Toshiba Rolls Out Massive 512GB Solid State Hard Drive

— -- Toshiba is upping the solid state drive (SSD) game via new solid state drives based upon 43 nanometer multi-level cell NAND technology. The company plans to showcase at the Consumer Electronics Show the first 2.5-inch 512GB SSD as part of a new SSD roll out.

Toshiba said that, besides the 512GB SSD, it will also offer capacities of 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB, offered in 1.8-inch or 2.5-inch drive enclosures or as SSD flash modules. These new SSDs are said to offer higher read/write speeds of 240 MB per second and 200 MB per second, respectively, due to its MLC controller. AES data encryption will also be included.

Mass production of these new SSDs is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2009. Toshiba seems to have no plans to rest on it laurels as it tries to stay competitive in the hot SSD market with this announcement.

Toshiba will always have its hands full competing with Intel making SSDs. That's a good thing for consumers as competition spurs innovation and slowly drives flash memory prices lower.