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USB storage news
animal brands in the SSD market

Editor:- August 4, 2010 - StorageSearch.com today published a new article - animal brands in the SSD market.

Examples discussed in the article range from cute and cuddly animals through a menagerie of fast rugged and best friend rugged SSDs, a regional curio and some real monsters. This is the 3rd in a 6 part series - Branding Strategies in the SSD Market. ...read the article


How can SSDs change your life? - the movie

Editor:- July 19, 2010 - as an alternative to SSD market research - which is hard to digest, and those long powerpoints and complicated spreadsheets can send you to sleep - Kingston's SSD marketers have launched a competition to learn how users might really benefit from using their SSDs.

It involves uploading a video with the theme "How Can a Kingston® SSDNow Drive Change Your Life?". 1st prize is $7,500. If your video wins - they might use it promotions (but you won't get any royalties). See also:- SSD videos - StorageSearch.com's pick of the best on the web.


LaCie launches rugged USB flash stick

Editor:- July 13, 2010 - LaCie today launched a rugged USB flash drive - the XtremKey - with upto 64GB capacity inside a 2mm metal pipe casing.

Sealed with wear-resistant screw threads and a rubber O-ring, it is watertight up to 100meters. The LaCie XtremKey is also resistant to 5-meter drops, fierce heat and bitter cold. Non operating temperature is claimed to be (+200°C / -50°). R/W speeds are upto 40MB/s and 30MB/s respectively. ...watch the flash key abuse video

Editor's comments:- The XtremKey is not an SSD. If you're not sure about the critical difference between a flash drive and a flash SSD - it's wear leveling.

For rugged HDD and SSD drives see military storage. If you liked the LaCie video - check out ioSafe's video linked in our SSD video page - which inspired it


upgrading old PCs with new SSDs

Editor:- July 9, 2010 - Upgrading Old PCs with SSDs is a cautionary tale published on Denali Software's blog.

I've often told readers who asked me about this subject - that they could be wasting their time trying to upgrade old notebooks with PATA or SATA SSDs - because most of the speedup benefits - if any - will be lost by the latency damping effects of cheap and slow bridge chips on the motherboard - and that - unlike in a server - notebooks have precious little CPU headroom.

It's nice to see these views are shared by the author of this article who works for an SSD IP vendor. ...read the article


Seagate offers consumers 3TB USB HDD for under $250

Editor:- June 29, 2010 - Seagatetoday announced availability of the 3TB GoFlex (under $250) - an external desktop FireWire / USB 3.0 hard drive.

WD launches new TV media player for USB disks
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Editor:- June 9, 2010 - Western Digital introduced the WD TV Live Plus HD media player (US$149.99) which connects directly to a users' HDTV and automatically converts and plays many file formats stored on a connected USB drive.

(But it doesn't support protected premium content such as movies or music from iTunes.)
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news image from  StorageSearch.com  click to see more info about  WD TV Live Plus HD media player
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The WiFi enabled box (via optional extra USB adapter) also includes a user remote interface to the Netflix online movie on demand service.

Super Talent's Cryptic USB3 SSD

Editor:- March 2, 2010 - Super Talent Technology today announced imminent availability of a new encrypted USB 3 flash SSD - with upto 256GB capacity.

When I asked for more technical details I was told the datasheet isn't ready yet. The USB 3.0 SuperCrypt is a true SSD (with wear-leveling). Internally the module (95 x 34 x 15.4 mm) is a SATA SSD with a USB bridge chip.

RunCore's new Express Card SSD

Editor:- March 1, 2010 - Among the many SSDs which RunCore will show at CeBIT 2010 this week is an Express Card flash SSD designed for notebooks

As well as providing upto 64GB capacity (R/W speeds 120MB/s and 90MB/s) - the Express 34 module also provides 2x USB 3.0 ports with connectors for linking the notebook to external devices.
... RunCore's  Express Card SSD / USB 3.0 adapter

LaCie Launches Desktop USB RAID

Editor:- January 26, 2010 - LaCie launched its "Enterprise" range of desktop RAID systems with eSATA or USB or FireWire connectivity.

