SSDs
Samsung is launching the latest iteration of their mainstream consumer TLC-based SATA SSDs. The new 870 EVO brings the same generational updates to Samsung's 3D NAND and SSD controller that we saw with last year's 870 QVO. The updated EVO SATA SSD arrives three years after the launch of the Samsung 860 EVO and 860 PRO. The 870 EVO uses the same sixth-generation Samsung V-NAND (3D NAND) that debuted in the high-end 980 PRO NVMe SSD. Officially, this is "1xx layers", but all signs point to it being 128L 3D NAND. This may sound unimpressive when Micron and SK hynix have already announced their 176-layer 3D NAND, but Samsung's NAND manufacturing process is arguably more advanced: they're still able to manufacture all 128L in one...
Kioxia: 3D Stacked Storage Class Memory, like 3D XPoint, Isn’t the Future
One of the key battlegrounds of the next decade is going to be storage: density, speed, and demand. Naturally all the major players in the space want to promote...
23 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 12/30/2019OWC Releases Accelsior 4M2 SSD: Quad-M.2 For Over 6000 MB/s
Just in time for the launch of Apple's newly redesigned Mac Pro tower, OWC has introduced the ‘fastest SSD [they've] ever built’, the Accelsior 4M2. The high-end solid state...
24 by Anton Shilov on 12/23/2019Micron Obtains License to Sell DRAM & NAND to Huawei
The inclusion of Huawei into the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Entity List and consequent restrictions to work with the Chinese giant clearly made it much harder for the U.S.-based...
12 by Anton Shilov on 12/19/2019The 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...
35 by Billy Tallis on 12/18/2019Samsung to Expand 3D NAND Fab in China
Samsung reportedly plans to invest billions of dollars to expand its 3D NAND production facility in Xian, China. If the company proceeds with the plan, bit production capacity of...
5 by Anton Shilov on 12/17/2019OWC Launches ThunderBay 4 Mini DAS: 4 SATA Bays With SoftRAID, Up to 1.5 GB/s
OWC has introduced a new small form factor high performance, high redundancy DAS for the professional market. The ThunderBay 4 Mini incorporates 4 2.5-inch storage bays, allowing it to...
29 by Anton Shilov on 12/16/2019Western 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 12/10/2019The ADATA Ultimate SU750 1TB SSD Review: Realtek Does Storage, Part 1
Realtek has entered the SSD controller market and scored several design wins with ADATA for retail SSDs. The ADATA SU750 entry-level SATA drive is not as important to their...
54 by Billy Tallis on 12/6/2019Western Digital Starts Sales of WD_Black P50 USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 SSDs
Western Digital has started sales of its WD_Black P50 SSDs that were announced earlier this year. The drives are aimed at the high-performance market and are among the first...
17 by Anton Shilov on 12/5/2019GELID Unveils SubZero M.2 XL: A DIY Cooling System for M.2-22110 SSDs
GELID has introduced a rather unusual product: an aftermarket heatsink designed for SSDs that use the server/workstation-oriented M.2-22110 form-factor. The SubZero M.2 XL aluminum heatsink is shipped with two...
16 by Anton Shilov on 12/3/2019Intel Releases SSD 665p: Second-Gen QLC
Two months after being announced, the Intel SSD 665p is set to be released today. The 665p is the successor to the 660p, the most (only?) successful consumer SSD...
28 by Billy Tallis on 11/25/2019Biostar Launches M700 SSDs: Entry-Level PCIe SSDs
After entering the SSD market a couple of years ago, Biostar has been playing things cautiously, only offering low-cost SATA drives. But as the prices of PCIe SSD controllers...
12 by Anton Shilov on 11/22/2019SK Hynix Sampling 128-layer 3D NAND SSDs
SK Hynix announced this week that they have started sampling products based on their 128-layer 3D NAND flash memory, which will soon start showing up in end-user devices. A...
9 by Billy Tallis & Anton Shilov on 11/21/2019The SK Hynix Gold S31 SATA SSD Review: Hynix 3D NAND Finally Shows Up
SK Hynix has been in the NAND and SSD business for a long time, but we haven't had the opportunity to review a drive with SK Hynix NAND in...
22 by Billy Tallis on 11/13/2019OWC Envoy Pro EX Thunderbolt 3 and Plugable TBT3-NVME2TB Portable SSDs Review
Portable SSDs with NVMe-based internal drives and a Thunderbolt 3 interface are the fastest bus-powered storage devices currently available in the market. We have been following this market since...
20 by Ganesh T S on 11/12/2019Seagate 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 11/12/2019Western Digital Ultrastar DC SS540 SAS SSDs: Up to 15.36 TB, Up to 3 DWPD
Western Digital has introduced its new series of SSDs designed for mission critical applications, including OLTP, OLAP, hyper converged infrastructure (HCI), as well as software-defined storage (SDS) workloads. The...
21 by Anton Shilov on 11/6/2019Western Digital Begins Shipments of 96-Layer 3D QLC-Based SSDs, Retail Products
Western Digital announced this week that it has started shipments of its first products based on 3D QLC NAND memory. The initial devices to use the highly-dense flash memory...
28 by Anton Shilov on 11/1/2019Western Digital Launches WD Red SA500 Caching SSDs for NAS
Western Digital has introduced its new WD Red SA500 family of specialized SSDs, which are designed for caching data in NAS devices. The drives are available in four different...
27 by Anton Shilov on 10/31/2019Cray Unveils ClusterStor E1000 Storage Arrays: HDDs and SSDs, 1.6 TB/s per Rack
Cray on Wednesday introduced its new ClusterStor E1000 highly-scalable storage system, which is designed for next generation exascale supercomputers as well as future datacenters that will require massive storage...
11 by Anton Shilov on 10/30/2019