OCZ Technology’s pushing SSDs on step further this morning, with the introduction of the Octane SATA 6Gbps and Octane-S2 SATA 3Gbps SSDs. These guys promise “record-breaking access times” and up to 1TB of capacity, with Indilinx Everest internals playing things out on the inside. Oddly enough, the company claims that this is the world’s first SSD to hit 1TB, but in fact, we saw the first one from pureSilicon way back in early 2009. At any rate, the company claims that these guys can deliver up to 560MB/sec of bandwidth and 45,000 IOPS, and they rely on a proprietary page mapping algorithms allow for steady mixed-workload performance. The Octane series also includes a number of features unique to Indilinx — including latency reduction technology — enabling both read and write access times as low as 0.06ms and 0.09ms, respectively. Aside from that 1TB flagship, there will also be 128GB, 256GB and 1TB models, and while no pricing details are being outed just yet, we’re told to expect around $1.10 to $1.30 per gigabyte. Interested? They’ll start shipping on November 1st.

Continue reading OCZ pushes access-time boundaries with Octane and Octane-S2 SSDs

OCZ pushes access-time boundaries with Octane and Octane-S2 SSDs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Micron may think it’s simply “bolstering user security” but, if you ask us, it seems like the company is providing the machines with a tool to protect their plans for insurrection. The RealSSD C400 SED has a special, security-focused firmware and hardware-based AES-256-bit encryption that keeps all of its precious data safe from prying eyes. The hardware self-encryption solution also frees up a computer’s processor to focus on more important tasks (like planing the enslavement of mankind), rather than waste precious resources on protecting sensitive information. The C400 SED will ship sometime during Q4 in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB varieties. Price has yet to be announced, but we’re not sure that Skynet really cares what the cost is. After all, it can just tell Micron’s order-processing system to send a bunch out free of charge.

Continue reading Micron adds self-encryption to RealSSD C400, protects plans for world domination from prying eyes

Micron adds self-encryption to RealSSD C400, protects plans for world domination from prying eyes originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Continue reading OWC unleashes Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G SSD, peps up your 2011 MacBook Air

OWC unleashes Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G SSD, peps up your 2011 MacBook Air originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

When Intel first unleashed its third generation 320 series SSDs, we were thrilled with their prices that were 30 percent lower than Chipzilla’s previous offerings. The love fest didn’t last long, however, as many customers soon found they hadn’t gotten what they paid for — drives of all sizes were reporting only 8MB of capacity due to flawed firmware. Well, good news, storage speed demons, Intel’s in the final stages of testing a firmware fix, and it’ll be made available “within the next two weeks.” SSD salvation’s only a few days and a download away, so hit the source for the full details.

Intel to finally issue firmware fix for faulty 320 series SSDs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 05:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

SandForce, the company behind the companies that make some of the best SSDs on the market, is at it again — this time demoing 24nm NAND flash from Toshiba at the Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, CA. An SF-2000 processor was matched with the new shrunk-down storage, a 6Gb/sec SATA connection, and jammed inside a 2.5-inch enclosure to deliver 500MB/sec read and write speeds. It’s not the fastest we’ve seen, but the big news here isn’t the data rates — it’s the potential for cheaper SSDs. The smaller manufacturing process means Toshiba will be able to squeeze more storage out of the same wafer of silicon and, hopefully, shrink those still somewhat bloated prices. Check out the full PR after the break.

Continue reading SandForce demos 24nm flash from Toshiba, cheaper SSDs on the horizon

SandForce demos 24nm flash from Toshiba, cheaper SSDs on the horizon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 06:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Another season, another SSD roundup. This go ’round, its a six-pack of SATA III units — the speediest of the speedy — all angling for your hard-earned greenbacks. The benchmarking gurus over at Hot Hardware have assembled quite the guide for those currently in the market, hosting up a variety of top-tier drives from the likes of OCZ Technology, Patriot, Crucial and Corsair. We’ll leave the nitty-gritty for you to discover, but those hungry for spoilers will be elated to know that the SandForce-built OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS, Corsair Force GT and Patriot Wildfire proved to be the best performers in terms of transfer rates. That said, the whole lot managed to impress, and while the average user isn’t apt to feel the real-world differences among them, there’s a safe bet you aren’t in that “average” crowd. Cliff’s Notes? The Crucial M4 was deemed superior in terms of value, while the Vertex 3 Max IOPS and Wildfire just about tied for sheer speed.

