Patriot PS-100 Series SSDs Announced

Patriot Memory today announced the PS-100 series, a new line of solid state drives targeted at consumers looking for the high-performance and reliability of a SSD at an affordable price.

"Our PS-100 is a great option for consumers that want all the reliability and performance of an SSD, but are looking for aggressive pricing," say Eric Ackerson, Patriot's Director of Marketing. "We are excited about getting this product into the market just in time for the holiday season, and with capacities from 32GB to 256GB, the PS-100 family brings improved system performance and longevity with a broad range of capacities and price points."

The PS-100 drives are based on a 2.5” form factor and utilize a 64MB cache and boast power consumption of 5.3W when operating, and .5W when in standby mode. Performance numbers for the  PS-100 show sequential read speeds of up to 210MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 150MB/s. While Patriot has said the new drives will be available in time for the upcoming holiday season,  specific dates and pricing were not disclosed.

OCZ Officially Announces Colossus 3.5" SSDs

OCZ Technology, manufacturer of computer parts has officially announced their first 3.5” Colossus Solid State Disks. The new drives will come in capacities of 120 GB, 250 GB, 500 GB and 1 TB, will use MLC NAND flash technology with an internal RAID 0 architecture and 128 MB of Cache. It will have an aluminium casing, a SATA 3.0 Gbps interface, read and write speeds of up to 260 MB/s and a 1.5 million hour mean time between failures (MTBF). It comes backed by a 3 Year warranty and dedicated technical support from OCZ themselves. It can be found for $437.99 for the 120 GB variant, while the 1 TB variant has yet to be listed and no exact RRPs by OCZ has been announced. “The new Colossus Series is designed to boost desktop and workstation performance and is for high power users that put a premium on speed, reliability and maximum storage capacity.”

OCZ to Use SandForce SSD Controllers

OCZ is planning to begin using SandForce SSD Processors in all of its SSDs sometime in the near future. OCZ has been mentioning this for quite some time, but has not begun using the new SSD processors just yet. More details about the transition are due to be released in period leading up to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. The new processors are the SF-1200 and the SF-1500, geared for consumers and enerpises respectively. Both chips are marked as offering up to 260MB/s read and write speeds. OCZ says various combinations of the SF-1200 and SF-1500 SSD processors, single- (SLC) and multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory, and 3Gb/s SATA and 6Gb/s SAS connections will be available in capacities ranging from 50GB to 400GB. The new processors offer many benefits: DuraWrite to extend the life of SSDs, Intelligent Block Management and Wear Leveling, Intelligent Read Management, Intelligent "Recycling" (free space management), RAISE (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements), and best-in-class ECC protection to protect data and extend drive life. No information has been provided as to availability dates or pricing of the new drives, look for more information as CES draws closer.

Toshiba Unveils the world's largest 1.8" HDD

Western Digital Shows Off SAS Hard Drive

With Western Digital providing many portable hard drives as well as performance and green drives for desktops, as a company it has not yet had a SAS drive for the enterprise market. That is all changing though, with the unveiling of the first SAS hard drive from Western Digital, offering plenty of features with it. Along with the sequential data rate of 128MB/s, the platter can spin up to 10,000 RPM and offers the adoption of the 3Gb/s as well as the 6Gb/s interface, and also touts a 300GB storage capacity in a 2.5-inch form factor. Mainly, the new WD S25 drive is promoted to very large businesses looking for large storage arrays in an enterprise type market. The drive is already available to a few select OEMs, but more are being added shortly for more availability.

High Point Announces SATA 6Gb/s HBA Cards

With SATA 6 Gb/s standard becoming a reality with the standard slowly making its way onto the latest P55 motherboards and the first SATA 6Gb/s drive Seagate's Barracuda XT 2TB hard drive now on the market it may be time to take a look at what the latest technology can offer. For those not wanting to move to a new motherboard there's always the HBA, or host bus adapter, like those offered by High Point Technologies which just announced the Rocket 600 series of add-in cards based on PCI-Express 2.0 technology. The cards offer 500MB/s of throughput that will allow you to get the most out of your solid state drives  and traditional hard drives up to 2TB. High Point is telling us the MSRP for the Rocket 620 is $69.99 and the Rocket 622 is $79.99 and will begin shipping to channel partners this week with retail availability expected soon afterward.

