Looking for a high speed replacement for that 3.5 inch internal hard drive of yours? You might want to check out OCZ Technology’s new announced Colossus 3.5 inch Solid State Drive (SSD) with storage capacities up to a whopping 1 terabyte. Yup.. 1 terabyte of fast solid state storage.

The Colossus delivers high performance made possible by using an internal RAID 0 architecture. You’ll get read and write speeds up to 260 MB/second with sustained write speeds up to 220 MB/s. Colossus is built using cost-effective multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory which keeps these drives somewhat reasonably priced (at least for enterprises).

The OCZ Colossus will be available in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB capacities and has a 1.5 million hour mean time between failures. Other specs include:

• 128MB cache
• < 1 ms seek time
• lightweight aluminum casing

Amazon has the 500GB model available for $1766.99 and the 250GB model available for $1122.99

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Corsair adds a new 256GB model to their Extreme Series Solid State Drive family of products today. The Extreme Series SSDs come with the Indilinx Barefoot controller as well as Samsung MLC NAND flash memory resulting in read speeds of up to 240MB/s and write speeds up to 170 MB/s. The drive also comes with 64MB of cache memory.

All Extreme Series SSDs come with user-upgradeable firmware to allow for new features to be added over time (e.g. the upcoming TRIM command for Windows 7). The product line is also available in 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB storage capacities.

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Technorati Tags: Corsair 256GB Extreme Series SSD, Solid State Drive

• Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash memory
• 64MB DRAM internal cache
• SATA 3.0 Gb/s interface
• 2.5 inch form factor
• 200 – 250 MB/s read speed, 150 – 200 MB/s write speed

The 64GB M225 is available now for $169.99, the 128GB SSD for $329.99, and the 256GB model for $599.99.

[Check it out via Crave]

Technorati Tags: Crucial M225 2.5 inch SATA Solid State Drive

Looking for a notebook with a super massive solid state drive? You’re in luck – Toshiba has announced the world’s first notebook/laptop with a whopping 512GB Solid State Drive on the inside. The system, known as the Portégé R600-ST4203 (sounds like a space shuttle mission doesn’t it?), also happens to be a nice ultra-portable system too – weighing a mere 2.4 pounds and measuring only 0.77 inches thin. But back to the SSD component for a second. We all know why Solid State Drives rock – they’re more power efficient, have no moving parts, and most importantly, offer faster performance than a standard hard drive. However, all this performance comes at a price.. but more on that in a second.

Let’s list the major specs to the Portégé R600-ST4203:

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor SU9400
• Windows Vista 32/64 bit OS
• 3GB RAM
• 802.11 a/g/n Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity
• 12.1 inch widescreen 1280 x 800 resolution display with LED sidelight
• Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics
• DVD burner
• Built-in webcam and microphone
• Gigabit Ethernet
• 7.53 hour battery life
• ExpressCard slot
• 2 USB 2.0 ports, 1 eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port
• SD slot
• Fingerprint Reader

Now back to the price.. The Portégé R600-ST4203 will be available in early June for a whopping $3499.99. Yeah.. 512GB of fast storage space comes at a price folks.

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Technorati Tags: Toshiba Portégé R600-ST4203, 512GB SSD, Solid State Drive

Corsair announced yesterday the launch of their new Corsair Storage Solutions P256 high-performance 256GB solid state drive (SSD). This new high-capacity solid state drive is all about performance as it features:

• “Specially selected” Samsung MLC flash memory
• A Samsung Controller IC
• 128MB of “super-fast” cache memory
• Native Command Queuing (NCQ) support
• Read speeds up to 220MB/sec
• Write speeds up to 200MB/sec

The P256 is available now through various channels. A quick peek at Newegg shows the P256 available for $669.

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Technorati Tags: Corsair, Corsair Storage Solutions P256 SSD, Solid State Drive

A-DATA Technology announces their latest solid state drive – the A-DATA X25-M series SSD – which also happens to be co-branded with Intel. the X25-M features Intel’s MLC NAND flash memory and achieves read speeds up to 250MB/sec and write speeds up to 70MB/sec with 85 ms read latency. The 2.5 inch drive will be available in 80GB and 160GB storage capacities and feature Native Command Queuing for up to 32 concurrent operations. Other features include low write amplification and a “unique wear-leveling design for higher reliability.”. No word on pricing as of yet.

Read this in Chinese Simplified and in French

Technorati Tags: A-DATA Technology, X25-M Solid State Drive, Intel, Solid State Drives

Super Talent Technology announces their new UltraDrive ME and UltraDrive LE families of solid state drives are now shipping. The UltraDrive LE has ratings of:

• Max sequential read speed of 230MB/s
• Max sequential write speed of 170MB/s

The UltraDrive ME is rated at:

• Max sequential read speed of 200MB/s
• Max sequential write speed of 160MB/s

The LE family is available in 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB storage capacities while the ME family is available in 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB capacities. The 128GB UltraDrive is retailing for under $400 dollars.

