Comments on: Why solid state drives are so expensive?

By: Marc G

Marc G — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:59:31 +0000

Much, but not all, of the technology being implemented to create SSD drives is not new. Much of it has been developed in the past decades, culminating in the proliferation of small solid state flash (thumb) drives we carry around on our keychains. The markup isn’t due to it being new tech.

The spindle hard drive manufacturers need to sell the millions of drives they have in inventory so that they don’t take a loss and so they have the capital to switch over into SSD production.

The non-spindle hard drive makers of SSDs, like Crucial, Kingston and OCZ are proving that the capitalist markets don’t work anything like people imagine they do. Crucial and others aren’t taking out loans, expanding operations and attempting to dominate the hard drive market via gaining overwhelming share, conceivable because of the tech and manufacturing head start they have on Seagate, Western Digital and other spindle drive makers. But the big SSD makers aren’t doing that. They are instead using this opportunity to make short term profits charging exorbitant prices on the devices instead.

I mean, after decades of making flash devices, is storage priced correctly where it sits today? At roughly $2.50/gb?

Puh-leeze.

By: mark

mark — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:18:08 +0000

I was told solid states’ cost more but
did not know the prices would be
outrageous!A no-name 128gb c drive I
found on line was no less than $300!
I’m not the kind of person who keeps
movies and songs on my c drive.The games
I download like duke 3d and redneck rampage
by today’s standards are small programs;
I also eliminate programs I do not use or
very little.I only need 100-150gb’s!So that
no-name one was just the right size but
way off on pricing.Does anybody know where
I could get a 100gb solid drive,that doesn’t have to be fast,for $100-$200?

By: MdP

MdP — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:17:52 +0000

I’d be careful with those CF adapters. I don’t think CF cards are rated for the amount of read/writes that SSDs are. The failure time might be a lot sooner than you think. That’s one of the reasons we don’t run Windows off USB flash drives (that, and the USB bottleneck).

By: Yan

Yan — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:35:59 +0000

Interesting, will I be able to entirely remove my HDD and boot from the CF cards? This is the ultimate goal, to get read of the hot noisy power sucker! :-)

By: imgeL

imgeL — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 08:37:40 +0000

You could get a Compact Flash 2.5 adapter that as dual slots for CF cards & put 2 32GB CF cards. You will still have faster start up times & more battery life! There also might be a 3 CF slot version out now.

By: Jake Stichler

Jake Stichler — Fri, 30 May 2008 01:57:11 +0000

I have every intention of moving over to SSD when it’s affordable. Not because I use a laptop (and frankly, I have to say you’re thinking the wrong way about laptops if you’re using it on your lap – they’re not actually for laps! You risk overheating it, nonetheless burning yourself. Get a fan pad and put it on a desk), but just because I have so much stuff, torrents, and greatly concerned about my photography work. I use an external storage drive (160, I think) that I fear for every day :-D