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Samsung Electronics is mass producing
solid-state drives with a 128G-byte capacity,
and will begin production of a 256G-byte product
later this year.
Solid-state drives, or SSDs, are storage devices
that use flash memory chips to store data,
instead of the magnetic platters found in
hard-disk drives. Flash memory chips offer
several advantages over hard disks; they use
less power and, because they have no moving
parts, are not prone to mechanical failure. On
the other hand, flash chips are more expensive
than magnetic platters, which means SSDs cost
more than hard disks with a much greater storage
capacity.
Samsung's
128G-byte and 64G-byte SSDs are available in
1.8-inch and 2.5-inch versions that can fit a
range of devices. Samsung also makes SSDs with
capacities of 32G bytes and 64G bytes.Pricing
for the 128G-byte drives was not immediately
available.
The
128G-byte SSDs use MLC (multi-level cell) flash
chips, Samsung said, adding that a version of
its 64G-byte SSDs based on MLC flash chips is
also now in production. These chips are cheaper
than the SLC (single-level cell) flash chips
used in most previous SSDs, and should help to
bring down the cost of SSDs.
Looking
ahead, Samsung said a 256G-byte SSD will go into
production later this year. Previously, Samsung
was not expected to bring a 256G-byte SSD until
sometime in 2009.
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