14 DAY TRIAL // There are many solid state drive form factors in the world, but most of them are still at least half as large as a human palm, except for the smallest of the M.2 units perhaps. However, some SSDs come in the same size as single chips, and such is the case for the newest ones from Apacer.
Apacer wanted to release some solid state drives that were not only small and light, but could withstand extreme temperatures as well, both cold and hot.
You see, while SSDs often show up in PCs, they, or other NAND Flash storage technologies, are the preferred storage type for things that move a lot. Like cars and unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs for short.
In fact, Apacer specifically mentioned UAVs as a means to maintain high security, national defense via surveillance from the air. UAVs are also used a fair bit in aviation, communication, oil pipe monitoring, environment observation, etc.
The new subminiature SSD that Apacer made for such things is called μSDC-M Plus and can withstand temperatures of -40°C / -40°F to 85°C / 185°F. That's a lot lower than ice cold and boiling hot, respectively.
UAVs will still need really good heat shielding when sent to, say, frozen tundras or Siberia during winter, since temperatures can go a lot lower than -40 degrees there. Still, the temperature endurance is considerable, even if not totally perfect.
In addition to durability, the μSDC-M Plus is also quite fast, with a performance of up to 510 MB/s, when reading at least. The writing speed is suspiciously left out of the press release, but it should be of at least 200-300 MB/s.
Were there any models with a capacity of over 64 GB, write speed may have gone a lot higher than that, but there aren't. It's not like a fingertip-sized drive could pack much more than that.
Other assets of Apacer's μSDC-M Plus SSD include 100% resistance to shock and dropping, mostly because it's so small and light, as well as thanks surface mount technology. All in all, the drive should be perfect for high-altitude photos taken in turbulent or cold environments.
Performance will decrease over time, as is the case for all SSDs, but the TRIM Command and 72bit/1K Bytes ECC (error correction code) will put it off for a few good years. All in all, the Apacer μSDC-M Plus SSD measures 16 x 20 x 1.4 mm / 0.62 x 0.78 x 0.05 inches. That's right, it's that thin.
