The idea that solid-state drives (SSD) would be used intensively in computer systems used to be highly disregarded. Now, laptops are beginning to utilize SSD disks for storage exclusively. Manufacturers are beginning to start a new revolution in electronic storage. While the cost is still expensive, things are changing rapidly with an increasing amount of competition.

Reliability, speed, price, and storage capacity are the primary aspects of a storage medium that ultimately determines their worth to the consumer.  So how does SSD technology stack up in those regards?

Reliability

What good is a hard drive if it dies in a few months?  Some hard drive makers don't know the answer to that question.  A typical drive spins its platter at several thousand revolutions-per-minute, and this generates a significant amount of dispersed heat.  Throw in the other movable parts that have a significant amount of work to do, and now it is easy to understand why many hard disk drives are so unreliable.

As things are looking for the future right now, SSD technology will be much more reliable than hard disks.  When an SSD drive reads data, it puts virtually no strain on the drive at all.  While writing to the drive is what will put wear on the drive, the typical consumer reads data from a drive significantly more times than writing to it.

(Image Credit: SanDisk)
A single block of memory on a solid-state disk does have a certain amount of cycles it can go through being written to  before it fails, but solid-state technology allows methods of distributing the amount of writing done to individual blocks evenly which provides the maximum life expectancy from that drive.  Imagine an indestructible axe cutting into a tree (data being written to the drive).  The best way to cause damage is to hit the same spot repeatedly (a single memory block).  However, if that axe was forced to take a swing at a different location every time (evenly dispersed writing), the tree (memory blocks and drive) will last a very long time.

Analogical writing aside, the reliability of an SSD drive is top notch.  If you are beyond frustrated with failing hard disks, this is a great and superior alternative for data storage devices.

Speed

Speed is also an important factor when considering a storage device.  The question is simple, which technology is faster?  SSD drives are faster because they do not have to deal with the platter spin-up, seek, and read times, but some might be shocked to hear that SSD technology will allow well over 100 times faster performance due to the nearly instant seek time.

Faster boot, shutdown, and applications are just a portion of what these drives will provide.  In many ways, the current bottlenecks of computers are storage devices, but things are changing fast.

(Comparing a typical 2.5" SSD vs HDD, clearly SSD wins | Image Credit: Samsung)
Price

With such a recent explosion of SSD popularity, the technology has not been given the opportunity to catch up to its platter-based equivalent in terms of the price to storage space ratio.  As of January 13th, 2008, the price to storage ratio for a SUPER TALENT 2.5" 128GB SATA Internal SSD on Newegg.com at $3,219.99 is over $25 per gigabyte.  By contrast, a Western Digital 3.5" 1TB SATA Internal HDD on Newegg.com at $254.99 is below $4 per gigabyte.  Both of these being relatively new for average consumer distribution, it is easy to see that the difference in price is tremendous.

SSD drives are supposedly going to drop to around $2 per gigabyte by 2012 (stated by SimpleTech via Engadget), but by then we will likely have hard disk drives that will be able to pull off anywhere from 10TB to 100TB on a single platter. Hard disk drives win with regards to price, but it is only a question of how long.

Storage Capacity

Storage capacity with SSD drives will be on par with current hard disk technology.  There are already announcements of terabyte drives being manufactured for military use.  It might be quite awhile before the typical consumer to see a reasonably priced SSD drive that is offers a terabyte of storage, but the storage capacity is there.  It simply depends on how much people are willing to pay for it.

Final Thoughts

All of the above considered, it forces an interesting situation on hard disk makers--with the growing competition of SSD technology, which new and competing companies are focusing their efforts on entirely, when will the time be right for switching the focus entirely on SSD technology arrive?  That time might be now.

Sony has yet to release a true entry-level dSLR in the market. That changed with the showing of the Alpha DSLR-A200 (the Alpha DSLR-A100 was not entry-level). A late arrival in this market might have cost the company, but the A200 will get Sony into the fray immediately. The $700 camera has plenty to offer new photographers, and the competition should take notice.

What It Is

The Alpha DSLR-A200 is the first true entry-level digital SLR camera that Sony has released.

Amongst typical things you would expect in a dSLR, the camera has the capability to shoot at 10-megapixels, built-in image stabilization, a 2.7-inch 230,000-pixel LCD screen, an ISO range of 100 to 3200, and can burst for 3fps (unlimited JPEG, 6 frames max Raw).

What It Does

The A200 brings more competition into the entry-level camera market. Cameras used to be extremely expensive only a few years ago; however, in such a short amount of time, things have changed drastically. It is impossible to predict how the A200 will perform in the market, but it is likely that Sony will steal away a number of potential customers from Nikon and Canon .

What It's Worth

The Alpha DSLR-A200 will cost $700, and will be coming to a store near you in February. It will be on-par with the features and price offered from both the Canon Digital Rebel XTi and Nikon D40x. Surely an impressive attempt to enter the entry-level market by Sony.

My Thoughts

After comparing the specs from the competition--Digital Rebel XTi and Nikon D40x--the differences between all the cameras are minimal at best. It no longer really matters what you are looking for in performance because all the entry-level cameras are very similar in that regard.

What it will come down to primarily is how the camera feels in-hand, and the price willing to be payed. All that aside, I believe the A200 is a welcome addition, and worthy of consideration by future digital SLR customers.

The Ultra Premium UMPC by Samsung, which is an ultra-mobile PC, might look like something from Minority Report, but it could make you the coolest kid on the block. I don't know anyone who would want one, use one, or even buy one, but it does look freaking awesome. Surprisingly, it packs quite the punch in the performance department at a respectable price.

What It Is

(Image Credit: Samsung)
Samsung's Ultra Premium UMPC, announced Monday, is something that looks from a futuristic type of movie. A 1024 x 600 seven-inch touch screen gives plenty of screen space to watch videos, browse the web, fire up Photoshop, and much more.

