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Toshiba Developing High-Density 1TB SSD
MojoKid writes "A new partnership between Toshiba and Tokyo's Keio University has led to the creation of a new technology that could allow SSDs up to 1TB in size to be made 'with a footprint no larger than a postage stamp.' The report states that the two have been able to integrate 128GB NAND Flash chips and a single controller into a stamp-sized form factor. They've even made it operational with a transfer rates of 2Gbps (or about 250MB/sec) with data transfer that relies on radio communication."
I really hope all these high-density storage systems will be used for gaming, HDDs are unreliable and large SSDs would allow for fast load times, better non-DRM copy protection and the ability to save games without paying extra.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
First postage
I don't understand metres, they're too complicated. Thank god they used the postage stamp method of measuring.
For my databases.
*sigh*
:(
That's what happens when the GNAA outsources their trolling to India
Now get back to me when you've built 24+2 of them into a 1x10x10 cm 12 core blade with water cooling.
Or 256 of them into a 1U half-depth fanless storage array.
I loathe seeing racks upon racks of heat spewing, power sucking, storage arrays.
----- Documentation is worth it just to be able to answer all your mail with 'RTFM' - Alan Cox.
"...with data transfer that relies on radio communication."
Well that sounds like an eavesdropping invitation if I ever heard one.
How is that ethanol working for you?
... it's reliability that's the real issue. SSDs are a great idea in theory, but in practice the only time I tried to build a server around one, taking great care to ensure that as little as possible would ever be ever written to it (e.g. turned off atime, while /var, /temp, /home etc. were located on hard disks), it ended up lasting only about a month.
I would love to replace my hard disks, arguably the most critical and vulnerable components of my computers, with SSDs, but only if they are more reliable in the first place, and can thereafter be regarded generally as an improvement.
In Imperial Earth, he mentions a device called a "minisec", which has enough storage to retain anything someone cares to store in their whole lifetime. I wonder what it would mean to have something like an iPad with couple petabytes of capacity?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
---
Storage Feed @ Feed Distiller
Let me know when they make communication between chips using quantum entanglement.
Would you care to provide the model number of the SSD you used for reference?
Thanks!
Interactive Visual Medical Dictionary
so you want to pay neogeo cart prices for games?
neogeo games used to cost alot as the price of the rom chips where high back then and while you can get 1tb HDD for under $100 what will a SSD one cost $500+?
it ended up lasting only about a month.
You get what you pay for; if you're buying the equivalent of a few USB sticks taped together with an SSD sticker slapped on it then expect some unreliability.
Get a decent SLC-based drive and it'll outlive any HDD on the market.
Stamp-sized chips storing the contents of multiple libraries, fully downloadable over short-range radio transfer in roughly an hour.
Listen to us complaining that we don't have flying cars yet. :P
Would I pay a couple hundred dollars for a game with no load times, an excellent storyline, excellent play control, excellent graphics, no lag, no annoying paid DLC, near infinite customization, that required no hardware upgrade? Yes. Something along the lines of Fable II only -a lot- longer, no lag, no loading times, more weapons, etc. I would pay $200 easily for. Especially if they don't charge for DLC. Sound unreasonable? Look at World of Warcraft, with a $15 monthly fee, someone paying from 2004-2010 would have paid $1080! And that is assuming the game itself is free along with the expansion packs. So if a game held my interest for 2 years, I would be saving more money than someone who played WoW for 2 years. The problem is, most game developers want to make a quick buck so they create a game, then charge extra for DLC, then create expansion packs, and in the end the $60 becomes more like $150 while still maintaining long load times, imperfect game mechanics and generally sub-par voice actors.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
and DS games cost $100?
People complain about $60 games... you seriously think $200 games would fly? It also seems you are comparing a single purchase game to an online game. WoW on a fast chip would still require a game server. So the comparison of MadeUpGame with a one time purchase vs WoW is far from valid. You should compare it to CoD, HL2, etc... a game that you buy once and play for years, $60 vs $200 simply to get faster load times? I'd pay $60 and load from an ISO if I really wanted faster load times.
The total weight of the money that you spend on end-user storage exceeds the weight of the storage device itself.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
People complain about $60 games... you seriously think $200 games would fly?
People complain about $60 games that are short, crappy, buggy and laggy. Look at for example the Halo series, you pay $60 for a campaign mode you can easily finish in a night.
It also seems you are comparing a single purchase game to an online game.
While they are two different models they both have one thing in common: new content that isn't pay-DLC. While, yes you are paying for it, you don't have to pay $15 to get the latest weapon, you pay $15 to play the game.
WoW on a fast chip would still require a game server.
As would almost any simi-multiplayer game out today.
So the comparison of MadeUpGame with a one time purchase vs WoW is far from valid.
Its only invalid because no one has so far made a game like the one I am describing.
