NVMe
At FMS 2024, the technological requirements from the storage and memory subsystem took center stage. Both SSD and controller vendors had various demonstrations touting their suitability for different stages of the AI data pipeline - ingestion, preparation, training, checkpointing, and inference. Vendors like Solidigm have different types of SSDs optimized for different stages of the pipeline. At the same time, controller vendors have taken advantage of one of the features introduced recently in the NVM Express standard - Flexible Data Placement (FDP). FDP involves the host providing information / hints about the areas where the controller could place the incoming write data in order to reduce the write amplification. These hints are generated based on specific block sizes advertised by the device. The feature is...
The ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro 1TB SSD Review: Realtek's Entry-level NVMe Solution
Realtek's second-generation NVMe SSD controllers are ready for prime time, and ADATA decided to try them out. The XPG SX6000 Pro is an entry-level DRAMless NVMe SSD with competitive...
36 by Billy Tallis on 12/18/2019Western Digital Announces WD Blue SN550 SSD
Western Digital is refreshing their NVMe-based WD Blue product line, replacing the WD Blue SN500 with the new WD Blue SN550. The SN550 updates both the controller and NAND...
15 by Billy Tallis on 12/10/2019Seagate Announces FireCuda 520 PCIe 4.0 SSD
Seagate is refreshing their consumer SSD lineup with 96-layer 3D NAND, and introducing a new flagship model: the FireCuda 520, Seagate's first PCIe 4.0 SSD. As with every other...
16 by Billy Tallis on 11/12/2019Crucial Introduces X8 Portable SSD
Micron's consumer brand Crucial is entering the portable SSD market with the new Crucial X8 Portable SSD. The X8 has a USB-C 10Gb/s (USB 3.1 Gen 2) connection and...
7 by Billy Tallis on 10/24/2019Micron Finally Announces A 3D XPoint Product: Micron X100 NVMe SSD
Micron and Intel co-developed 3D XPoint memory as a high-performance alternative to flash, but so far only Intel has brought products to market, under their Optane brand. Despite owning...
30 by Billy Tallis on 10/24/2019Micron Announces 5300 And 7300 Series Enterprise SSDs
Among several announcements today, Micron is updating two families of enterprise/datacenter SSDs to use their latest 96-layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory. SATA Update The new 5300 series SATA drives are...
2 by Billy Tallis on 10/24/2019The Toshiba/Kioxia BG4 1TB SSD Review: A Look At Your Next Laptop's SSD
Today we're taking a look at Toshiba's tiny, OEM-only BG4 SSD. The BG4 is going to become an increasingly common sight in OEM laptops as manufacturers look to save...
31 by Billy Tallis on 10/18/2019Toshiba's Timeline for PCIe 4.0 SSDs
Following up on several announcements from Flash Memory Summit earlier this month, Toshiba has shared more information about their plans for transitioning their NVMe SSDs to PCI Express 4.0...
10 by Billy Tallis on 8/30/2019Western Digital Reveals Ultrastar DC SN340 SSDs for Read Intensive Workloads
Western Digital has introduced its new accelerator drives designed for very read-intensive workloads. The key feature of the Ultrastar DC SN340 Very Read Intensive (VRI) SSDs is their low...
5 by Anton Shilov on 8/7/2019Western Digital Unveils Ultrastar DC SN640 SSDs: Up to 30.72 TB Capacity
Western Digital has announced its new family of enterprise SSDs aimed at mixed-use-case workloads. The new drives use in-house developed components and come in EDSFF E1.L, U.2, and M.2-22110...
14 by Anton Shilov on 8/7/2019Toshiba Introduces New Tiny NVMe SSD Form Factor
Today at Flash Memory Summit, Toshiba is debuting a new form factor for NVMe SSDs that is small enough to be a removable alternative to soldered-down BGA SSDs. The...
28 by Billy Tallis on 8/6/2019Marvell Announces Client SSD Controllers With PCIe Gen4
Last year Marvell announced updated client NVMe controllers that we have not yet encountered in the retail SSD market, but now that the transition to PCIe gen4 is underway...
17 by Billy Tallis on 8/1/2019Innogrit Debuts With Four NVMe SSD Controllers
A new SSD controller designer is coming out of stealth mode today. Innogrit was founded in 2016 by storage industry veterans with the goal of developing storage technology to...
5 by Billy Tallis on 8/1/2019SanDisk’s Extreme Pro NVMe 3D SSD Gains Capacity: Up to 2 TB
Western Digital has quietly expanded its SanDisk Extreme Pro M.2 NVMe 3D SSD range with a 2 TB model. The drive offers performance on par with other models in...
7 by Anton Shilov on 7/12/2019NVMe 1.4 Specification Published: Further Optimizing Performance and Reliability
Just over two years after the last major update, a new version of the NVM Express (NVMe) protocol specification for SSDs has been published, bringing a wealth of new features.
14 by Billy Tallis on 6/14/2019The OWC Aura Pro X2 SSD Review: An NVMe Upgrade For Older Macs
Apple was an early adopter of PCIe SSDs, introducing them in 2013 when the NVMe specification was still in its infancy and before any M.2 NVMe hardware was available...
32 by Billy Tallis on 6/5/2019Intel Announces Optane Memory M15: 3D XPoint On M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4
The first major hardware update to Intel's consumer Optane M.2 drives is coming soon, with the Optane Memory M15 drive intended for caching use. Compared to the original Optane...
9 by Billy Tallis on 5/29/2019Toshiba Announces XG6-P NVMe SSD For Client And Datacenter
Toshiba has announced a new variant of their XG6 client NVMe SSD: the XG6-P that adds a 2TB option to the family. The previous XG5 generation of SSDs followed...
0 by Billy Tallis on 5/29/2019Corsair Announces MP600 NVMe SSD With PCIe 4.0
Now that AMD has kicked off the transition to PCI Express 4.0 in the consumer PC market, peripheral vendors are racing to follow suit. Phison is on track to...
10 by Billy Tallis on 5/27/2019The Team Group MP34 512GB SSD Review: Refining Phison's NVMe Workhorse
Team Group's MP34 is a high-end NVMe SSD based on the familiar combination of the Phison E12 controller and Toshiba 3D TLC, but the price drops enabled by the...
17 by Billy Tallis on 5/15/2019