|
| flash SSD news
(below) / all SSD news |
25nm Flash will Double SSD
Capacities in Q2
Editor:- February 1, 2010 - Intel and Micron today
announced they are sampling the
world's
1st 25nm NAND flash memory.
This gives 8GB MLC (classic 2 bit)
flash memory in a
stackable TSOP. The new chips will enable higher density
SSDs to ship in volume in
Q2.
ioSafe Launches Disaster Proof Backup SSD
Editor:-
January 5, 2010 - ioSafe
launched the
ioSafe Solo SSD - an ultra rugged
USB /
eSATA
external
flash SSD with
upto 256GB capacity ($1,250) designed to provide data protection against
disasters such as fire, flood, and building collapse.
the Problem with Write IOPS - in flash SSDs
Editor:-
December 16, 2009 - StorageSearch.com
today published a new article -
the Problem with
Write IOPS - in flash SSDs.
Flash SSD "random write IOPS"
are now similar to "read IOPS" in many of the
fastest SSDs. So
why are they such a poor predictor of application performance?
And
why are users still buying
RAM SSDs which cost
9x more than SLC? - even when the IOPS specs look similar. This tells
you why the specs got faster - but the applications didn't. And why competing
SSDs with apparently identical benchmark results can perform completely
differently. ...read
the article
A-DATA Joins "SandForce Inside" SSD List
Editor:-
December 15, 2009 - A-DATA
announced today it has joined the growing roster of
SSD makers using
SSD SoCs from SandForce.
A-DATA
says products are now in the final testing stage and will be previewed at
CES next month.
Editor's comments:- I had earlier commented on A-DATA's
weaknesses in the enterprise SSD product space. This collaboration with
SandForce is intended to fill product gaps in this strategic market.
Recalibrating Consumer Assumptions about SSD Data Recovery
Editor:-
December 7, 2009 -
StorageSearch.com today
published a new update on the theme of -
Data Recovery for
flash SSDs.
Market
research consistently shows that most small businesses and consumers don't
do adequate backups.
Such users unwittingly offer themselves as prospective future customers for
data recovery. This is another area in which the user experience of
hard drives is unlike
that for SSDs. The SSD you
buy today determines whether a future data recovery is economically or
technically viable. ...read the article
OCZ will show Symwave based USB 3.0 SSD at CES
Editor:-
November 24, 2009 -
Symwave today
announced that
its USB 3.0 controller
has been designed into a new
flash SSD by
OCZ - which will be
shown at CES in January 2010.
Editor's
comments:- Symwave's controller design includes a fully integrated USB 3.0 to
SATA controller
device (SoC with software) - making it easier to adapt existing designs for
SATA SSDs. It's very
fast. In September 2009 - Symwave demonstrated
270MB/s
R/W throughput for its new USB 3.0 controller.
Lots of companies
have already announced USB 3.0 devices -
although most won't ship till the new year. But what do you do if want high
speed from your USB 2.0 PC?
Some companies, such as
Dane-Elec Memory,
are marketing USB 3.0 adapters. But another solution - for those who want to get
more performance out of legacy USB 2.0
flash memory sticks is
to look at USB SuperCharger Software
from EasyCo which can
apparently speed up writes by 2x to about 5x.
Hard Disks Need Not Apply - Google's New SSD Based OS
Editor:-
November 19, 2009 - Google
opened its doors to developers who want to work with
Chrome OS - a new operating
system for web notebook products that will ship next year.
In the
opening video of the
Chrome
OS blog we learn that the architects of the new OS are "obsessed with
speed". Therefore the new netbook OS is designed from the ground up to
support only flash
SSDs as the default mass storage. Google says - there is no room in
this OS for outmoded 50 year old
hard disk technology.
PhotoFast Unveils Fast 1.8" PATA SSDs
Editor:-
November 16, 2009 - PhotoFast
today unveiled a new range of 1.8"
native PATA MLC regular
flash SSDs with internal garbage
collection -the
G-monster-1.8"
IDE V4.
Capacity options include:- 32/64/128/256G. Internal cache
is 64MB, R/W speeds are upto 128MB/s and 90MB/s respectively.
PhotoFast
says that its internal hardware garbage collection makes the SSD especially
suited to traditional OS's which don't have TRIM such as XP. The drive
rearranges itself when the laptop is in idle time. The benefits might not shine
through in server style
benchmarks (which
assume 100% duty cycles) but for real life notebook usage it should work
adequately.
OCZ Promises "SandForce inside" SAS SSDs
Editor:-
November 10, 2009 - OCZ
today
announced
it will launch a new SAS
SSD family based on SSD
SoCs from SandForce
which will probably be previewed at CES
in January 2010.
OCZ promises more product details in the coming
weeks.
Editor's comments:- for more examples of who else has
already announced SandForce based SSDs (and in some cases is already shipping
them) see the article -
3 Easy Ways to Enter
the SSD Market.
