PC News Zone » solid state drive

Corsair’s speedy, flaming red Force GT SSD goes on sale this month for $149 and up

PC News Zone — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:59:26 +0000

Corsair's Force GT solid-state drives caught our eye earlier this year, and their fire engine-red shells were only half the reason. These bad boys also promise up to 85,000 random write IOPS and are rated for impressive read / write speeds of 550 MBps and 525 MBps -- a shade higher than the specs being bandied-about when Corsair showed it off back in March. The drive also supports SATA 3, is backward-compatible with SATA 2, and ships with a 3.5-inch adapter that'll work with both desktops and laptops. Look for it this month in two sizes: 60GB ($149) and 120GB ($279). No word, alas, on the 240GB version that was strutting its stuff on the show floor in Hanover, Germany. PR after the break.

Corsair Announces Shipment of Force Series GT Solid-State Drives
– New high-performance line takes full advantage of SATA 6Gb/s technology –

FREMONT, California - June 30th, 2011 - Corsair®, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced the first shipments of the Force Series™ GT line of solid-state drives.

The new Force Series GT is designed for enthusiasts who demand the fastest performance available. It uses the new SandForce SF-2280 SSD Processor, with native support for SATA 6Gb/s (SATA 3), combined with ONFI synchronous flash memory. Force Series GT SSDs deliver outstanding read/write performance and significantly faster system response, boot times, and application load times than SATA 2 solid-state drives, with out-of-box performance of up to 85K Random Write IOPS, read speeds of up to 555 MB/s, and write speeds of up to 525 MB/s. The use of synchronous flash memory makes the Force GT Series particularly adept at reading and writing non-compressible data, such as video and music files.

All Force Series GT models are also backward compatible with SATA 2, and include an easy-to-use 3.5" adapter for use in both notebook and desktop PCs.

"With the rapid adoption of systems with SATA 3 support, enthusiasts are demanding SSDs that can push the limit of SATA 3 bandwidth," said Thi La, Vice President of Memory Products at Corsair. "The new Force Series GT line delivers amazing speed under the most demanding conditions, making them ideal for high-performance systems."

Force Series GT SSDs are currently shipping to Corsair's network of authorized distributors and retailers worldwide and will be available in July at a US suggested retail price of $149 USD for the 60GB model and $279 USD for the 120GB model. Note that stated capacities are unformatted and actual capacities will vary depending on the formatting and operating system used. For more information on Force Series GT solid-state drives, please visit the Corsair web site.

PR: OWC Mercury Electra 6G SSDs

pcnz_admin — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 06:11:36 +0000

OTHER WORLD COMPUTING EXPANDS BUILT IN USA 6Gb/s SOLID STATE DRIVE LINE WITH NEW MERCURY ELECTRA 6G SSD

Consumer/Prosumer SSD Available in Capacities up to 480GB Starting at $229.99 Provide Incredible Performance at an Exceptional Price — Unmatched Data Reliability & Longevity

Highest Quality Components Including Tier 1/Grade A NAND Makes any Mac or PC “Faster in a Flash” with Sustained Data Rates over 500MB/s

June 15, 2011 Woodstock, IL — Other World Computing (OWCÂ®) http://www.macsales.com, a leading zero emissions MacÂ® and PC technology company, today announced the OWC Mercury Electraâ„¢ 6G SSD, a new consumer/prosumer targeted SandForce Drivenâ„¢ SATA Revision 3.0 6Gb/s Solid State Drive. Designed and built in the USA utilizing the highest quality components available, including Tier 1/Grade A NAND, the OWC Mercury Electra delivers 556MB/s read and 523MB/s write sustained data rates for over 7X faster performance than a standard factory hard drive found in Mac and PC computers.

