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Intel Rolls Out Minuscule Flash Drive

4 gig chip weighs less than a drop of water

By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 18, 2007 10:30 AM CST
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(Newser) – Intel has unveiled a new flash-memory hard drive smaller than a fingertip and lighter than a drop of water; the 2- or 4-gig Z-P140 is a play to compete with Samsung in storage technology for handheld devices. Conventional magnetic hard drives aren’t small, rugged, or efficient enough to power smartphones, but the new drive could eventually bring the power of a desktop to a handheld.

Intel’s device pioneers a built-in controller, which allows multiple chips to be combined. One chip with the controller can be combined with three lacking a controller—for a max of one 16-gig drive. By 2010, the company expects to get 64 gigs into a single piece of the tiny silicon. But flash chips, MIT Technology Review cautions, wear out very quickly.

Displays at the Intel Corp. museum at Intel headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., Friday, May 11, 2007, explain the chip fabrication facilities. Chip makers Intel Corp. and STMicroelectronics NV are unloading troubled divisions that make a type of flash memory used primarily in cell phones. The deal signals the waning...
Displays at the Intel Corp. museum at Intel headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., Friday, May 11, 2007, explain the chip fabrication facilities. Chip makers Intel Corp. and STMicroelectronics NV are unloading...   (Associated Press)
The Intel logo is seen outside their Robert N. Noyce building in Santa Clara, Calif. in this July 16, 2007 file photo. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
The Intel logo is seen outside their Robert N. Noyce building in Santa Clara, Calif. in this July 16, 2007 file photo. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)   (Associated Press)
Intel Corp. Chief Executive Paul Otellini shows off a wafer of new chips with billions of transistors with super-small 32-nanometer circuitry at the Intel Developers Forum in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2007. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Intel Corp. Chief Executive Paul Otellini shows off a wafer of new chips with billions of transistors with super-small 32-nanometer circuitry at the Intel Developers Forum in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept....   (Associated Press)
The Ultrasmall solid state drive is an advancement in data storage for portable devices and smart phones, as well as bringing Intel one step closer to dominating the field. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)
The Ultrasmall solid state drive is an advancement in data storage for portable devices and smart phones, as well as bringing Intel one step closer to dominating the field. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes,...   (Associated Press)
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