"The introduction of LaCie's Enterprise Class product range responds specifically to niche industries such as creative professionals, as well as those in the medical, legal, and accounting fields, who require highly robust and reliable storage solutions to manage their digital assets," said Arnaud Prézelin, LaCie Product Manager for Creative Pro Solutions.

Editor's comments:- this is an "Enterprise" storage system in name only - because it doesn't include redundant data paths or power supplies. It's best to think of it as a stylish, high capacity, consumer DAS.


IDC Tallies SSD Shipments

Editor:- January 20, 2010 - IDC says that SSD shipments in 2009 exceeded 11 million units, an increase of 14% year over year.

Looking forward, IDC says it expects SSD adoption will continue to experience tangible growth in 2010 and beyond, with shipments expected to achieve a compound annual growth rate of 54% over the 2008-2013 forecast period. Solid State Drives - market research & analysts


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.

ioSafe offers a "no questions asked" Data Recovery policy to help customers recover from any data disaster including accidental deletion, virus or physical disaster.

"The new ioSafe Solo SSD is the world's most rugged and versatile desktop external hard drive. It can be used alone or in conjunction with any offsite or online backup strategy to add real time, zero data loss, synchronous disaster protection to any data that sits vulnerable," said ioSafe CEO, Robb Moore.


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.


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.


USB 3.0 SSDs Coming Soon

Editor:- October 5, 2009 - Active Media Products today announced imminent shipments of its Aviator 312 line of bus powered fast USB 3.0 external SSDs with R/W speeds upto 240MB/s and 160MB/s respectively.

Measuring less than 3" long and only 0.2" thin, the A312 is smaller than a credit card and is designed to fit in a pocket. Capacity options include:- 16GB ($89), 32GB ($119) and 64GB ($209).

Jerry Thomson, VP of sales at Active Media Products commented, "Aviator 312 SSDs are a ground-breaking product with performance that is 8 to 10x faster than today's fastest USB 2.0 flash drives."


Verbatim Acquires Freecom

Editor:- September 3, 2009 - Verbatim's parent company (Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co., Ltd) has acquired Freecom Technologies.

The Freecom acquisition represents yet another investment made by the MKM/Verbatim group aimed at the growing external hard disk drive market. The asset acquisition of SmartDisk, made in June 2007, has proved successful in establishing MKM/Verbatim in both the portable and desktop external HDD markets on a global basis.

Editor's comments:- Although virtually unknown outside Europe, Freecom was founded 20 years ago in 1989. Its acquisition is sandwiched between FolderShare and FreeDiskSpace.com in our list of 499 gone-away storage companies. Who will be the 500th? It's probably happening as you read this.
Targa Series 4 - 2.5 inch SCSI flash disk
USB removable Military SSDs
from Targa Systems
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USB Storage Milestones from Storage History
The USB (for Universal Serial Bus) is a low cost serial bus which, when originally shipped in 1996 (USB 1.0), provided upto 12Mb/S. That's about 100x faster than the RS-232 style serial interfaces used in earlier generations of computers which it replaced.

The USB is now widely used in Macs, PC's and even Linux systems. USB is typically used to connect devices such as printers, scanners, keyboards, digital cameras, MP3 players and external storage devices.

In June 2002, Intel and others started to demonstrate USB 2.0, which increases the speed of the peripheral to PC connection from 12 megabits per second (Mbps) on USB 1.1 to up to 480 Mbps on USB 2.0, or 40 times faster than with the older technology.

USB 3.0 - which at 5Gbps is 10x faster than USB 2.0 - was originally expected to be available in the summer of 2008. Instead shipments started in December 2009. It offers throughput similar to eSATA 2.0 - upto approx 300MB/s.

