New flash technology from Intel, Micron will soon spawn 10TB SSDs

[Shawn Knight]

Good news on the consumer solid state drive front as storage capacity is expected to ramp up dramatically in the coming months thanks to a partnership between Intel and Micron.

The two tech firms, which have been working together on flash storage for quite some time, have created a new type of 3D NAND flash memory that benefits not from building larger flash cells but stacking them on top of each other – much like building a skyscraper. Best yet, this method will result in greater efficiency and lower costs which will likely be passed along to the consumer.

Specifically, the two have stacked NAND flash 32 layers deep to create 32GB chips that are already sampling at both companies. A 48GB variant is also in the works, we’re told. Add several of these to a standard package and you suddenly have a massive SSD on your hands.

How big, you ask? Using the M.2 PCIe form factor, the duo can turn out drives with capacities of up to 3.5TB and in a standard 2.5-inch enclosure, we’ll soon be looking at 10TB drives which is on par with today’s large-capacity spinning hard drives at a fraction of the size.

Brian Shirley, VP of memory technology and solutions at Micron, said this 3D NAND technology has the potential to create fundamental market shifts and the depth of the impact that flash has had to date is really just scratching the surface of what’s possible.

Intel said it expects to ship products using the new technology by the second half of this year.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/60184-new-flash-technology-intel-micron-soon-spawn-10tb.html

 

[Kibaruk]

Will believe it when I see it but it sounds freaking awesome!

 

[stewi0001]

I'm starting to not feel so bad about waiting for 2016 to rebuild my computer.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Yep I say another 10 years. 10 more years and no one will want to buy a mechanical drive.

 

[EEatGDL]

Yep I say another 10 years. 10 more years and no one will want to buy a mechanical drive.

Yep, the days of the hard disk are counted now that there are NAND-based options on-par in capacity, is just a matter of pricing. After the extreme tests that have been run until SSDs die, knowing the weaknesses of hard disks, etc. it is a lot more than just reliability and speed to consider.

 

[RustyTech]

"Intel said it expects to ship products using the new technology by the second half of this year."

I guess we'll see. I'll be looking for this!

 

[Greg S]

I won't be paying over $150 for a solid state drive. Waiting for a sub-$150 512gb drive to appear. Hopefully in the next year or two that can happen.

 

[Guest]

HERETIC said

Flash has it's limits and will never make spinning rust obsolete.
Well not 3.5" Drives anyway.
2.5" Lappy drives could very well be on their last legs-which is a
really good thing as nothing slows a lappy more than slow 2.5"drives.

 

[AnonymousSurfer]

Sounds like it'll be awesome but I hope the price isn't insane on them.

 

[DaveBG]

Cannot wait for this to be available for consumers.

 

[Guest]

"I won't be paying over $150 for a solid state drive. Waiting for a sub-$150 512gb drive to appear. Hopefully in the next year or two that can happen."

We're just about there now. I don't think it will be a year or two. I'm thinking more like October.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Yep I say another 10 years. 10 more years and no one will want to buy a mechanical drive.

Yeah, while the tech may be there soon, the price point won't be!

 

[infiltrator]

Yep I say another 10 years. 10 more years and no one will want to buy a mechanical drive.

Only my NAS has hard drives in it still. My desktop PC has SSDs and I am loving the performance of I. But I too agree with what you're saying. One day hard drives will become history....

 

[Innkeeper]

My mechanical storage drives are a few years old,hoping to replace them with these new drives.

 

[Darth Shiv]

I'm really hoping 3.5TB SSDs come out around the $200 mark (once production scales up). Considering the tech is touted for 2.5" 10TB drives, that price already seems pretty realistic due to the pretty constant cost of silicon wrt surface area.

The biggest hurdle I think is just getting the data density but if Intel can get 10TB into 2.5", mechanical drive manufacturers will be in cold sweats - the mechanical drive industry could be doomed within a year or two.

 

[Rick]

I'm hopeful for this! However, after seeing so many game-changing tech announcements made month after month, year after year for decades now, I'm a bit jaded by such claims. In fact, I will eat my shorts if 10TB SSDs appear this year or next year. Also, you can bet that when they do show up, they will be prohibitively expensive and likely remain so for years down the road.

With all that un-optimism out of the way, I'd like to state that absolutely love SSDs and I cannot wait for spinning discs to go away.

 

[Darth Shiv]

I'm hopeful for this! However, after seeing so many game-changing tech announcements made month after month, year after year for decades now, I'm a bit jaded by such claims. In fact, I will eat my shorts if 10TB SSDs appear this year or next year. Also, you can bet that when they do show up, they will be prohibitively expensive and likely remain so for years down the road.

With all that un-optimism out of the way, I'd like to state that absolutely love SSDs and I cannot wait for spinning discs to go away.

SanDisk had 4TB 2.5" SSDs in April 2014 FYI. So I hope you are hungry...

 

[Rick]

SanDisk had 4TB 2.5" SSDs in April 2014 FYI. So I hope you are hungry...

At $6000 for a single storage device... anything is possible.

 

[Guest]

Wow Its great to know that we're that Close to limitless storage hook two 10 TB and I think that wouild be limitless untrill they come up with 4TB Programs