Samsung develops flash-based 'disk' for PCs

IDG News Service - Samsung Electronics Co. is touting a replacement for conventional hard disk drives that's based on flash memory chips. The company said today it plans to begin mass production of the device in August.
The solid-state disk (SSD) uses memory chips in place of the mechanical recording system used inside hard disk drives and has several advantages including lower power consumption and higher data rates, according to Samsung. Flash memory technology isn't new, and the advantages have been known for years. But such disks have never been commercially produced because flash has one big disadvantage over hard disk storage: It's much more expensive.
Samsung announced basic details of the SSD today but declined to provide any information about its price.
The Seoul, South Korea-based company is planning SSDs with parallel Advanced Technology Attachment interfaces in capacities up to 16GB. The 16GB devices will contain 16 memory chips holding 8Gbits each, it said. Such chips sell for about $55 each on the spot memory market, according to DRAM Exchange Tech Inc. That would put the chip cost of the 16GB SSD at almost $900.
Because Samsung is a major manufacturer of flash memory chips, it can likely source the chips internally at a lower price. Even so, it will be difficult to compete with hard disk drive makers on cost. Laptop drives at capacities of up to 30GB can easily be found for less than $200.
The SSD operates silently, consumes 5% of the power used by a hard disk and weighs less than half as much. It can read data at up to 57MB per second and write it at up to 32MB per second.
Because SSDs don't use moving parts, they are much more resistant to harsh environmental conditions or shock and are thus suitable for industrial or military markets, said Samsung. Such users are less focused on low-cost components than the consumer market.
Samsung expects that the SSDs will find a home in specialized portable products such as tablet PCs or laptops, said Suyeon Chae, a spokeswoman at Samsung Electronics in Seoul. Three versions are planned: a 16GB version that will be about the same size as a 2.5-inch hard-disk drive, and 8GB and 4GB versions that will be a similar size to 1.8-inch drives.
The price difference between flash memory and hard-disk storage has been narrowing and continues to do so, said Simon Woo, an analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co. in Seoul. While per-bit prices for the type of memory produced by Samsung are dropping at between30% and 40% per year, the equivalent price for hard disk storage is falling by about 20% annually, he said.
Eventually, SSDs will be able to compete with hard-disk storage on price, he said, but that's several years away.