Wednesday, June 6th 2007

SanDisk Launches 64 Gigabyte Solid State Drives

MILPITAS, CALIF., June 4, 2007 - Reaching for the "sweet spot" of memory storage for laptop computers, SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) today expanded its line of solid state drive (SSD) products with the introduction of a 64-gigabyte (GB)1 SSD aimed at both enterprise users and early adopter consumers such as gamers. SanDisk 1.8-inch UATA 5000 and 2.5-inch SATA 5000 SSD products, which already are available in a 32GB capacity, are compatible as drop-in replacements for hard disk drives in most mainstream notebook computers.

The announcement was made at Computex Taipei 2007, where SanDisk is showcasing its comprehensive line of storage products for use in industrial and system-level embedded applications. SanDisk's new 64GB SSD will be on display in Hall 1 in Booths C1000, 1002 and C1004 along with other SanDisk OEM embedded flash storage products such as iNAND and mDOC H3.

"Laptop manufacturers have requested more memory capacity for systems that use the Microsoft Vista platform, which can require a number of preloaded accessories and security suites," said Doreet Oren, SanDisk director of SSD product marketing. "Also, there is interest in developing laptops for gaming, and the SSD is well-suited for the performance and memory requirements of those users. Thus, by offering greater capacities on our SSD products, we are making our products more appealing to a wider customer base."

Compared to conventional hard drives still found in most notebook computers, SanDisk SSDs offer key benefits to computer manufacturers and their customers:

* Durability and reliability. SanDisk SSDs deliver 2 million hours mean time between failures (MTBF)2, approximately six times more than notebook hard disks. With no moving parts, SanDisk SSDs are also much less likely to fail when a notebook computer is dropped or exposed to extreme temperatures.

* High performance. With no moving parts, the flash-based SSD starts working almost immediately to achieve far better access speeds than a conventional hard disk drive. For example, in notebook computers, data moves to and from an SSD more than 100 times faster than data moving to and from a hard disk. SanDisk SSDs offer a sustained read rate of 67 megabytes (MB) per second3 and a random read rate of 7,000 inputs/outputs per second (IOPS) for a 512-byte transfer4. As a result, notebooks equipped with a 2.5-inch SanDisk SSD can boot Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise in as little as 30 seconds5 and access files at an average speed of 0.11 milliseconds6. A notebook using a hard disk requires an average 48 seconds to boot and an average 17 milliseconds to access files.

* Low power consumption. Compared to a typical hard disk drive, which consumes 1.9 watts7 during active operation, SanDisk SSDs consume 1.0 watt (0.5 watts for 1.8") while active and as little as 0.4 watts (0.2 watts for 1.8") while idle. This difference in power efficiency is particularly important in extending battery life for road warriors, enabling them to remain productive while in transit.

Gartner projects global consumption of SSDs in consumer and business notebooks to leap from about 4 million units in 2007 to 32 million units in 20108.

SanDisk SSD products are available now to manufacturers. The company plans to offer 64GB engineering samples in the third quarter, with mass production planned to commence prior to the end of the year. More information about SanDisk SSD products is available online at www.sandisk.com/ssd.

SanDisk is the original inventor of flash storage cards and is the world's largest supplier of flash data storage card products, using its patented, high-density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is headquartered in Milpitas, California, and has operations worldwide, with more than half its sales outside the U.S.

1 1 megabyte (MB) = 1 million bytes; 1 gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes.
2 MTBF is calculated based on Parts Stress Method of Telcordia SR-332
3 H2BENCH 3.6: average access time = average seek time + average latency time
4 IOMETER 2003.12.16
5 Stopwatch test performed internally at SanDisk; notebook computer (Intel Core 2 Processor T7200, 2.00GHz, 997MHz, 1.0GB RAM DDR2-533 SDRAM); Microsoft Windows Vista
6 H2BENCH 3.6: average access time = average seek time + average latency time
7 MobileMark 2005; notebook computer (Intel Core Duo Processor ULV U2500), 1.20GHz, 533MHz, 1.0GB, DDR2-533 SDRAM
8 According to "Dataquest Insight: Expect PCs to Impact the NAND Flash Market after 2008," 15 December 2006, page 21-22.

