"Flash memory isn't just for cell phones anymore. Flash drives are moving up into PCs and servers, and Intel wants to get in on the action with a new drive. The company formally launched the Intel Z-U130 Value Solid-State Drive (just rolls right off the tongue) on Monday, promising to deliver the drives to PC and server companies as either replacement hard drives or performance enhancers. These drives aren't going to be replacing your hard drive in most situations--at least for now--but could provide a more reliable low-cost way of storing information in PCs for emerging markets, said Greg Matson, product marketing manager for Intel's NAND flash memory division. The drives can also be used in PCs or servers to help the operating system boot faster, he said. Intel is not disclosing pricing for the drives, which range in capacity from 1GB to 8GB. But he said that the drives would cost less than half the price of a $40 to $50 low-end PC hard drive."
Sweet. I truly believe that this is the way of the future. Honestly, with data moving over networks and through flash drives, the kinds of speeds that we would see in applications and data transfers will be tremendous.
A nice development, but...
They're not HD replacements in the traditional sense; they're neither ATA or SATA.
To use this, the system has to be designed for their specific interface.
Me, what I want is a 32Gb ATA flash drive I can slide into my Tablet PC instead of the existing HD, like the Samsung Drive. Unfortunately, that one is rare and expensive.
Flash Memory Drives Now Available from Intel
Linear Mode
