3 bit-per-cell NAND is sampled out the manufacturers.  The 3 bit per cell is exactly that, 3 bits of information are stored in each NAND cell.  This increased the capacity while keeping the foot print the same size.  This ultimately leads to larger storage capacity at a cheaper price.  Traditionally, SLC [Single Layer Cell] and MLC [Multi Layer Cell] technology is used is USB and SD flash, but we will begin to see TLC [Triple Layer Cell or 3 bit per cell] technology have a full roll-out by the end of this year.

Over the past 18 months the biggest problem with TLC is the stability of the memory and performance, but Intel and Micron feel they overcame those problems and ready for production.  More with their press release: (more…)

If you need to recover files from a Compact Flash card then try Flash Memory Toolkit.  This software package is a free download for most features and will perform functions like read/write benchmark tests and recover files from a flash card or flash drive.

USBPerformance software will allow you to recover a file from a Compact Flash card.  This is how it works.

The utility will make a binary image of your Compact Flash card…it doesn’t matter if you can’t read the data or not, it’ll still make an image file.

Then the utility will mount the image file as a drive letter on your computer [PC only].

From here you can browse your content and recover that file from your Compact Flash card.

In most cases, when a flash card goes bad [either CF, SD, microSD or USB] the problem or error is from the partition table or the File Allocation Table.  Since this mounting of an image gets past those issues, you can get into where the files are stored…from here you can copy them out to a normal working part of your hard drive or another removable media.

Give it a go.  USB Performance website with a link directly to the file recovery page.

IC design houses Genesys Logic and Alcor Micro are expected to see their revenues grow over 20% sequentially in the second quarter of 2010 buoyed by increasing shipments of USB 3.0 controller chips, according to industry sources.

Genesys indicated that it has started shipping, in small volume, its second-generation USB 3.0-SATA bridge controllers, with the third-generation of its kind to be available in the third quarter of 2010. Overall, USB 3.0 chips will contribute over 3% to its total revenues in the second half.

Meanwhile, industry sources indicated that Alcor Micro has landed orders for USB card reader controllers for LCD TV application from a major player in Korea, which will help drive up its USB controller shipments.

Elan is launching an adapter to connect any USB stick to your mobile device via the microSD slot.

Elan is a UK based company who developed the “Mobidapter” for mobile power users.  The connector does not require drivers and will allow any USB device to be seen by the mobile host.  Further, the Mobidapter doesn’t require a PC, so important tasks like backup, sync or accessing files will be much easier.

Unfortunately, there is no word on price and expected ship date is mid June 2009.

Review of 16GB Flash Drives

GetUSB.info posted a review article about 16GB USB flash drives.  The benchmarking and testing was done by Test Freaks.  Test Freaks is a website based specifically on review and testing of everyday technology so users can make an informed decision about their technology purchases.  The review of 16GB flash drives is very in-depth and detailed so depending on what you look for in a flash drive, this review will have it summed up nicely for you.

The 16GB USB review includes the following drives:

• Adata Sport Series RB19 16gb
• Corsair Flash Voyager
• HP USB Flash Drive v125W
• Imation Swivel Flash Drive
• Kingston Data Traveler100
• Kingston DataTraveler HyperX
• Memorex Traveldrive
• OCZ Diesel
• OCZ Throttle
• Patriot Exporter XT
• PNY Attache
• PQI Traveling Disk 1221
• Ridata EZdrive Lightning Series
• Sandisk Cruzer Micro
• Super Talent Pico-C
• Transcend JetFlash Elite Enabled
• Verbatim Store ‘n’ Go

I wont give away the full details on the 16GB USB review - please check with Test Freaks. However, it is painfully clear that Transcend Jetflash is a horrible drive. Which is funny as they spend a good amount of marketing time and money saying they are the best performing. Transcend must be taking Ford’s marketing philosophy and advertising their weakness. “Built Ford Tough” ha - those cars are anything but tough.

To get a bit of their approach Test Freaks considers:

…diskbench is nice in that it tells us the actual times and transfer rates to complete the tasks of Copy To or Write To the USB drives, Read From and Copy From as well. I run these three tests on my USB drives because they are the most common things people are going to be doing with their USB drives.  First up is testing with the 350MB .AVI Video file, lower scores are better as they are shown in seconds. The first test is for Copy To or Write To the USB drives.

For the full 16GB USB Drive review please visit Test Freaks webpage.

Thanks Anton.

We’ve heard of a USB port replicator which is a fancy word for dock station, but now we have USB Duplicator from Nexcopy. The USB duplicator is the largest PC based copier on the market which quickly and easily copies data to flash drives. The average user wouldn’t need this, but this product would be a great fit for many corporations today. Since USB flash memory is such a popular medium for data distribution the USB duplicator seems like a good investment that would save an IT guy a bunch of time.

The Nexcopy USB Duplicator has several different functions like file copy, which copies files and folders from a PC onto the flash drive with the same file structure. Another feature is USB device copy. This is a low-level USB duplicator with a bit-for-bit copy function. The USB200PC also comes with a Copy Job function so you can set a string of activity…like Format, Copy, Verify and Volume Name.

It appears the USB duplicator uses Windows .NET frameworks for it’s multi-threading technology. This means your 20 devices will copy a little slower than a 1-to-1 copy, but the end result yields 20 USB drives, not 1. Big time saver by anyone’s standards.

The Nexcopy duplicator has a list price of $1,299 which makes it the most economical solution for the number of targets it provides; 20. (more…)

We’ll add this to the list of, “where’d my UFD go” as Trascend’s T2K UFD (USB Flash Drive) is one of the smallest of it’s kind. Thank God they included a slot and tether to batten her down to our person. Enjoy the T2K in 1, 2 and 4GB capacities. Apparently Transcend uses a special sealing process to bond the plastic case to the internal memory, pcb and connectors.

Included on the UFD is JetFlash Elite software which are eight applications which ship free of charge. Those are: auto login, PC lock, favorites, secret zip, e-mail client, data backup, My JetFlash to easily access files and on-line JetFlash Elite update utility.

(more…)