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New USB 3.0 Flash Drive Has 2 TB of Storage

First time accepted submitter Dr Max writes "During Display Taiwan, Transcend and Taiwan's ITRI displayed a finger-long USB stick that reportedly offers 2 TB of storage. That's no typo. It somehow holds up to 2 terabytes worth of information. So far neither company has released anything official in regards to specs or a simple introduction, nor does the high-capacity USB 3.0 stick appear on Display Taiwan's website. But as seen in the video below, the 'Thin Card' thumb drive is even smaller than a thumb, measuring slightly thicker than a penny. It offers a minimum of 16 GB and a maximum of 2 TB."

24 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. It'll store 2TB, however... by ByOhTek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    you can only read back the first 1GB...

    --
    Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
    1. Re:It'll store 2TB, however... by wsxyz · · Score: 2

      Yeah, any run of the mill computer store in China will sell you whatever size you need: 2 TB, 10 TB, 1000 TB: If you name it, they'll sell it to you.

    2. Re:It'll store 2TB, however... by jhoegl · · Score: 5, Informative
    3. Re:It'll store 2TB, however... by ortholattice · · Score: 2

      It seems this kind of scam has been going on for at least 50 years. A friend from Rio (Brazil) told me that in the early 60's, you could buy cheap D cells that when you opened them up, inside was an AA-sized cell with the rest just loose filler like dirt or something. They'd pass the standard battery check when new but of course wouldn't last nearly as long. This was quite a rip-off of poor people who lived in areas with no electricity and depended on these for powering their radios, since the batteries were a significant expense given their meager incomes.

    4. Re:It'll store 2TB, however... by DrXym · · Score: 2

      EBay is full of fake cards too. I got stung for one a few years back - claimed it was 4GB but only the first 256MB worked. Packaging and card looked authentic including hologram but even so it was bogus as a test revealed. I initiated a fraud complaint and got my money back. The scam works (judging by all the A+++ comments) because very few other people bother to actually test the card so the fraudster gets away with it for a few months before being shut down. I assume they set up again with a new name and rinse & repeat.

  2. News is spam (maybe) by mehrotra.akash · · Score: 4, Informative

    From one of the comments on the linked site:

    On the video it says "Actually the one that we looked at on display was only 16GB but the technology behind that particular 16GB stick is capable of scaling to 2 Terabytes." In other words they'll have to wait years for smaller manufacturing processes to occur before a 2 TB drive is made.

    I cannot watch the video to verify it.. but if true, then the news is as good as spam

    1. Re:News is spam (maybe) by Joce640k · · Score: 2

      Something like that...

      The video says they're waiting for the USB3.0 spec to be finalized before they can release a product.

      If a 2TB version is available, why wait? Why not make a USB2.0 version of it?

      --
      No sig today...
    2. Re:News is spam (maybe) by jimmyswimmy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      As of right now the largest FLASH I can find is a 512 Gb unit from Micron (MT29F512G08CUCABH3-12) in a 100 ball LBGA. Couldn't find that package description but maybe a similar one is 9x15.5mm dimension. You'll need more than 32 of these to get to 2 TB, plus a couple of controller ICs.

      In short, with tomorrow's technology (what Micron is still developing), you will need a 6" long stick, covered with ICs on both sides. This will not be an inexpensive device for at least a few years.

      --

      Just my $0.55 (US inflation, 1774-2008, for $0.02)
    3. Re:News is spam (maybe) by Joce640k · · Score: 2

      There's no terabyte-size USB hard drives in the shops where you live? Maybe you could come to Planet Earth where we're more advanced?

      --
      No sig today...
  3. Excuse me by paiute · · Score: 2

    Have you seen my Library of Congress? I dropped it around here somewhere.

    --
    If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
  4. What market does this target? by Hadlock · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What market does this target? In the past, removable solid state media like CF cards and SD cards (mostly CF cards) were well taken by professional photographers because it meant they could fit more pictures on a single memory card, which meant as long as their battery lasted, they could continue working uninterrupted.
     
    I think everyone here agrees that the 2GB-8GB flash drive/thumb drive has completely replaced the floppy drive in this decade. People are still leery about keeping important data on a thumb drive for long periods of time, either due to ease of loss or possible read/write problems down the road (cue the know-it-all slashdotter telling me that they've solved all those problems despite continued miniaturization throughout the last half-decade.)
     
    So who are these for? Eventually the 2TB thumb drives are going to drop below $500, then below $150, and be mass produced for $99 or less during a Thanksgiving Black Friday Sale in our near future.
     
    Blu-Ray is only 50-60GB completely maxed out. That's the biggest common media I can think of that consumers have access to these days. Even all of Wikipedia will fit in a 60gb rar archive. Databases are bigger than 2TB. Or if you want a better reference, the plans for the Deathstar are bigger than 2TB. I'm not sure your sysadmin would recommend you walk around with your company's (or Empire's) most important IP in your pocket where it might get lost.
     
    I'm not trying to say 640KB is enough for anyone.... but is it? How much space do consumers really need for portable, temporary storage, vs enterprise use? And do you really want your enterprise data on a portable, corporate espionage-sized device?

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
    1. Re:What market does this target? by jittles · · Score: 2

      What do you think Princess Leia was sticking in to R2-D2 man? That was a thumb drive w/ those Death Star plans...

    2. Re:What market does this target? by choongiri · · Score: 5, Funny

      What do you think Princess Leia was sticking in to R2-D2 man?

      I think that what a galactic princess sticks into her droid in private is none of your business.

