Intel Answers 6 Commonly Asked SSD Questions

As a tech blogger and member of various forums often times I find myself facing some rather common questions from readers that aren't totally up on technology. Some of the more popular questions asked lately relate to solid state drives (SSD), what they are, what the benefits are and if you need them.

Here is a post courtesy of the Intel free press blog which might help the average user more clearly understand what SSDs are and their key benefits.

1. What is an SSD?
Forget file cabinets, photo albums and record collections -- increasingly, our personal computers are where we store life's important documents and memories. For years, the classic PC hard drive was the data-storage device of choice -- but now SSDs are rising fast in popularity.

SSDs use the same type of memory -- NAND flash -- found in USB "jump drives" and SD camera cards. But they're faster and have much higher capacities -- from 40 gigabytes up to 600 gigabytes.

2. Why are they so popular?
SSDs' biggest advantage is that they don't have any moving parts. Regular hard drives store data on magnetized platters spun by an electric motor at thousands of revolutions per minute. SSDs access and store memory in ways more similar to a microprocessor than a hard drive. And because they have no moving parts to break down or to misalign, SSDs are up to 10x as reliable as hard drives.

• They're rugged: The lack of moving parts makes SSDs much more rugged than regular hard drives. You can drop an SSD onto a concrete floor, watch it bounce and then plug it back into your computer with no problem. Don't even think of trying that with a regular hard-disk drive.
  
• They're fast: Because SSDs don't have to search for data over the entire surface of a spinning disk, they can access data much faster than hard drives. In fact, SSDs can access and transfer data twice as fast as even the fastest hard drives.
  

3. How do they improve your computing experience?
In many ways. Here are a few examples:

• Faster boot-up times: In one test (which can be seen on this YouTube video) two identical computers, one with an SSD and the other with a modern hard drive, are turned on at the same time. The SSD-equipped computer has Windows opened and running in 21 seconds. The hard drive-equipped computer takes 101 seconds to boot up -- five times longer!
  
• Faster responsiveness to apps: Opening up a number of programs at once? SSDs can access and open programs up to 66 percent faster than conventional hard drives.
  
• No noise: As hard drives get older, their moving parts tend to wear and they can get noisy. That's not a problem with SSDs -- because they have no moving parts, they make absolutely no sound to distract the computer user from his or her task or entertainment.
  
• Better battery life: SSDs are at least 20 percent more energy efficient than typical hard drives, thanks again to their lack of moving parts and efficient circuit design, meaning users' computer batteries should last longer between charges.
  
• Lower laptop temperatures: Notebooks with SSDs run about 12 degrees cooler than hard drive-equipped laptops. Because they can access data more quickly, SSDs help the CPU and chipset do their job faster and go back to a "sleep" state, keeping the computer cooler.
  

4. What makes them so fast?
A modern, 7,200-rpm hard drive can access data at a rate of about 150 MB/second. SSDs that use advanced multi-level cell technology, which crams more bits of information onto each transistor, can retrieve data at 500MB/second.

5. Why are SSDs so expensive?
In a nutshell, they cost more to make. SSDs are basically chips made with cutting-edge semiconductor process technology. Right now they're being made with the 25nm process by Intel and will soon transition to an even smaller, 20nm process.

6. When will the price come down?
All that performance does not come cheap. 120GB SSDs are available online starting around $150. For about the same amount, you can get a 3-terabyte hard drive -- 25 times more storage for less money.

While SSD prices are falling by about 50 percent per year, it will be quite some time -- if ever -- before SSDs are as cheap as hard drives, which store data on inexpensive magnetized platters.

But SSDs' sales growth shows that many computer users find the increased performance, energy savings and reliability worth the price premium.

6 SSD Questions, Answered

Corsair Recalls Force Series 3 SSDs

Popular PC hardware manufacture Corsair has issued a recall for the company's 120GB Force Series 3 Solid State Drives with product code CSSD-F120GB3-BK. The company is citing an issue that affects "a significant percentage" of these particular drives, and only the drives with the aforementioned product code.