The comparason between WoW and the hypothetical game was to prove that people would pay large amounts for a game that was A) constantly updating B) didn't increase hardware requirements much between years and C) was effectively "boundless"
you should compare it to CoD, HL2, etc... a game that you buy once and play for years,
But the problem is, those games are static. Yes, they are fun games but there is really nothing there beyond the game itself. There is very little player customization, the games are very linear, etc. Gordon Freeman is well, Gordon Freeman. He isn't the player, while the player can make Gordon Freeman shoot when they want him to, or throw grenades, or drive recklessly while mowing down antlions the player has no real choices. Such a game can easily be contained in 4 GB of data or so. It really doesn't -need- any updating. But what large capacity SSDs can do is they can make -you- be a citizen of City 17. You -can- make decisions, you can choose what to do, etc.
Also, on the point of Half Life 2, Valve decided rather than update HL2, they released "episodes" where you pay a large sum of money for just a little bit more content even though the engine pretty much remained unchanged and even most if not all the weapons are identical copies.
Linear games are more or less fine with the current system, but for "sandbox" games having a lot of fast, reliable, rewritable space is essential. A prime example is Fable II, the game seems boundless, don't like a citizen? You can kill them. Aside from a few exceptions, you can kill, threaten, help, love or do anything to any person in the game. The main flaws are that it is too short, loading times are -very- evident and there needs to be more content and customization. It is hard to fit that in less than 9 GB, it is even harder with optical media which has very long loading times. Even when put on the 360 HDD loading times still exist. Every second of loading time is a second where you aren't your character and it completely ruins the immersion factor.
$60 vs $200 simply to get faster load times? I'd pay $60 and load from an ISO if I really wanted faster load times.
$60 vs $200 to get faster load times, more content, the ability for complex saves, etc. Plus, the durability of a cartridge compared to fragile optical media? I highly doubt that your DVD will still be readable in 30 years of terrible storage, yet 2600 cartridges play fine after 30 years of being stored in less than ideal conditions.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Seems very impressive, but what is this phrase "postage stamp". Is this also part of some newfangled technology we may never see? I for on will probably be fine with good old email for a long time to come.
don't cut it off www.mgmbill.org
We always hear about SSD flash technology and how cool it is but we never seem to get it. SSDs are now more expensive than last year...So, what's the point of 1TB SSD when I can't even afford a 30GB one?
It has to come down in price a lot to compete with magnetic storage. Right now, I'd say you'd have to get it to 10% of the current price to be competitive at the high end. Currently, it is about $1500 or so for a 500GB SSD. It is currently about $50 for a 500GB magnetic drive. Now if you could get flash down to about 10%, well then you'd be talking 3x the price of magnetic storage. Still expensive, but due to the high speed it would be feasible in high performance desktops. As it stands, 300GB of 10k magnetic drive runs you about $200 so it'd compete with that fairly well.
I'm sure we'll get there some day, but we are still a ways out. Even if flash halves in price, it is still too expensive for a general harddrive replacement.
I really like the idea of a device that does not need to be constantly de-fragmented. To me, above the moving parts issue/noise/heat issues, it is paramount. However I need my data storage to be reliable and right now SSDs still don't have the track record.
I understand that there are those people who are running 2-4x SSD drives in a RAID0 that are fully happy. But mostly they are gamers who don't care if they have to do a reinstall if that array fails. And or don't really have any sort of long term data that they mind wiping at the drop of a hat.
I personally deal with end users who care a lot about their digital pictures, email, and other assorted crap. As it stands right now those ol' spinning platters still offer us all the best reliability at the lowest cost point.
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
The number one thing that I want, is the ability to read/write really fast.
And the other number one thing is: Don’t ever die (or become significantly slower) after less then ten years of usage!
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Hey! I work at Keio University! I wonder if we'll be getting these as party favors at our next holiday soiree, along with the bottom-of-the-barrel beer and convenience-store sandwiches!
Postage stamp size video - from the 90s! :)
When AVIs using the Indeo codec played back in postage stamp size windows...
What ever happened to the THNS064GF8BEAA?
Announced Jan 2009:
And where is it now?
Watch this Heartland Institute video
A "postage stamp" is a unit of area developed specificly for its unique marketing properties. Although many readers assume it is approximately 5 square centimeters, it can actually be anything up to 2551 square centimeters. http://www.joh-enschede.com/?page=jea.news.overview&cid=143
http://xkcd.com/756//
From an economic standpoint this could actually save money, provided that it comes embedded in the console and that the media is provided via download (for a fee, of course) rather than printing a CD for every customer and every title. Also, if it was physically embedded in the console, it would phenomenally improve DRM issues.
The requested fragment "#main-articles" doesn't exist, so don't go lookin' for it.
For Apple, who pioneers future tech, and their new iPad?
A superphone with a 1TB SSD in it. Plug it into a dock at home with your huge screen, keyboard and mouse, and take it with you when you go. Rsync when you connect to the dock, which replicates to your off-site storage. Easy-peasy. With 1-2gHz dual-core (and quad core, according to NEC) smartphones coming out this year, the vast majority of computer users won't require anything more. Rock on.
That's cool for them, and it may trickle down to us eventually. For now it sounds too advanced to actually happen, so I'll start looking for it after we get those 5TB holographic optical discs that should be available about 5 years after 1999.