HighPoint Announces SATA 6Gbps Host Adapter Series

We should be seeing more and more SATA III (or 6Gbps) enabled products start popping up over the coming months, with the standard likely to be most useful for solid state drives as speeds continue to increase. Highpoint is well known for its RocketRAID line of controller cards and has just added the Rocket 600 series of PCI Express 2.0 based cards to its product lineup.

The Rocket 620 and 622 provide two SATA (620) or eSATA ports (622) and are fully ACHI compliant, so you should be able to drop them into most Windows, Linux or Mac OS X based systems without having to worry about drivers. They are also backwards compatible with SATA I and II interface drives. Both should be available at the end of the month for MSRPs of $69.99 and $79.99 respectively.

Patriot Memory Unveils LX Series Class 10 SDHC Cards

Patriot Memory has announced the newest edition to its SD card lineup, the SDHC LX Series. The LX series feature a Class 10 transfer rate ensuring that high-speed video or images can be taken with ease along with a write protection switch to avoid unwanted data deletion. Patriot Memory's flash product manager, Meng Jay says that "Patriot's new LX Series Class 10 SDHC cards will allow users to maximize the use of their digital equipment, especially in the area of photography and video" and "You can now secure your favorite photo memories by seizing the moment and capturing every single sequential image. Videographers will appreciate putting those special moments in HD-high resolution." The LX series of Class 10 SDHC cards will be available in capacities of 8GB, 16GB and 32GB although no details on pricing or availability have yet been released.

Intel Updates X25-M Gen2 SSD Firmware for Performance Boost

After the recent release of Windows 7 with its support for the TRIM feature, Intel has now released an updated firmware for its second generation X25-M solid state drives that will allow users to take advantage of this. The update also offers some general performance improvements, particularly to sequential write speeds (an area where Intel drives lag behind some of the competition). HotHardware has been testing out the new firmware and can confirm that it does indeed offer a considerable boost (getting close to the 40% claimed by Intel in some cases). Read speeds are basically unchanged, but there is more good news in the shape of the SSD Toolbox software with SSD Optimizer that enables users to check up on the drives condition. More importantly for those without Windows 7, it also enables you to run the TRIM commands manually, therefore optimizing the performance of the drive under XP or Vista. Intel recommends running the commands once a day and allows you to automate the process.

You can download both the updated firmware and the SDD Toolbox from Intel's website.

Mushkin Readies "Mulholland" USB Flash Drive Series

Memory vendor Mushkin seems to be advancing into many new product lines as of late. First it introduced an 800W PSU early last year, followed up by SSDs and both NVIDIA and ATI video cards. Today Mushkin announced its new USB flash drive series named "Mulholland" which will be available in 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB variants. Mushkin have not yet released any more information on the new flash drives apart from saying that the drives offer "incredible read/write speeds". The Mulholland series looks rather plain and minimalist to me, although the classic saying "never judge a book by its cover" comes into play in this situation. Mushkin has a earned a good reputation in the memory sector and hopefully this will spread to the new USB drives once they are released.

New Voyager GT Flash Drives Debuted

While Corsair keeps the market on edge with its amazing power supply units along with its outstanding memory products, it also offers a couple different flash drive products. One of those, named the Voyager GT series, provides users with a large flash storage medium as well as fast transfer speeds. The new drives introduced by the company come in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB sizes, and will come with a ten year limited warranty upon release. As of now, there are no numbers on each of the drives concerning their read and write speeds with small and large files, but the numbers are thought to be impressive. The casing surrounding the new Voyager GT flash drives, as well as the 128GB model, protects the flash storage from water as well as shock, so physical damage should not be an issue to the average consumer. Corsair plans to retail the drives anywhere from $50, all the way up to $200, depending on the size of the Voyager GT along with any rebates or special offers retailers may tack on.

OCZ Z-Drive Desktop Version Announced

A while back, OCZ released their PCI-Express SSDs for enterprise solutions and they showed great performance, along with a massive price tag ranging between $2000 and $15,000 RRP. The new m84 SSDs try to be priced around current released SATA drives but without the limitations of SATA connection. “The OCZ m84 Z-Drive is the newest addition to our line of PCI-E solid state drives and is designed to offer consumers a high performance yet aggressively priced solid state solution.” They will be manufactured using multi-level cell (MLC) NAND memory with speeds up to 750MB/s read and 650MB/s write (based on 256GB model). The m84 comes with OCZ’s new 3-Year warranty guarantee. Pricing or release date has yet to be announced, but expect these sometime soon. You can view the product page here.

