Kingston Unveils $1000 USB Flash Drive

Barence writes "Kingston has unveiled the 'world's first' 256GB flash drive, raising flash drive storage to the kind of capacity you normally associate with laptop hard disks. Kingston claims the drive is 'ideal for netbook users who want to extend the limited capacity of their machines,' although given that the device costs about twice as much as a netbook, buyers could probably get more storage by purchasing two of the cheap ultraportables. The device is made on a build-to-order basis, with a suggested UK retail price of £650.52 including VAT — that's an astonishing $1074.69 at current exchange rates. Not exactly cheap and cheerful."

Comments

But how damage-resistant is it?

[twidarkling]

If I'm spending that kind of cash, I wanna be able to drop it off a building and have it survive - after it's been run over by a tank. Otherwise, there's no point in using it on a regular basis as additional storage for something you're carrying around all the time.

Re:But how damage-resistant is it?

[Dotren]

I agree. Furthermore, I'd want to know how heavy it is (I doubt it is very heavy at all but it does look rather beefy) as I carry usb flash drives around with me all the time at work. Then again, I'd be extremely leery of taking this anywhere. Should it get stolen or dropped somewhere, thats a rather large chunk of change gone.

I can't imagine every buying one of these. If you need a mobile PC with that much hard drive space, why wouldn't you just get a normal laptop with some of the other nice features? I realize netbooks are ultra small and mobile but still...

Re:But how damage-resistant is it?

[AuMatar]

I actually did drop a corsair USB stick down a 14 story elevator shaft. Since it was on my keychain, I had them fish it out for me because I needed my keys. This was one of the models where the exterior is rubber. Anyway the cap had fallen off and the connector was bent. 30 seconds with a needle nose pliers to unbend it and I popped it into my computer to test it. It ran beautifully. It still works to this day.

So if the outside is made of something soft, it may well survive the drop off of a building.

Re:But how damage-resistant is it?

[spud603]

rfid? door opener? the device you mention is neither of these.

Re:But how damage-resistant is it?

[shish]

An interesting question for any physics geeks -- what's the terminal velocity of the average USB stick, and is that velocity terminal to the stick? If they're sufficiently light and air resisting I suspect you could drop one from space without damage...

Re:But how damage-resistant is it?

[Jared555]

I think at that point you would be more concerned about
1. The heat it endures during reentry and
2. Finding it

Re:But how damage-resistant is it?

[ZosX]

1. Thermal tiles/Heat Shield.

2. GPS / Homing Beacon Transmitter

Also you might have a hard time finding a good LZ that isn't covered in water...so you might want to prepare for those thermal tiles to conveniently float.

That would survive the drop from space. Terminal velocity would be far easier for it to survive. I'm too tired to do math, but you can find the equation here:

http://www.vias.org/physics/example_1_6_08.html

I'd imagine a lot of rubber padding would certainly be the key. (no pun intended)

Apparently humans can somehow survive terminal velocity in rare instances, or I've heard too many urban legends.... (citation needed)

Don't know why your comment was marked funny. I personally found it insightful.

256GB Flash Ultraportables?

[theelectron]

given that the device costs about twice as much as a netbook, buyers could probably get more storage by purchasing two of the cheap ultraportables

What kind of flash netbooks are you buying with that much storage?

Re:256GB Flash Ultraportables?

[CannonballHead]

I doubt they are "cheap" netbooks if they have 128gb ssd's in them. On the other hand, "cheap" relative to the prices of the 256gb flash drive is perhaps a relevant discussion... hehe.

Re:Two netbooks?

[navygeek]

You seem surprised....

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

First 256GB flash drive? Hardly

[dgatwood]

It's the first 256 GB USB flash stick, not the first 256GB flash drive. There are half a dozen 256GB flash-based SSDs out there that attach via SATA. The only thing that makes this even slightly relevant is the form factor.

Re:So

[ivan_w]

Ooops.. Here is a correction for you..

After removing the tax, applying the exchange rate and dropping the price a bit, I've worked out that it'll retail for around $6,500,000.50 (+/- $.50) in the US.

