TDK Unveils the Smallest Solid State Drive

This week, TDK announced the completion of its latest solid state NAND flash memory drive development. The new device is as small as a typical notebook drive but it does not include any mechanical platters or read/write heads. The small drive relies on high-speed NAND flash memory and can store up to 32 Gb of data using 16 chips of 16 gigabits each.

TDK's Japanese press release informs:
"Along with TDK's 'GBDriver RA5' NAND flash memory control LSI, this semiconductor disc features four super capacitors (optional) for the power supply interruption assist circuit and a 2.5-inch ATA interface. The GBDriver RA5 supports "UltraDMA mode2" data transmission mode that boasts a maximum data rate of 33.3 MB per second."

TDK also claims that the new device is 20% smaller than 2.5-inch notebook drives and it consumes less power while it is not exposed to similar failure factors encountered by traditional drives.

TDK is not the only company that announced Solid State drives. Toshiba and Samsung presented their own lines of future Solid States devices but none of these three companies announced the availability of the upcoming devices.