SSDs
Samsung Electronics has started mass production of its 9th generation of V-NAND memory. The first dies based on their latest NAND tech come in a 1 Tb capacity using a triple-level cell (TLC) architecture, with data transfer rates as high as 3.2 GT/s. The new 3D TLC NAND memory will initially be used to build high-capacity and high-performance SSDs, which will help to solidify Samsung's position in the storage market. Diving right in, Samsung is conspicuously avoiding to list the number of layers in their latest generation NAND, which is the principle driving factor in increasing capacity generation-on-generation. The company's current 8th gen V-NAND is 236 layers – similar to its major competitors – and word on the street is that 9th gen V-NAND ups...
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
Plextor Releases M5S SSD Series
Plextor has updated its SSD lineup with something new: the M5S. It's based on the same Marvell 88SS9174 controller as Plextor's M3 and M3 Pro, which we've been quite...
17 by Kristian Vättö on 7/11/2012
Corsair Releases Force Series GS SSDs
Corsair has released a new member of its Force series SSDs called the Force GS. The Force GS is based on SandForce's SF-2200 series controller (most likely SF-2281) and...
10 by Kristian Vättö on 7/9/2012
Plextor M3 Pro (256GB) Review
If you are an active reader, you might remember our Plextor M3 review from a few months back. As I noted in the review, I wasn't expecting much when...
56 by Kristian Vättö on 7/1/2012
Hynix Enters Consumer SSD Market with SandForce Based SSDs - 20nm NAND is Also Here UPDATE: It's actually 26nm
Hynix has been in the SSD industry for years but their SSDs have been available only to OEMs. Their NAND is used in various other brand SSDs but Hynix...
12 by Kristian Vättö on 6/25/2012
OWC Releases 960GB Mercury Electra MAX 3G SSD
OWC has released a 960GB version of their Mercury Electra 3G SSD series. The drive uses two SandForce SF-2181 controllers, configured in RAID 0 using Silicon Image's RAID controller...
20 by Kristian Vättö on 6/25/2012
Hynix to Acquire Link A Media Devices (LAMD)
Hynix published a press release that they have acquired Link A Media Devices (commonly referred to as simply LAMD). The cost of the acquisition has not been revealed, nor...
1 by Kristian Vättö on 6/19/2012
The next-gen MacBook Pro with Retina Display: SSD Analysis
After a week in Taiwan, and a weekend in San Francisco, I'm finally back home and hard at work on the Retina Display MacBook Pro Review. One of the...
19 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 6/13/2012
The New MacBook Air Uses Toshiba's SATA 6Gb/s SSDs UPDATE: Samsung Too
Yesterday's keynote was certainly one of the biggest events for Macs that Apple has held in years. The main focus was obviously in the new MacBook Pro with Retina...
10 by Kristian Vättö on 6/12/2012
Intel Discovers SandForce SF-2281 Controller Can't Do AES-256 Encryption, Offers Return Program
Although SandForce's SF-2281 controller has been shipping for well over a year at this point, it took Intel to discover a bug in the controller that prevents it from...
45 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 6/11/2012
SandForce Demos 19nm Toshiba & 20nm IMFT NAND Flash
SandForce's controllers have fairly broad compatibility with NAND available on the market today. It shouldn't be a surprise that the first demo we saw of Toshiba's 19nm and Intel/Micron's...
20 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 6/8/2012
ADATA XPG SX900 (128GB) Review: Maximizing SandForce Capacity
SandForce sets aside more NAND capacity than most controllers for spare area. While Intel, Marvell, Samsung and others default to ~7% of total NAND capacity for spare area, SandForce...
58 by Kristian Vättö on 6/8/2012
OCZ's Intrepid 3: Enterprise Everest 2
In addition to the Kilminjaro based platforms, OCZ showed off its Intrepid 3 SSD at Computex today. The Intrepid 3 is an enterprise version of the Indilinex Everest 2...
1 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 6/5/2012
OCZ Demonstrates Native PCIe SSDs: Z-Drive R5 in PCIe, mini-PCIe and 2.5" Form Factors
OCZ showed us its Kilimanjaro based Z-Drive R5 (native PCIe controller jointly developed with Marvell) running a 4KB random write test at Computex today. The drive was pushing as...
14 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 6/5/2012
Corsair Introduces Link a Media based Neutron SSDs
This one was unexpected, Corsair just introduced a brand new SSD line based on a new controller by Link a Media Devices (LAMD). The Neutron drives will be available...
16 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 6/4/2012
Toshiba Announces THNSNF Series SSDs: 19nm NAND Is Here
Toshiba announced their THNSNF SSD series today. The announcement was long overdue as currently Toshiba's fastest SATA offering is the HG3 series, which was released in January 2010. The...
6 by Kristian Vättö on 6/4/2012
OCZ Launches Agility 4 Series: Indilinx Everest 2 on a Budget
OCZ has now released their Agility 4 SSD series. Just like the move to Vertex 4 (our review) from Vertex 3, the Agility 4 uses OCZ's own Indilinx Everest...
10 by Kristian Vättö on 5/30/2012
OCZ Releases Low Profile Version of Vertex 3
OCZ has added a low profile version of the Vertex 3 to their SSD portfolio. The drive has a height of 7mm, which is 2.5mm slimmer than most 2.5"...
28 by Kristian Vättö on 5/18/2012
Corsair Performance Series Pro (256GB) Review
Shortly after the Plextor M3 review went live, I received numerous emails asking us to review Corsair's Performance Series Pro. Your voice was heard and we went and asked...
41 by Kristian Vättö on 5/14/2012
OCZ Announces 64GB Vertex 4
OCZ announced yesterday via their Twitter profile that a 64GB version of their Vertex 4 will soon be available. Vertex 4 is based on a second generation OCZ/Indilinx controller...
27 by Kristian Vättö & Howard Johnston on 5/11/2012
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