Three Consumer/Prosumer Models Offered Starting At $229.99

Offering the SATA Revision 3.0 performance of a 6G SSD, but aggressively priced like a SATA Revision 2.0 3G SSD, the OWC Mercury Electra 6G is ideal for high speed personal computing, home office environments, gaming, and production workstations, can be incorporated into a RAID 1 or SPAN configuration, and is available for immediate ordering in three capacity sizes:

120GB OWC Mercury Electra 6G with Tier 1/Grade A NAND $229.99 MSRP
240GB OWC Mercury Electra 6G with Tier 1/Grade A NAND $479.99 MSRP
480GB OWC Mercury Electra 6G with Tier 1/Grade A NAND $929.99 MSRP

For more information on the OWC Mercury Electra 6G SSD, including reseller inquiries, visit: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_Electra_6G/

For more information on the complete OWC Mercury SSD line, including expert reviews and user comments, visit: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/

Maximizes Any Computer’s 3G And 6G Data Bus

Whether a consumer has a Mac or PC with the SATA Revision 2.0 (3Gb/s) data bus or computer with the latest SATA Revision 3.0 (6Gb/s) interface, the OWC Mercury Electra 6G SSD is able to deliver near bus saturating speed when installed in either interface. OWC benchmark testing confirms the Mercury Electra 6G SSD delivers up to 284MB/s sustained reads and 268MB/s writes in the “3G’s” 300MB/s max speed bus. Taking advantage of “6G’s” interface’s maximum bandwidth of 600MB/s, the Mercury Electra 6G SSD provides up to 556MB/s sustained reads and 523MB/s writes.

Doesn’t Slow Down With Use Like Ordinary SSDs

Ordinary SSDs offer fast read/write performance during first initial uses, but can then experience significant write speed degradation over repeated, long-term usage. Independent simulation tests by leading drive performance experts confirm OWC Mercury SSDs’ ultra-efficient block management, wear leveling technologies, and real-time data redundancies enable incredibly high performance and extreme reliability, both of which are maintained over long-term intensive use.

Up To 100X Greater Data Protection

Speed doesn’t matter if it can compromise data integrity. Thanks to SandForceÂ® DuraClassâ„¢ technology, the OWC Mercury Electra 6G is able to provide up to 100X higher data protection than provided by ordinary SSDs as well as leading enterprise class hard disk drives. By combining the highest level of Error Correction Code (ECC) and SandForce RAISEâ„¢ (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements) technology along with 7% over provisioning reserve/overhead flash allocation, the OWC Mercury Electra 6G provides RAID like data protection and reliability in a single drive application.

Risk-Free 30-Day Satisfaction Guarantee

To ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction and confidence, OWC is extending its renowned 30-Day Money Back Guarantee on its SSD line to include the new Mercury Electra 6G SSD. If a consumer is not completely satisfied with an OWC Mercury Electra 6G SSD for any reason, they simply need to contact OWC’s award-winning Customer Service department â€“ which offers 24/7 Live Chat support – to request a full, hassle-free refund.

“We’re very excited to continue the evolution of our solid state drive line with this new Electra model,” said Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing. “We’re being very aggressive in pricing this model to appeal to consumers and prosumers who have yet to make the SSD switch. With over 500MB/s of highly reliable performance, the OWC Mercury Electra 6G helps Mac and PC owners make their machines quickly and easily ‘faster in a flash’”.

“The new SandForce Driven 6Gb/s Mercury Electra line, using our latest SF-2000 SSD Processors, is well suited for further expanding the deployment of SSDs into both the Mac and PC environments,” said Kent Smith, Sr. Director of Product Marketing for SandForce. “SandForce is already in volume production with these latest award-winning SSD Processors and fully prepared to support this new OWC product line expansion.”

Expands Most Comprehensive SSD Line For Macs And PCs
The new Mercury Electra 6G SSD joins OWC’s existing line of performance leading, world speed record breaking Mercury Pro SSDs for nearly every Mac and PC produced over the past decade available in capacities from 40GB to 480GB starting from $99.97:

OWC Mercury Auraâ„¢ Pro
First and only high performance SandForce processor based SSD for 2008-2010 Apple MacBookÂ® Air models for up to 4X the maximum factory available SSD capacity; as well as a SandForce processor based model specifically for use with netbook/subnotebook computers that use an internal 1.8″ sized SATA drive.

OWC Mercury Legacyâ„¢ Pro
First and only SandForce processor based IDE/ATA SSDs available for pre-Intel PowerPC based Mac and PC notebook/laptop and desktop/tower computers.

OWC Mercury EXTREMEâ„¢ Pro 3G SSD
High performance 2.5″ SATA Revision 2.0 SSD with up to 285MB/s sustained reads and 275MB/s writes for demanding portable and desktop tower use.

OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 3G RE SSD
RAID-Ready Enhanced performance with 28% over-provisioning for data centers, network operation centers, and dedicated RAID installations. Used to set overclocking world record: http://eshop.macsales.com/NewsRoom/Framework.cfm?page=PR/ssdre_032411.html

OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD
Ultra high performance 2.5″ SATA Revision 3.0 SSD with over 500MB/s sustained data rates and up to 479MB/s incompressible data rates for nearly SATA 3.0 bus saturating speed for prosumers and A/V, photography, and graphic production professionals.

About Other World Computing (OWC)

Other World Computing (OWC) has been providing quality hardware products and support to the computer industry since 1988 and features one of the largest online catalogs of computer, iPodÂ®, iPhoneÂ®, and iPadÂ® enhancement products through its e-commerce portal www.macsales.com. As a member of the AppleÂ® Developer Program, OWC also provides extensive US based technical support for Macintosh users around the world as well as Internet access via www.fastermac.net and www.owc.net

OWC’s industry awards and recognition include: Crain’s Chicago Business 2009 and 2011 “Fast 50″ List of 50 Fastest Growing Companies in the Chicago Area; Inc. 5,000 “Fastest Growing Privately Owned Companies in America” honoree 2007-2010; Reseller Ratings Elite Member 2009 & 2010; Better Business Bureau Top Rating of A+ 2010-2011; Reflex Packaging Commitment to Excellence Recycling Award 2009; Computerworld Magazine Top Green-IT Companies for 2008; and McHenry County Economic Development Corporation 2008 Business Champion Award.

In March 2010, OWC’s corporate campus was designated as LEEDÂ® Platinum by the Green Building Certification Institute (http://eshop.macsales.com/green/index.html). Platinum is the highest achievable LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Program level, which began in 1998. Out of more than 14,000 LEED projects engaged worldwide since the program’s inception, OWC is one of less than three hundred to achieve the Platinum standard. In September 2010, OWC’s headquarters earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ENERGY STARÂ® rating for building operations that perform in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency.

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OWC is a registered trademark; and Mercury Aura, Mercury Legacy, Mercury EXTREME, and Mercury Electra are trademarks of New Concepts Development Corporation.

SandForce is a registered trademark and DuraClass, RAISE, and SandForce Driven are trademarks of SandForce, Inc.

Apple, Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad are the trademarks of Apple, Inc.

All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respectful owners.

OWC Extends Warranty on Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD to Five Years

pcnz_admin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 09:47:36 +0000

Last month, Intel increased the warranty period on solid-state drives in its SSD 320 range from the original three years to five years, making them the first consumer SSDs to have such a long warranty period. Now, Woodstock, Illinois-based Other World Computing (OWC) has taken a leaf out of Intelâ€™s book and extended the warranty on its Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD line to five years. According to OWC, this move has made it â€œthe industryâ€™s first SandForce processor-based 6Gb/s SATA Revision 3.0 SSD offering an enterprise-class level 5 year warranty.â€

Those who bought the Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD prior to this announcement need not worry, as â€œOWC is also retroactively extending two additional years of warranty coverage to owners of the Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G who purchased their drive beginning mid April 2011 when it was offered with a three year warranty.â€

The SSD, which promises up to 559MB/s sustained reads and 527MB/s writes, is available in 120GB SSD, 240GB and 480GB capacities priced at $297.99, $569.99 and $1279.99, respectively.

“We’re very pleased to offer the industry’s longest warranty coverage on the latest and fastest SSD data interface and make it retroactive on all purchases of our Extreme Pro 6G SSD,” said Larry O’Connor, founder and CEO, OWC. “By building OWC Mercury SSDs with the best components and engineering processes available, we can offer consumers the best pre and post purchase assurances for the ultimate in SSD ownership confidence.”

