Storage
Lexar has a long history of serving the flash-based consumer storage market in the form of SSDs, memory cards, and USB flash drives. After having started out as a Micron brand, the company was acquired by Longsys which has diversified its product lineup with regular introduction of new products. Recently, the company announced a number of portable SSDs targeting different market segments. The Lexar SL500 Portable SSD is one of the moderately priced 20 Gbps PSSDs in that set. The SL500 is able to achieve its price point thanks to the use of a native USB flash controller - the Silicon Motion SM2320. The unique aspect is the use of YMTC 3D TLC NAND (compared to the usual Micron or BiCS NAND that we have...
LaCie 2big Thunderbolt Series Review
We've been covering Thunderbolt storage ever since the first Promise Pegasus hit our labs last summer. Since then we've noticed a common theme: Thunderbolt storage is very expensive. Prices...
34 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/25/2012
Understanding TLC NAND
In almost every SSD review we have published, Anand has mentioned how an SSD is the biggest performance upgrade you can make today. Why would anyone use regular hard...
91 by Kristian Vättö on 2/23/2012
Intel 313 Series SSDs Launching Soon
Intel 313 Series SSDs (also known as "Hawley Creek") were originally scheduled for Q4'11 release but obviously they were delayed. VR-Zone is now claiming that the release will take...
16 by Kristian Vättö on 2/22/2012
LaCie 2big Thunderbolt Series Now Available
LaCie showcased their 2big Thunderbolt drive at CES 2012 and it has now started shipping. Specifications of LaCie 2big Thunderbolt Series Capacities 4TB and 6TB (and 8TB) Revolutions per minute (rpm) 7200rpm Maximum Read...
23 by Kristian Vättö on 2/15/2012
OCZ Octane 1.13 Firmware Update: Improving 4KB Random Write Performance
The one thing that OCZ has been missing for so many years is finally one of its staples: focus. The same company that dabbled in everything from brain mice...
24 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/9/2012
A Look at Enterprise Performance of Intel SSDs
For the majority of the history of AnandTech we've hosted our own server infrastructure. A benefit of running our own infrastructure is that we're able to gain a lot...
56 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/8/2012
Hitachi Releases Ultrastar SSD400S.B: 25nm SLC NAND Is Here
25nm MLC NAND has been in the market for roughly a year now and it is very common in today's consumer SSDs—there are only a few models using 3Xnm...
14 by Kristian Vättö on 2/8/2012
Intel SSD 520 Review: Cherryville Brings Reliability to SandForce
Intel was rumored to be working on a SandForce based drive for several months now, but even the rumors couldn't encapsulate just how long Intel and SF has worked...
139 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/6/2012
Micron CEO Steve Appleton Dies in a Plane Crash
Micron's long time CEO, Steve Appleton, has died in a plane crash at the age of 51 at the Boise Airport on Friday morning. He was reportedly flying a...
10 by Kristian Vättö on 2/4/2012
Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter Now Available
A few weeks ago at CES 2012, Seagate showcased their GoFlex Thunderbolt adapters. They come in two flavors: the GoFlex Desk Thunderbolt adapter takes 3.5" drives, requires an external...
18 by Kristian Vättö on 2/2/2012
Samsung Updates the Firmware of SSD 830 Series, Fixes BSOD Issue
This seems to be a month of SSD firmware updates. Less than two weeks ago, Crucial released a firmware update to fix the issue that caused BSODs after 5184...
24 by Kristian Vättö on 1/23/2012
OCZ Releases Firmware Update for Octane, Increases Random Write Performance
OCZ released a firmware update for its Octane SSD series. The update carries a version number 1.13 and OCZ claims substantial random write improvements. To refresh everyone's memory on...
7 by Kristian Vättö on 1/23/2012
TRIM Enabler 2.0 for OS X Lion Released
People are often concerned with the performance of their SSD; is it running as fast as advertised. TRIM is an essential part of keeping your SSD performance up (see...
32 by Kristian Vättö on 1/22/2012
Kingston's SSDNow V+200: More Affordable SandForce
Last year Kingston introduced its HyperX line of SF-2281 based SSDs. HyperX marked the first time SandForce and Kingston ever worked together but the relationship continued. Kingston quietly introduced...
13 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/19/2012
Crucial Provides a Firmware Update for M4 to Fix The BSOD Issue
Last week, we wrote about the BSOD issue that Crucial's M4 SSDs were experiencing. After 5184 hours (yes, that's the specific number) of active use, the SSD started to...
15 by Kristian Vättö on 1/14/2012
Some Thoughts on SandForce's 3rd Generation SSD Controller
I spent a few minutes talking to SandForce in between meetings today and got a general idea of what a third generation SF controller might look like. The SandForce...
14 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/12/2012
Crucial 50GB Adrenaline SSD Cache, Available in Q1
Earlier this week Crucial announced its first SSD caching solution: the Adrenaline SSD. The drive will be available in a single capacity: 50GB with 64GB of 25nm MLC NAND...
15 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/11/2012
Mushkin's 1.8", mSATA & PCIe SF-2281 SSDs at CES
The SSD market is continuing to grow and we're seeing no slowdown in the number of players trying to get in on the action. Mushkin, one of the first...
4 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/10/2012
AppliedMicro's Catalina: Integrated USB 3.0 and 802.11ac Support for NAS Platforms
AppliedMicro (AMCC) announced the availability of the Catalina SoC (APM86491) for low power and cost effective NAS systems today. The previous generation version (APM82181) was the heart of the...
1 by Ganesh T S on 1/10/2012
Seagate's GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapters
Finally, we're getting somewhere. After seeing nothing but Thunderbolt storage devices with built in, overpriced drives, Seagate is going to be delivering the first GoFlex docks with Thunderbolt support...
17 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/10/2012
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