Intel launches flash-based HDD line

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Portable storage and music players have created skyrocketing demand both for small form-factor (1.8 inch or smaller) spinning-platter disk drives as well as flash RAM-based equivalents. Intel is making a splash in the latter market with the introduction of its prosaically-named Z-U130 Value Solid State Drive (VSSD) product line, based on Intel NAND flash RAM technology. The VSSDs are currently shipping at 1 and 2 gigabyte densities, with a 4 GB model slated for April and an 8 GB variant by year's end.

Intel rates its devices up to 28 MB per second for data reads, and 20 MB per second for data writes. Although Intel has not yet released pricing data, its marketing materials promise a competitive mark against small-format spinning media. Although some fear that the more limited write cycles of flash RAM make the technology less appealing for high-frequency access, its advocates tout the physical durability, lower power consumption, and nonexistent contribution to noise output of flash media as a long-term competitive advantage.

Unlike some flash-based HDD equivalents which rely on an intermediate hard disk interface such as SCSI or IDE and are designed to mate with CompactFlash sockets or standard drive bay form factors, the Intel VSSDs plug directly into standard USB pin headers found on various motherboards and device interfaces. The units come in both a standard (1 cm) and low-profile (6 mm) design and weigh in at 10 grams, with an expected MTBF of 5 million hours.

The devices are aimed at a lower market segment than laptop-grade replacement flash media clusters such as those recently announced by Sandisk.

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