We've seen USB pen drives going up to and above 32GB for quite some time now but with the demands of modern gadgets for more storage space escalating, we need more space than ever. For this reason, Sony and SanDisk have teamed up to offer the 32GB Pro-HG memory stick format.

This is based on the memory stick Pro which is a larger version of the Pro Duo you can find in your PSP (and commonly used in digital cameras). The Pro-HG technology though will extend as far as the memory stick Pro Duo, giving us the option of yes - you guessed it - allowing 32GB storage on a PSP!

Not only does the new format offer a huge storage increase, it also uses an enhanced, 8-bit parallel interface in addition to a conventional serial and 4-bit parallel interface with the interface clock frequency also on the increase to 60MHz from 40MHz.

In plain English, this means that maximum data transfer speed increases up to 480Mbps, or 60MB/s - three times as fast as that of Memory Stick PRO media. This makes it much quicker to transfer GBs of data to your memory stick from a PC or memory card slot and then effectively make it more of a portable hard drive, storing your videos, photos, and music. The Memory Stick PRO-HG format media can be used on conventional Memory Stick PRO compliant devices as well as Memory Stick PRO-HG compliant host devices, so it'll work fine in your PSP.

This all sounds good, but I'm afraid we've led you on a little bit here. The Sony press release stated that the "development of Memory Stick PRO-HG compliant host devices is scheduled to commence in January 2007", with the recording media available in 2007 which basically means you won't be able to utilize the full benefits of this on your PSP. You should be able to get the increased storage on a PSP, possibly through a firmware update, but the transfer speeds will most likely not apply.

However, on a slightly more optimistic note, there has been much speculation that a "PSP2" device, or maybe just a different model of PSP with uprated hardware could be in the works. Who knows, we could be seeing a PSP with memory stick Pro-HG Duo support in 2007.