In a forum posting Corsair said it analyzed issues associated with the stability of the recently released drive and wants users to stop using them immediately, even if their drives are not showing signs of an issue. To return your Force Series 3 120GB SSD to Corsair, contact Corsair to ARRANGE YOUR REPLACEMENT . Corsair will pay for shipping your drive back to them and will replace your drive free of charge. Estimated turnaround time is ten business days.

If you are returning your drive I highly suggest backing up any data, and I'd honestly consider formatting the drive, just to keep personal information out of anyone else's hands.

Intel Releases New Acronis Based SSD Cloning Utility

Cloning your drives can be a useful tool for migrating to another newer drive or just for having a duplicate copy of your entire installation for back-up. This week Intel, along side Acronis, released a new tool aimed at existing Intel SSD users that will do just that.

The Intel Data Migration Software, powered by Acronis, is an easy-to-use cloning utility that allows users to create a full working copy of their operating system, applications, documents and personal settings to be moved to their new Intel SSD in a matter of minutes.

The software creates a complete working copy of your old hard drive right down to the very last byte. This copy is then moved over to your new drive, assuming that is the amount of data on your old drive doesn't exceed the size of your new SSD.

Intel Tries To Match OCZ With New $125 SSD's

Earlier this month OCZ made a big move in the SSD market when they announced their new sub $100 Onyx series solid state drives. Today Intel looks to keep pace by offering a new more affordable 40 GB Intel X25-V Value series SATA SSD priced at $125.

Both the OCZ Onyx series and the Intel Value series will come in 2.5" form factors and will feature Intel's feature sustained sequential read speeds up to 170 MB/s and write speeds up to 35 MB/s, while the Onyx series is slightly slower read speeds at up to 125MB/s but a more robust write speed at up to 70MB/s.

Seagate Enters The SSD Arena With New "Pulsar" Drives

Seagate has officially entered the SSD market with the announcement of their new enterprise class Pulsar solid state drives (SSD).

Seagate today introduced the Seagate Pulsar drive, the first product in its new enterprise solid state drive (SSD) family. Designed for enterprise blade and general server applications, the Pulsar drive uses single-level cell (SLC) technology, delivers up to 200GB capacity, and is built in a 2.5-inch small form factor with a SATA interface. The Pulsar drive leverages Seagate’s 30 years of leadership in meeting large enterprise customer needs in product development, qualification, and support.


“Seagate is optimistic about the enterprise SSD opportunity and views the product category as enabling expansion of the overall storage market for both SSDs and HDDs,” said Dave Mosley, Seagate executive vice president, Sales, Marketing, and Product Line Management. “Our strategy is to provide our customers with the exact storage device they need for any application, regardless of the component technology used. We are delivering on that strategy with the Pulsar™ drive, and you can expect additional products in the future from Seagate using a variety of solid state and rotating media components.”

The Pulsar SSD delivers the necessary performance, reliability, and endurance to match the application environments of enterprise blade and general servers. It achieves a peak performance of up to 30,000 read IOPS and 25,000 write IOPS, 240MB/s sequential read and 200 MB/s sequential write. Its SLC-based design optimizes reliability and endurance and helps provide a .44% AFR rating with a 5-year limited warranty. As an additional safeguard, the Pulsar drive leverages Seagate’s enterprise storage expertise to protect against data loss in the event of power failure.


Seagate began shipping Pulsar units to select OEMs for revenue in September 2009. With Seagate’s enterprise knowledge and expertise, OEMs have peace of mind knowing that Seagate has the global enterprise systems, people and processes in place to support their largest requirements.

“To deliver and serve the enterprise SSD marketplace effectively, it is critical for suppliers to understand the needs of their storage system customers with respect to design, manufacturing, supply chain delivery, and support,” said Dave Reinsel, IDC group vice president. “With its well-established OEM and eco-system relationships and a long history of serving global storage OEMs, Seagate is in a unique position to fortify its leading enterprise storage position with its entry into the enterprise solid state storage market.”

As the worldwide market leader in enterprise storage and the first enterprise HDD vendor to deliver an enterprise-class SSD solution, Seagate brings credibility, experience and leadership to this new market segment.

