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Sandisk's super-fast 400GB microSD is ready for 4K HDR video
It's great that Sony's new Xperia XZ2 smartphone can record 4K HDR video footage, but the bandwidth and storage requirements are bound to be, er, extreme. That's where SanDisk's new 400GB Extreme UHS-I microSDXC card comes in, delivering 160 MB/s read and 90 MB/s write speeds while maintaining compatibility with most devices. It also conforms to the A2 specification (4000 IOPS read and 2000 IPS write), meaning it'll let you launch apps more quickly.
OCZ pushes Agility 2 and Vertex 2 SSD families to 480GB, us further from HDDs
It's one thing to have to choose between an ultra-capacious, relatively sluggish hard drive and a cramped, relatively speedy solid state drive, but it's another thing entirely to get the best of both worlds. OCZ Technology is finally pushing laptop SSDs to the 400GB+ range, giving road warriors a fair chance at swapping out their existing HDD without taking a hit in the capacity department. Both the 2.5-inch Agility 2 and Vertex 2 lines are seeing 400GB and 480GB models added, with 250MB/sec read and 240MB/sec write rates promised. The new spinners are slated to hit shelves any moment now, and frankly, we're terrified to even look for pricing.
Pioneer's 400GB Blu-ray disc will work in current players [Update]
When unveiled earlier this year, there was some debate about whether or not Pioneer's new 400GB Blu-ray disc would work on currently players. DIGITIMES is reporting that the new 16-layer discs will work on current Blu-ray players, which includes the PS3. These super high density discs won't be available until 2010, just in time for Hideo Kojima's next game.Update: Looks like we have some contradictory information: Speaking to Edge, Pioneer said the opposite was true. "Current BD players and drives would not be able to read these discs," the company said, adding that the technology is "at this time not being proposed as a candidate for addition to the existing Blu-ray Disc format."[Via Engadget]
Pioneer shows off 16-layer 400GB Blu-ray Disc, affirms compatibility with current players
When Pioneer first introduced its unicorn-like 16-layer 400GB Blu-ray Disc, we weren't sure if the thing would make it beyond the drawing board, let alone be compatible with existing BD decks. Over at the IT Month Fair in Taipei, Pioneer showed up to showcase the capacious disc, and better still, a DigiTimes report asserts that these are indeed compatible with Blu-ray readers already on the market. Currently, the 400GB disc is slated to hit mass production sometime between now and 2010, while rewritable versions won't hit until 2010 to 2012. Not like it really matters though -- a 1TB disc is on track for 2013, and you know you'll be waiting for the latest and greatest.
Toshiba pushes out stylish 400GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive
Nothing too special about Tosh's latest USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive -- just a good lookin' 400GB unit that should slide into most average sized cargo pockets on the market today. The 6-ounce drive is available in "Electric Blue and Black" (pictured) as well as Carbon Grey, Hot Rod Red and Gecko Green, and while pricing has yet to be revealed, those looking to size it up can chew on these dimensions: 0.65- x 3.19- x 5.0-inches. Not too shabby, huh?[Via Electronista]
Toshiba's 9.5-mm thin laptop disk hits 400GB
Toshiba just bested its own 320GB hard drive with a 400GB offering in the same 9.5-mm height form factor favored by most thin laptops. That's as good as it gets unless you can track down Sammy's elusive 500GB Spinpoint M6. The MK4058GSX spins just 2 platters which means the disk sports an impressive 477Mbit/mm2 (308Gbpsi) areal density while consuming 20% less power (0.0015W/GB energy consumption efficiency) and 2dB less noise than its own 320GB predecessor. Rounding out the specs are a 12-ms average seek and 8MB cache. Toshiba also boosted the rest of its 9.5-mm, 2.5-inch, 3.0Gbps SATA disk lineup to 7,200rpm including the 320GB MK3254GSY. Mass production of the 400GB slab is expected to begin in September while the 7,200 HDDs will hit the market in August. No prices announced.[Via I4U]
Blu-ray discs expand to 400GB, thanks to Pioneer
People were impressed when Konami and Kojima Productions managed to fill up an entire dual-layered 50GB Blu-ray disc with Metal Gear Solid 4. But 50GB discs? That's so passé. Pioneer has just developed a sixteen-layer Blu-ray disc that holds 400GB of data (!). With this kind of disc, your PS3 hard drive could be copied five times over, just for the heck of it.Unfortunately, this impressive tech will not be compatible with your current PS3. [Update: There is some debate over this fact. Some are claiming current BD lasers will be able to read these discs. More info should be revealed next week.] However, the specifications used to manufacture these 400GB discs will allow any future reader that supports these discs to be backwards-compatible with older Blu-ray discs. We can already see the future: Final Fantasy XV on PS4, with over 2 weeks of cutscenes.
Pioneer's Blu-ray disc hits 400GB across 16-layers
16-layers -- that's how many layers it takes to the hit the center of a 400GB Blu-ray disc, pops. That's 25GB per layer just like those dual-layer 50GB discs available for retail. Best of all, the technique used by Pioneer is expected to be backward compatible with existing Blu-ray gear since the specs and lenses required for pickup are identical. The prototype is read-only for the moment but R&D's on it so let's give them some time to work it out.Update: Now that the English press release is out, it's less clear whether the new media -- whenever it might come to market -- will work in existing Blu-ray players or not. While "it is possible to maintain compatibility between the new 16-layer optical disc and the BD discs," players would seemingly require a modified optical pick-up mechanism to see the data. We'll learn more on July 13th when Pioneer discusses the breakthrough in detail.[Via Impress]
