Samsung Unveils 256GB SSD Drive

Samsung pushed up the capacity of solid state drives on Monday with the introduction of its new 2.5-inch 256GB SSD drive. The drive uses multi-level cell technology to pack more data in a smaller space without dramatically increasing costs, and supposedly performs over two times faster than typical hard drives.

The new SSD drive also boasts a mean time failure rate at one million hours, a 0.9 watt power consumption in active mode, and data encryption that continues to function after the drive is removed from a computer.

The company said that it plans to begin mass production of the 2.5-inch 256GB drive by the end of 2008, and it also plans to have a 1.8-inch version available in its fourth quarter of 2008. Other than saying these new drives will cost less, Samsung has not offered any pricing information.

Samsung is currently providing the 64GB SSD drive that is available as a built-to-order option on Appleis MacBook Air, but there is no word yet on whether or not Apple is eyeing this new model for its laptops.