“The enterprise SSD market is now primed and well-positioned for growth from both a revenue and unit perspective, with Gartner estimating unit growth to double and sales to reach $1 billion for calendar year 2010,” said Joseph Unsworth, research director at Gartner. “Superior enterprise SSDs provide transformational capabilities when optimized in storage and server environments.”

The Seagate Pulsar SSD is available to OEM customers for qualification. More information can be found at http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/servers/pulsar/pulsar/

Source: Seagate

Intel Releases Solid-State Drive Toolbox Optimizer, Almost Immediately Retratcs It

Earlier this week Intel released a new TRIM toolbox. The SSD Optimizer and firmware update originally designed for Intel's 34nm X25-M Mainstream SATA SSDs was meant to help better manage and retain the out-of-box performance of the drives.

The firmware upgrade and Intel SSD Optimizer use the Windows 7 ATA Data Set Management Command (known as Trim) to help keep the Intel SSD running at continued high performance. However the update had some unexpected affects which resulted in data corruption amongst Windows 7-based systems. This resulted in Intel's almost immediate retraction of the firmware update.

In place of the download page Intel has now added the following statement:

Intel has been contacted by users with issues with the 02HA firmware upgrade on Windows 7* systems and are investigating. We take all sightings and issues seriously and are working toward resolution. We have temporarily taken down the firmware update while we investigate.

Shortly after the update was released threads began popping up on the Intel support forum. With one rather long thread of user complaining that the TRIM updated hosed their Windows 7 systems. Those reports appear to be the catalyst for Intel's swift move to temporarily remove the update.

What TRIM Does

Giving a detailed explanation might be lengthy so I'm going to keep it as simple as possible. So basically SSD's have no way of knowing when a file is deleted and a sector on the drive is opened. So the drive must keep track of every last bit of data that’s written to it until that particular address gets used again.

What TRIM does is essentially unlock those tracked segments. In a supported OS like Linux or Windows 7, whenever you permanently delete a file or format your drive, the addresses that are erased are sent along with the TRIM command to the SSD’s controller. The TRIM instruction tells the SSD that those locations don’t contain valid data and that it no longer has to track them. This frees the drive from having to track all the addresses that are no longer holding data.

For a look at what the new Optimizer can achieve checkout these benchmarks from some of our favorite sites

Intel X25-M 'G2' TRIM Enabled Firmware

• AnandTech
• PC Perspective
• Legit Reviews
• Hot Hardware

Kingston Digital Releases Budget SSD

Kingston Digital Releases SSD Desktop Upgrade Solution

40GB Solid-State Drive to Boost Desktop Performance; Aggressive Launch Promotion with Newegg.com Announced

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the release of the SSDNow V Series 40GB Boot Drive, the latest addition to its V (Value) family of solid-state drives (SSD). The Kingston SSDNow V Series 40GB Boot Drive is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to accelerate any desktop's boot, shutdown and application load times. It is available for as low as $84.99 after rebates (U.S. only) at e-tailer Newegg.com at launch*.

"The SSDNow V Series 40GB Boot Drive offers instant performance enhancement coupled with reliability and lower power consumption at a fraction of the cost of a new system," said Ariel Perez, SSD business manager, Kingston. "The 40GB Boot Drive is the latest offering in our V Series SSD line. It provides a low-cost upgrade solution that complements the installed hard-disk drive to extend the life cycle of existing desktop computers and workstations in homes and offices."

Using the industry-standard PCMark Vantage Advanced HDD Suite, the 40GB Boot Drive received a score of 13,883, whereas a 7200RPM hard-disk drive attained a score of 3,708**. PCMark Vantage Advanced HDD Suite runs a series of tests such as Windows Vista® startup, importing photos, adding music to Windows Media Center and application loading. The score is an indicator of how many bytes were moved per second.

Kingston's SSDNow V Series 40GB Boot Drive is designed for novice SSD users looking to increase their current desktop performance. As part of Kingston's goal to provide an easy upgrade path for first-time SSD users as well as do-it-yourself system builders, the drive is also available with a bundle that includes cloning software, 2.5" to 3.5" brackets and SATA data and power cable extenders. The SSDNow V Series 40GB Boot Drive is designed for a desktop system to be used in conjunction with an existing hard-disk drive (HDD). A PC operating system and key applications reside on the SSD while all data such as documents, music, files and photos remain on the HDD.

