Samsung’s new 15TB SSD fits world’s highest-capacity hard drive in 2.5″ enclosure

From 9to5Mac:

If you’ve been waiting for someone to release a giant-sized SSD to replace your computer’s mechanical hard drive, great news: Samsung’s just announced an SSD with more storage capacity than any spinning platter hard disk. The PM1633a is a 15.36TB SSD that’s being marketed as the world’s highest-capacity hard drive. As Ars Technica notes, that incredible capacity — over 120 times the storage of an entry-level MacBook Air or MacBook Pro — fits within a compact 2.5″ hard drive enclosure.

By comparison, Samsung just began to sell 2.5-inch 2TB SSDs for $800 (consumer) to $1000 (professional) last month. Read more on the PM1633a below…

Loaded with 48 layers containing roughly 500 256Gb/32GB NAND flash chips, the PM1633a is being billed as “~16TB” in capacity, a size that’s currently better-suited to enterprise applications than mainstream customers. It’s also roughly twice the height of 2.5″ drives commonly found in laptops.

For these reasons, Samsung demonstrated the PM1633a in a server with 48 SSDs installed, reaching a total capacity of nearly 768TB. No pricing has been announced for the new SSD, but estimates in the $5,000 and up range would be appropriate. Start saving your pennies now, or go with one of the awesome consumer-grade 850 Evos, instead.