History 2003: Flash Device at 1GB and More at CeBIT 2003

Flash keys have already begun to replace floppies. But will flash memories in general go so far as to squeeze out HDDs, or at least certain ones?

The question is worth posing when certain flash devices are now available with remarkable capacities.

We had reached 64MB in 1998, steadily climbing each year following, to 160MB, 320MB, 640MB, 1GB and now 3GB. We’re being promised 6GB in CompactFlash I (CFI) format before the end of the year.

What’s more, the read speed and even better, write speed are also on the rise.

Certainly the technology won’t replace internal HDDs in PCs, but for some external devices, things are less sure. The HDDs targeted in priority are the smallest, at 1.8-inch form factor or less, generally found in digital still or video cameras. It is imperative that HGST, the IBM-Hitachi joint-venture boosts capacity on its one-inch Microdrive (in the thicker CFII format) beyond its current 1GB, and quickly. 4GB was promised before the end of the year, but will even that be enough?

True, when you consider the price forwarded by Pretec at CeBIT for its 6GB CF coming in 2H03, $7,499, there’s no contest with respect to a $190 Microdrive.

Flash memory prices, however, are falling much more rapidly than those of HDDs. Pretec, for instance, slashed the cost of its 3GB unit from $2,499 to $1,999.

512MB CF can currently be found for $120, 1GB for $250. Users are wild about flash keys, and manufacturers are feasting on this booming market.

177 companies throughout the world produce USB flash keys, according to Mona Popilian-Yona, marketing manager at M-Systems Europe.

The problem of royalties, however, is beginning to hinder the flash card market, almost as much as with optical disks.

There are currently more than a half-dozen different formats, and while the technology is still fairly young, some already appear to be obsolete, SmartMedia, for example, whose instigators included Fuji Photo Film and Olympus, now launching a reduced-size MultiMedia Card.

It’s a race to make the smallest chip, to the point where they become so minuscule – the size of a postage stamp – that they will be much easier to lose.

The Secure Digital (SD) Card Association led by Matsushita, SanDisk and Toshiba, which boasts no less than 553 members, has just launched the miniSD in Hanover, Germany, a miniature version of the SD memory card and the smallest in the market (see inset) ahead of the Reduced Size Multimedia Card, launched last year by Fuji and Olympus. Expect to pay about €125 for 256MB on miniSD.

In principal, 512MB devices will also be available this year. Panasonic even demonstrated one at 1GB.

The proliferation of different cards has prompted some companies to launch 7-in-one card reader-writers, that is to say, recordable devices with multiple slots to accept 7 different flash card formats.

USB flash keys are selling like hotcakes, fast approaching the 2GB mark. They come in all colors, with more or less security, capable of functioning as an audio walkman when connected to headsets, etc.

We’ll end on a new idea from JMTek: the USBDrive Weatherproof, a ruggedized flash key of up to 2GB capable of surviving a dip in the pool if you forget it in the pocket of your bathing suit! You may however want to wipe it dry before 48,535 inserting it in your notebook…

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 183 on April 2003 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.