When I reviewed MyDigitalSSD's BP3, I have to say I was positively surprised. A relatively unknown manufacturer combined with a Phison controller is not the most promising mix. With SandForce you at least know what to expect but our experience with Phison based SSDs is limited and Crucial's v4 definitely didn't build a golden image of Phison as a controller maker, which made me very skeptical about the BP3 when I first got it. Fortunately, MyDigitalSSD proved me wrong. The BP3 turned out to be not the highest performing drive, but rather a very good bang for the buck. It was noticeably cheaper than any other mSATA offerings in the market, which made it an alluring option for value orientated mSATA buyers. Almost immediately after...
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
QNAP's JTB-400: A BYOD 4-bay Thunderbolt Enclosure
Ahh, finally what I've been asking for: a 4-bay Thunderbolt enclosure that allows you to bring your own disks. I'm reserving excitement until I see just how much QNAP's...
23 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 6/7/2012
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...
0 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
Zalman's SLC NAND Equipped USB 3.0 Flash Drive & Computex Suite Tour
I just ran across this interesting gem at Zalman's suite in the Hyatt at this year's Computex - it's a SLC NAND equipped USB 3.0 Flash drive. Availability and...
3 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 6/4/2012
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
SanDisk Releases Lightning PCIe SSDs for Enterprises
Computex is now running at full power and announcements are coming from everywhere. SanDisk just launched their latest addition to their enterprise storage portfolio: the Lightning PCIe SSA. SanDisk...
3 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
LaCie's 2big NAS Review
The SMB (Small to Medium Businesses) / SOHO (Small Office / Home Office) NAS market is a highly competitive one. We have been reviewing a number of ARM-based 2-bay...
15 by Ganesh T S on 5/28/2012
Seagate Announces Intent to Acquire LaCie
We just received word from LaCie PR that Seagate has announced an intent to acquire a controlling interest in LaCie. Seagate is a familiar name for storage products, with...
9 by Jarred Walton & Howard Johnston on 5/23/2012
ASUS' Zenbook SSD and Apple's MacBook Air SSD Are Not Compatible
In working on yesterday's Zenbook Prime review I ran into a problem with the 256GB Sandisk U100 drive that came with my review sample. Unfortunately, since the drive doesn't...
22 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 5/23/2012