Size Matters: A New Flash Memory Format

You might think that the image to your left shows a regular SD memory card and I wouldn't blame you for it but next time you see it make sure you act like Sherlock and spot the "XC" underneath the regular SD logo.

What does the XC mean? Well in teh Queen's Marketing Speak the X stands for "extended" and the C stands for "capacity". The "extended" in this case translates as a theoretical maximum of 2TB of storage with an access speed of 300 MB/s. No, you didn't misread those figures, it says two Terrabytes and three hundred Megabytes per second.

Engadget says that the new tech "relies upon Microsoft's exFAT file system and stores more than 4,000 RAW images, 100 HD movies, or 60 hours of HD recording with a transfer rate of up to 300MBps. The first batch of retail cards will hit before March with read/write speeds up to 104MBps in unknown capacities, though certainly less than 2TB on day one."

Of course we can't expect these things to be cheap but damn, 2TB in your pocket!

Seagate Releases 1.5TB Hard Drive

Today Seagate announced their new Barracuda 1.5TB hard drive due out in August. Yes, that's 1,500 GB of data on one hard drive spinning around at 7,200 RPM.

As part of the marketing spiel Seagate pronounced that the jump from 1TB to 1.5TB is the "largest capacity hard drive jump in the more than half-century history of hard drives.". Of course they can pretty much say that each time a new drive comes out.

You can be assured these things will be far from cheap but maybe now the price of those tiny 1TB drives might drop.

HDD Price Drop: 13c Per Gig!

IT Estate have got some great specials this week including 500GB drives for $65 AUD and 750GB for $90 AUD. Not to be out done Centre Com have got 750GB drives for $99! CRAZY! That's 13 cents PER GIG if you get a 500GB drive!

Is that enough exclamation points for one post?