[Check out Newegg for Super Talent UltraDrive ME SSDs]

Read this in Chinese Simplified and in French

Technorati Tags: Super Talent Technology, UltraDrive LE, UltraDrive ME, Solid State Drives

SanDisk showed off their upcoming third generation solid state drive (SSD) – the G3 SSD family – at CES 2009. These drives feature new algorithms such as ExtremeFFS, new technologies such as All Bit Line MLC NAND flash, and a new SanDisk controller. More importantly, the G3 SSD family will be available at extremely competitive prices with the 60GB model coming out at $149.

For those of you curious what the heck ExtremeFFS is. It’s a new flash management system developed by SanDisk that tries to maximize random write performance. Here’s a snippet from the FAQ:

“The algorithm operation is page-based, which means there is no fixed coupling between physical and logical location. When a sector of data is written, the SSD puts it where it is most convenient and efficient. ExtremeFFS incorporates a fully non-blocking architecture in which all of the NAND channels can behave independently, with some reading while others are writing and garbage collecting. Another key element of ExtremeFFS is usage-based content localization, which allows the advanced flash management system to “learn” user patterns and over time localize data to maximize the product’s performance and endurance. The result is an improvement in random write performance – by up to 100 times – as well as in overall endurance.”

SanDisk also introduces a new metric called “virtual Revolutions Per Minute (vRPM)” which tries to compare the performance of a solid state drive (which has no moving parts) against a traditional hard drive (which does rotate) using a traditional benchmark – RPM. SanDisk claims the G3 SSDs can achieve up to 40,000 vRPM.

The new SanDisk G3 SSDs will be available in the middle of this year in 2.5 inch and 1.8 inch form factors. As mentioned earlier, the 60GB model will be available for $149, the $120GB for $249, and the 240GB for $499.

Technorati Tags: SanDisk, Solid State Drive, G3 SSD, CES 2009

Here are the specs:

UltraDrive LE:

• 2.5 inch SATA II SLC
• Up to 128GB
• 230 MB/sec Max read speed
• 170 MB/sec Max write speed

UltraDrive ME:

• 2.5 inch SATA II MLC
• Up to 256GB
• 200 MB/sec Max Read Speed
• 160MB MB/sec Max Write Speed

Technorati Tags: Super Talent Technology, UltraDrive Solid State Drive, UltraDrive LE, UltraDrive ME

Intel announced that they are now shipping the X-25E Extreme SATA Solid State Drive – their “highest performing solid state drive”. Designed for server, workstation, and storage system platforms, the X-25E will be available in 32GB and 64GB capacities, use Intel’s Single Level Cell (SLC) NAND flash memory, and feature:

• Sustained sequential read speeds up to 250 MB/s
• Sustained sequential write speeds up to 170 MB/s
• 75 ms read latency
• 2.5 inch form factor
• 2 million hour mean time before failure
• SATA 1.5 Gb/s and 3.0 Gb/s interfaces

The 32GB X-25E will be priced at $695 for quantities up to 1000. No word on pricing for the 64GB version but it’s expected to sample in the fourth quarter with production in the first quarter of 2009.

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You can read more here at Mobile Tech Today via Daily Tech.

Technorati Tags: Intel, Kingston Technology, Solid State Drive

Spec wise, the 80GB drive can hit read speeds of up to 250MB/sec with an 85 microsecond read latency and write speeds up to 70MB/sec. With the drives now shipping, Intel also announced the pricing to these new 80GB SSDs. The 80GB drive will be selling for %595 in quantities of up to 1000.

Intel also plans on introducing a new line of single-level cell (SLC) SSDs for the server, storage, and enterprise markets within the next 90 days. The new SSD will be called the Intel X25-E Extreme SATA SSD and according to Intel are designed to maximize the Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS).

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Technorati Tags: Intel, X25-M, X18-M, Mainstream SATA Solid State Drives, SSD

Samsung has begun sampling new low-density, higher performing solid state drives that are 30 percent the size of today’s 2.5 inch SSDs. With these new smaller, lower capacity drives, Samsung hopes to introduce SSD technology to the low-cost PC market. The new multi-level-cell (MLC) SSDs will be available in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities with mass production taking place next month. Specs for these drives are as follows:

The 32GB MLC SSD will have a read speed of 90MB/s and a write speed of 70MB/s. The 16GB reads at 90MB/s and writes at 45MB/s while the 8GB reads at 90MB/s and writes at 25MB/s. All three of these drives feature the same SATA II controller as the new Samsung MLC-based 128GB SSD.

No word on how much these drives will be but it’s nice to see SSDs being targeted for the low-cost market. I’d gladly pop a 32GB SSD into a nettop system if it meant lower power consumption and quieter operations.

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Technorati Tags: Samsung, SSD, Low-cost PC

Capabilities introduced with this update include the following:

• Scroll – by placing two fingers on the screen and moving them horizontally or vertically customers can easily navigate in web browsers and productivity applications.
• Zoom – by touching the screen with two fingers and moving them together customers can zoom various content in and out, such as pictures or Web pages.
• Programmable double-tap – customers can program a command, such as launching a Web browser or turning the screen off to save power, that will respond to two taps with two fingers.

