Flash memory card maker SanDisk announced it has started testing super small flash drives that move away from the current trend of conforming to the dimensions of existing 2.5-inch or 1.8-inch hard disks. And it is small indeed; measuring just 16 x 20 x 1.85mm, the iSSD weighs less than a gram and is small enough to be soldered directly onto motherboards.

SanDisk says the iSSD clocks sequential reads and writes at 160MB/sec and 100MB/sec respectively, making it no performance laggard either. Available capacities will range from 4GB to 64GB, and while this is puny by traditional desktop or laptop standards, is more than adequate for the markets targeted by the company. The iSSD could be used in devices such as tablets, netbooks and other small consumer electronics. In fact, the iSSD at 32GB is probably adequate to serve as the main drive for lighting-fast booting.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at CNET News
- check out this press release 

Related Articles:
SanDisk ships tamper-proof SD card, has 100-year life span
New crop of SSDs from OCZ, SanDisk push capacity, speed limits
More flash drive firms admit to security flaws
SanDisk ships new X4 flash memory chips
Moving to exploit SSD in the enterprise