SSDs
Lexar has a long history of serving the flash-based consumer storage market in the form of SSDs, memory cards, and USB flash drives. After having started out as a Micron brand, the company was acquired by Longsys which has diversified its product lineup with regular introduction of new products. Recently, the company announced a number of portable SSDs targeting different market segments. The Lexar SL500 Portable SSD is one of the moderately priced 20 Gbps PSSDs in that set. The SL500 is able to achieve its price point thanks to the use of a native USB flash controller - the Silicon Motion SM2320. The unique aspect is the use of YMTC 3D TLC NAND (compared to the usual Micron or BiCS NAND that we have...
Samsung SSD 840 Pro (256GB) Review
If we had an award for most improved in the SSD space, it would have to go to Samsung. When we first encountered Samsung MLC drives a few years...
96 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/24/2012
Breaking the SATA Barrier: SATA Express and SFF-8639 Connectors
Pretty much all high-end client SSDs have no issues saturating the current 6Gbps SATA interface. We've talked about a move to PCIe based SSDs but these are the connectors...
20 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/13/2012
NGFF SSDs: Putting an End to Proprietary Ultrabook SSD Form Factors
We've seen a bunch of custom SSD form factors with the arrival of Ultrabooks as well as systems like the MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro. The need is...
41 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/13/2012
OCZ Vector: The First True Indilinx Based SSD (Barefoot 3) from OCZ
I just saw the outcome of a year long effort from both the Indilinx and the PLX teams at OCZ: the Vector SSD (pictured above). Unlike the Octane and...
18 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/11/2012
Promise Pegasus J2 Review: The Smallest High Performance Thunderbolt Drive
Promise was the first to get us a Thunderbolt chassis with the Pegasus R4/R6. Not only was the Pegasus the first shipping Thunderbolt storage chassis, but it continues to...
25 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/2/2012
OCZ Agility 4 (256GB) Review
For the last few years, OCZ's consumer SSD lineup has primarily consisted of two models: Vertex and Agility. The history of these two goes all the way back to...
41 by Kristian Vättö on 9/1/2012
Fall Budget System Buyer's Guide
Most of the systems I build for friends and clients are destined to spend their days performing basic computing tasks like checking email and Facebook accounts, shopping for shoes...
39 by Zach Throckmorton on 9/1/2012
Plextor M5 Pro (256GB) Review
Plextor has been making steady progress in becoming a real player in the SSD market. As we saw with the M3 Pro, they have a firmware team capable of...
37 by Kristian Vättö on 8/31/2012
Corsair Releases Neutron/Neutron GTX SSD Pricing
When we published our Neutron/Neutron GTX SSD review this morning we didn't have official pricing from Corsair. That's not all that unusual as pricing for many components can be...
3 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 8/20/2012
Corsair Neutron GTX SSD Review (240GB): Link A Media Controller Tested
Not interested in diving headfirst into a market full of teething pains, Corsair held off on its first SSD introduction. Even after it entered the market, Corsair remained conservative...
36 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 8/20/2012
Intel Brings TRIM to RAID-0 SSD Arrays on 7-Series Motherboards, We Test It
In an unusually terse statement, Intel officially confirmed that the ATA TRIM command now passes through to RAID-0 SSD arrays on some systems running Intel's RST (Rapid Storage Technology...
41 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 8/16/2012
OWC Announces 480GB SSD Upgrade for MacBook Pro with Retina Display
In our review of the MacBook Pro with Retina Display I mentioned that the base $2199 configuration is near perfect, save for its 256GB SSD. With no room for...
12 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 8/14/2012
The Intel SSD 910 Review
The increase in compute density in servers over the past several years has significantly impacted form factors in the enterprise. Whereas you used to have to move to a...
39 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 8/9/2012
Plextor Releases M5 Pro SSD: Say Hello to Marvell 88SS9187 and 19nm Toshiba NAND
This is an announcement we have been waiting for. In our Plextor M3 Pro and M5S reviews, we mentioned that the limits of Marvell's 88SS9174 controller have more or...
23 by Kristian Vättö on 8/7/2012
OCZ Vertex 4 Review (128GB), Firmware 1.4/1.5 Tested
When OCZ released the Vertex 4 in April, it brought us excepionally great write performance. Based on OCZ's Everest 2 controller (Marvell IP with custom firmware), the Vertex 4...
60 by Kristian Vättö on 8/4/2012
Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt Review - An External with USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt
Back when Thunderbolt (then Intel Lightpeak) was optical, I was actively involved in covering the interface, partly out of professional curiosity due to my optical background, partly because I...
61 by Brian Klug on 8/1/2012
The Intel SSD 330 Review (60GB, 120GB, 180GB)
Earlier this year Intel introduced its second SandForce based SSD: the Intel SSD 330. While Intel had previously reserved the 5xx line for 3rd party controllers, the 330 marks...
64 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 8/1/2012
Crucial's v4 SSD: Affordable 3Gbps SATA SSD based on Phison's PS3105 Controller
Crucial's m4 SSD has been extremely popular. It's priced very competitively and although it's not the fastest SATA 6Gb/s SSD, its performance is still very good. Crucial has now...
20 by Kristian Vättö on 7/31/2012
Plextor M5S Now Available
Plextor launched the M5S SSD about two weeks ago and we were among the first to review it. Plextor did not have a specific release date at the time...
10 by Kristian Vättö on 7/27/2012
Plextor M5S 256GB Review
Plextor is one of those OEMs who have quietly been making their way into the SSD market. They haven't been aggressive with marketing. Their drives are not featured on...
43 by Kristian Vättö on 7/18/2012
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