Western Digital Launches New My Book Elite External Hard Drives

California-based company Western Digital has launched its new My Book Elite external hard drive series, featuring an innovative e-label. The e-label is based on the technology used in electronic paper to show information such as remaining hard drive capacity, if the drive is secure and a user-customisable label on the spine of the drive, even when the drive is off! The new My Book Elite also includes WD SmartWare software to help the user back-up data easily, quickly and conveniently. Smaller and sleeker, the new My Book Elite features a USB 2.0 interface, 256-bit hardware encryption and WD GreenPower Technology to reduce power consumption. The new My Book Elite drives come in 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB capacities and all have a 3-year limited warranty. They will be priced between US$169.99 and US$279.99 depending on capacity and are available immediately from select retailers and Western Digital's online store.

A-DATA Unveils the First Waterproof & Shock Resistant SSD

Taiwan based DRAM memory manufacturer, A-DATA has announced the first waterproof and shock resistant portable SSD, the HDD SH93 designed with consumers such as students and travelers in mind. The SH93 includes a rubber and plastic cushioning material to protect it from the elements previously mentioned: water and force. It can survive being under 1m of water for 30 minutes and has passed the military-grade MIL-STD-810F drop test ensuring that data is protected from the elements. The USB cord can also be be clipped onto the hard drive for convenient data accessibility. The HDD SH93 will be available in 250GB, 320GB, 500GB and 640GB variants in a glossy yellow finish. The HDD SH93 includes a three year warranty, the opportunity to download A-DATA's HDDtoGO software (with no registration), and a free 60-day trial of Norton Internet Security 2009 (after registration). There is no word yet on availability or pricing of the HDD SH93.

New SATA Standard Announced

In netbooks as well as notebooks that have special hard drives inside of them, different connectors have been used for many different makes and models. Toshiba is announcing however that it is putting a standard up for hard drives that use the SATA interface in netbook platforms. The new standard, known as mSATA, will be shown off first in Toshiba hard drives, and other users and manufacturers of the drives that will follow at a later time include SAMSUNG, Dell, HP, SanDisk, Lenovo, as well as STEC. Hopefully with the new standard will come lower prices as they get used more, but most of all, this will allow manufacturers to all have one form of SATA, instead of building and customizing their own for certain specifications.

Seagate Unveils New 2TB Hard Drive

Seagate began shipping the 2TB Barracuda XT hard drive today. The $299 drive costs more than other 2TB drives currently on the market, so there must be something special about it. The Barracuda XT operates on the next generation SATA platform, with speeds up to 6Gb/s, which translates to 768MB/s. This puts the drive much closer to the levels currently being attained by SSDs. However, users will need a motherboard that supports this new standard to take advantage of these speeds. The good news is that it is backwards compatible with the current SATA specification.

Seagate Unveils DockStar For File Sharing

Seagate announced the DockStar, a network adapter that will allow users to plug in their FreeAgent external hard drives. The DockStar then plugs into a router, and allows anyone on the home network to access the files. In addition, the owner of the drive can allow access to people from any computer that has access to a web browser. Write permission can be denied, preventing others from inadvertently deleting your data. The DockStar will work with Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. Users can even set up an RSS feed to be notified of changes to drive content.

OCZ PCI-E Based Z-Drives Arrive

OCZ first unveiled its Z-Drive at CeBit earlier this year with a few scant details but today we can fill in a lot of the information gaps as OCZ officially announced the immediate availability of the Z-Drive line of PCI-Express solid state drives. The drives incorporate a built-in RAID controller and a four-way RAID 0 configuration with x8 PCI-E lanes to offer some pretty impressive performance numbers.

The Z-Drive is available in multi-level cell (MLC) and single-level cell (SLC) models, referred to consecutively as p84 and e84, with three different capacities being offered - 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB (p84 only). OCZ has published conflicting numbers concerning maximum read/write speeds when you look at the product announcement versus the numbers published on its web site, so we'll go with the more conservative numbers. The maximum read/write speeds for the MLC-based p84 models are 750 MB/s and 650 MB/s respectively. As you would expect, the e84, based on the SLC NAND flash memory can offer higher throughput with maximum read speeds of 800 MB/s and maximum write speeds of 750 MB/s.

While OCZ didn't share pricing information with us, a check online showed one site offering the 1TB p84 MLC drive for $3,200US.

