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NAND Speeds Up the PC Hard Drive

Product Type: Market Research Report
Published by: In-Stat
Published: June 2007
Product Code: R97-2852
Description
Most market participants are puzzled at the outlook for hybrid hard drives and Intel’s Turbo Memory technology. These approaches are new, and they could meet with challenges, but so could another market: solid state drives, which is intertwined with these two. This report carefully dissects the market for NAND HDD caches and explains who will win, who will lose, and what strategies will work best. It explains:

1. What the technology is.
2. What its failings are.
3. How it will play out against SSDs and HDDs.
4. Who are the key proponents and what their impact is.
5. Why interested parties should watch this market.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary

Introduction: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

About Disk Caching

Is this Really a New Idea?

Why Is this Happening Today Rather than Five Years Ago?

Why the Change from Existing Technology?

The Critical Role of Software

What Disk Caching Brings to the Party

Fast Boot

Lower Power

Increased Reliability

Ruggedness

What Are the Alternative Technologies?

HDD and SSD

ReadyDrive

Hybrid Hard Drives

Intel’s Turbo Memory—NAND on the Motherboard

ReadyBoost

The Technology

How Disk Caching Works

Why Write Caching Has Not Been Used Until Now

How NAND Suddenly Became Attractive

Potential Pitfalls With Write Endurance

An Introduction to NAND Wear

How Wear-Leveling Approaches the Problem

Ramifications for the User

Likely User Perceptions of NAND Wear

The Key Players

Microsoft—The Prime Mover

Samsung—The Early Adopter

Other HDD Makers—Reluctant Followers

Intel—A Fresh Approach

Issues: Separating Hybrids from Turbo Memory

Density and Cost Trends for Each Technology

Comparing Costs: HDD vs. NAND

How Capacity Concerns Determine Which Storage to Use

Conclusions

Methodology

Glossary

Related In-Stat Reports

Appendix

List of Tables

Table 1. NAND and DRAM Average Price per Gigabyte

Table 2. System Cost for Mass Storage of Various Capacities

Table 3. Progression of Crossover Point over Time

Table 4. NAND-Cached HDD Unit Shipments Forecast by PC Type

Table 5. Forecast of Disk Sales by Type Into the PC Market

List of Figures

Figure 1. NAND-Cached HDD Unit Shipments Forecast by PC Type 1

Figure 2. Typical HDD with DRAM Cache

Figure 3. Adding a NAND Write Cache to the HDD

Figure 4. Reading “Pinned” Data from the NAND

Figure 5. NAND and DRAM Average Price per Gigabyte

Figure 6. Cross Section of Floating Gate Memory Bit Cell

Figure 7. Electrons Trapped in Tunnel Oxide Layer

Figure 8. Historical Price Progressions for NAND, DRAM, and HDD

Figure 9. System Cost for Mass Storage of Various Capacities

Figure 10. Progression of Crossover Point over Time

Figure 11. NAND-Cached HDD Unit Shipments Forecast by PC Type

Figure 12. Forecast of Disk Sales by Type into the PC Market

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