The article - USB 3.0 - A simple idea full of challenges - summarizes the problems facing chip designers hoping to achieve 5Gbps on cheap USB cables.


What if you're stuck with a USB 2 notebook and need fast cheap external storage now?

Some companies, such as Dane-Elec Memory, are marketing USB 3.0 adapters.

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.

eSATA is another option - although for most notebooks it too - requires an adapter card.

Finally AoE storage provides a way for consumers to hook up a storage network using their inbuilt ethernet - which may be easier to set up than traditional NAS.
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SSD Pricing - where does all the money go?
SSDs are among the most expensive computer hardware products you will ever buy.

Understanding the factors which determine SSD costs is often a confusing and irritating process...
Clarifying SSD Pricing - where does all the money go? - click to read the article ...not made any easier when market prices for identical capacity SSDs can vary more than 100x to 1! Why is that? ...read the article
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SSD encryption - does it hurt?
Editor:- a reader asked me a good question...

Does SSD encryption hurt performance and reliability?
does encryption impact notebook SSD performance and reliability? Yes, and No. But not necessarily in that order. And it depends on the SSD. ...read the article
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click to see profile and editor's analysis for Intel click to see more SSD  Bookmarks
SSD Bookmarks series

suggestions by - Kevin T Crow, Strategy Specialist,
NAND Solutions Group, Intel
Here's an article written by or about Intel

Enterprise-wide Deployment of Notebook PCs with Solid-State Drives

Kevin says he chose this article because "It will give the reader an overview of the benefits experienced by the enterprise after deploying notebooks with solid state drives."

The article is a case study about the productivity benefits of using SSD based notebooks instead of hard drive notebooks inside an enterprise (Intel). Following an internal evaluation Intel found the benefits so "compelling" that it decided to deploy up to 10,000 SSD notebooks to its own employees.

Other SSD article suggestions...

The SSD Relapse: Understanding and Choosing the Best SSD - published by AnandTech

Kevin says "This is the latest in a long series of reviews that compare solid state drives and discusses the technology behind them. Overall the series does a very good job educating the reader on what they need to know when making a solid state drive purchase decision."

Editor:- thanks Kevin for sharing your SSD links.

see also:- Intel - editor mentions on STORAGEsearch.com
USB storage oems featured in storage news
Accurite Technologies

Active Media Products

A-DATA

Addonics Technologies

Advanced Media

Afaya

Agere Systems

Alera Technologies

Amacom Technologies

Apacer

Apple

Apvell

Audavi

AXIOMTEK

Barun Electronics

Belkin

Buffalo Technology

CMS Products

Comax Technology

CompuApps

Condre

CyberKey

Dane-Elec Memory

Data Robotics

Dell Computer

EDGE Tech

Enhance Technology

EZQuest

Fantom Drives

FirmTek

Freecom Technologies

Fujifilm

G-Technology

Hagiwara Sys-Com

HP

Imation

Innovative Semiconductors

Intelligent Computer Solutions

Interactive Media

IOCELL

I/OMagic

Iomega

IOPlus

ioSafe

IronKey

KingSpec

JMTek

Kanguru Solutions

LaCie

Lexar Media

Memorex

Memory Experts International

NEC

Norco Technologies

Olixir Technologies

Plasmon

Plextor

PMC-Sierra

PNY Technologies

PQI

Procom Technology

Research Triangle Software

RunCore

Samsung

SanDisk

Seagate

Silicom

Silicon Power

SmartDisk

Sony

SOYO

STEC

STMicroelectronics

Super Talent Technology

Swissbit

Synology

Synopsys

Targa Systems

TDK

Team Group

Thecus

TopRam

Toshiba

Transcend Information

Trekstor USA

Swissbit

TwinMOS Technologies

USB Implementers Forum

US Robotics

Verbatim

Walton Chaintech

Western Digital

Wintec

XtremeMac
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