Super Talent RAIDDrive SSD Shipping In October, 1.4GB/sec Reads

Much in the same vein as OCZ's Z-Drive, Super Talent's RAIDDrive combines a number of SSDs and gives them a PCI Express interface (in this case, in a Gen 2.0 8x configuration) to shift data at super fast speeds. Super Talent is claiming sequential read speeds up to a blistering 1.4GB/s and sequential writes up to 1.2GB/s. You don't need me to tell you that is fast, I'm sure. While it seems that Super Talent is going after the server and workstation markets with these drives, it is also shipping a model aimed at enthusiasts and gamers looking to get the most performance from their storage. The RAIDDrive GS comes in capacities up to 2TB and comes configured as either a RAID 0 or RAID 5 volume.

Now, when it comes to the bottom line, it is a question that if you have to ask you probably can't afford it. The 1TB RAIDDrive GS is quoted at $4,999, with that price being for OEMs and system integrators. Super Talent will also be demonstrating the RAIDDrive at the upcoming Intel Developer Forum, September 22-24 in San Francisco.

OCZ Launches Agility EX SLC SSD

OCZ has unveiled its entry into the single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash solid state drive market by introducing the Agility EX 64GB model. Normally SLC NAND flash based drives have been reserved for the enterprise market, mainly due to the more expensive flash chips used when compared to multi-level cell flash. However, OCZ is intending to bring the higher performance and greater write/erase cycle endurance of SLC flash to users at an affordable price point. The performance looks impressive  with maximum speeds up to 255MB/s read and 195MB/s write. The initial 64GB model is being offered at a suggested price of $399 US with a three-year warranty.

Corsair Announces 256GB Extreme Series SSD

Corsair has announced its latest in the Extreme Series of solid state drives with the addition of the X256 256GB model. Built using Samsung MLC NAND flash memory and equipped with the Indilinx Barefoot controller, the unit promises maximum sustained read/write speeds of 240MB/s and 170MB/s respectively. The X256 joins existing 32-, 64- and 128GB models already in the line up and features upgradable firmware which will allow users to take advantage of the TRIM function in Window 7 when it is released, an important feature for helping ensure optimal performance of the SSD over time. The X256 is currently available and you can find it online for under $700US.

New OCZ SSDs to be Released Soon

OCZ is readying its newest series of SSDs which will be available in capacities of 128GB to 1000GB. The OCZ Colossus series will come in 120GB, 250GB and 500GB models whilst its bigger brother the Colossus Cascade series will be available in bigger sizes of 250GB, 500GB and a massive 1000GB (1TB). The lower-end Colossus models will feature a 260MB/s read and write speed, an 128MB cache and two Indilinx controllers. On the other hand the higher-end Colossus Cascade series will have the same read and write speeds as the Colossus, but will include double the cache (256MB) and four Indilinx controllers. The prices are not yet known for all the models, but the Colossus series will retail for around US$570, US$1070 and US$1999 for the 120GB, 250GB and 500GB models respectively and I'd expect the Colossus Cascade series leave your wallet even lighter!

OCZ Zee Flash Drives Announced

Today OCZ announced the release of its new Zee line of basic USB 2.0 flash drives targeted at consumers who are looking for affordable portable storage. The Zee drives come with a black lightweight case with a removable cap and range in size from 2GB to 16GB. OCZ is touting the Zee drives using words like "economical" and "affordable" and, with little other specs to be had, you can expect the drives to be pretty basic and good for simple and lightweight storage with no frills. With students already heading back to school the Zee drives might be an ideal product where price is a consideration. However, OCZ hasn't disclosed what the pricing or availability on the drives is going to be.

Corsair Claims World's Fastest Title with 128GB Voyager GT Flash Drive

If cramming 128GB of storage into a flash drive wasn't enough of feat, Corsair is claiming its Voyager GT model is the world's fastest. The Voyager GT 128GB uses a dual-controller architecture along with MLC NAND flash memory in order to achieve read speeds up to 32MB/s and write speeds up to 25.6MB/s. According to Corsair, that means performance is effectively limited by the speed of the USB 2.0 bus and operating system overhead (it's a good thing USB 3.0 isn't too far away then). The need for such speeds is obvious on such high capacity drives, where is it very possible you could be transferring a whole library of music or large video files for example. Being able to shift these as quickly as possible makes a large flash drive a viable option for regular backups.

The Voyager GT 128GB also features a water resistant rubber housing to help prevent accidental damage and is covered by a ten year warranty. Recommended pricing is somewhere in the region of $390, with Newegg currently offering it up for $399.99, so you are going to have to be sure you need the speed/capacity before taking the plunge.

