Samsung makes possible 32 and 64GB CompactFlash cards

It's been barely 10 days since we discussed 8 and 16GB SD cards, but today, Samsung announced today that it has developed the world's first 40-nanometer memory device, allowing for 32 and 64GB CompactFlash cards. According to the company's press release, the new design uses a Charge Trap Flash architecture, which "reduces inter-cell noise levels." Oh, and remember when we asked if anyone had figured out the Moore's Law for flash memory? Turns out Samsung has: "Introduction of a 40nm manufacturing process for 32Gb NAND flash marks the seventh generation of NAND flash that follows the New Memory Growth Theory of double-density growth every 12 months, which was first presented by Dr. Chang Gyu Hwang, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics' Semiconductor Business in a keynote address at ISSCC 2002." By those calculations, we should have laptops with flash memory within a year.

[spike22 @ Sep 11th 2006 3:16PM]

I'd love to buy 4 of the 16-GB versions, stick them in my laptop (in a modified 2.5-inch enclosure) and run them in a quad-RAID0 array. I know the quad array is unreliable with traditional hard drives but with flash memory i'm confident it would be fine.

Anyone that could make that custom 2.5-inch enclosure and instructions on how to integrate that into an existing laptop could make lots of money. Would it even be possible to make such a thing?

[Matt @ Sep 11th 2006 3:18PM]

This laptop I am using now is currently using 16.4gig of storage...

Its tempting to try and get my hands on one of these and do some experients with booting from that instead of the harddrive.

[craig @ Sep 11th 2006 3:18PM]

sweet. how much and how long before these are in an ipod? i wonder if these would work in a mini...

[Larry @ May 27th 2007 7:54AM]

From an article I just read, I think it would.

[Matt @ Sep 11th 2006 3:20PM]

Spike22: You can already get IDE to flash adapters - no reason why you couldn't get at least two flash cards in the same space as a laptop drive. Might be able to squeeze 4 in, but I wouldn't be totally sure.

[YourNameHere @ Sep 11th 2006 3:22PM]

Cost guestimate:
32GB - 1500
64GB - 2200

It really will be interesting to see these prices, but I bet we'll be lucky to see them by CES '07.

[Colin @ Sep 11th 2006 3:25PM]

It's Gb not GB. There's a difference of 8x.

[wayan @ Sep 11th 2006 3:26PM]

By next year, there will be $100 laptops running on NAND flash memory. Its called the One Laptop Per Child 2B1: http://www.olpcnews.com/prototypes/2b1/

[Kevin @ Sep 11th 2006 3:31PM]

I always love to see flash drives doubling in size. The more it happens the cheaper they will become and the more likely it will be that they end up in Notebook PC’s.

I just hope this happens before for my old Notebook dies it only has about one to two more years left in it.

[Andrew @ Sep 11th 2006 3:45PM]

What is that lovely retro-looking DIP in the lower right corner for? Comparison to the older tech?

[Jake @ Sep 11th 2006 3:46PM]

Actually it IS GB. If you read the article, the technology that allows 64GB cards is the 32Gb NAND flash memory.

No fooling around here. 64GB on a flash card is more than I need. That's twice my laptop's current capacity! Sweet mother!

[Manatee @ Sep 11th 2006 3:53PM]

Interesting. Maybe if I could replace the 160GB drive in my MacBook Pro with three of those 64s, it would run cool enough so I could sell my Nomex shorts on eBay. :-)

[Eyal @ Sep 11th 2006 3:58PM]

this will be a fantastic addition to any consumer electronic appliance.

apart from the current prohibitive cost, however, be prepared to have these delayed to market. An Israeli company, Saifun (http://www.saifun.com/) holds patents over the Trapping technology which Samsung is using to achieve these densities. At the moment, they're potentially in violation of patent laws and Saifun already mentioned that they will battle if Samsung does not license the technology or pay royalties.

On the other hand, they're very pleased to see the technology being put to use as they say it 'validates' their work. It's a nice company, by the way, works with Spansion on 4-bit-per-cell technologies; some nice potential applications there.

[Robotron @ Sep 11th 2006 4:08PM]

Ok you know it's time to upgrade when the latest flashcards are larger than your current hard drive.

[David @ Sep 11th 2006 4:24PM]

When prices come down on these in say 2 years, is there any reason they could not replace HD-DVD?

[JonR800 @ Sep 11th 2006 4:29PM]

Did they fix the problem with cards dying after too many writes?

[tk. @ Sep 11th 2006 4:40PM]

Where are the asian chicks in the picture displaying them?