    3. Re:What market does this target? by geekoid · · Score: 2

      It's pointless only to people who have no imagination.

      What about zoom? What about distance greater the 10 feet? They are already increasing information on the screen,, and why you think the technology is 10 years off is a clear indicator you have no clue what's going on in the industry

      There are security cameras that do 2880 right now.

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  5. Re:For just... by Reverand+Dave · · Score: 2

    No, it's only $100.00, but that's only imaginary dollars. Also the only retail outlet is in Atlantis so we'll have to wait for the oceans to recede to buy one.

    --
    I got here through a series of tubes
  6. A rather crappy sales pitch, really by damn_registrars · · Score: 4, Informative
    I actually bothered to watch the video. She said "imagine this as 2tb", amongst other things. She finished with "the usb association hasn't finished 3.0 so we haven't released this product yet".

    So really she was just selling what could happen, some day. She could have just as well promised 2pb or 2eb instead, and promised it inside a postage stamp.

    So in summary:
    • It isn't 2tb
    • It isn't usb 3.0
    • You can't buy it

    However

    • They managed to fool the slashdot editors and get on to the front page
    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  7. Liars, damned liars and marketing folks... by gweihir · · Score: 3, Informative

    There is no 2TB drive. This is a 16GB with an _interface_ that could support 2TB. But wit present FLASH chips that cannot be fit into the case shown. May take another 5 years or more. Incidentally, old USB2.0 can already interface 2TB.

    So this is really a rather nomal-sized 16GB USB3.0 stick, or in other words nothing special a all.

    --
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  8. Re:Don't get excited yet. by beelsebob · · Score: 2

    A 64 bit OS supports 18 exa-bytes of RAM, it just happens most "64 bit OS"es, CPUs and chipsets we have today may use 64 bit pointers, but they tend to ignore the high 16 bits on them, resulting in support for up to a bit more than 200 terabytes in theory. Your point in general stands though.

  9. Consider the data transfer times... by Tsar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    USB 3.0 supports a MAXIMUM throughput of 5.0Gbit/sec, and even at that insane rate it would take one hour (with 10% protocol overhead) to read or write two terabytes. We're lucky though; at USB 2.0's best rate it would take over 10 hours, with Full Speed USB 1.0 it would take 2½ weeks, and good old Original USB would literally take from now until late evening of January 14, 2012. Nostalgic for floppies? Using a fast backup program, you could do the job in 3½ years with 1.39 million 1.44MB coasters. Watch out for fridge magnets though!

  10. Pan and zoom by tepples · · Score: 2

    Why on earth would you want to store video at a resolution greater than the number of photoreceptors in the human eye?

    Control of pan and zoom at playback time, perhaps?

  11. China Sticks - painfully slow by MindPrison · · Score: 2

    It's an old but clever China Hack.

    I worked for a merchandise company, I was the graphic artist, and had to design numerous USB-memory sticks in all shapes, beer bottles, dolls, ice-cream...you name it, fun stuff to... but there's where the fun ended:

    Most of the cheaper sticks we got from China was fakes all the way, but they where SMART fakes. Yes, they where re-programmed 1-8 gb sticks, sold as 16-32 gb sticks back then, but programmed in a way so you...the user...never would find out that they're fakes, how? you may ask... ...simple and smart - the more you load onto the stick, the slower it will operate, the nearer you come it's actual size limit, the slower it will add files, at first...most people don't suspect a thing, they just think...oh what a slow stick...bummer...but it works, and let's face it...the average user NEVER exceed 1-8 gb with their personal stuff, you think average joe runs around with a collection of DVDs on their sticks... NO! Take it from me...I've delivered THOUSANDS of these sticks in all varieties to all companies, big or small....we get VERY few returns despite this.

    I know...because I just took a look at the boss of our company, he uses those sticks at work too...of course...we use what we sell, but he didn't discover a single thing, but I could hear him swear and curse the memory stick or the computers for being too slow... ...and it took me AGES to explain to my non technical boss that this was a programming trick inside the memory stick, he just couldn't understand how that was done, he said...but it's 32GB LOOK...and then he'd take the time to show me the properties of the drive etc...specs...etc...oh dear...all over again.

    And he's an advanced user, what do you think the average joes out there figures out. Nothing!!! And the China factories gets away with it ALL THE TIME!

    --
    What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
  12. Re:Copyright by NatasRevol · · Score: 2

    A few weeks of HD video of your kids?

    I have 2 boys playing hockey. If I'm obsessed, I video every practice, 3-4x per week, every game, 1-3x per week.

    That's up to 14 hrs/week of HD video for 2 kids. At 11GB/hr, that's about 150GB per week.

    Hockey season is 5 months long, or 20 weeks.

    That's 3TB. Every season. For 10+ years.

    I'm not obsessed like this, but there are LOTS of parents who are.

    --
    There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
  13. Same as SDXC by JStyle · · Score: 2

    The latest version of SD cards (XC) also have the capacity to scale to 2TB.

    "SDXC, the latest SD memory card standard, dramatically improves consumers’ digital lifestyles by increasing storage capacity from more than 32 GB up to 2 TB." Source: https://www.sdcard.org/developers/tech/sdxc

    Move along, nothing to see here.

  14. Re:For just... by UnknowingFool · · Score: 2

    Your logic baffles me. You are saying that since something occurred in the past that precludes all other factors today. You know people died in the past from natural causes therefore no one can possibly die from gunshot wounds today. Now can say you don't believe the evidence that CO2 is causing sea level rise but ignoring humans might be responsible is pure denial.

    --
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