEC), a designer, manufacturer and marketer of custom and open-standard memory solutions based on Flash memory and DRAM technologies, today announced the industry's highest capacity CompactFlash with an 8 GB Type II card using the Company's patented stacking technology. The Company also announced 2, 4 and 5 GB Type I cards and a significant increase to the write speed of its entire ProX line of CompactFlash cards. The products will be unveiled at the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) trade show held at the Las Vegas Convention Center from February 12-15, 2004. SimpleTech will exhibit in booth N-64.

    "We combined the latest silicon with our patented IC Tower stacking technology and produced the highest density CompactFlash card available in the world," said Ken Roberts, director of product marketing at SimpleTech. "This card also uses a high speed controller with 10 MB/sec write speed -- the fastest on the market today."

    SimpleTech's IC Tower(TM) stacking technology allows multiple NAND Flash components to be stacked together to provide increased memory and storage densities that provide enhanced capacity in its 5 mm Type II cards.

    Delivering a breakthrough write speed of up to 10MB/second, SimpleTech's ProX CompactFlash cards enable images to be saved faster to the CompactFlash card and significantly reduces the wait time between digital photography shots.

    ProX CompactFlash cards incorporate Xcell(TM) technology, with a new advanced controller that provides an exponential increase in throughput for writing the picture file, delivering fast, accurate recording of high-resolution images and outstanding reliability.

    SimpleTech customers are offered a free trial of PhotoRescue software. Customers can download the photo recovery software onto their computer, and either insert the Flash card into a reader, or dock their camera, and view thumbnail images of their pictures. If one of the images on the card is corrupted, the rescue software allows the image to be recovered.

    All SimpleTech CompactFlash cards come with a lifetime warranty backed by SimpleTech's reputation for quality and support.

    Pricing and Availability

    Manufacturers suggested retail pricing for ProX CompactFlash cards ranges from $89.99 to $5,999 to meet budget and performance requirements. Samples of the new ProX CompactFlash Type I cards in 2, 4 and 5 GB capacities and the 8 GB type II cards are expected to ship during the first quarter of 2004, with production anticipated during the second quarter of 2004.