The Kingston SSDNow V Series 40GB Boot Drive has an MSRP of $115.00 (U.S.) and will begin shipping on November 9, 2009. It is backed by a three-year warranty, 24/7 tech support and legendary Kingston reliability. For more information visit www.kingston.com.

Kingston SSDNow 40GB Boot Drive Features and Specifications:

• Sequential Speed***: up to 170MB/sec. read
  40MB/sec. write
• Performance: enhances productivity; makes users more efficient
• Innovative: 2.5" form factor; uses NAND Flash memory components
• Silent: runs silent and cool with no moving parts
• Reliable: less likely to fail than a standard hard drive
• Shock Resistant: no moving parts; handles rougher conditions than a hard drive
• Supports S.M.A.R.T.: Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology
• Guaranteed: three-year Kingston warranty, 24/7 tech support
• Capacity¹: 40GB
• Storage temperatures: -40° C to 85° C
• Operating temperatures: 0° C to 70° C
• Vibration operating: 2.17G (7-800Hz)
• Vibration non-operating: 20G (20-2000Hz)
• Power specs: Active: 0.15W (TYP); Sleep: 0.06W
• Life expectancy: 1 million hours MTBF

Kingston SSDNow 40GB Boot Drive

Part Number	Capacity and Features	MSRP (U.S. only)
SNV125-S2/40GB	40GB 2.5" SATA SSD (stand-alone drive)	$ 115.00
SNV125-S2BD/40GB	40GB 2.5" SATA SSD (desktop bundle)	$ 130.00

My thoughts:

Many people are going to argue that a 40GB drive just isn't going to be big enough, well to be honest when you are talking about a boot only drive then 40 GBs should be plenty. These drives are budget offerings meant only to hold your operating system
and key applications while all your data such as documents, music, files and photos would need to be placed on a secondary, more spacious HDD.

The new lower pricing of SSD's make them almost affordable enough to hit the mainstream and these are by far the cheapest drives I've seen however the downside I see here is the rather slow 40MB/sec. sequential write speed. That's just under half the speed of most "budget" SSD's on the market now. So while the price seems right the performance might be lacking.

Source: Kingston

OCZ Announces New PCI-E Based Z-Drives

OCZ Announces Immediate Availability of the Z-Drive, an Innovative Bootable PCI-Express SSD Solution for Enterprise Applications

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and flash-based storage as an alternative to hard disk drives (HDDs), today unveiled the Z-Drive, a PCI-Express Solid State Drive (SSD) designed to meet the stringent demands of enterprise computing clients. Unlike other solutions, the Z-Drive provides a cost-effective formula of performance, reliability, and upkeep for enterprise customers and their applications which require the benefits of solid state drive technology, but have previously been hesitant to adopt competing products due to the sheer cost of implementation.



“Traditional enterprise storage technology typically requires overly complex infrastructure as well costly maintenance, and is often unable to deliver the level of performance required by OEM applications,” said Ryan Petersen, CEO of the OCZ Technology Group. “The new OCZ Z-Drive is an all-in-one high performance plug-and-play bootable PCI-E solid state drive that addresses these challenges head on, and meets the demands of the complete range of enterprise storage and data access requirements. The Z-Drive is designed not only to be higher performing and more reliable than conventional solutions, but also to significantly reduce both the maintenance and overall TCO for our clients.”

The Z-Drive is the result of the latest breakthroughs at OCZ and builds on the company’s expertise in flash-based storage. This proprietary SSD is bootable and takes the SATA bottleneck out of the equation by employing a high-speed PCI-Express architecture coupled with a compact enterprise-grade RAID array. With 8 PCI-E lanes and an internal four-way RAID 0 configuration, the Z-Drive delivers exceptional performance that translates to professional-class data storage in a complete, all-in-one form factor. Additionally, OCZ offers unique customization options for OEM clients that may require tailored hardware or firmware solutions for their business.