--Ivan

Not even competitive for notebooks

[rolfwind]

Pricewatch has 64GB usb sticks at $150 at cheapest (happens to be a kingston now too):
http://www.pricewatch.com/browse/flash_card_memory/usb_64gb

and that's not even the sweetspot of GB/$$ because the 32GB usb sticks are around $60, much less than half that despite being only half the capacity.

Also, a 2.5" 256 SSD drive that can be put into most notebooks starts at $608:
http://www.pricewatch.com/browse/hard_removable_drives/ssd_256gb

So why would anyone buy a more expensive USB stick to "extend their notebook" when they can do so internal to the notebook, for cheaper, and have all the benefits of a SSD drive?

Re:Not even competitive for notebooks

[thisnamestoolong]

Or you could get a 500 GB HDD for under $100 that will still be much faster than the memory stick -- and will cost you 5% of the price per GB, you would really have to be a fool to buy one of those things right now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136314

Re:Not even competitive for notebooks

[dgatwood]

Agreed. You have to move to SATA-based SSDs for flash to be a speed win. USB just doesn't cut it for serious storage, both in terms of CPU overhead and in terms of maximum throughput. Of course, if you're moving stuff back and forth between two machines, the alternative is probably a USB external drive that has all the same performance problems. FireWire is much better in both respects. And, of course, eSATA is better still, but is relatively rare.

Wow, at that cost...

[Anonymous Coward]

It better come pre-loaded with the cure for cancer.

Re:Wow, at that cost...

[bertoelcon]

Maybe 10MB of it is human.

The rest is Rule 34 backups.

$1000 USB is still USB...

[Guppy]

Kingston Unveils $1000 USB Flash Drive

This is a little like making a gem-encrusted toilet seat. While undoubtedly a useful interface (I use it almost every day), it is ill-suited to fast, bulk transfers, and I'm anticipating crappy performance despite the high price tag.

Re:$1000 USB is still USB...

[EdipisReks]

This is a little like making a gem-encrusted toilet seat. While undoubtedly a useful interface (I use it almost every day), it is ill-suited to fast, bulk transfers, and I'm anticipating crappy performance despite the high price tag.

I find the toilet seat to be perfectly well suited to fast bulk transfers.

Re:$1000 USB is still USB...

[Voyager529]

This is a little like making a gem-encrusted toilet seat. While undoubtedly a useful interface (I use it almost every day), it is ill-suited to fast, bulk transfers, and I'm anticipating crappy performance despite the high price tag.

I find the toilet seat to be perfectly well suited to fast bulk transfers.

...and crappy performance.

A Bet I made.

[jameskojiro]

I made a bet to someone that by October of 2010 we would see some sort of USB 1TB Flash drive. I think my bet is safe.

Re:So

[ivan_w]

Tss tss tss..

If you have a Remington 1100 : Unscrew the magazine cap, remove the 1st sealing ring, pull away the barrel, remove the piston seal, the piston, the action bar and the 2nd sealing O-Ring. Using a screwdriver or any thin but sturdy object, remove the front cap to release the magazine spring. With a pin chaser and a rubber mallet, remove the 2 pins that lock in the trigger mechanism. With a pair of pliers, remove the fork spring inside the chamber. Remove the bolt by pushing it forward.

Use the bolt with the shell extractor in place as a can opener !

Once the can is empty, clean the spare parts with some lighter fuel, spray generously with WD-40, wipe with a soft cloth, re-assemble, load a shell (no larger than 2"3/4 shells though) and shoot the can.

--Ivan

I use USB Flash drives as diskettes

[dalmiroy2k]

Since I got rid of my 3.5' 1.44MB drive and disks several years ago, cheap USB Flash Drives have become their replacements.
As long as the pendrive is fast and robust enough, I don't care much as size. 1 or 2GB are ok for the use I am giving them.
I have a dedicated and encrypted drive for my work, another with personal data that's in a Ziplock inside my safe, another one in the internal USB port my motherboard has, another one in my DVD player front USB port, another four in those mini hubs behind my pc, etc.
If I need better and faster portable storage with respectable size, I use my 300GB WD Passport Essential that got in a Amazon deal. It has multiple partitions, some encrypted.