SanDisk's product and executive images can be downloaded from www.sandisk.com/corporate/media.asp
SanDisk's web site/home page address: www.sandisk.com

SanDisk and the SanDisk logo are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. Other brand names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s).

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including expectations for new product introductions, applications, markets, and customers that are based on our current expectations and involve numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate. Risks that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate include among others: market demand for our products may grow more slowly than our expectations or there may be a slower adoption rate for these products in new markets that we are targeting, product introductions may be delayed, our products may not perform as expected, and the other risks detailed from time-to-time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, Form 10-K and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We do not intend to update the information contained in this press release.

Source: sandisk.com
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14 Comments on SanDisk Launches 64 Gigabyte Solid State Drives

#1
Easy Rhino
Linux Advocate
it is nice to see this technology has taken off! soon we will use computers with no moving parts! except of course the optical drive but that can be replaced by cheap flash drives!
Posted on Reply
#2
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
I'm pretty sure we'll need fans or liquid cooling (water moves!) so moving parts are still a go ;)

What i find likely - OS drives will become standard for flash based drives, with the market pushing large 3.5" 'normal' hard drives for external storage.

Brand new dell - 32GB flash drive with windows. Want more storage? E-SATA it.
Posted on Reply
#3
mandelore
hmm, they could just have a drive bay with multiple flash drive docks for capacity expansion, that would be well cool :)
Posted on Reply
#4
Wile E
Power User
Any word on pricing?
Posted on Reply
#5
mandelore
yeah im interested on pricing too, even at 64gb, thats plenty for a vista os, and a couple could be home to my more fps whoring games
Posted on Reply
#6
Easy Rhino
Linux Advocate
MusselsI'm pretty sure we'll need fans or liquid cooling (water moves!) so moving parts are still a go ;)
nah, just get a nice heatsink. watercooling is only needed if you want to be wacky.
What i find likely - OS drives will become standard for flash based drives, with the market pushing large 3.5" 'normal' hard drives for external storage.

Brand new dell - 32GB flash drive with windows. Want more storage? E-SATA it.
nah, soon they will be able to meet even the highest demand for storage space. this technology is still in its infancy.
Posted on Reply
#7
WarEagleAU
Bird of Prey
64GB, that is rather nice. I hope there is word on pricing soon too. If they make these viable for desktops, Id be very interested in getting one or two and having the bigger drives as backups and storage only.

Imagine the benchmarks that will be turned upside down if these become the norm.
Posted on Reply
#8
Easy Rhino
Linux Advocate
WarEagleAU64GB, that is rather nice. I hope there is word on pricing soon too. If they make these viable for desktops, Id be very interested in getting one or two and having the bigger drives as backups and storage only.

Imagine the benchmarks that will be turned upside down if these become the norm.
yup. 64 gigs is nice for a primary drive !
Posted on Reply
#9
Wile E
Power User
Easy Rhinoyup. 64 gigs is nice for a primary drive !
Or 2 in a RAID0. Yummy!
Posted on Reply
#10
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
as long as its <$200 aussie, i will get one. A flash OS drive and a decent speed SATA-II for games.
Posted on Reply
#11
kakazza
Wile EOr 2 in a RAID0. Yummy!
Or a real RAID, like RAID1.
And I still can't find out whether they use a micro controller for wear leveling or whether the FS has to do it...
Posted on Reply
#12
Carcenomy
Yeah that's what's concerning me. I've been considering a 2.5" IDE to CF adapter and a hearty sized CF card to replace the worn out 6Gb Toshiba in my iBook, but I don't like the idea of the CF card failing after too many read/write operations... I wonder how good this more modern and more appropriate technology fares longterm.
Posted on Reply
#13
Apocolypse007
Easy Rhinoto leap from about 4 million units in 2007 to 32 million units in 20108.[/url][/small]
lol wow, 32 million units in only 18,000 years, thats quite a feat!:eek::laugh:
Posted on Reply
#14
MarcusTaz
Apocolypse007lol wow, 32 million units in only 18,000 years, thats quite a feat!:eek::laugh:
LOL that is funny. I guess we will have to wait 18,000 more years to see them affordable. Right from Dell website as an option for a latitude book..

32GB Solid State Drive, 1.8 Inch [add $450] :twitch:
Posted on Reply
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