Here it is, the world's first SDXC card... announcement. Unfortunately, PRETEC's take on the new SD eXtended Capacity storage format falls well short of the 2TB theoretical maximum at 32GB (a 64GB card is promised for later in the year), as does the card's 50MBps transfer rate when 300MBps data rates are possible. Still, a first's a first, at least it could be if this is the first SDXC card to go retail -- PRETEC doesn't list a price or a ship date. Let's just hope that devices supporting the SDXC standard appear at about the same time these SDXC cards do ship, eh?

The kids at Pretec sure love taking things to the limit. Whether they're announcing the world's smallest microSD reader, the largest CF card, or submerging their new flash drive in water, they have a certain fondness for the dramatic gesture. While the company's newest endeavor doesn't provide an occasion to head down to the shooting range, the new ExpressCard SSD is available in both 64GB and 128GB flavors denominations, and boasts hardware-based AES256 encryption / decryption and a dual ExpressCard / mini-USB interface. On the scene now at CeBIT 2009.

Pretec has already pushed standard CompactFlash cards pretty far, and it now looks to be branching out beyond the confines of the format, with it today announcing its new CompactFlash-sized (but apparently not CompactFlash-compatibile) CFast storage card. Helping the card earn that title is its use of a high-speed SATA interface, which boosts the maximum transfer speed to a blistering 375MB per second, or roughly 300% faster than the speediest CompactFlash card on the market today. In a bit of a twist to these usual announcements, Pretec says the the first 32GB cards are actually available starting today (albeit not directly to consumers), with some 64GB card promised to be following "soon."

Remember the days when 64GB sounded huge for a CompactFlash card? Well, now you can pick up the world's largest CF: a 100GB Pretec 233x operating at a zippy 35MB/sec. And if that's not big enough for you, through some kind of crazy voodoo magic (aka Pretec Q-SATA) four 64GB cards can be transformed into a 256GB SATA drive -- assuming you have $1,596 burning a hole in your pocket. And if speed is your game, Pretec can outfit you with a 333x 32GB CF card running at a record-breaking 50MB/sec for merely $630 -- chump change, right?

Just in case you haven't had enough flash storage for one day, Pretec's making sure you really do get your fill. Announced today at CES, the outfit unveiled a 16GB, 24GB and 48GB CompactFlash card, with the 2GB - 24GB iterations available in 333x flavors (50MB/sec) and the 1GB - 48GB models available in 233x (35MB/sec). Unfortunately, the details we're really after -- you know, price and release dates -- are curiously missing, but hopefully Pretec will toss those tidbits out in the near future.

We know that you've been barely able to sleep since the new miCARD memory card format was announced -- who would be the first manufacturer to get these out the door, you wondered -- so you can finally rest easy with the news that Pretec is showing off its own version of the multi-functional little wafers (pictured larger than actual size, of course) at Computex in Taipei. The company's S-Diamond line already tops off at an impressive 8GB (with theoretical capacities of 2TB, but we're not holding our breath), and like the flood of other miCARDs soon to hit the market, will work with regular SD/MMC-capable devices through the use of an adapter. Pretec still isn't being forthcoming with any pricing or release info on these, but since there's no miCARD-specific hardware on the market yet anyway, we doubt that many of you care.

[Via Everything USB]

No question, vendors are constantly throwing out those "world's smallest" bits in a halfway futile attempt to wow consumers who simply don't know any better than to continually fall for it, but for those even mildly in tune with yesterday's news, they know better. Pretec's latest in the i-Disk Diamond series claims to be the "world's smallest," but measuring in at 45.7- x 12.2- x 2.2-millimeters, it simply can't be true without some sort of fine print stipulations. Nevertheless, the i-Disk RFID differs from most USB flash drives by sporting a rugged, waterproof enclosure as well as a built-in RFID tag, which should work wonders in tracking where your employees carry the company's precious data until they find a way to circumvent The Man. While we won't be the first to recommend a Big Brother-enabled thumb drive without a sound reason, these strange sticks will hit the market for a currently undisclosed price in Q2 and range from 128MB to 1GB in capacity.

