Is it something in the fabs?
Following launches by Sandisk, Samsung, Intel, and Super Talent (did I forget anyone?), Dutch electronics maker Attorn BV has also announced its own solid-state (SSD) disk, the HyperDrive4.
Edit 3/22: OK, this would have been a perfectly fine blog post if I had just read a bit more carefully. Yes, solid-state-disks, of late, have been used to refer to drives that use flash memory. However, this is the other type of solid-state disk, one that uses RAM to store data, not flash.
It's faster (1,100 ns read/250 ns write) versus an 8-ms seek time for a standard hard drive, which equates to 8,000,000 nanoseconds. The downside is price- for the 'bare' board (delivered with external power supply, back-up battery and 2 connector cables) the price is 1800 euros without VAT.
In this case, another downside is the capacity: just a single gigabyte. "Gee, I can't hardly wait to get a 1GB hard drive," noted editor-in-chief Jim Louderback, who habitually applies sarcasm and hair-care products in generous doses. "Takes me back to, well, 1993." Jim didn't read the full spec sheet, which notes that capacities up to 32GBs are planned, but he's right about one thing-a 1GB drive is pretty weak sauce. [Additional correction: According to the company, "...the capacity depends on the quantity of memory modules the user puts on board and that can be between 1 and 32GB depending on the number of modules(max. 8) and the capacity of the memory modules (1 to 4GB)." Our apologies.]
On performance, though, the drive redeems itself. Over 126 MBs/s can be achieved with just one drive. With four arranged in a RAID 0 configuration, the company claims over 400 MBs/s. Too bad that's cost-prohibitive.
That wasn't it for the smackdowns, though. "But if you have read this far you will realize that from a technological standpoint the hard disk is now obsolete and even the mighty [Western Digital] Raptor is now extinct as an Operating System and Application platform." Oh, snap!
Incidentally, the reason I didn't include today's Fujitsu announcement of a SSD-equipped notebook is because Samsung manufactured it.
Post by Mark Hachman
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March 21, 2007 8:02 AM
The Raptor drive is made by Western Digital, not Seagate. I can only assume it was an incompetent editor that felt the need to add in the incorrect brand name of the Raptor. :p
March 21, 2007 8:31 AM
Saying that 8ms is equal to 8,000 nanoseconds is incorrect, by a factor of 1000. 8ms is equal to 8,000,000 nanoseconds.
Otherwise, an interesting article :)
March 21, 2007 11:06 AM
Thanks, incredibly intelligent readers. Corrections made.
March 21, 2007 1:29 PM
I don't quite get what the story is here. The HyperDrive 4 product has been available for a while from http://www.hyperossystems.co.uk/ at a cost of $1940 USD. It's not really comparable to any of the other devices mentioned in the article, since it's not a flash-based SSD, it's based on volatile RAM, so it'll lose all it's data if powered down.
March 22, 2007 11:34 AM
There are a few mistakes or misconceptions in the article.
The HyperDrive4 uses DDR1 SDRAM not Flash memory. Furthermore the capacity depends on the quantity of memory modules the user puts on board and that can be between 1 and 32GB depending on the number of modules(max. 8) and the capacity of the memory modules (1 to 4GB) . And yes if he puts only 1 GB on board it will only have a 1GB capacity.
The price for the 'bare' board (delivered with external power supply, back-up battery and 2 connector cables) is 1800,- Euro, exclusive VAT.
March 30, 2007 10:05 AM
A couple of things you and readers need to understand:
Compared to a fast SAS hard drive (330 IOPS) the Hyperdrive4 runs at whopping 44000 IOPS, easily making it the fastest drive in the world.
Until the flash drive makers fix the read write access drag of 5x slower than spinner hard drives, these products are expensive vaporware.
The Hyperdrive uses battery backup and its own power supply to manage the powerdown memory loss. These drives are not for replacement of big fast spinning drives, but for running apps.
These things have been around for a while--you really need to do more research before you spout, as just about everything you said is stretched nonsense--no I don't work for Attorn.
May 21, 2007 6:40 PM
As others have posted, The HyperDrive 4 product has been available for a while from http://www.hyperossystems.co.uk/
Your article tells me less than what I can Google and read in 2 minutes. The replys are clearly more informative than the article... change your name to "GearBlog". SSD will take over the HD industry... not if, but when. Seagate and WD better get there hands in on this...
May 31, 2007 5:05 AM
dose anybody know this particular SSD? I saw a review from Korean website, but I can't read Korean. Someone please help out!
http://www.acrofan.com/bbs/zboard.php?id=device&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=100
July 30, 2007 12:37 PM
I could not find this site in the Search Engines index
August 9, 2007 4:19 AM
I have visited your site 180-times
August 9, 2007 4:19 AM
Your site found in Google: position513
August 9, 2007 4:20 AM
I could not find this site in the Search Engines index
September 10, 2007 3:51 PM
MTRON makes a flash drive that's a bit slower in random IOPS (16000 vs the Hyperdrive 44000), but for the 16 GB capacity is waaaay cheaper ($800 on dvnation.com) as opposed to the Hyperdrive's 16 GB config of about $4K+).
October 22, 2007 1:56 PM
400mbs?, I understand that they are made in batch's. I'm sure you could modify this hard drive too. First thing to do is isolate the battery first, and improve the memmory slot holders to make them more secure. Something double latching. I'd also add some sort of cooling apparatus next to it though, because the cooler it runs the more efficent it is. Then all that's left is the highest ram Mhz and loest latency times modules you can get to put in them. I prefer the ibm drive even though it has 100mbs less because of the manufacturing process involved. I was expecting something to come from western digital recently but they are officially working on one but will not coment at this moment in time. They will be 32GB @2.2Mhz Sli Ready, RAID configurable, The memmory models that are inserted are matching pair's, frequency timed. (Corsair's DHX and i suppose in theory overclockable and hopefully support EPP.
If I was to modify this board also i'd change the sata2 interconect too, the enclosure that i'd house it in my rack would be cold rooled pressed steel too.
I am only intrested in these because id do a lot of video editing usind ripped dvd vobs. I would like to move my game up and edit 1080 HD and to do it efficiently. My current projects are scarface, jurrassic park 4, and im also wanting to make and xmen4 rise of the pheonix. (A movie just about jean gray)...If 25fps,100Hz,24 bit, 16:9 1080i movie at present at maxs only uses 50mbs, So with that other 250 mbs I can see HD1.3 being editable in this environment, but i'm happy to invest in it asoon as it becomes profitable to use it as a distrubution method.
November 16, 2007 9:05 AM
BitMicro has a solid stat disk with 55000 IOPS, so this disk you are discussing about isn't "easily" the fastest disk on the world.
http://www.bitmicro.com/press_news_releases_20071113.php