PC World is reporting about Samsung showing off a 32GB flash-based harddrive at CeBIT this week. It’s double the size that Samsung showed off last year. The 32GB flash-based drive fits in the same space as a normal 1.8-inch notebook hardrive.
According to a Samsung spokesperson, flash-based harddrives offer three advantages (Quoting PC World):
The SSD technology has three major benefits over hard disks, said Yun. The first is that data access is faster. …
The second advantage comes in durability. Because there are no moving parts in the SSD, it is much better at withstanding shock and much more unlikely that data will be lost if the laptop is dropped.
The third major advantage is that it works silently, said Yun.
The major drawback, almost $1000 USD for this drive. Ouch. On the plus side, it should use less energy, and it uses the same form factor as a 1.8-inch harddrive (don’t be surprised to see a 2.5-inch harddrive form factor as well), which apparently can be retrofitted to existing laptops.