Storage
UPDATE 5/17, 6 PM: Western Digital has confirmed that the new 2.5-inch T GB HDDs uses 6 SMR platters The vast majority of laptops nowadays use solid-state drives, which is why the development of new, higher-capacity 2.5-inch hard drives has all but come to a halt. Or rather, it almost has. It seems that the 2.5-inch form factor has a bit more life left in it after all, as today Western Digital has released a slate of new external storage products based on a new, high-capacity 6 TB 2.5-inch hard drive. WD's new 6 TB spinner is being used to offer upgraded versions of the company's My Passport, Black P10, and and G-DRIVE ArmorATD portable storage products. Notably, however, WD isn't selling the bare 2.5-inch drive...
Crucial RealSSD C300 Firmware, Part III
Poor Crucial. Although it started its C300 campaign on the right foot, posting some very impressive sequential read speeds thanks to 6Gbps SATA and ONFI 2.0 NAND, things haven't...
25 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 5/6/2010OCZ Discovers Bug in Onyx SSD, Updated: We're in the Clear
A week ago I got a shipment of a bunch of new SSDs including OCZ's long awaited Onyx. This is based on the Indilinx Amigos controller, which is basically...
19 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 5/5/2010Crucial Releases RealSSD C300 Firmware Fix, Bricks More Drives?
Back in March I posted an update on my experiences with Crucial's RealSSD C300. In it I pointed out that not only had my review sample apparently bricked itself...
21 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 5/4/2010The Impact of Spare Area on SandForce, More Capacity At No Performance Loss?
No, it’s not the new Indilinx JetStream controller - that’ll be in the second half of the year at the earliest. And it’s definitely not Intel’s 3rd generation X25-M...
32 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 5/3/2010OCZ's Vertex 2, Special Sauce SF-1200 Reviewed
Last week we reviewed OCZ's Agility 2 SSD with SandForce's standard, mass production SF-1200 firmware. This week we're back with the Vertex 2. For an extra $20 you get...
44 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/28/2010This Just In: OCZ Vertex 2 SandForce-1200 SSD with Special Sauce
Next week I'll have more to report on than just SSDs, I promise. Until then, the SandForce festivities continue with today's arrival: The OCZ Vertex 2. As you may have...
47 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/22/2010OCZ's Agility 2 Reviewed: The First SF-1200 with MP Firmware
SandForce made news last week, but for some not so great reasons. It turns out that the production firmware on SF-1200 drives drops random small file write performance by...
62 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/21/2010This Just In: OCZ Agility 2 SandForce-1200 SSD
Things move in real time around here. Just yesterday we published an article detailing the differences between SandForce's SF-1200 and SF-1500 controller. We also pointed out that the mass...
36 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/17/2010Understanding SandForce's SF-1200 & SF-1500, Not All Drives are Equal
Less than 24 hours ago I was called into a meeting with SandForce, the SSD controller manufacturer that has been on fire lately. The company makes two controllers: the...
84 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/16/2010Corsair's Force SSD Reviewed: SF-1200 is Very Good
Late last year we were told that SandForce's client controller, the SF-1200 wouldn't be as solid of a performer as the SF-1500. It would be on par with Indilinx's...
63 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/14/2010This Just In: Corsair Force 100GB SSD (SF-1200)
Testing is nearly complete on the last Corsair SSD that came my way, but this morning UPS dropped off another surprise: the Corsair Force SSD. Based on a derivative...
42 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/13/2010This Just In: Corsair Nova 128GB SSD
I haven't taken a look at a new Corsair SSD in a while. The company started out by shipping relatively uninteresting Samsung based SSDs, but since then we've seen...
12 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/10/2010Western Digital's New VelociRaptor VR200M: 10K RPM at 450GB and 600GB
We first laid eyes on Western Digital's Raptor line of 10K RPM desktop hard drives in 2003. The drives were only 36GB in size, but man were they...
78 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/6/2010Intel's X25-V for $98 at Newegg, Update:Dead Deal
A few folks have sent this in so I thought it was worth posting about. Intel's X25-V that we've recently reviewed is now on sale at Newegg for $98...
37 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/1/2010Intel X25-V in RAID-0: Faster than X25-M G2 for $250?
Intel has been shipping its value 40GB X25-V SSDs for a little while now, but the official launch was just 11 days ago. In our review we found...
87 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 3/29/2010Crucial's RealSSD C300: An Update on My Drive
Earlier this morning I published an article looking into the performance of 6Gbps SATA controllers, both integrated and off-chip. In it I mentioned my recently deceased Crucial RealSSD C300...
49 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 3/25/20106Gbps SATA Performance: AMD 890GX vs. Intel X58/P55
Seemingly overnight SSDs have changed the way in which we look at storage performance. With an order of magnitude of improvement in random I/O performance and at least...
57 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 3/25/2010Intel's X25-V & Kingston's 30GB SSDNow V Series: Battle of the $125 SSDs
Last year Kingston introduced a 40GB version of Intel's X25-M G2 for less than $100 after mail in rebate. Since then, Kingston and Intel couldn't agree on terms for...
81 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 3/19/2010Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue Review: WD Enters the Consumer SSD Market
Late last year Seagate announced its first SSD, and today Western Digital is introducing its first SSD for the mainstream consumer market. We find out who makes the...
66 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 3/3/2010OWC Mercury Extreme SSD - First Look at a 50GB SandForce Drive
OWC sent us its 50GB Mercury Extreme SSD based on the same SandForce controller in OCZ's Vertex LE. We try to find out if the 50GB drive is really...
74 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/26/2010