Hasta La Gadget!

We know you like SandForce’s ludicrous speed SSD controllers, but how much do you know about these enterprise-class chips really? If your answer is anything short of “everything,” you’ll have to give Tech Report‘s writeup a read, where the guys get down and technical with Corsair’s latest SandForce SF-1200-controlled drive, the F120 (above right). Differing from the F100 that came before it by cutting down overprovisioning (user-inaccessible storage space set aside to accelerate random writes and improve longevity) from 28 to 7 percent, this drive offers you an extra 20GB of room, but it does take a bit of a performance dint as well. If you must have the results in bitesize form, the F120 seemed better value (at $339) for netbook and desktop users than its elder, faster brother, though Indilinx-based competitors (such as Corsair’s own Nova) were recommended as the sagest choice. We still advise, as always, that you wade into the source and give the full review a read.

Corsair F120 SSD undressed, reviewed, compared to predecessor originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Jun 2010 09:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OCZ has a penchant for doling out new kit at trade shows, and this year’s Computex is no different. The star of the new-release show was the RevoDrive, a PCIe card with between 128GB and 480GB of SSD onboard. The unit we saw here in Taipei was near-final, with a pair of SandForce SF-1200 controllers, a daughter board expansion slot (for possibly combining two in a RAID scenario) and a promised starting price of around $400 to $600 (not to mention read / write times of nearly 540MB/sec). Obviously, this hits well below the multi-thousand dollar PCIe SSD options from Fusion-io and company, and it’s the first time we’ve seen PCIe SSD become even remotely affordable. If all goes well, the RevoDrive will start shipping within a few months. In related news, the company also announced that the Vertex 2 line of solid state solutions will be slimmed down for the 1.8-inch form factor (like you’d find in an iPod classic), but details on pricing or availability were nowhere to be found. Lastly, and potentially most importantly, the company revealed a fresh-out-of-the-lab prototype that could significantly enhance transfer rates from PCIe devices. Codenamed HSDL (high speed data link; shown above), the solution combines an industry standard SAS connector with an OCZ-built PCIe board in order to enable transfer rates as high as 20Gbit/sec. The company said a final product is at least six months out, but it’s already toying with the idea of selling a single and quad-slot card in due time. Peek the gallery below for more of what’s to come.

Continue reading OCZ reveals consumer-level RevoDrive PCIe SSD, blazing fast HSDL data interface

OCZ reveals consumer-level RevoDrive PCIe SSD, blazing fast HSDL data interface originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hitachi-LG outed most of the major details for its forthcoming HyDrive last week, but the company just officially took the wraps off the world’s first SSD-equipped laptop optical drive. Frankly, it’s sort of astounding it took this long for such an obvious idea to come to fruition, but now that we’re here, we fully expect other outfits to follow suit. Put simply, the HyDrive is a standard form factor optical drive (DVD burner or Blu-ray will be available), but there’s a 32GB or 64GB SSD (not just a strip of NAND, we’re told) tucked below. When this gets stuffed within a laptop, you’re immediately able to access an optical drive, an SSD (for your operating system and critical launch applications) and a spacious HDD for storing music, media, etc. Previously, this type of three-drive arrangement was only available in beastly Clevo‘s and the like, but this solution is obviously tailor made for even ODD-equipped ultraportables. Another plus to the HyDrive is the integrated Defect Management technology, which essentially caches information from scratched discs (DVDs, namely) in order to play the content back sans jitters.

More after the break…

Continue reading Hitachi-LG goes official with HyDrive: SSD-equipped optical drives landing in August

Hitachi-LG goes official with HyDrive: SSD-equipped optical drives landing in August originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 00:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just as we surmised, Seagate is taking the wraps off its new hybrid drive, with OEM shipments of the Momentus XT starting today. Hailed as the fastest 2.5-inch laptop drive on the planet, this here device marries a 7200RPM hard drive (250/320/500GB) with 4GB of SLC NAND flash memory and 32MB of cache, and the company’s Adaptive Memory technology allows it to store frequently used information on the latter for ultra-speedy access. It can boot up to 100 percent faster than a conventional 5400RPM hard drive, and thankfully for us all, it utilizes a standard 9.5mm-high form factor that the vast majority of laptops use. Seagate also affirms that the drive “operates independently of the operating system and the motherboard chipset,” but we’re going to hold tight until we see the first real benchmarks (it’ll soon be an option in ASUS’ ROG G73Jh gaming laptop) before getting all hyped up. In related news, the outfit also announced the world’s highest capacity 7200RPM drive at 750GB, with the Momentus 750GB boasting SATA 3Gbps support, an NCQ interface, 16MB of cache and “silent acoustics.” No price is mentioned, but you can bet a hefty premium will placed on something this capacious. The full presser, another image and a specs sheet awaits you beyond the break.

Update: The reviews are already pouring in, and at just $155 for the 500 gigger, it’s receiving a fair amount of praise.

Continue reading Seagate pairs 7200RPM HDD with 4GB of NAND in 2.5-inch Momentus XT hybrid drive

Seagate pairs 7200RPM HDD with 4GB of NAND in 2.5-inch Momentus XT hybrid drive originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 May 2010 08:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Corsair stirred up something fierce when it dropped in a pair of SSDs to get the newfound Force series going, but obviously, just having a 100GB and 200GB model isn’t exactly catering to every possible market. In order to remedy said quandary, the company is today expanding the Force family by three, with the 60GB F60, 120GB F120 and 240GB F240 joining the herd. All three are based around the well-received SandForce SF-1200 controller, and Corsair states that each supports a maximum throughput of 285MB/sec (read) and 275MB/sec (write). Per usual, the company’s keeping quiet on the pricing front, but all that should be brought out into the open once they ship next month.

Continue reading Corsair expands SandForce SF-1200-based SSD family with 60GB, 120GB and 240GB options

Corsair expands SandForce SF-1200-based SSD family with 60GB, 120GB and 240GB options originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 May 2010 18:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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