VAIOs get SanDisk SSDs
Editor:- November 3, 2009 -
SanDisk
announced
that its 64GB
(9,000
vRPM) pSSD module has been selected as a standard SSD option in
Sony's
new VAIO X ultra-thin laptop.
Global Unichip takes SSD SoC HeadCount to 23
Editor:-
November 2, 2009 - Global Unichip
announced mass-production of its
ARM7-based
GP5080
series PATA / SATA compatible
SSD SoC platform for
use in portable consumer products.
There are 2 different models.
GP5080 is optimized for cost sensitive applications by removing the need for
external DRAM cache (skinny SSDs),
while GP5086 supports DRAM cache for (regular SSD)
applications needing extra extended lifetime (write attenuation).
pureSilicon Unveils New Military SSDs
Editor:-
October 26, 2009 - pureSilicon
says it will start shipping its Renegade R2 Series 2.5" SATA SLC flash
SSDs later this week.
Sequential R/W speeds are 255MB/s and 180MB/s
respectively. IOPS performance is:- 18,000 IOPS random read: (4K) and ; random
write: 1,200 IOPS @ 4K) and proprietary SiPher™ data security technology.
The drives are available immediately in a wide range of densities
(4GB, 8GB, 16 GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB) in a low profile (9.5mm height)
2.5" form factor
and -40°C to +85°C operating temperature.
256GB, PATA,
1.8", and encryption
versions will start shipping in Q1 2010.
Dane-Elec Unveils USB 3 SSDs
Editor:- October 19,
2009 - Dane-Elec
Memory announced it will start shipping a range of USB 3 compatible
external SSDs with 250MB/s throughput in December.
These new products
leverage Intel's flash
SSDs. Dane-Elec will also be offering USB 3.0-compatible adapters for desktops
with PCIe slots and laptops with PCIXpress slots.
Data Integrity Challenges in flash SSD Design
Editor:-
October 12, 2009 - StorageSearch.com
published a new article called -
Data Integrity
Challenges in flash SSD Design - written by Kent Smith Senior
Director, Product Marketing, SandForce.
Since
bursting onto the SSD scene
in April 2009,
SandForce has achieved remarkably
high reader popularity.
How did a company whose business is designing
SSD controllers
achieve this? - especially when the direct market for its products today
numbers less than 1,000 oems.
The answer is - that if you want to know
what the future of 2.5"
enterprise SATA SSDs might look like -you have to look at the
leading technology cores that will affect this market. Even if you're not
planning to use SandForce based products yourself - you can't afford to ignore
them - because they are setting the agenda in this market.
Reliability is the
next new thing
for SSD designers and users to start worrying about. A common theme you will
hear from all fast SSD
companies is that the faster you make an SSD go - the more effort you
have to put into understanding and engineering data integrity to eliminate the
risk of "silent errors." ...read the article
Foremay Launches SSDs Designed for Mac Market
Editor:-
October 6, 2009 -
Foremay
launched its EC188
Jaguar Series flash SSDs optimized for the Mac market.
Form
factors include 1.8",
2.5" and
3.5", interface
types include SATA, micro SATA, SATA LIF, IDE and IDE ZIF/LIF. Capacties range
from 64GB to 1TB and R/W speeds are upto 260/230MB/s.
"SSD is
well known today to be the key element for boosting computing speed for all
computing machines and extending battery life in laptop computers," said
Jason Hoover, Foremay VP of Marketing. "In the first half this year, we
received numerous inquiries from the field asking for Mac SSD and MacBook SSD
for various models of Mac machines, from PoweMac to MacBook Air and the latest
MacBook Pro Unibody. We hope that the EC188 Jaguar flash hard drive series,
which are designed and optimized for the Macintosh OS and machines, can meet the
needs of these Apple SSD users with hassle-free operation."
"Some
customers complained that the SSDs they bought from the after market did not
comply with the Macintosh OS," added Jason. "That is one of the
reasons that they turned to Foremay. Since the majority of
flash disk drive
vendors designed products around the Windows based OS, it is not surprising
if one finds that an SSD bought from the after market is not compatible with
one's Mac computer. At Foremay, we have invested significantly to develop and
offer the EC188 Jaguar Series to be compatible with Mac computers and provide
high performance."
Fast Purge flash SSDs
Editor:- September 25, 2009 -
StorageSearch.com today
published a new directory of Fast Purge flash SSDs.
The
need for fast and secure data erase - in which vital parts of a flash SSD or
its data are destroyed in seconds - has always been a requirement in military
projects. Although many industrial SSD vendors are offering their products with
extended "rugged" operating environment capabilities - it's the
availability of fast purge which differentiates "true military" SSDs
which can be deployed in
defense applications.
How to Recognize an Enterprise flash SSD?
Editor:-
September 21, 2009 - 15 months ago StorageSearch.com started
warning readers that not all flash SSDs which were being marketed for "enterprise
applications" - were in fact suitable.
We did this in many
editorials - and an explicit article -
Are MLC SSDs
Safe in Enterprise Apps?
