Transcend debuts 32GB SSD ExpressCard

You may "remember" recently that memory manufacturer Transcend busted out a 16GB ExpressCard for your flash-storin', no-moving-parts-havin' delight. Well, the gang is back, and this time they're packing 32GB of solid-state action and a serious "can do" attitude (note: the solid-state action is real, but we're just assuming they have a "can do" attitude). For $509 (according to the company's website), you can put your mind at ease by doing things like storing your OS and apps in one large, happy, non-volatile spot. The Vista compatible drive comes with a USB adaptor, for those not EC ready, and is available now.

[Via PCLaunches]

[Blissful @ Jul 4th 2007 9:42AM]

So then, pardon my ignorance but if I put this 32gb Express Card in my MacBook Pro could I boot from it and function off of it, or would my machine be writing to the HDD as a cache and things frequently anyway? Thanks.

[neonenergy @ Jul 4th 2007 9:48AM]

From what i understand, its connecting a flash drive through a expresscard interface, so it should show up as a legitimate drive. Kind of like connecting an esata card through an expresscard adapter.

Your idea would be awesome, if it works!

[arthur barnhouse @ Jul 4th 2007 9:58AM]

1. I'm almost 90% certain that you can't boot off of a Hard drive conneced in that manner on a Mac. You couldn't use a flash drive as far as I could ever tell.

2. I wouldn't waste your money on this. Do a search for reviews of this and you'll find that the speed from this thing isn't faster than a Hard drive (Keep in mind that flash is faster than a hard drive, but these transcend expresscard flash drives just seem to be slow).

[Sasha Friedenberg @ Jul 4th 2007 10:44AM]

read this post,
http://forums.macnn.com/69/powerbook-and-macbook-pro/338277/boot-mac-os-x-ssd-expresscard/

does anyone know what kind of read/write speeds this gets?

[Blissful @ Jul 4th 2007 11:50AM]

Ah. Well I'm looking forward to this becoming practical. Thank you for the info everyone.

[ethana2 @ Jul 4th 2007 1:26PM]

Same here. That will be awesome.. Just watch and wait...

In the mean time you might want an os that doesn't fragment it's file system...

[denis @ Jul 4th 2007 10:16AM]

Just tested this device on Panasonic CF-30. Line read speed 20-25 Mb/s, write speed is only 3-4 Mb/second! Tested under Windows and Linux. Device sucks.

[Dragon76 @ Jul 4th 2007 10:22AM]

Interesting concept, overpriced in practice. I am always suspect of ExpressCard discs because they typically use the USB 2 function of the spec. How is this different than just using an ExpressCard adapter and a large memory card? Oh, it's about $300 more expensive.

[ethana2 @ Jul 4th 2007 1:28PM]

We need a usb3 already. Any protocol that caps speed dooms itself to a limited span of usefulness.

And a protocol shouldn't limit the number of pins, either. Basically, I want a usb protocol that's... PCIe. Kinda.

[Al @ Jul 4th 2007 1:05PM]

Why doesn't iPhone have storage capacities this big?

[ethana2 @ Jul 4th 2007 1:29PM]

It doesn't need to run Vista.

No seriously. Why would it matter? You can't put your own OS and software on it yet anyway. How much music do you have?!

[Alan @ Aug 21st 2007 7:29PM]

Mister 'ethana2' really you would struggle to fill 32gb? Wow, you must be getting laid - the rest of us geeks could do it twice over.

[stan @ Jul 4th 2007 1:19PM]

using these as express cards wont give you off the chart speeds, you need a sata interface for that :D

Seriously, if there was a SSD that connected to a SATA port, speeds would be 100% faster

[Alan @ Aug 21st 2007 7:28PM]

100% faster = the same. For example: 200% faster = double.

[ethana2 @ Jul 4th 2007 1:25PM]

Tell me when it can match the performance of a 7200 rpm SATA drive, and when I can boot off of it natively. When that time comes, it may be handy for a laptop drive.

What process size is this printed on?

[Ponceño @ Jul 4th 2007 3:01PM]

"Why doesn't iPhone have storage capacities this big?"

Are you willing to pay $1,000 for a 32 GB iPhone?

Look this card cost $509 buy the article + the price of the iPhone.

[Iamsars @ Jul 5th 2007 2:48AM]

Who r u kidding? if apple put this 32 gb SSD card in their iphone they'd charge like a $500 premium at least and it would be $1500 for a 32 gig iphone -_-;;

[Alan @ Aug 21st 2007 7:29PM]

Apple wouldn't pay street price. The additional 24GB over the current 8GB would only add about $200 - $250 max to the price. Just look at what 16GB pen drives cost these days.

[Logan @ Jul 4th 2007 5:40PM]

@Ponceno

Yes, I would pay $899 for a 32GB iPhone.

[Iria @ Jul 4th 2007 10:43PM]

I always figured eSATA would become the USB 3.0 ...

[ErickAnderson @ Jul 5th 2007 11:36AM]

me and my 30g Ipod at $300 will sit and let this one pass for now - I bought a 4gig sd card from transcend and it isn't compatible with 2 cameras or my PC

[techgrl @ Jul 6th 2007 6:04PM]

26 years of software development later, 6MB of DOS became 13GB of Vista. People tried making processors 1000x faster. They increased their speed from 4.77MHz to 6000MHz. our pcs are still choking on video and games! They tried increasing the speed of the memory bus from 2MHz to 800 DDR (effectively 1600MHz), an increase of 800x, yet pcs still choke and sttuter in videos and games , they made GPUS in the order of GBytes per second,that did not do the trick either -

everything in a Pc cycles faster than 200 MegaHertz except a hard disk, which cycles at 120 Hertz (7200 rpm) or 166 Hertz (10,000 rpm) or 250 Hertz (15,000 rpm) - hard disks have only increased in speed by around 5x in the last 22 years. the way to balance a PC, is to bring every component part up to the same speed is to employ a hard disk which is 100x faster than the latest Sata drive. upgrading other parts and leaving the most important speed determinant out is senseless especially now that clocks speeds in gpus and cpus have reached their thermal limits while sata drives barely get by, topping out a measly 40MB/S
wich cant even play a 120MB/s HD video stream from page file without choking to death.
im glad solid state and ram disks are finally here

[Alan @ Aug 21st 2007 7:28PM]

That is interesting, I didn't know that.

[BoClawson @ Sep 1st 2007 8:38AM]

Flash based "hard drives" are coming, but Intel's announcement was the only one I saw that was honest and said the sustained write was 28 mb/sec versus rotating hard drives that do 30-70 mb/sec.

Sounds like the solid-state still has a performance deficit that must be overcome before I buy one.

[Michael @ Sep 8th 2007 3:37PM]

Transcend is selling this device for $408 on their website, $70 cheaper than newegg. I understand the 16 GB Lexar has faster write speeds though.