...disappointed.

[granny down east @ Sep 11th 2006 5:39PM]

To all the supra geeks out there:
Items/files written to HDD, recoverable (maybe) in the event of HDD failure.
Items/files written to flash- in case of failure, would they be recoverable?

What happens if the buffer gets fried, like in my last Muvo?
Thanks.

[Jeremy Steele @ Sep 11th 2006 5:50PM]

Two Words: "Holy Crap!"

Flash cards that are bigger than my laptop's HD...... jeeze

[Jordiniho @ Sep 11th 2006 6:13PM]

I say screw Blu Ray and HD Dvd and lets get straight to Flash Memory cards and a decent downloading service with a better rights management system. A flash player combined with a DVR with net connection is the future

[Matt @ Sep 11th 2006 6:14PM]

Because flash memory will never be as cheap as a pressed polycarbonite disk.

[Hugh Jass @ Sep 11th 2006 6:43PM]

Engadget, for crying out loud, sharpen up your reading skills. Samsung did NOT release 32GB and 64GB compact flash cards. They ANNOUNCED a 32-Gigabit NAND flash device which "CAN BE USED in memory cards with densities of up to 64-Gigabytes".

[Cyrus Farivar @ Sep 11th 2006 6:45PM]

Thanks, we've clarified the headline.

[NAvstar @ Sep 11th 2006 7:00PM]

Anyone remember the scene in Contact when Jodie Foster is given a video headset with 64-Gigabyte flash memory? I chuckled at the time. But now? d'oh!!!

[rutsy5 @ Sep 11th 2006 8:27PM]

any word on how fast these will transfer?

[nikster @ Sep 12th 2006 1:48AM]

drooooooooooool.....

I want 8 of these in my laptop... 64GB x 8 == 512GB and they are so flat they can just go in the bottom of the case. 8 in a RAID array of course. Even if these guys are slower than a HD, an 8x RAID config will probably exceed HDs. If you think about it, you could do any kind of RAID with this... just use 18 x 32GB in a RAID 5 config for data safety etc..

Frankly, I think flash memory tech - whatever it's based on in the future - will bring parallelism on an unprecedented scale to storage mediums. You can arrange the chips any way you like - it doesn't have to be actual CF cards. So you could also implement any kind of RAID logic you can imagine, 16 parallel devices + 4 XOR CRCs - why not? 128? Sure!

Parallelism in GPUs increased rendering speed by 2x every year, and for pure data storage that is a _much_ easier problem to solve.

First I got rid of all my CDs. Now I can't wait to get rid of all my HDs. I want my data cube.

[thekirth @ Sep 12th 2006 6:42AM]

No wonder that we will be able to hear 1 TB memory drive soon. May be in another five years time. But we really can't predict that becuase this might happen to fast, may be in another 3 years time. Who knows!

This is amazing! isn't it!

[v1q @ Sep 12th 2006 6:00PM]

sweet! i would buy one of those, even if its for my digital slr cam! i would barely have to copy my images to a harddrive.

[Hugh Jass @ Sep 12th 2006 6:37PM]

Thanks for clarifying the title, Cyrus. I mean you no harm, but Engadget has made a habit of posting inaccurate or misleading information lately due to shoddy research and it's been getting on my nerves.

rutsy5, please read the article and the link. It clearly states it is 32 gigabit NAND flash --> the transfer rate is 32 gigabits.

[Scott Johnson @ Sep 13th 2006 11:22AM]

I still think the 4GB microdrive that I have in my camera is HUGE. But wow, 32 and 64GB flash cards! Damn! Maybe the 15GB card prices will start dropping soon. :)

[Chuckles McGee @ Sep 19th 2006 5:55PM]

NAND is definitely making its way to being very feasible. While conventional, very large (500+GB) hard drives are bound to be around for a while, especially for desktops, the pluses of a lighter, cooler, faster, more durable drive for a laptop will easily outweigh the small compromise in size that a user must endure. Yes, 32 or 64 GB drives don't allow for a plethora of media, but it's more than enough space for all of the essential programs and utilities Windows loves. Keep your extra junk on a gigantic external drive if the loss of space bothers you that much.

[Max @ Jan 27th 2008 2:42PM]

Okay now this is more than a year ago, where can I buy them? Can't find a 64GB CF card anywhere.

[james braselton @ Dec 17th 2008 6:51PM]

HI THERE THE FLASH MEMORY AND SSD CARDS ARE SOO BIG AND GETING RICES ARE FALING SOO FAST HARD DRIVES MAY RUN OUT OF TIME.