To accommodate a wide range of professional applications, the Z-Drive is available in multi-level cell (MLC) and single-level cell (SLC) models referred to consecutively as p84 and e84. Z-Drive pushes the envelope in storage performance versus competing traditional and flash based solutions:



In addition, these impressive speeds are achieved all while providing lower power consumption, superior durability, and shock resistance compared to traditional rotational-based drives, translating into exceptional energy savings and reduced maintenance costs.

An ideal solution for enterprise clients that put a premium on both performance and maximum storage capacity including servers, storage arrays, supercomputing, professional media, and industrial electronics, the Z-Drive is available in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB (p84 only) capacities to offer ample room for the complete spectrum of applications. The Z-Drive comes backed by a leading 3-year warranty and dedicated technical support, ensuring unparalleled peace of mind.

For more information on the OCZ Z-Drive solutions, please visit the OCZ product pages here.

Pricing and availability information was unavailable at this time.

Source: OCZ Press Release

New High Performance Xtreem G1 and Xtreem R-Type SDDs From Team Group

Team Group Inc., a manufacturer of computer products and consumer electronics, has announced two new high performance SSDs (Solid State Drives), the Xtreem-G1 SSD and the Xtreem SSD R-Type with built in Raid-0

The rapid advances in computer processing technology has seen CPU and memory speeds outstrip that of conventional mechanical hard disks. This is why it is increasingly being replaced by newer Solid State Disk (SSD) technology. To meet the overclocking needs of high-level enthusiasts, Team Group Inc. has once again leveraged its extensive technical expertise to launch the all-new Xtreem SSD series. First in the series are the Xtreem G1 and Xtreem R-type. In addition to being quiet, light, energy-saving and shock resistant, the Xtreem G1 and R-type pushes SSD read speeds to a breath-taking 260MB/sec and write speeds to a respectable 180Mb/sec. Compared to thick, heavy conventional 7200RPM HDDs with a read speed of just 80MB/sec and write speed of just 60MB/sec, Team's Xtreem SSD is a Ferrari that easily pushes the edges of the speed envelope.

Latest DRAM Cache Technology for Xtreem SSD G1
The Xtreem SSD G1 solid-state disk supports the latest DRAM Cache technology and uses 64MB of SDRAM Flash Memory to cache and sort the most frequently used data and digital files. This speeds up file access and allows even the most complicated instructions to be completed in an instant. With the SATA II interface, read speeds can reach up to 260MB/sec and write speeds up to 180MB/sec. This is ten times that of conventional HDDs and more than twice as fast as other SSD products now on the market, making every mouse click as responsive as the opening of the toolbar.

Fast and Stable RAID 0 technology with Xtreem SSD R-Type
The Xtreem SSD R-Type solid-state disk has a built-in RAID chip that delivers a massive boost to access speed and stability using “Redundant Array of Independent Disks” technology. With average read speeds of between 220MB/sec ~ 240MB/sec and write speeds of around 150MB/sec ~ 170MB/sec, it's like a cat among pigeons compared to all retail SSD specifications now available. For high-end business notebook users, it offers a perfect way to enhance every presentation.

Apart from fast transfer rates, the Xtreem SSD series also comes equipped with the standard Wear leveling and ECC features to make SSD the technology of choice for the next-generation of IT products. Three capacities are currently available for the Xtreem series: 60GB, 120GB and 250GB. For more information, please visit the Team Group website at www.teamgroup.com.tw

Specification I: Xtreem SSD G1：

Item	Specification
Model	Xtreem-G1 SSD(S25AG1)
Interface	SATA II 22 Pin
Capacity	60GB、120GB、250GB
Transfer speed	60GB： Read:210MB/S Max* Write:145MB/S Max* 120GB/ 250GB： Read:260MB/S Max* Write:180MB/S Max* *Note: Speed may vary due to host hardware, software and usage
Power source	DC + 5.0V ±5%
Power consumption	Operation:2.75W Max*
Feature	64MB Cache
Dimensions	100.2 × 69.85 × 9.5mm
Operating environment	Temp：0℃ ~ +70℃
Relative Humidity	5%~95%
Vibration test	15G
Impact test	1000G
MTBF	2,500,000 Hours
Read/Write life	3,000,000 Hours
Warranty	2 years

