BitMicro Takes Wraps Off 832 GB Flash Drive

Lucas123 writes "BitMicro has unveiled an 832GB NAND flash drive that will begin shipping later this year. The E-Disk Altima drive is expected to have sustained read rates of up to 100MB/sec and up to 20,000 I/O operations per second. The device features a SATA 3.0 G/bps interface. No pricing as of yet."

Sorry

[rodrigoandrade]

If I can't buy it yet, then it doesn't exist yet.

Sounds awesome

[angryfirelord]

Too bad that it'll probably cost more than my car. :p

Re:hmm.

[easyTree]

Now tell me why anybody should want this outside of the media/video industry...

To lower power consumption/size/weight of laptops?

Re:hmm.

[Wordsmith]

For all the same reasons someone would want a big hard drive (I've got a TB in a mainstream machine that cost me just over $1,000, and I'm sure I'll someday use it up with various media I've purchased, downloaded or recorded off TV). And they might prefer this due to the longer life, better access speed and lack of noisy moving parts.

-Lou

832?

[teslar]

Well, that's an odd number, what's the motivation behind it? I can see that 832 = 512 + 256 + 64 = 2^9 + 2^8 + 2^6, but I still fail to see the logic there.

Servers?

[jeremy128]

I would expect that a drive like this would be nice for servers (if cost was no consideration) because of the lack of moving parts, and lower heat production. I don't know for sure, but I would bet that these would take a lot less juice than a conventional hard drive. I wouldn't be surprised if they lasted longer, as well (no moving parts no wear down).
That said, I want a laptop with one of these.

Re:Sorry

[the_g_cat]

Mmh, I can't remember being able (all financial considerations put aside) to buy a Soyouz, an Arianne V or a Spache Suttle for that matter. Does this mean they don't exist?

Re:832?

[mr_mischief]

The thing is, 13's not exactly a power of two. To access 13 modules, you'd need the same 4 control lines as 16 modules. Perhaps it's actually 16 * 64 and three are specifically for redundancy and wear leveling?

Re:832?

[Anonymous Coward]

probably 64 * 16, 13 of which "usable", since this is a professional unit it's expected to have a few chips for redundancy.

Raid

[aztektum]

They simply raided two of their 416GB [bitmicro.com] drives :)

If you need to ask the price ...

[Skapare]

... then you can't afford it, yet. Wait a couple years and pick them up in the discount bin at Walmart.

Re:cost estimate

[berashith]

The term "car" is being applied generically here, which is unfair. If the term computer were being used equally generically then we would have a comparison to make. The cost of cars has stayed high, but the value of the pieces are always getting better and better. If cars were limited to the same models, features, power and efficiency that they had in the late 50s, but continued to be produced in massive amounts, then the cost would be absurdly low.

832Gigabit? Maybe?

[kai6novice]

Everyone is so exciting about the 832GB. Maybe it's just a marketing strategy. It's 832Gigabit, which is equal to 104GigaByte SSD. I think this sound more reasonable. Might cost about $550-$600 when it comes out. (just guessing)