Computing

Flash for Laptops

Computers that use flash chips instead of a magnetic hard disk for memory are coming.

  • Monday, April 17, 2006
  • By Kate Greene

Flash memory storage, traditionally used in cell phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players, is finding its way onto the laptop. Last October, Intel unveiled a hybrid technology in which flash is used with a conventional magnetic hard drive to increase battery life. Then, last month at the CeBIT, a technology show in Hannover, Germany, Samsung Semiconductor displayed a laptop in which 32 gigabytes of flash completely replaces the hard drive (click here for an image of this flash chip).

Now, as storage densities rise and prices fall for flash technology, many industry experts expect that it's only a matter of time before it becomes common in laptops.

There are numerous advantages to putting flash memory into laptops. The technology is based on transistors and has a design similar to microprocessors (see "Storage Grows in a Flash"), making flash memory chips more compact and lighter than magnetic hard disks -- which could lead to featherweight laptops.

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Additionally, flash has no moving parts, unlike a hard disk, where data is read from a spinning disk. This difference has two benefits: flash memory consumes less power, and it's more rugged and less prone to failure, because there are no moving parts. "Anyone who's had a hard drive wipe out knows you've got to be real careful with magnetic media," says Ed Doller, CTO of the Flash Memory Group at Intel.

Yet flash memory still has one major drawback: cost. Many believe that this will keep flash from replacing laptop hard disks in the near future. Currently, flash storage costs about $25 per gigabyte -- roughly 100 times more than magnetic storage. By 2009, though, 20 gigabytes of flash could cost less than $150, or about $7.50 per gigabyte, according to SanDisk, a data storage company. But this is still three times more than hard-disk prices today, says Tom Coughlin of Coughlin Associates, a data-storage consulting company.

Despite the relatively high cost of flash right now, companies such as Intel are already taking advantage of the benefits that even a small amount of flash memory affords. The company's hybrid drive systems, available in early 2007, will use flash as a hard-drive cache. Some data will be accessed without requiring the hard drive to spin, saving energy. "It gives the ability to lower the power consumption and when you launch an application, it opens two times faster," according to Intel's Doller.

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Guest (AHR)

  • 2128 Days Ago
  • 04/17/2006

Flash Storage vs Hard Disk

Please address the probability of flash vs hard disk in the case where software and files are stored off-line (eg: google e-mail and calendars).

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Guest (Daniel Velazquez)

  • 2127 Days Ago
  • 04/18/2006

File System

Will they support different file systems and partitions? I have on my laptop Linux, Solaris, Windows and OS X in a 40G disk, will it be possible to handle 4 different file systems in to one chip?

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Guest (bill c)

  • 2124 Days Ago
  • 04/21/2006

file system

don't know about partitions, but this begs an important consideration- if you compare the file sizes of linux programs to windows, they are much smaller.  File size optimization and self contained executables should be a goal for the future- windows fs combined with "cheap" magnetic drives allows for a lot of bloat.  Smaller file sizes means less storage space required, faster networks, etc.

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Guest (JIM)

  • 2128 Days Ago
  • 04/17/2006

Back to the future!

Sounds just like my first laptop, a Tandy 200 I bought about 20 years ago!

Reply

Guest (tom barta)

  • 2128 Days Ago
  • 04/17/2006

thomas_e_barta@yahoo.com

I was under the impression Flash only permits a few million "writes" before wearing out. I suppose the flash "disk" will have to be both cheap AND  easily replaceable, since traditional hard drives swap out a LOT of data in a typical day.

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Guest (Steve)

  • 2127 Days Ago
  • 04/18/2006

Agree, Flash limited life is a problem

For a Flash block,the life is 10K-100K write times .Replacing the chip is not a good solution because of the price now.

Reply

Guest (Kahn)

  • 2058 Days Ago
  • 06/26/2006

Reader/Writer USB 2.0 Flash Drive

Hi everyone,
for another cool Reader/Writer USB flash drive and other memory cards product check this site out.
http://www.nerdrack.com

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urian1975

16 Comments

  • 1879 Days Ago
  • 12/22/2006

Flash memory for gamers

this new new flash would be great for gamers running high impact games putting a strain on the hard disk...this alleviate the need for hard disk coolers meaning one less thing generating damaging heat in the computer.

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