[Via Gadgets-Weblog]

We love when lofty claims actually get put to the test, and while we know that an iPod can't hold its own in a blender and an unshielded PSP is no match for a katana, neither of those actually touted any form of defense to begin with. Not so with Pretec's iDisk flash drive, which actually goes so far as to claim that it's "bulletproof," spurning a few shooters at a gun club to grab a few pistols, a camcorder, and give it a go. Initially, the battle-tested drive brushed off a 9mm round, .357 shot, and even a .44 slug without too much damage to the enclosure, but the little fellow didn't fare so well against the mighty .500 Magnum, which practically obliterated it in one fell swoop. Of course, a data thief desperate for your information isn't likely to destroy the very bytes he or she is after, but if you're frightened that Pretec's offering isn't quite macho enough for your needs, we're sure the "nuclear proof" Iron Drive could fit the bill -- until it meets the GP-219 or an eight-Megajoule railgun, of course. Click on through for the (admittedly lengthy) destruction process.

Hmm, looks like we've got a bit of a conflict here, as we've now got two companies claiming that its microSD reader is indeed the world's smallest. Of course, Pretec doesn't bother giving us the dimensions, so its crown will have to remain in pending for the time being, but the i-Disk Micro Reader is ridiculously small nonetheless, Capable of holding microSD cards from 32MB all the way up to 2GB in capacity, this bantam device comes in a transparent case to give users easy access to the size of the microSD card within, sports a curvaceous design to purportedly prevent scratches when carried around with your mobile, includes a nifty keychain attachment, and connects via USB 2.0. There's no mention of pricing nor availability, but just in case this whole "world's smallest" claim doesn't pan out for ole Pretec, at least they're also releasing a SDHC-friendly 20-in-1 flash card reader which it can boast about while eating its words.

[Via MobileWhack]

You're probably already aware that CompactFlash cards in 32GB and 64GB capacities exist in prototype form, but currently no sizes larger than 8GB have been available to the gigabyte-hungry public. Enter SanDisk's Extreme III and Pretec's 16GB CF cards which will go into mass production later this year. Pretec's remaining mum on the price of its card, but SanDisk has admitted that the Extreme III will have a hefty suggested retail price of $1,049, and €633 in Europe. Fortunately for SanDisk and Pretec, the target market for these kind of cards, Digital SLR owners (read: paparazzi), likely won't care: more capacity means that many more compromising shots of Paris Hilton, price be damned.

Read - Pretec
Read - SanDisk

If you're someone who really needs the ability to take several hundred photos (or extremely high res photos) while you're in the field, then you may want to drop the three bills for Pretec's 8GB SD card, the first like it that we've seen so far. Pretec says that its card is the largest SD card in the world and is fully compliant with the SD 2.0 (SDHC) specification, and has access speeds up to 20MB per second. While Pretec says you can order one "for sampling," they won't be mass produced until later this year. Unfortunately, SDHC cards aren't backwards compatible, so it looks like we'll have to stick with classic SD cards for our Treos and cameras. We also noticed while checking out Pretec's site that it'll be releasing a 16GB flash drive tomorrow at the IFA show in Berlin, which the company claims is the biggest in the world (and we know that's obviously not the case). No mention of the price yet, but again, like its little cousin, will be available later this year. Man, just a few months ago that we saw the first 4GB SD cards; anyone figured out the Moore's Law for flash memory yet?

[Via Geekzone]

Sure, HP's ballistics-tested StorageWorks XP1200 server is keeping your spy operation humming on the homefront, but what happens when your agents come under fire smuggling sensitive data in the field? Storage expert Pretec knows that people want their USB drives small and secure, and now they've apparently identified a demographic who also want those drives to be virtually indestructible, as evidenced by the recent release of the iDisk BulletProof lineup. As their name suggests, these 20Mbps thumb drives -- which sport capacities between 32MB and 2GB -- are able to not only take a bullet thanks to their "double layers of sealed protective metal," but will also survive unscathed should your enemies happen to set you on fire or submerge you in water while they're shooting at you. The entire set of drives is available immediately, but before rushing out to order one, perhaps you should first step back and consider the lifestyle choices that have made bullet-resistance a feature you so highly value in your portable electronics.

[Via I4U]