※Specification II: Xtreem SSD R-type：

Item	Specification
Model	Xtreem-R (S25AR1)
Interface	SATA II 22 Pin
Capacity	60GB、120GB、250GB
Transfer speed	SATAII (By MLC) Read: Up to 220~240MB/Sec * Write: Up to 150~170MB/Sec * *Note: Speed may vary due to host hardware, software and usage
Power source	DC + 5.0V ±5%
Power consumption	Operation:3.5W Max*
Feature	Inbuilt RAID0
Dimensions	100.2 × 69.85 × 9.5mm
Operating environment	Temp：0℃ ~ +70℃
Relative Humidity	5%~95%
Vibration test	15G
Impact test	1000G
MTBF	2,500,000 Hours
Read/Write life	3,000,000 Hours
Warranty	2 years

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OCZ Technology Unveils the Agility EX, the Industry’s Most Affordable SLC-Based Solid State Drive

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, power supplies, and solid state drives, today unveiled the OCZ Agility EX Series which makes SLC (single-level cell) NAND-based storage truly affordable in a solid state drive for the first time. The Agility EX provides the best of both worlds —the performance and advantages of SLC NAND technology at an incredible value. Based on the quality Indilinx controller, the Agility EX Series delivers an enhanced computing experience with faster application loading, snappier data access, shorter boot-ups, and longer battery life.



“Though SLC has traditionally been more expensive than MLC flash there are both performance and lifespan advantages to SLC based solid state drives, it is for consumers that require the extended reliability of single level cell flash that we are now introducing the Agility EX series of SSDs,” commented Eugene Chang, VP of Product Management at the OCZ technology Group. “The Agility EX offers consumers the most cost effective SLC solid state storage solution on the market, and when customers take all the benefits of SLC into consideration the total cost of ownership of these drives truly shines through.”

With superior performance over both conventional hard drives and MLC (multi-level cell) SSDs, the SLC-based Agility EX features incredible sequential and random write speeds for an unparalleled computing experience across the complete spectrum of applications. In addition to exceptional performance the Agility EX series provides an improved total cost of ownership (TCO) with its superior write/erase cycle endurance. Agility EX SSDs feature industry-dominating speeds, up to 255MB/s read and 195MB/s write speeds, 64MB of onboard cache, and unique performance optimization to keep the drives at peak performance.

OCZ will initially release the Agility EX in a 60(64)GB solution with an MSRP of $399 and a leading 3-year warranty and award-winning technical support, ensuring unparalleled peace of mind.

For more information regarding the OCZ Agility EX Series 2.5" SSDs, please visit our product page here

Source: OCZ Press Release

Intel 34nm SSDs Suffer Defective Firmware

Just days after their release Intel's new 34nm X25-M G2 "Postville" SSDs have been pulled from store shelves and are no longer being shipped by Intel. According to a blog post from OEM system builder Puget Systems the new SSDs suffer a serious firmware
defect that has been discovered in the first batch of drives shipped last week.

There is a defect in the units which causes data corruption if - and only if - a password is set on the drive in the system BIOS and then changed or disabled later.

Intel has halted shipments of the Postville SSDs until they have installed the new firmware and the problem is resolved. However, for those of you that might have already purchased the drive Intel has said you should be fine as long as you don't utilize a BIOS password on the drive. Intel advises consumers not to alter, delete, or create BIOS passwords until the drive is flashed with the update firmware.

The firmware can be downloaded here when it eventually goes live.

Intel Cuts SSD Prices, But Still Not Cheap Enough

SSD drives might be faster, cooler and quieter than standard hard drives but with a price of $4/GB they simply can't compete in the mainstream market. The average cost of a 160GB SSD drive is over $600, for that price the average geek could get six to either times the storage using regular old SATA hard drives.

With such a wide price gap its not wonder SSD manufactures like OCZ and Intel are slashing prices. Intel has steadily been lowering prices on several of their more popular SSDs in a response to increased competition and a lack of early adoption. Lets face it not many in the mainstream can afford to add on a $600 storage device.

Over the past four months the company has rapidly been dropping prices on its X25-M series of mainstream 2.5-inch SSDs, which use Multi-Level Cell flash. This week the company announced its latest round of cuts which places the drive at almost two thirds the original cost. The 160GB version of the X25-M is down from $945 in December to the target price of $630 dollars today. This weeks cut to the 160GB model is nearly a $100 price cut off the MSRP, while the 80GB model will drop $50 in price.

