SSDs
The DNA Data Storage Alliance introduced its inaugural specifications for DNA-based data storage this week. This specification outlines a method for encoding essential information within a DNA data archive, crucial for developing and commercializing an interoperable storage ecosystem. DNA data storage uses short strings of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) called oligonucleotides (oligos) mixed together without a specific physical ordering scheme. This storage media lacks a dedicated controller and an organizational means to understand the proximity of one media subcomponent to another. DNA storage differs significantly from traditional media like tape, HDD, and SSD, which have fixed structures and controllers that can read and write data from the structured media. DNA's lack of physical structure requires a unique approach to initiate data retrieval, which brings its peculiarities...
OCZ Octane 128GB SSD Review
Earlier this year OCZ acquired Indilinx, one of the first SSD controller makers to really make a splash in the enthusiast community. Ever since OCZ entered the SSD business...
39 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 12/28/2011Apple Acquires Anobit: Bringing NAND Endurance Technology In-House
I'd seen speculation that Apple was going to drop $500M on Anobit over the past few weeks. Ars Technica also published a piece believing the acquisition to be true...
30 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 12/21/2011Updated: OCZ's Petrol SSD: More Affordable Indilinx Everest
Last month OCZ introduced the Octane, its first SSD based on the now in-house Indilinx Everest controller. The drive did reasonably well in our tests and was priced competitively...
18 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 12/13/2011Hard Drive Shortage Hits Intel: Q4'11 Earning Estimates Revised Down By $1B
It has been expected for some time now that the fallout from Thailand’s well publicized flooding and resulting hard drive shortage would have wider ramifications than just impacting the...
26 by Ryan Smith on 12/12/2011Intel and Micron (IMFT) Announce World's First 128Gb 20nm MLC NAND
Earlier this year, Intel and Micron's joint NAND manufacturing venture (IMFT) announced it had produced 64Gb (8GB) MLC NAND on a 20nm process. Most IMFT NAND that's used in...
36 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 12/6/2011Samsung's PM830 Coming To Ultrabooks in 2012
We've seen what Samsungs latest SSD controller can do in notebooks, and now they're ready to share the love with Ultrabooks. The latest PM830 variants come in the mSATA...
4 by Jason Inofuentes on 12/2/2011The OCZ Octane Review (512GB)
I have to hand it to OCZ's CEO, Ryan Petersen, I never thought he'd turn the company around in the way that he did. When I first met Ryan...
75 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/23/2011OCZ's Octane: Initial Performance Results
Last month OCZ finally unveiled the fruits of its Indilinx acquisition: the OCZ Octane SSD. Based on the Indilinx Everest platform, the Octane was to be OCZ's more affordable...
50 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/22/2011Intel to Add TRIM Support for RAID 0
Intel's release notes for Rapid Storage Technology (RST) 11.5 Alpha version reveal that they have plans to add TRIM support for RAID 0 arrays in the next version of...
31 by Kristian Vättö on 11/21/2011Newegg Giving A 15% Discount on Any OCZ SSD
Update: Apparently, the sale was only valid for one day (November 16th), meaning that the coupon code no longer works. Newegg is having a sale and they are giving a...
37 by Kristian Vättö on 11/16/2011Kingston Releases SSDNow V200 Series
Kingston has released a new SSD lineup named as SSDNow V200. This series comes in 2.5" form factor and is the successor of V100 series, which was released a...
12 by Kristian Vättö on 11/10/2011Corsair Gives Marvell Another Try With Performance Pro SSD
Corsair is no stranger to Marvell based SSDs. Prior to its current flagship Force 3 and Force GT (SF-2281 based) SSDs, Corsair released the Performance 3 Series using Marvell...
10 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/10/2011OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G Review: A Fast MacBook Air SSD Upgrade
I've written previously about the SSD lottery you play when you buy a new MacBook Air. As with many commodity components, Apple sources its SSDs from two sources. For...
40 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/9/2011LaCie Little Big Disk (240GB SSD) Review
A week ago we published our review of the first sub-$1000 Thunderbolt drive enclosure: LaCie's Little Big Disk. Armed with a pair of 2.5" hard drives, the Little Big...
24 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/8/2011The LSI SandForce Acquisition: Anand's Thoughts
I'd almost given up hope that someone would acquire SandForce. After taking so long to fix the infamous BSOD issue and our own interests beginning to shift away to...
22 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/2/2011LSI Announces Agreement to Acquire SandForce
For much of the past year I've been hearing SandForce wanted to be bought. The price? $300M - $400M. A bit too rich for OCZ's blood, but a figure...
27 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 10/26/2011OCZ's Octane SSD: Indilinx Everest, Up to 1TB in a Consumer Drive
In March, OCZ signed a definitive agreement to acquire Indilinx, the SSD controller company that pretty much dominated the value segment in 2009 before Intel got aggressive on pricing...
58 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 10/20/2011SandForce Identifies Firmware Bug Causing BSOD Issue, Fix Available Today
After months of end user complaints, SandForce has finally duplicated, verified and provided a fix for the infamous BSOD/disconnect issue that affected SF-2200 based SSDs. The root cause is...
31 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 10/17/2011The Intel SSD 710 (200GB) Review
When Intel entered the SSD market one of its declared goals was to bring the technology into the mainstream. The goal was so important to Intel that its consumer...
69 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/30/2011OCZ Z-Drive R4 CM88 (1.6TB PCIe SSD) Review
In our last SandForce SSD roundup I talked about how undesirable the consumer SSD market is, at least for those companies who don't produce their own controllers and/or NAND...
58 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/27/2011