Western Digital is sampling a smartphone flash drive that can store a two-hour movie in 3.6 seconds.
The embedded flash drive writes data at up to 750MB/sec and goes by the name of the iNAND MC EU511. The 3.6 seconds write time quoted for a two-hour movie is for a 4.5GB video file coming in to the phone across a 5G link and using H.266 compression to reduce the data to a 2.7GB file.
The device uses WD and Toshiba’s 96-layer 3D NAND formatted with an SLC (1bit/cell) buffer. WD calls this SmartSLC Generation 6.
The drive supports Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 3.0 Gear 4/2 Lane specifications and is intended for use in all smart mobile devices.
Capacities range from 64GB, through 128GB and 256GB, to 512GB. Its package size is 11.5x13x1.0mm. The drive uses TLC (3bits/cell) apart from the SLC buffer.
The EU511 provides a top end to WD’s existing pair of EFD drives, the iNAND MC EU311 and EU321, which max out at 256GB and support UFS 2.1 Gear3 2-Lane.
My desktop with a broadband internet link takes 20-30 minutes to download a 4.5GB movie. Reducing this to less than four seconds sounds like a fantasy, and may not be possible given the landline phone infrastructure underlying the broadband link. Mobile wireless connectivity is set to overtake landline-based internet access where there is no end-to-end fibre connection.
Goodbye landline and, if it’s a broadband internet access bottleneck, good riddance too.
Western Digital is shipping MC E511 samples to prospective customers.
