Intel to raise solid storage stakes to tune of 160GB

Stan Beer
Thursday, 13 March 2008 12:27

Opinion and Analysis

Intel has announced its intention to enter the high capacity solid state storage market with a 160GB solid state drive (SSD) in the next three months. Is this the beginning of the end for the hard disk?

Since the invention of non-volatile Flash RAM more than two decades ago, technology market watchers have been watching and waiting to see signs of a weakening of the market for what appears to be an obsolete technology, magnet storage. Yet it hasn't happened and the market for hard drives appears healthier than ever.

In the words of the iconical wiry haired scientist: why is this so? Logically, SSD storage should be the way to go - no moving parts to wear out, lighter, smaller, much faster access times, lower power consumption, more releiable and less susceptibility to the bumps and bruises of travelling.

The problem for the SSD crowd, however, is that the mag drive folks are always two steps ahead of the game. They just keep managing to put ridiculously large amounts of storage on ever smaller disks for a comparatively tiny cost. Want 500GB disk storage internal or external? No problem, it'll set you back a bit more than $100 from suppliers like Western Digital, Hitachi or Seagate. Want 128GB SSD - the most silicon storage you can get these days - fine, be prepared to pay $1500 or more (apologies if I've under or overstated the prices but you get the idea).

The fact is SSD is still way too expensive for the average computer user and, although prices are expected to drop dramatically over the next three years, the mag disk folks keep putting more storage on those platters for dirt cheap prices. CONTINUED