SANDISK Launches Two New SSD for Tables and Ultra-Thin Notebooks

pcnz_admin — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:13:33 +0000

New SSDs combine fast SATA III performance with power consumption as low as 10mW1-enable feature-rich computing platforms with longer battery life
SanDiskÂ® SSD series’ U100 drive for ultra-thin notebooks offers SATA III performance and customized form factors
SanDiskÂ® iSSDâ„¢ integrated storage device series’ i100 drive is the world’s smallest, fastest 128 gigabyte (GB)2 (SATA III) BGA-based SSD-ideal for slim, high-performance tablets and ultra-thin notebooks
Sampling now with volume production scheduled for Q3 2011

Computex, Taiwan, May 31, 2011- SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today introduced two new solid state drives (SSDs) for the mobile computing market. The U100 drive, successor to the popular SanDiskÂ® P4 modular SSD series, delivers a flexible, cost-effective solution for ultra-thin notebooks. The SanDiskÂ® iSSDâ„¢ integrated storage device series’ i100 drive is the world’s smallest, fastest 128 gigabyte (GB)2 (SATA III) BGA (ball grid array) SSD and an ideal storage solution for slim, powerful tablets and ultra-thin notebooks.

The new SSDs utilize the high-performance SATA III interface to improve application loading times, web-browsing speeds, multimedia synchronization, file-transfer rates and overall system responsiveness. The drives employ a low-power architecture that reduces power consumption to as low as 10mW1. This combination of high performance and low power allows OEMs to develop feature-rich products with longer battery life.

“Our deep involvement with key ecosystem stakeholders allows us to align our products with fast-moving market requirements,” said Rizwan Ahmed, director, SSD product marketing, SanDisk. “We develop low-power, high-performance SATA SSDs that optimally fit into a growing number of thin client devices.”

SanDiskÂ® SSD Series’ U100 Drive for Ultra-Thin Notebooks
The U100 drive builds upon the successful SanDisk P4 modular SSD series, which enjoyed widespread adoption among ultra-thin notebooks and other mobile computing platforms. U100 supports an array of design needs and is available in a variety of form factors, including Half-Slim SATA SSD, mSATA, mSATA mini, 2.5″ cased, as well as customized modules.

The U100 drive delivers fast SATA III performance with up to 450 megabyte per second (MB/sec)3 sequential read and up to 340MB/sec sequential write speeds3. The drive’s low-power architecture allows OEMs to extend their products’ battery life while maintaining high performance. The drive is available in 8GB to 256GB capacities, and OEMs, attracted to the outstanding price/performance value proposition, are already successfully integrating the new SSD into their next-generation platforms.

SanDiskÂ® iSSDâ„¢ for Tablets
The i100 drive is the smallest, fastest 128GB (SATA III) BGA-based SSD on the market and the newest product in the SanDisk iSSD integrated storage device series. The drive is available in 8GB to 128GB capacities, offering OEMs a flexible range of storage options. Measuring only 16mm x 20mm x 1.4mm (for up to 64GB) and 16mm x 20mm x 1.85mm (for 128GB), the drive allows OEMs to design sleek, high-performance tablets and ultra-thin notebooks.

The drive’s SATA performance achieves up to 450MB/sec3 sequential read and up to 160MB/sec sequential write speeds3. The i100 drive can improve sideloading rates, multitasking capabilities, real-time gaming experience and multimedia synchronization-all while extending battery life via its low-power architecture.

New SSDs Offer Additional Benefits

Drives support Power Classes for flexible performance and power-budget control capabilities
nCacheâ„¢ Acceleration Technology provides fast random burst write performance for improved system responsiveness and multitasking functionality
Based on a JEDEC-standard package for industry compliance

The i100 and U100 drives are sampling now with volume production scheduled for Q3 2011.

1 With Slumber (SATA PHY state) Power mode with DIPM enabled. Lower Power modes can be achieved by implementing advanced low power management techniques. Technical specifications are preliminary and subject to change.

2 1 gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes. Some capacity not available for data storage.

3 Based on SanDisk internal testing; performance may be lower depending upon host configuration. 1 megabyte (MB) = 1 million bytes. Technical Specification are preliminary and subject to change.

SanDisk’s product and executive images can be downloaded from

http://www.sandisk.com/corporate/media.asp

SanDisk’s web site/home page address: http://www.sandisk.com

Â© 2011 SanDisk Corporation. All rights reserved. SanDisk and the SanDisk logo are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. Other brand names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder (s).

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including expectations for new product introductions, applications, features, markets, and customers that are based on our current expectations and involve numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate. Risks that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate include among others: the market demand for our products may grow more slowly than our expectations or our products may not be available in the capacities that we anticipate, our products may not perform as expected and the other risks detailed from time-to-time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q and annual report on Form 10-K. We do not intend to update the information contained in this press release.