Over recent years Solid State Drives (SSDs) have moved from luxury to affordable additions to one's PC. The cost of an SSD depends largely upon the capacity of the drive, which has meant that mechanical hard drives still dominate when it comes to storage, with SSDs more suited to storing one's operating system and frequently used applications.
For example, a 128GB SSD will set you back $300-$400 depending on manufacturer. For the same amount of cash you can get a four or five Terrabytes worth of normal hard drive space.
Because of this huge disparity we don't usually see massive capacities quoted for SSDs. While a 128GB SSD might be ample storage for a netbook, it is a fraction of what one expects on a desktop PC.
This is changing with the overnight announcement of the OCZ Colossus LT series of drives. This is an update to a product line that eschews the sleek 2.5in stylings commonly used for SSDs. Instead use the more common desktop 3.5in form factor. OCZ takes advantage of this extra physical size to pack more memory in, with 128GB, 256GB, 500GB and 1TB models.
While 1TB of SSD space hits right at the heart of the traditional hard disk market, it comes at a high price. Despite the fact that the new models bring MLC NAND flash to bear, the new drives still sit at the extreme luxury end of the PC hardware spectrum. 1TB models will set the end user back around $US4000. Which keeps these drives in the realm of aspirational rather than practical.
