788T-SSD: Our first solid-state drive recorder – 2009

“It is sometimes hard to remember, but our recording media used to largely be done via high speed spinning disks. We spend a ridiculous amount of time making the spinning glass disk reliable inside of a portable unit which could be carried, shaken, and dropped. Solid state drives (SSDs) in the early days were still considered somewhat exotic. We also were a bit unsure if they would be as reliable as the spinning disks (!). After quite a bit of testing, I figured we could substitute the spinners with SSDs reliably. When I saw 256GB SSDs finally coming down in price, I saw an opportunity to do a “new” product which would have real benefit. This was perhaps the shortest product development of all time — substitute this spinner for this solid-state drive, and voila! The 788T-SSD.”