The issue now is more complex. It has
often been raised in our own analysis of
new SSD product launches
and it's been discussed in some external articles too - in various
SSD Bookmarks.
Today STEC
published a new opinion piece on this theme called -
Key Differentiators
and Competitive Aspects of Enterprise SSDs (pdf).
It's not the best
article you'll see on this subject, and neither is it the 1st nor final word.
Regretfully - as we've seen in the past year - the state of market
knowledge about SSD reliability and quality issues is sometimes no better in
the marketing departments of some new-to-market SSD vendor companies than it is
in the minds of new aspiring SSD buyers. But it's an important topic - and will
continue to get an airing in these pages. ...read the article
(pdf) |
|
Unity Semiconductor Unveils
Flash's Successor
Editor:- May 19, 2009 - Unity Semiconductor
exited stealth mode and stated its aim to have the lowest manufacturing
cost per bit in the non volatile memory industry with a new breakthrough
technology called
CMOx.
The
company said it will ship 64Gb devices in volume in 2011. Unity Semiconductor
says it will develop and produce NAND flash successor technologies and
products that, in time, will extend into high performance embedded and
enterprise applications.
"It's a Technology for Terabits that
will challenge high volume rotating magnetic media" said Unity
Semiconductor Chairman, President & CEO Darrell Rinerson a former executive
at Micron Technology
and at AMD.
The
company, also announced today it has closed a Series C funding round for $22
million. This brings to nearly $75M the total funding to date in Unity
Semiconductor. |
|
|
| ..................................................................................................... | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| . |
Flash
based SSDs use non volatile semiconductor technology to store data, and do
not need any batteries to retain data when they are unpowered. Because they
have no moving parts they are inherently more
reliable than
hard disks and use less
operating power. Flash SSDs can operate in hostile environments including
industrial, military and even outer space applications.
Flash SSDs
are physically smaller than RAM
based SSDs. The densest flash SSD products available today offer nearly the same
storage capacity in 2.5 inch form factors as hard drives.
The fastest
flash SSDs can offer random IOPs which are 10 to 50 times as fast as 15k RPM
hard disks, and this makes them also suitable for enterprise server speedup
applications.
Unlike
raw flash storage devices
(and most USB flash
modules) F-SSDs incorporate internal media management controllers which overcome
the limitations of intrinsic flash technology and vastly increase
reliability.
| |
| . |
| flash SSD Jargon Explained |
typical
news flash:- dd/mm/yy -
Fast symmetric R/W IOPS high endurance, MLC SSD, with 3 levels of
wear-leveling, massive over-provisioning, write attenuation and fast garbage
collection provides competitive alternative to RAM SSDs.
Do you
understand the list of ingredients in all the solid state drive
headlines? |
 |
Understanding what goes on
inside flash SSDs - can be as important as knowing what you can do with them.
See the article
flash SSD Jargon
Explained. | | |
| . |
| SSD Myths and
Legends - "write endurance" |
| Does
the fatal gene of "write endurance" built into
flash
solid state
disks prevent their deployment in intensive server acceleration
applications - such as RAID
systems? |
It
was certainly true as little as a few years ago.
What's the risk with
today's devices?
This article looks at the current generation of
products and calculates how much (or how little) you should be worried. |
 | |
| RAM based SSDs have been
used alongside RAID for years - but
flash SSDs are
physically smaller and have bigger capacity (upto 412G in 2.5", 512G in
3.5") and are lower cost than RAM-SSDs and could actually be configured
in standard RAID boxes. F-SSDs aren't as fast as RAM based products but a single
flash SSD can deliver 20,000 IOPs - which when scaled up in an array - starts to
look interesting.
...read the
article,
storage reliability
solid state disks | |
| . |
| Z's Laws - Predicting
Future Flash SSD Performance |
A reader asked me a
very good question.
"Is there an industry roadmap for future
flash SSD
performance?"
That prompted other questions like...
- How fast are flash SSDs going to be in 2009?, 2010? or 2012?
- What are the technology factors which relate to flash SSD throughput and
IOPS?
- How close will flash SSDs get to
RAM SSD performance?
There wasn't a simple answer I could give at the time. Clues lay
scattered all across this web site
and in my many one on one discussions with readers about the market... |
 |
But I agreed there should be
a single place on the web where these answers could be found.
Forget
Moore's
Law. That gives you the wrong answer, and this article explains why. ...read the article | | |
| . |
| Are MLC SSDs Safe
in Enterprise Apps? |
This is a follow up
article to the popular
SSD Myths and
Legends which, a year earlier demolished the myth that flash memory
wear-out (a comfort blanket beloved by many
RAM SSD makers)
precluded the use of flash in heavy duty datacenters.
This follow up
article looks at the risks posed by MLC Nand Flash SSDs which have recently
hatched from their breeeding ground as chip modules in cellphones and morphed
into
hard disk form
factors. |
 |
It starts down a familiar
lane but an unexpected technology twist (which arrived in my email while
writing this article) takes you to a startling new world of possibilities.
...read the
article | | |
| |
