| Toshiba launches first 512GB SSD |
Dec. 19, 2008
 Toshiba announced it will soon begin sampling the "industry's first" SSD (solid state drive) with 512GB of storage. The 2.5-inch device (left) will be joined by nine other modules, all offering read speeds up to 240MB/sec. and writes up to 200MB/sec., the company says.
(Click here for a slightly larger view of Toshiba's 512GB SSD, the THNS512GG8BB)
Though Toshiba didn't discuss pricing, its bevy of new SSDs -- said to be set for mass production in the second quarter of 2009 -- could represent a long-awaited tipping point, permitting the replacement of rotating drives in mainstream mobile computers. According to the company, the SSDs use MLC (multi-level cell) NAND flash crafted via a new 43nm process, "providing a high level of performance and endurance."
Most worthy of note, of course, is the "THNS512GG8BB," which, with 512GB of claimed storage, apparently doubles that provided by any previous SSD. Using a 2.5-inch form factor, with integrated SATA II interface, variations on the design are also offered in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB capacities.
Meanwhile, Toshiba says the 64GB, 12GB, and 256GB SSDs are also available in a choice of two 1.8-inch form factors: either packaged in a drive enclosure, or offered as a flash module for direct integration onto a motherboard. All versions are claimed to have read speeds up to 240MB/sec., and write speeds up to 200MB/sec.
According to the company, the 2.5-inch SSDs require 5VDC power, while the 1.8-inch versions use 3.3VDC. All can operate from temperatures ranging from 0 to 70 deg. C.
Reliability is always a concern with MLC flash, which is prone to usage wear from reading, as well as from writing. Perhaps because of this, Toshiba does not attempt to quantify longevity in the typical "load/unload cycles" metric typically used by hard drive vendors (who are claiming about 600,000 such cycles for modern products).
Instead, Toshiba claims the new SSDs are good for the suspiciously round figure of one million hours (just over 114 years) as the "mean time to failure" (MTTF). Obviously this claim remains to be proven in the real world.
Also "to be determined" is how predictable SSD lifecycles will prove to be. Hard drives failures are notoriously difficult to predict -- some drives die within months, while most last many years. With their many moving parts, spinning magnetic media are subject to many unpredictable and potentially life-shortening events, such as exposure to high humidity, jarring, temperature extremes, and so on, and intuition suggests that "solid state" storage may ultimately fare better in the department of lifecycle management.
On the performance front, the new Toshiba SSDs are said to read uncached data four times faster than a "typical" SATA laptop hard disk drive. And, while latency is not quantified by Toshiba, SSDs are likely to beat any mechanical drive by several orders of magnitude in that regard. The drives are touted as improving boot and application load times. AES data encryption is another touted feature.
Toshiba made no claims about power consumption, either. Many, but not all, SSDs use less power than rotating drives.
According to Toshiba, SSDs will "begin to gain significant traction in the market in 2009." The devices will garner ten percent of the notebook market by 2010, and a quarter of the notebook market by 2012, the company adds.
Kiyoshi Kobayashi, vice president of Toshiba's semiconductor division, said, "The SSD market is evolving rapidly, with higher performance drives to meet market equirements, and differentiated product families targeted for appropriate applications. This new 43nm SSD family balances value/performance characteristics for its targeted consumer applications."
Further information
According to Toshiba, its new 43nm SSDs will be sampling during the first quarter of 2009, and start shipping during the second quarter. As mentioned earlier, no pricing was disclosed, but other details may be found on the company's website, here.
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