While it looks like the prices of SSDs are slowly beginning to creep downwards they have a long way to go before they reach the affordable. The 80GB X25-M is still well over $300, which is still no where near the real of reasonable. I think Intel, OCZ, Kingston and the other SSD manufactures would have to get the prices down to the neighborhood of $1-2/GB before we could see real mainstream adoption.

OCZ Introduces New Pricey PCIe-Based SSD Card

Earlier this week OCZ announced the new Z-Drive, a PCI-Express based SSD solution designed to utilize the PCI-Express x4 interface. The new card which looks more like a GPU than a hard drive or standard SSD will initially be offered in three capacities 250 GB, 500 GB, and 1 TB. Current prices start at $1,300 and heading north to well over $3,000 make these SSD cards among the most expensive Solid State Drives on the market.




“It is our goal to deliver tailored SSD solutions for the complete spectrum of high performance applications,” said Eugene Chang, Vice President of Product Management at the OCZ Technology Group. “Designed for ultra high performance consumers, the Z-Drive takes the SATA bottleneck out of the equation by employing the ultra fast PCI-Express architecture with a RAID controller and four Vertex controllers configured in four-way RAID 0 within an all-in-one product, making this solution ideal for applications that put a premium on both storage performance and maximum capacity.”

The Z-Drive is based on cutting-edge PCI Express architecture that breaks through the performance barriers previously found with SATA interface. Offering a truly enthusiast grade storage upgrade from traditional hard disc drives, OCZ’s Z-Drive utilizes a combined 256MB of local cache and an onboard RAID controller, to provide a complete solution in a compact form factor. The OCZ Z-Drives offer space and cost-savings that uses significantly less power thanks to the benefits of high-quality flash-based storage in an integrated total-solution.

According to OCZ the drives feature speeds up to 510MB/s read and 480MB/s write, all while delivering lowered power consumption, ultra-fast data access and superior durability

For more information on the OCZ Z-Drive, please visit our product page here.

Source: OCZ Press Release

WD Enters SSD Market, Acquires SiliconSystems

Western Digital Corp., a world leader in hard drive storage for computing and consumer electronics applications, today announced that it has completed a $65 million cash acquisition of SiliconSystems, Inc., Aliso Viejo, Calif., a leading supplier of solid-state drives for the embedded systems market.

Since its inception in 2002, SiliconSystems has sold millions of SiliconDrive products to meet the high performance, high reliability and multi-year product lifecycle demands of the network-communications, industrial, embedded-computing, medical, military and aerospace markets. These markets accounted for approximately one third of worldwide solid-state drive revenues in 2008. SiliconSystems' product portfolio includes solid-state drives with SATA, EIDE, PC Card, USB and CF interfaces in 2.5-inch, 1.8-inch, CF and other form factors. SiliconSystems has developed extensive intellectual property to address the stringent embedded systems market requirements to ensure data integrity, eliminate unscheduled downtime, protect application data and software and provide for data security and protection through its patented and patent-pending PowerArmor, SiSMART, SolidStor and SiSecure technologies.

WD's storage industry leadership, worldwide infrastructure, and technical and financial resources will enable further growth in SiliconSystems' existing markets and customer relationships. SiliconSystems' intellectual property and technical expertise will provide additional building blocks for future products to address emerging opportunities in WD's existing markets.

"We are delighted to have the SiliconSystems team join WD," said John Coyne, president and CEO of WD. "The combination will be modestly accretive to revenue and margins as a result of SiliconSystems' existing position as a trusted supplier to the well-established $400 million market for embedded solid-state drives. SiliconSystems' intellectual property and technical expertise will significantly accelerate WD's solid-state drive development programs for the netbook, client and enterprise markets, providing greater choice for our customers to satisfy all their storage requirements."

Integration into WD begins immediately, with SiliconSystems now becoming known as the WD Solid-State Storage business unit, complementing WD's existing Branded Products, Client Storage, Consumer Storage and Enterprise Storage business units.