The inclusion of an 80GB hard drive, 1GB of memory, a 1.3-megapixel camera, a lithium-ion battery, and a fingerprint reader make this quite the power package.

What It Does

You will likely be looked at as the most geek-like person by all in the vicinity of others. If this is the desired effect, than you should buy this thing immediately.

It also gives you the flexibility to compute on the go. The touch screen will be a nice addition to those who like to write, not type. I could see this as being very useful to graphic artists, medical staff, and other professions.

What It's Worth

At a price tag of $1,399, which includes Windows XP Tablet Edition, this ultra-mobile PC might be a good buy for those that can make use of it. Features and performance included, I would say it is worth the price.

My Thoughts

It might look weird (super oversized PDA?), and I don't know if I would want to bother with the tiny QWERTY keyboard that is split between the left and right, but it does have that futuristic flair that I can not get over. I must question the battery life of the product.

I will probably never be caught using one of these anytime soon, but I would not mind borrowing it from someone else. It better come with a kick-ass warranty, because I would not consider buying otherwise.

Bug Labs, a company I never heard of before, is releasing something very cool for all the hardcore geeks out there. Is it a computer, a GPS device, or a camera? What if I told you that it is all that and a whole lot more. BUG is a modular computer system that will appeal to those who like to tinker around with things. It is a GPL device that has modular components to enhance functionality, and it is fully programmable.

What It Is

(Image Credit: Bug Labs)
Bug Labs has announced the BUGbase and four modules at the 2008 CES. An ARM processor acts as the brain of BUGbase, and it has 128MB of RAM to work with. The system has a wide array of connectivity options and other features that can be read about in detail on the Bug Labs product site.

The Bug Labs site calls it a "fully programmable and 'hackable' Linux computer." The BUGbase is only part of the system though. Modules can be added to BUGbase which will enhance the system further.

(Image Credit: Bug Labs)
Four modules were shown at CES: a colorful touch-sensitive LCD screen (nearest), a 5-megapixel camera (right), an accelerometer/motion detector (left), and a GPS (farthest). Each do exactly what they sound like they would do. Each module is GPL based, and you can also create additional modules--if you have the skills required.

What It Does

Check out this video by CNET which shows off BUGbase and its modules if you are interested in learning more.

BUG is a modular computer system that will likely be embraced by the open source community. The system offers those who are interested in programming and hacking a chance to do so. With additional modules on the way, it might very well become a hit.

The SDK will allow you to program BUG to do what you want it to. It runs by using the Eclipse development environment. This is also great news for potential buyers.
(Image Credit: Bug Labs)
What It's Worth

For your typical geek, this product might be slightly overwhelming, but for those who like to push the limits of technology, this might be right up their alley. BUGbase is available on the Bug Labs website for early adopters at $299. The GPS ($79), camera ($69), LCD ($99), and accelerometer ($49) modules are all on sale for early adopters as well.

My Thoughts

It is something that I would love to get my hands on in the future. If I had one of these a few years ago, I probably would have done far too many illegal things to wireless networks. Bug Labs, send me a BUG for review immediately!

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EDGE Tech Corp has sent me a press release about the release of the 32GB DiskGO™ Flash Drive. This thing holds a whopping 32-gigabytes of data. This announcement will result in the lowering of prices for other USB flash based drives. Woohoo!

The 32GB DiskGO™ Flash Drive is priced at $399.95. That is a good deal when considering that only a few years ago you would have paid around the same for a 1GB USB drive. Right now, 32GB flash drives from the competitors of EDGE Tech Corp. are much more expensive; for them to under-cut the prices so drastically will likely result in good business and happier consumers.

The question of whether or not USB flash drives are worth it must still be asked. If you take into account the fact that you could buy an external 1-terabyte drive for around $350, then why bother? The ability to fit in your pocket is great, but the prices are hard to be justified when internal and external drives offer so much more for your dollar.

The Global Storage Technologies department of Hitachi (Hitachi GST) is pushing the limits with hard disk technology. Hitachi has developed a new technology that will allow the company to create 4-Terabyte drives that are expected to be put in production in 2011.

Hitachi drives utilize magnetism to read and write data to their drives. Their breakthrough technology for the new recording head is called "current perpendicular-to-the-plane giant magneto-resistive (CPP-GMR)." On Monday, this new technology was unveiled during the 8th Perpendicular Magnetic Recording Conference while at the Tokyo International Forum in Japan.

Hitachi will accomplish this by reducing the recording head size of the hard drives. Some of you might not understand completely how this works: if you compare the size of a big Sharpie marker to a freshly sharpened pencil, you quickly realize that the marker will take up a much bigger area when compared to a pencil while writing. This would mean that the new pencil (recording head) has an ultra-fine tip, and this results in allowing the writing and reading of more data on the same surface area.

The arrow points out the recording head to my Maxtor 20 GB HDD drive. It is considerably larger than the new drives that will be available from Hitachi.
There are some problems as noted on TechNewsWorld:
The problem with shrinking recording heads, however, has been in a relative increase in electrical resistance, which creates noise that makes it hard for the head to correctly read data. Hitachi's CPP-GMR device reduces electrical resistance, according to the company, resulting in lower electrical noise and signals that can still be accurately read by the recording heads.
The risk for data failure is potentially higher than with drives available today. If any of you have had the painful experience of a HDD failure, then you would quickly realize why this could be a double-edged sword. The good coming from all this is that other companies like Western Digital and Seagate are likely to develop new technologies to rival that of Hitachi, and will drive prices down further in the future.

The bottom line: this is good for consumers in the future, and for driving down the prices of current hard drives.

[Source: TechNewsWorld]