Re:US Military

[bertoelcon]

The US military has already placed an order for 500,000 of these.

Each one will be used to store just one file: a 500 kilobyte PDF file that contains a soldier's manual for shining shoes.

And of course all military computers have usb locked out anyway, so you couldn't use it in any military sense anyway.

Just another day in the uses for the tax dollar.

Small foot print USB HDD's

[Paracelcus]

Western Digital My Passport Essential 500 GB is $120.00 and it's tiny!

Re:Small foot print USB HDD's

[Bigjeff5]

Yeah, it's only what, 5-6 times bigger?

The whole point of this thing is that it is a USB stick with 256gb of flash. If you drop this USB stick, it should not be harmed unless it falls from very, very high. Drop your Passport Essential off a table and chances are it is toast.

They are used for different purposes, they cannot be compared directly. I personally would never buy one, and being custom order I don't think Kingston believes there is a big market for them either. However, someone will find a use for them, and will buy them, and that's great for them.

Re:So

[Bobartig]

Wait you've got a screw driver, mallot, pin chaser and pliers and you're using some weirdo gun part to open the can?

Wrong Direction

[Erik Fish]

What they need to be working on is a $2 flash drive.

NAND prices are way up this year, but if USB flash drives are going to be true floppy replacements the manufacturers need to find some way to make the small (less than a gig) sizes cheap and keep them that way.

Exchange rate, pah.

[asdf7890]

The device is made on a build-to-order basis, with a suggested UK retail price of £650.52 including VAT â" that's an astonishing $1074.69 at current exchange rates.

I love how people quote "at current exchange rates" when talking about tech gear. I don't know how well it works the other way around, but here in the UK it isn't often that we see true exchange rate parity for either hardware or software. Even when the pound was worth ~1.8 of your dollars it wasn't unusual to see consumer kit priced at closer to 1UKP==1USD, and I'm comparing online prices here (so I'm not making the mistake of comparing US online prices to UK high-street prices). Not that I'm bitter or anything...

redundancy isn't the point

[harkabeeparolyn]

... size is. Put simply, for the first time 256 GB can comfortably fit inside a human anus. If you can't see a use for that, then you're not living your life nearly dangerously enough.

Re:redundancy isn't the point

[RockDoctor]

Better to just encrypt it and carry it through with the rest of your stuff. Hiding it in strange places is only going to pique security's interest.

What's "strange" about stuffing it up your hole? Make the ablative "survive fall from space" coating (see my comment up-thread) in a Caucasian pink, Asian brown, or African "black" ("umber" would be more appropriate? not that it's a precise colour) ; make the "aerodynamic drag" shape so that it won't disappear up your rectum. Carry a spare in your briefcase.
[Security Guard] There appears to be a suspicious mass up your ass sir - I can see it on the scanner.
[Data Smuggler] It's my butt-plug, ossifer ; I always travel with a plug up my butt. It make the endless hours standing in queues and eating rubber chicken much more bearable. I can fantasise about being butt-done by my favourite butt-doer.
[SG] ! {speechless}
[DS] In fact, ossifer, it might make your working day pass much more nicely too. Look, I've got a spare in my briefcase. you can try it just now. If you've never used one before, you'll need to lubricate it {spits, polishes, proffers rubber implement with legend "give it to me big boy!" clearly legible along the length.} a lot {spits} to get it all in.

Well, you might end up getting a lot more than you expected in a CIA Black Prison. But hey, that's been a hazard of travel for most of a decade now.

Did you notice that I slipped in (sorry!) a fictional whole body scanner that can discriminate the wiring in a USB stick? No? well, it is fictional.

I like it...

[greymond]

If the last decade has shown us anything, this means that in a couple years I'll have a terabyte flash drive I can carry in my pocket that runs me about $300.

Re:Size wars

[level_headed_midwest]

Nobody will do that. What you will see is USB 3.0 USB sticks. That should give you about the same bandwidth as eSATA, plus it is an always-powered port.

Re:Size wars

[HiThere]

I think they're planning on USB3. It's supposed to be quite speedy...though I've no idea what that means.