"WD's strong balance sheet, sales reach, and operations and logistics capabilities will allow us to greatly accelerate our penetration of our existing markets, while combining our engineering expertise with WD will enable us to develop new solid-state drives to broaden our overall product portfolio and address the emerging applications for solid-state storage in WD's existing customer base," said Michael Hajeck, a founder and CEO of SiliconSystems, now senior vice president and general manager of WD's Solid-State Storage business unit. "We are extremely excited to be joining WD and enabling an even stronger future for our talented team."

A set of questions and answers related to today's announcement can be found on WD's website at http://www.wdc.com/en/company/investor/QandA.asp.

Source: Western Digital Press Release

Intel Cuts SSD Prices, Still Not In The Affordable Range

Looking to stay ahead of the competition Intel has announced price cuts on its lineup of SLC (Single Level Cell) and MLC (Multi Level Cell) Solid State Drives, cutting prices by as much as 30%.

The price cuts affect 2 models of Intel's mainstream M series utilizing MLC NAND, as well as 2 models of the E series uses the faster SLC NAND. The X-25M 80GB originally priced $595 will now be $390 while the X-25M 160GB originally priced $945 is cut to $765. The X-25E 32GB was $575 and will now be $415 and for the first time, Intel revealed the price of the 64-Gbyte X25-E at $795.

All prices reflect lots of 1,000 units so retailer pricing varies. For instance the current Newegg pricing on the Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH080G1 Internal Solid state disk (SSD) is $369.00 while the Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH160G1C5 Internal Solid state disk (SSD) is priced $729.00.

It's good to see the prices coming down however as you can see solid-state drives still carry a hefty premium. The drives have no moving parts as they use flash memory which is generally considered to be several times faster and much more rugged than rotating drives. Thanks to competition from OCZ as well as a drop in NAND flash prices we are seeing a but of a pricing war. That pricing war will hopefully help push these drives to a much more user friendly price.

Solid State Drives, Now Bigger, Better And Cheaper

With SSDs becoming more and more popular, the race to make them faster, denser and cheaper is heating up. Several companies over the last couple of weeks have made announcements of price slashes and increased drive size.

Toshiba announced on Friday a new high-density 256 GB MLC-based SSD. While not appearing to be the fastest SSD around, the drive offers good performance, a large storage capacity and a potentially low price.

The maximum sequential read and write speeds of the new SSD are claimed to be 120 MB/s and 70 MB/s, respectively. Multi-level Cell (MLC) flash memory is generally considered to be slower than single-level Cell (SLC) flash memory, but benefits from by being cheaper to manufacture. The new Toshiba 256 GB SDD uses a SATA 3.0 Gb/s interface and is available in a 2.5-inch form factor.

Also last week Super Talent Technology, a manufacturer of flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, launched a pair of new affordable SATA-II SSDs. Super Talent's MasterDrive SSDs are now offered in 64GB and 128GB capacities, with he 64GB model expected to retail for about $179, while the 128GB unit is expected to retail for under $300.

The MasterDrive LX is built with NAND flash and uses a SATA-II 3Gbps interface that makes it 100% interchangeable with hard disk drives. These SSDs support sequential read speeds of up to 100 MB/sec, and sequential write speeds of up to 40 MB/sec. Integrated ECC, wear leveling and bad bit management functions also improve the reliability and lifespan of these SSDs.

The race to develop faster better drives is nothing but great news for us geeks. Price will continue to fall and both storage capacity and performance will rise!

New High Speed Solid State Drives

Intel and Micron have partnered to create solid state drives using NAND flash memory chips that can reach speeds of up to 200 MB per second for reading data and 100 MB per second for writing. The new technology would be approximately 5 times faster than current memory chips. Which have maximum read-write speeds of 40 MB and 20 MB.

Micron is expected to release a high-speed 8 GB solid-state drive later this year. With higher-capacity products expected closer to the beginning of 2009. These new drives will be ideal for HD video files. Where the content can be moved in and out of a storage device quickly, so it can be played on a handheld gadget or recorded in a camcorder.

Read InformationWeek.com's article "Intel, Micron Claim To Boost Solid-State Drive Speeds By 500%" for more information.