Unlike other multi-touch enabled notebooks which integrate the feature into the touchpad, Dell’s solution is integrated into the entire touch display allowing users to directly manipulate the entire desktop if need be.

Here’s a video of the new update (which will be available at www.support.dell.com).

Oh yes – Dell also announced the addition of a new 128GB solid state drive which will go on sale tomorrow for $649. It will be available for Dell Precision and Latitude systems tomorrow and for XPS and Alienware systems next week.

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Technorati Tags: Dell, Latitude XT, Multi-touch, SSD 128GB

OCZ Technology announces their latest addition to their Solid State Drive product line in the form of the OCZ Core Series SATA II 2.5 inch SSDs. OCZ claims these new SSDs cost 50% less per gigabyte than other high speed offerings in the market. Features of the Core Series SATA II 2.5 inch SSDs include:

• Durable lightweight alloy housing
• 1.5 million hour meantime before failure (MTBF)
• 120-143 MB/s read speeds and 80-93 MB/s write speeds
• seek times of less than 0.35 s

The MSRP for the new line is as follows. The 32 GB will cost $169, the 64GB $259, and the 128GB $479.

Technorati Tags: OCZ Technology, Solid State Drive, Core Series SATA II 2.5 inch

What’s a great way to distribute software to the masses? Distribute it with other products. That’s what Super Talent Technology is doing with the Ubuntu Linux OS. The company announced today that for a limited time, their line of MasterDrive MX SSD’s will come with a free CD containing both the Ubuntu Desktop Edition Linux OS and OpenOffice software.

The Ubuntu CD will be included with every MasterDrive MX device shipped from July 1st till September 30th, 2008. Models in the MasterDrive MX lineup include the 15GB FTM15GK18H, 30GB FTM30GK18H, 60GB FTM60GK18H, and 120GB FTM20GK18H.

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Technorati Tags: Super Talent, MasterDrive MX SSD, Ubuntu Destop Edition Linux, OpenOffice

Toshiba also announced the addition of a 128GB Solid State Drive into their Portege R500-S5007V notebook making it the first and lightest system to feature a 128GB SSD. Oh yes.. it also happens to the world’s thinnest notebook to come with a 7mm DVD SuperMulti drive built into it.

The R500-S5007V features the following:

• 12.1 inch widescreen transreflective LED backlit 1280 x 800 display
• As thin as 0.77 inches
• More than 8 hours of battery life
• Toshiba EasyGuard technology which includes advanced encryption, multiple level passwords, and a fingerprint reader
• Windows Vista Business
• Intel Core 2 Duo processor U7700 running at 1.3 GHz
• 2 GB RAM
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Link 4965AGN
• Intel Gigabit Ethernet
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

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Technorati Tags: Toshiba, Portege R500, 128GB SSD

Solid State Drives are certainly the wave of the future but they’re currently too expensive when it comes to price per gigabyte. Looking to address the performance/cost factor, Apacer has introduced what they’re calling combo SSD drives. These 2.5 inch drives feature the use of both multi-level cell (MLC) and single-level-cell (SLC) NAND flash chips. The 2.5 inch combo SSD supports up to 96 GB of storage capacity comprised of 32GB in SLC NAND flash and the rest using MLC flash. Apacer will also adjust the combination according to a customer’s needs.

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Technorati Tags: Apacer, Combo SSD

Here’s an interesting computer peripheral – it’s the new Addonics Dual CF-SATA HDD adapter which takes two compact flash cards and turns them into a single drive usable as a direct 2.5 inch SATA drive replacement in a computer. The two compact flash cards can be configured as RAID 1, RAID 0, or as one large compact flash drive. You can then insert the Dual CF-SATA HDD adapter into a computer using a mounting bracket. The adapter can be installed using the SATA interface or via a USB interface. The best part – the CF cards look like any other drive to the OS – no drivers are needed for this to work. This sounds like a great way to utilize inexpensive CF cards as a power efficient 2.5 inch hard drive replacement. The Dual CF-SATA HDD adapter can be purchased on the Addonics Online Store for $79.99.

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Intel Z-P230 PATA Solid State Drive:

• Available in 4 and 8GB with 16GB coming in Q4
• Standard 40 pin ZIF PATA (IDE) interface
• Measures 38 x 54 x 4 mm which is 1/4 the volume of a standard 1.8 inch notebook hard drive
• Weighs only 10 grams
• 1.65 mW idle power draw and 314 mW typical operating power draw

Intel Z-P140 PATA Solid State Drive:

• Available in 2, 4, 8, and 16GB
• Parallel ATA interface
• Measures 12 x 18 x 1.8mm and weighs 0.6 grams
• 1.1mW idle power with typical operating consumption at 315mW
• 40MB/s read speed and 30MB/s write speed

Technorati Tags: Intel, Solid State Drives, Z-P140, Z-P230