Intel Resume SSD Shipments

After just about ruining the popularity generated in Intel's new, faster and cheaper 34nm SSD drives by not really testing them properly, Intel has finally resumed shipping the drives. The issue was that Intel's new 34nm SSD drives would corrupt themselves if you were to setup a BIOS password on them, essentially turning your show stopping hardware cold in it's tracks. Now that the fix has been released and tested, shipments have resumed, and you can expect to see the drives back on your favorite retailer's shelves by the end of next week. If you've already bought one of the drives, the firmware update is available on Intel's download page. And if you have setup a BIOS password on your drive prior to installing the firmware upgrade, then you've just made yourself a nice, shiny paperweight.

OCZ Releases Value-Oriented Solid 2 Series SSDs

OCZ Technology has announced a new series of solid state drives targeted at mainstream users with the addition of two new models in its Solid 2 Series drives. The new values fall into the "value-oriented" category but still offer some decent features including an Indilinx controller and performance optimization to keep the drives operating at peak levels. Based on multi-level cell technology, the drives are being offered in what OCZ is calling 60(64)GB and 120(128)GB capacities. The units have 64MB onboard cache which should eliminate any stuttering and 125MB/s read and 100MB/s write speeds on the 120GB model; the 60GB model clocks in at 125MB/s read and 80MB/s write speeds. According to Eugene Chang, Vice President of Product Development at the OCZ technology Group, “While solid state drives offer exceptional performance, the high cost of ownership has been a barrier for many consumers.”  While OCZ says the drives will be offered at prices within reach of the mainstream user, that remains to be seen as the company hasn't yet released pricing information, although being able to put together a RAID 0 array with a pair of these drives does sound inviting.

New Technology Will Lead to Bigger Flash Drives

IM Flash Technologies has announced a new technology known as 3bpc. The new technology will allow 3-bits per cell where it used to be 2-bits per cell in drives based on NAND flash technology. This will effectively allow the joint venture between Intel and Micron to boost storage capacity on existing drives by 50%. What used to be 8Gb would now come in at 12Gb. Another possible outcome of this is the reduction in size of flash drives to hold the same amount of data. By squeezing more data into less space, IM Flash will need to make sure that the storage medium is reliable. Hopefully this development will lead to bigger and cheaper Solid State Drives, something in the terabyte range perhaps.

Faster Western Digital 2TB Drive on The Way

Western Digital, a company that is not a big fan of being in second place, is readying it's 7200RPM, 2 TB hard disk drive for release. Officially called the WD2002FBYS (not to be confused with the WD2002FYPS), the drive is part of the RAID Edition family, and while not exactly targeted at the desktop or consumer market, it will run on a standard SATA II interface. It will also have a 32MB cache, which is fairly standard for drives of this capacity, and is reported to have a 8.7ms seek time. As with all RAID Edition drives from Western Digital, it will also come with a 5 year warranty. While Western Digital came to the party with the first 2TB hard drive, Hitachi recently beat WD to the punch, bringing out the world's first 7200RPM 2TB drive. With SDD prices dropping, and capacity increasing, you've got to wonder how much longer the race to have the largest mechanical hard drive will go on.

Hitachi Releases First 7,200RPM 2TB Hard Drive

Hitachi has become the first manufacturer to ship 2TB 7,200RPM hard drives. You may be wondering how that can be, but it's true. While Western Digital launched the first 2TB hard drive, it was only 5,400RPM. The new 2TB Deskstar 7K2000 should prove to be a strong performer. The drive uses 5 platters, which means that each platter stores an impressive ~400GB of data. The drive uses Hitachi's perpendicular magnetic recording to cram all of that data into such a small space. The new drives will ship with 32MB of cache and a standard SATA 3Gb/s interface. The higher rotation speed, large cache, and SATA connection should help this drive become one of the leading storage devices available in its storage capacity category. While Hitachi has stated that this new drive is now shipping, there was no information released about how soon it will appear on retailer's shelves, nor how much it will retail for.

Intel 34nm SSD Shipments Held

Not long after Intel's new 34nm SSD drives were announced, shipments are now being held up as the chip maker fixes a firmware flaw, affecting all of the new models.

ZDNet is reporting that if you set a BIOS password on a laptop with one of these new drives installed, the SSD becomes "inoperable", assumedly corrupting the Master Boot Record, and effectively turning your expensive new investment into mush.

Intel has now announced that it is working on a firmware fix, that all new shipments (once shipments resume) of the new drive will have the fix applied, and that all retailers and distributors are to return un-patched drives to Intel for replacement.