OCZ, Corsair, Patriot and Crucial butt heads in SATA III SSD roundup originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jul 2011 18:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

We can imagine few things more horrible than booting up your new 600GB SSD and seeing a reported capacity of 8MB. That’s exactly the situation reported by users of Intel‘s SSD 320 series for over a month on the company’s support forums, as well as on Amazon reviews. One disappointed (to say the least) user describes that very scenario, and he’s not alone. According to several forum members, the problem seems firmware related and shouldn’t require a recall, while Intel says it’s “aware of the customer sightings.” Short on meaningful details, the statement promises an update is coming with more information — bite-sized consolation for the owners of byte-sized drives.

Intel to owners of failed SSD 320s: we’re ‘aware of the customer sightings’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

As file sizes for many data types continue to grow, smaller chunks are also becoming more ubiquitous, particularly on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, and search tools like Google. These high-volume, small-size blocks of data may soon be served up from a specific type of SSD, like the Moneta Onyx prototype developed by a team at the University of California, San Diego. Onyx uses phase-change memory (PCM), which can rewrite single bits of data (1s and 0s) on demand, rather than rewriting data in larger chunks, yielding sustained 327 megabyte per second (MB/s) reads and 91MB/s writes with smaller file types — two to seven times faster than the most efficient commercial SSDs. PCM specifically benefits granular data, rather than large files that must be transferred completely (like photos and documents), so the tech is more likely to appear on devices serving up short text-based messages. Traditional SSDs can write larger files faster than the Onyx prototype, though the new drive offers speedier read speeds across the board. It’ll be at least a couple years before PCM becomes commercially available, but once (and if) it does, you’ll be reading about your coworker’s breakfast or college buddy’s traffic jam milliseconds faster than before.

Moneta Onyx phase-change memory prototype can write some data 7x faster than traditional SSDs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Popping up in everything from tablets to servers, plain old solid-state drives are becoming as mundane as floppy disks were in the ’90s, so it’s about time someone got a little creative with the soldering iron. OCZ‘s RevoDrive Hybrid takes a HDD and puts it where it doesn’t belong — on top of an SSD. But unlike that deep fried Oreo you really shouldn’t have “tasted” at the state fair, this pairing has potential to keep the juices flowing, caching reads and writes for both drives on a single PCIe card. Shipping in July, the $350 base Hybrid is expected to include a 500GB HDD and 60GB SSD, with a premium model doubling both capacities (and we assume price). With OCZ out of the memory game, we hope to see the now strictly SSD company bring innovative, affordable flash-based goodies to market, and it looks like we’re off to a decent start.

RevoDrive Hybrid pairs HDD with SSD on PCIe originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

SanDisk has been pumping out press releases all day thanks to Computex-mania, so we shuffled past its stall to see what all the fuss is about. The biggest news is the U100 range of tiny SSDs for ultraportables, which crank data in and out at twice the speed of SanDisk’s previous generation P4 drives. We’re talking 450MB/s reads and 340MB/s writes thanks to the latest SATA III interface, plus a max capacity of 256GB — specs which have already enticed ASUS to use the U100 in its lightweight UX-series notebooks. Mass production is expected in Q3 of this year. Specs table and triple-shot of PR coming up after the break, plus a gallery showing size comparisons of the U100 SSD in its glorious mSATA and Mini mSATA varieties, stacked up against some common objects like a 2.5-inch SSD drive, an HP Veer, and a vaguely goth bracelet.

Meanwhile, SanDisk hasn’t forgotten about our desperate need for faster tablets. The company has doubled the speed of its existing iNAND embedded flash modules, and is also releasing a brand new SATA III drive, the i100, specifically for this form factor. The i100 maxes out at 128GB and achieves a significantly slower write speed (160MB/s) than the U100, but it has same impressive read speed (450MB/s) — which should mean nippier tablets in the not-too-distant future.

Continue reading SanDisk outs faster U100 and i100 SSDs for ultra-portables and tablets, we go hands-on

SanDisk outs faster U100 and i100 SSDs for ultra-portables and tablets, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 09:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink