Western Digital's SSHD Black magic revealed

Subject: Storage | May 14, 2013 - 05:53 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: sshd, cache, western digital, Black SSHD, Hybrid Drive

The Tech Report sat down with Matt Rutledge, Vice President of Western Digital's client computing group to discuss the software behind their new HDDs with an SSD cache.  Sandisk will be providing the hardware and WD who will be providing the custom caching software which will not be coded into the hardware but will function at the driver level.  Matt mentioned that this software can also make use of the system's memory and incorporate it into the cache as well though it was not completely clear if there will be many user editable settings.  Check the interview out.

"WD revealed that its hybrid drives will use SanDisk iSSD flash components. The announcement was devoid of details on how the caching system works, but we can now shed new light on the software-managed scheme."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

• Seagate SSHD Thin 500GB Review @ Hardware Canucks
• Seagate Desktop HDD.15 4TB vs WD Black 4TB Hard Drive Review @ Legit Reviews
• Toshiba MK3001GRRB 300GB SAS 6Gb/s HDD @ NikKTech
• Intel 525 Series 120GB & 180GB mSATA SSD @ Hardware Canucks
• PNY Prevail Elite 240GB SSD @ Tweaktown
• Crucial M500 480 GB @ techPowerUp
• 120GB OCZ Vertex 3.20 Solid State Drive @ Benchmark Reviews
• Seagate Desktop HDD.15 4TB Review @ Techgage
• Crucial M4 256GB SATA III SSD Review @ PCSTATS
• Corsair Neutron 128GB and 256GB (2013 Hynix Edition) @ TweakTown
• Kingston Wi-Drive 64GB @ Kitguru
• Western Digital My Book Live 1TB Personal Cloud Storage @ Tweaktown
• OWC Envoy Pro EX USB 3.0 Bus-Powered Portable SSD @ SSD Review
• PQI Tiffany 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive @ Tweaktown
• 64 GB Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 G3 Flash Drive @ TechARP
• Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 G3 32GB Flash Drive Review @ Legit Review
• Patriot Supersonic Magnum 256GB USB 3 Flash Drive @ SSD Review
• PQI i-mini USB 3.0 32GB @ techPowerUp
• LSI MegaRAID 9271-8i PCIe Raid Controller @ Funky Kit
• Icy Dock FlexCage MB975SP-B Tray-Less 5 x 3.5" HDD Dock @ Tweaktown
• SilverStone DS322 Dual-Bay RAID Enclosure @ Tweaktown
• Western Digital My Passport Enterprise 500GB USB3.0 External Hard Drive @ eTeknix

AMD Radeon RAMDisk Now Allows Background Updating and Loading With Saved Disk Images

Subject: Storage | May 10, 2013 - 03:48 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: ramdisk, ram drive, ram, radeon ramdisk, amd

In light of AMD’s latest memory release and Radeon RAMDisk push, I decided to take a look at the latest version 4.1.0 of the RAMDisk software to see what had changed since the last time I tested it out. Improved installation and logging along with a couple of new features are all part of the new RAMDisk software.

AMD has simplified the installer since the previous version to the point that only a few clicks are necessary to get setup. Although you can jump into the advanced settings and change the installation path, the default options are basically just to accept the ToS and click next. Other GUI tweaks include a new Logging tab that scans the last 1,000 entries in the Windows Event Log and shows only those related to the RAM Drive.

The biggest change is the addition of new options in the load/save tab. Because of the nature of RAM, the RAMDisk created by the software is not persistent across reboots. However, you can save the disk image to a file on persistent storage (a hard drive, SSD, et al). Then, you can save the RAM Drive and its contents to a file and reload that disk after a restart.

The paid version of Radeon RAMDisk takes this a step further by allowing background updating of the RAMDisk data. With the Load in Background option, the RAMDisk will be immediately available to the operating system after a restart. The software will automatically start transferring data from the image stored on the hard drive to the portion of RAM set aside for the RAM disk instead of making the user wait fro the entire disk to be recreated before it can be accessed. Any data requested that has not yet been transferred to the RAM disk will be transparently pulled from the hard drive image.

Further, AMD offers up a background update option that will run in the background and continuously write RAMDisk changes to the *.img file stored on the hard drive. This eliminates the need to wait for the entire RAMDisk to be written to disk before shutting down the computer or stopping the RAM Drive. Considering the wait times to read and write data from/to the hard drive is one of the major limitations of RAM drives, this is a really useful feature that certainly adds some incentive to springing for the paid version.

The free version doesn’t get background updating, but it does still have the AutoSave feature that will write data out to the image file periodically which will help prevent data loss due to power failure or kernel panic.

Heh, the SSD is pegged but the RAMDisk utilization peaked at 4% when copying a 1.51GB Kerbal Space Program (with a few mods installed) folder from an Intel X25-M to a 4GB RAMDisk ;).

In my brief testing yesterday, I had some trouble getting the software to create a FAT32 formatted disk, where it kept changing to unformatted before creating the disk. Eventually I opted to format the drive myself using Windows’ Disk Management utility. Aside from that hiccup, I think the new version is worth updating to if you have not already--especially if you have the paid version (so that you can get the background data transfer features).

For specific details on exactly what has changed, an AMD-provided change log is below:

Feature Highlights of AMD Radeon™ RAMDisk release 4.1

• Updated GUI improvements .NET
• Updated installer package – Fewer clicks required to install
• Improved GUI event logging
• Improved management of options when setting Load/Save

Performance Highlights of AMD Radeon™ RAMDisk release 4.1

• Performance gains on AMD Radeon™ RAMDisk 32GB and 64GB
• Vastly improved load and save mechanics allowing for background update and background loading of the RAMDisk.  Reduces wait times for load and save.  “Background Update” and “Load in Background” enabled (registered users only)
• Faster PC startup and shutdown while RAMDisk is enabled.
• Improved IO performance on multi-processors and multi-core systems
  • Evenly distributed load among the CPUs.  Allows for more system efficiency.

Seagate Unveils 12Gbps SAS 1200 Series and PCI-E X8 Accelerator SSDs for the Enterprise Market

Subject: Storage | May 7, 2013 - 06:31 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: x8 accelerator, virident, ssd, seagate 1200, Seagate, pci-e

In addition to its recently-announced 600 and 600 Pro consumer line of solid state drives, Seagate has unveiled two new drives aimed at the enterprise SSD market. The Seagate 1200 series is a 2.5" SAS SSD and the Seagate X8 is a PCI-E based accelerator card.

Unfortunately, details are extremely scarce on both upcoming enterprise drives. Performance, specifications, pricing, and availability are still unknown. Seagate has officially confirmed there existence and shared a few tidbits of information, however.

The Seagate 1200 SSDs are 2.5" form factor drives with a 12Gbps SAS interface, which suggests that they will be at least somewhat faster than the consumer versions due to Seagate implementing the faster drive interface. The most important detail however, is that Seagate will be using its own custom SSD controller in the 1200 series. The new controller is still a mystery, but it is developed by Seagate and not Link A Media with customized firmware like the 600 and 600 Pro drives. I am especially interested to find out more about this aspect of the drive. Hopefully the new controller is successful and will trickle down to the company's next-generation consumer SSDs.

Meanwhile, Seagate's X8 Accelerator card is a half-height, half-length expansion card with up to 2.2TB of flash memory. The new PCI-E based drive is based on technology from Virident and can be used to accelerate applicators or database operations in servers. It will be available in capacities ranging from 550GB to 2.2TB. The SSD controller/management duties are handled by the host system's CPU and maintenance operations like garbage collection can be scheduled for periods of downtime when the server is not being hit hard by things like database requests for a popular web application. According to Seagate, each X8 Accelerator will be capable of up to 1.5 million IOPS.

Both of the new enterprise solid state drives will be released later this year.

Seagate Enters The SSD Market With The 600 and 600 Pro SSD Series

Subject: Storage | May 7, 2013 - 02:27 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: ssd, Seagate, LM87800, 600 Pro, 600

Seagate has officially moved into the solid state drive (SSD) market with two new consumer drives: the 600 and 600 Pro series. The new drives come in capacities ranging from 100GB to 480GB. Both series utilize the Link A Media (LAMD) LM87800 SSD controller and 19nm 2-bit per cell MLC NAND flash from Toshiba. Seagate has not provided pricing or availability dates, but pricing should be in-line with existing drives, and reviews are already available around the Internet.

The Seagate 600 series is the lowest-tier solid state drive. It will be available in 120, 240, and 480GB capacities. Seagate is using 128GB, 256, and 512GB of NAND flash on 2, 4, and 8 channels respectively. In addition to the LM87800 SSD controller (which features custom Seagate firmware) and NAND flash, Seagate is including 1MB of DDR2-800 DRAM per 1GB of NAND flash for a total of 128, 256, and 512MB of DRAM on the 120, 240, and 480GB capacity drives.

The 600 Series is rated at up to 500MB/s peak 128KB reads and 400MB/s writes (limited to 300MB/s on the lowest-capacity 120GB drive). Further, Seagate states that the 120GB drive is capable of 80,000 random read and 60,000 random write (4K) IOPS, while the 240GB and 480GB drives can reach up to 80,000 random read and 70,000 random write (4K) IOPS.
Also note that the 600 series comes in both 7mm and 5mm form factors, which makes it compatible with most laptops. Seagate provides a 3 year warranty on the 600 series.

The Seagate 600 Pro series steps things up a notch by adding overprovisioning, capacitors for power-loss protection, and a longer 5 year warranty. The 600 Pro series will come in 100, 120, 200, 240, 400, and 480GB capacities. The 100, 200, and 400GB versions of the SSD offer additional overprovisioning which gives the SSD controller more space to work with. The capacitores are intended to provide enough power in the event of a PC power loss to write all data to the NAND flash and prevent data loss.

The 600 Pro drives offer the same 6Gbps SATA interface, LM87800 controller, and 1MB-to-1GB DRAM to NAND ratio. The Pro drives do not come in the 5mm high form factor, so laptop compatibility is limited.

Further, the 600 Pro Seagate SSDs are faster drives. According to Seagate, the Pro series offers up to 85,000 and 30,000 random read and write (4K) IOPS on the overprovisioned drives and p to 85,000/11,000 random IOPS on the 240 and 480GB drives. The 100 and 120GB drives are slower than the other drives though due to less NAND flash and channels between the flash and controller. The chart below details the rated specifications for all of the announced drives.

Blank areas indicate that rated specifications were not available.

Fortunately, the reviews available online (such as AnandTech's) do seem to support the new drives as far as performance is concerned. The drives are stacking up nicely versus the competition, which is interesting given the controller choice. For example, the sequential read speed looks promising.

The 600 and 600 Pro drives are looking like solid drives so long as the pricing is competitive. I'm excited to see where Seagate goes from here.

Corsair's Neutron drives get even more dense

Subject: Storage | May 3, 2013 - 07:32 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: LAMD, corsair, neutron, ssd, asynchronous NAND, 22nm

Still featuring the Link_A_Media Devices LM87800 controller but with all new 22nm SK Hynix Synchronous NAND the refreshed Corsair Neutron SSD series just arrived on [H]ard|OCP's test bench.  The refresh brings both good and bad attributes, while the 22nm NAND proves a little slower than the original 25nm it also brings a much lower price.  That lower price paired with a 5 year warranty should make this drive attractive to users that are holding off on picking up an SSD because of fears that the drive will stop functioning in a few years, or who have a hard time spending well over $1/GB for storage.

"Corsair keeps pace with continuing innovation in the NAND market by switching from 25nm IMFT NAND to the rarely seen 22nm SK Hynix NAND. This NAND provides a lower price point and extra capacity. Today we take a look to see if the Neutron Series performance remains and how this new SSD build stacks up to the competition."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

• ADATA XPG SX900 128GB SSD Review Redux @ [H]ard|OCP
• Crucial M500 480GB Solid-State Drive Review @ Legit Reviews
• Comay Pluto SC3 Enterprise SSD @ Tweaktown
• ASUS RAIDR Express 240GB PCI-Express SSD review: is this the future? @ Hardware.info
• Corsair SSD Toolbox Software Overview - Better than Never @ Tweaktown
• Top SSD Recommendations For May 2013 - Samsung TLC Dethrones the SanDisk SSD Family @ SSD Review
• The SSD Optimization Guide Ultimate Windows 8 (And Win7) Edition @ The SSD Review
• OCZ Vertex 3.20 240GB SSD w/20nm Flash @ FunkyKit
• OWC Mercury Accelsior E2 PCIe SSD @ SSD Review
• Transcend MSA720 128GB mSATA SSD Review @ Legit Reviews
• Seagate Laptop Thin SSHD 500GB Review @ Techgage
• SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB Compact Flash Memory Card @ Tweaktown
• ADATA DashDrive Air AE400 Wireless Storage @ Benchmark Reviews
• takeMS LumX 4GB USB Flash Drive Review @ Madshrimps
• SanDisk Extreme Pro SDHC and microSDHC Memory Card @ Tweaktown
• Corsair Flash Survivor Stealth 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive @ Tweaktown
• ADATA DashDrive Durable UD310 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive @ eTeknix
• Synology DS213+ High-Performance 2-Bay NAS Server for SMB Review @ Madshrimps
• Corsair Voyager Air 1TB Wireless Hard Drive @ eTecknix
• Patriot Supersonic Rage XT 64GB Flash Drive @ FunkyKit
• Mach Xtreme MX-ES 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive @ Tweaktown
• Transcend Wi-Fi SD Card @ Hardware.info
• PQI Air Bank 500GB External Wi-Fi Hard Disk Drive @ Tweaktown
• Asustor AS-604T 4-Bay NAS @ Tweaktown
• QNAP's TS-EC1279U-RP 12-bay Flagship Rackmount NAS @ AnandTech
• nfortrend EonNAS Pro 510 NAS @ Tweaktown
• Asustor AS-606T @ Legion Hardware

Western Digital updates mobile Blue series with 5mm thin HDD

Subject: Storage | April 23, 2013 - 08:00 AM | Allyn Malventano
Tagged: wdc, WD, hdd, 5mm

Today Western Digital launched their new 5mm 2.5" Blue. This model will only come in 500GB. Capacity options are limited presumably due to a single 500GB platter, which is about all you can fit into a housing that's only 5mm thick.

The drive launches at an MSRP of $89.00, but don't rush out to buy one just yet. The new drive will require a purpose-built installation, as it uses a new SFF-8784 edge connector to receive data and power from the host system. You're basically going to need a laptop that has a bay designed for just this drive, which may take a while.

Press blast after the break!

Western Digital's new Xe HDDs bridge the legacy enterprise SAS storage gap

Subject: Storage | April 22, 2013 - 08:00 AM | Allyn Malventano
Tagged: wdc, WD, SAS, hdd

Today Western Digital launched a new line of Hard Disk Drives. The Xe is very similar to their VelociRaptor, with the same 2.5"-3.5" heat sink adapter plate. The primary difference, however, is these units feature Dual Port SAS connectivity.

The new drives feature a 5-year warranty and will come in 300, 600, and 900GB capacities. With SAS HDD's becoming scarce lately, there is a definite gap developing in existing legacy SAS systems. We're glad to see a lower power SAS-connected 10,000 RPM offering to help bridge that gap.

Full press blast after the break:

The evolution of hybrid drives, Seagate's new SSHD 500GB

Subject: Storage | April 19, 2013 - 07:20 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: sshd, Seagate, Hybrid Drive, 500gb

We have seen many hybrid drives come and go, most of which only benefited desktop users who were accessing certain files often enough that they were cached on the flash memory.  Seagate has introduced a new iteration of the SSHD specifically for laptops, uniting 500GB of 5400 RPM platter based storage with 8GB of MLC NAND and a 64MB cache which [H]ard|OCP recently benchmarked.  They didn't forget desktop users as they released 1TB and 2TB models at 7200 RPM but it is the laptop version which is perhaps more interesting as not many models allow the installation of a second drive like desktops do.  The testing results were mixed, with several obvious benefits interspersed with odd performance changes after multiple runs, however the small price differential between a standard HDD and a SSHD might just convince you to pick up this new breed of hybrid drive.

"Seagate has introduced the next generation of Solid State Hybrid Drives, commonly referred to as "SSHD." These drives use a small amount of MLC NAND to accelerate the performance of a 5400 RPM spinning disk. Today we test the mobile version against other available SSD caching solutions."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

• Crucial's M500 SSD @ The Tech Report
• SuperSSpeed S301 Hyper Gold SLC Enterprise SSD @ Tweaktown
• Consumer (Samsung and OCZ) vs. Enterprise (SMART Optimus) SSD Performance Analysis @ SSD Review
• Hardware.Info tests lifespan of Samsung SSD 840 250GB TLC SSD
• Kingston SSDNow V300 240GB SSD Review @ Hardware Canucks
• ADATA XPG SX900 128GB with SandForce B02 controller SSD @ Tweaktown
• SMART Storage Systems CloudSpeed 500 Enterprise SSD @ Tweaktown
• Samsung SM843 Enterprise SSD Review (240GB) @ SSD Review
• Plextor M5M (256GB) mSATA @ AnandTech
• Samsung PM841 512GB mSATA SSD @ SSD Review
• Intel 525 120GB mSATA SSD @ Hardware.info
• Thermaltake BlacX Duet 5G USB 3.0 Docking Station @ Tweaktown
• Seagate Backup Plus 1 TB Portable Hard Disk Drive @ TechARP
• ADATA DashDrive Elite UE700 USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review @ Pro-Clockers
• ICY DOCK MB662U3-2S Dual Bay USB 3.0 RAID Enclosure @ Tweaktown
• Icy Dock ICYRaid MB662U3-2S Dual-HDD Enclosure Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• Infortrend EonNAS Pro 510 @ Legion Hardware
• Asustor AS 602T @ Kitguru
• QNAP TS879-Pro 8-Bay NAS @ eTeknix
• Thecus N7510 7-Bay NAS @ eTeknix

ASUS Adding RAIDR PCI-E SSDs To Its ROG Lineup

Subject: Storage | April 19, 2013 - 06:10 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: trim, ssd, sandforce 2281, sandforce, ROG, raidr, raid, PCIe SSD, asus

ASUS is reportedly adding two new PCI-E Solid State Drives (SSD) to its Republic Of Gamers lineup. Dubbed RAIDR, the new PCI-E SSDs use 19nm Toshiba MLC NAND flash driven by two SandForce 2281 controllers. In turn, the two SandForce drives are put into a hardware RAID 0 configuration for maximum speed. The RAIDR SSD internals are encased in a stylized EMI shield along with a ROG-branded back-plate. In all, ASUS’ RAIDR SSDs measure 157 x 120 x 20mm.

The ASUS RAIDR drives show up as a single disk driven by a standard AHCI controller, which allows the two RAID 0 SSDs connected via the PCI-E bus to be boot-able and support the TRIM command. Both RAIDR solid state drives also support Native Command Queuing (NCQ), SMART, Secure Erase, Windows 8 Secure Boot.

According to specifications provided by Sweclockers, ASUS is launching 120GB and 240GB versions of the PCI-E SSDs. Both capacities feature 100,000 IOPS, 128-bit AES encryption, and 620,000 MTBF ratings.

The 120GB RAIDR SSD supports up to 765MB/s sequential reads and 775MB/s sequential write speeds. On the other hand, the 240GB RAIDR drive supports up to 830MB/s sequential reads and 810MB/s sequential writes.

Additionally, ASUS is bundling its RAIDR drives with Kaspersky Antivirus 2013 and a number of ASUS utilities (including SSD TweakIt). The drives should be available sometime next month, but pricing is still unknown. Adding PCI-E SSDs is an interesting move by ASUS that should help the company diversify and expand its ROG branding. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing how the drives stack up when they are released (and hopefully a PC Perspective review)!

NAB 2013: G-Technology Launches G-Dock With Thunderbolt

Subject: Storage | April 9, 2013 - 08:24 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: usb 3.0, thunderbolt, hard drives, g-technology, g-drive, g-dock

G-Technology took the wraps off of a new external storage product lineup during NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) this week. The new series includes the G-Dock thunderbolt-connected hard drive dock, and the G-Drive and G-Drive Plus Evolution external hard drives.

The G-Dock is an aluminum external hard drive enclosure that features two hot-swappable drive bays that can accept up to two G-Drive (or G-Drive Plus) external hard drives. The G-Dock includes two Thunderbolt ports for daisy chaining other Thunderbolt devices and to connect to the PC. While in the G-Dock, the drives connect via SATA 6Gbps ports. The G-Dock supports JBOD, RAID 1, and RAID 0 modes to configure it for storage, data redundancy, and performance. The G-Dock comes with a Thunderbolt cable and two 1TB G-Drive Evolution external hard drives. It has a MSRP of $749.95 and will be available in May.

G-Technology's G-Dock enclosure accepts the company's own G-Drive ruggedized hard drives. The G-Drive Evolution drives are fitted into an aluminum case. The 2.5" 7200 RPM drives come in 500GB and 1TB capacities. According to G-Technology, the external hard drives are capable of up to 126MB/s transfer speeds. The G-Drives connect via SATA 6Gbps while in the G-Dock, but the drives also feature USB 3.0 ports to connect to PCs when it is used as an individual drive. Available in May, the G-Drives have an MSRP of $149.95 for the 500GB capacity and $199.95 for the 1TB model.

Finally, the G-Drive Plus is a 2.5" 7200 RPM drive that is also installed in an aluminum case (though it is a bit thicker than the non-plus G-Drive). It has the same USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps ports, but it is only available as a 1TB drive. It is reportedly capable of up to 250MB/s transfer rates. The speed increase comes at the cost of a higher MSRP of $349.95. The G-Drive Plus will be available this summer.

The G-Dock and included G-Drives are Mac formatted out of the box and have a 3 year warranty. The company is positioning the multi-bay dock and hard drives at media professionals that need high-capacity portable storage and high-bandwidth connections.

When only 4TB will do

Subject: Storage | April 9, 2013 - 06:58 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: western digital, wd black, hdd, 4TB

SSDs may be the speed kings but when you need a lot of storage space they quickly become quite expensive which is where the new WD Black 4TB HDD shines as it is only $85 $300.  It spins at 7200RPM and has a 64MB cache which ought to make it a bit faster than other high density HDDs which are on the market though the 800GB platters could slow that expected performance somewhat.  It also comes with a 5 year warranty which is much better than the usual 2 year warranty many companies have adopted as standard for their platter based drives.  Check out the full review at The Tech Report.

"Western Digital's Black 4TB the only desktop hard drive to combine that top-of-the-line capacity with a 7,200-RPM spindle speed and five years of warranty coverage. We take a closer look."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

• Toshiba THNSNH 512 GB SSD @ techPowerUp
• Crucial M500 SSD Review (960GB) @ SSD Review
• Crucial M500 960GB SSD @ Tweaktown
• Crucial M500 480GB @ Hardware.info
• 480GB Crucial M500 Solid State Drive @ Benchmark Reviews
• Crucial M500 480GB @ SSD Review
• OCZ Vertex 3.20 120GB @ Kitguru
• Intel 335 Series 180GB SSD @ Tweaktown
• OCZ Vertex 3.20 20nm 240GB SSD Review @ Legit Reviews
• HighPoint RocketStor 5322 Dual eSATA 6Gbps Dock Review - True SSD Speed through an External Dock @ SSD Review
• INEO I-NA321U PLUS Docking Station @ Benchmark Reviews
• Plextor M5 Pro 128GB with Xtreme Firmware SSD @ Tweaktown
• Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• Ineo NA216U2 Plus External USB 3.0 Enclosure @ Tweaktown
• Synology DiskStation DS213+ NAS Server Review @ NikKTech
• SuperTalent USB 3.0 Express RC4 64GB Flash Drive @ SSD Review
• Synology DiskStation DS2413+ NAS @ Techspot
• HGST Travelstar 7K1000 2.5-inch Mobile Hard Drive Review @ Madshrimps
• ADATA 500GB USB 3.0 DashDrive Elite Review @ OCIA

Intel Shows DSL4510/4410 and Falcon Ridge 20 Gbps Thunderbolt at NAB

Subject: General Tech, Storage | April 8, 2013 - 04:00 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: thunderbolt, nab 13, Intel, falcon ridge, DSL4510, cactus ridge

Way back in July of 2012 Tim Verry wrote a news story on PC Perspective discussing the upcoming Falcon Ridge and Cactus Ridge Thunderbolt controllers, due out in 2014 and 2013 respectively.  It appears this is coming to fruition at the NAB Show 2013 this week in Las Vegas, with two new variants of Thunderbolt on display by Intel.

Cactus Ridge, now known as the DSL4510 and 4410 controllers will add support for DisplayPort 1.2 when connected to native DisplayPort displays while also improving power management and lowering the implementation costs for hardware designers. 

Maybe more exciting is the prototype of next-generation silicon for Thunderbolt, code named Falcon Ridge, that runs at 20 Gbps, double that of current Thunderbolt implementations.  Intel promises that this will enable 4K video file transfer and display simultaneously.  As expected, production will start in late 2013 with ramping in 2014.

Thunderbolt's integration into the consumer market has been slower than expected but professionals are seeing more and more uses for this kind of extreme bandwidth as the video production pipeline prepares for large scale 4K distribution.  We are using Thunderbolt internally at PC Perspective for our Frame Rating capture based graphics testing running at nearly 800 MB/s we have been happy with the results. 

The Vertex 3.20, shrinking down to 20nm

Subject: Storage | April 4, 2013 - 07:22 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: 20nm, ocz, vertex 3.20, synchronous flash, SandForce SF-2281

There is very little change between the original Vertex 3 and the new Vertex 3.20, as the controller remains as an SF-2281 and the rated speeds match, the only real difference is in the new 20nm NAND.  In a way [H]ard|OCP was disappointed that OCZ did not reduce the size of the Vertex to fit in mobile devices as the new NAND is very power efficient and would be welcomed more by mobile users than desktop users.  As far as performance per dollar it is still the Samsung 840 which remains on top but OCZ has a solid contender.

"OCZ releases the Vertex 3.20 240GB SSD as part of the continued restructuring of its product lines. With 20nm NAND and a LSI SandForce SF-2281 controller the Vertex 3.20 SSD is geared for budget conscious buyers, and today we test it with the other top value-oriented SSDs."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

• Intel 525 Series mSATA SSD Review: Five Capacities Tested @ Tweaktown
• Hardware.Info tests lifespan of Samsung SSD 840 250GB TLC SSD
• SanDisk Ultra Plus 256GB @ [H]ard|OCP
• KingSpec E3000S Challenger SSD Review - EMLC Endurance and LSI SandForce Performance @ SSD Review
• Upgrading the SSD in your Apple MacBook Air with OWC's 480GB Aura Pro Solid State Drive @ Tweaktown
• Corsair Neutron 240 GB vs. OCZ Agility 4 256 GB SSD Review @ Hardware Secrets
• Intel 525 SSD mSATA Solid State Drive @ Benchmark Reviews
• RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10 and RAID 5: how do they actually work? @ Hardware.info
• The future of Serial ATA: SATA Express, NGFF and NVM Express @ Hardware.info
• Seagate Constellation ES.3 4TB Hard Drive Review @ Hardware Canucks
• Seagate's Laptop Thin SSHD 500GB hybrid drive @ The Tech Report
• Seagate 500GB SSHD Thin Hybrid Drive Review @ Legit Reviews
• HGST Touro Mobile Pro 1TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive Review @ NikKTech
• ADATA DashDrive Elite HE720 External Hard Drive @ Tweaktown
• Patriot Memory EP Series 64GB SDXC UHS-I Memory Card @ Tweaktown
• HighPoint RocketStor 5322 eSATA 6Gb/s Drive Dock Review @ Custom PC Review
• HGST Touro Mobile Pro 1TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive Review @ NikKTech
• QNAP TS-569 Pro @ techPowerUp
• EonNAS 850X NAS Network Storage Server @ Benchmark Reviews

Seagate Launches 4TB, Four-Platter Hard Drive For $200

Subject: Storage | April 3, 2013 - 06:26 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: Seagate, 1TB Platter, 4TB, Hard Drive, storage

Seagate recently took the wraps off of a new 4TB hard drive. The new drive uses the company's 1TB platters, and the ST4000DM000 uses four 1TB platters. Other characteristics include a 7,200 RPM spindle speed, 64MB cache, and support for the SATA III 6 Gbps interface.

According to the company, the 4TB drive boasts an average read/write data rate of 146MB/s (which is good for a mechanical hard drive), max sustained transfer speed of 180MB/s, and sub-8.5ms and 9.5ms average seek times for read and write operations respectively.

The drive is compatible with Seagate's DiskWizard technology, allowing the full 4TB to be used on legacy operating systems. At 4TB, this drive is perfect for digital pack rats and media enthusiasts.
The 4TB Seagate drive can be found for around $190 USD online for the bare-bones drive, or approximately $205 for retail packaging. You can find more information on the 4TB mechanical hard drive on this Seagate data sheet (PDF) or the drive's product page.

I have to admit that I'm tempted by this, despite not having filled my 2TB drive yet.

SuperSSpeed mixess Intel SSLC and SSandforce

Subject: Storage | March 28, 2013 - 04:15 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: SuperSSpeed, S301 Hyper Gold, ssd, slc, SandForce SF-2281

SuperSSpeed is mixing the performance and endurance of SLC flash storage with the lower cost of the SandForce SF-2281 in an attempt to bring the price of their SLC drive to an affordable level for the consumer.  The mix seems a good idea as the reduced write latency of SLC flash may help to overcome SandForce's weakness when writing incompressible data.  [H]ard|OCP's testing bears this out as the drive kept up with a larger Samsung 840 Pro, one of the current performance kings.  You will pay for the privilege however as the 128GB drive currently retails for $250 as SLC flash is not cheap.  Consider that in almost any casual usage scenario, you are never going to push this drive to its limits ... unless you are going to start your own Frame Rating machine.

"The SuperSSpeed S301 128GB SLC SSD brings SLC flash into the consumer market. The extreme endurance and excellent write performance makes for an interesting SSD powered by the SandForce SF-2281 controller. The Intel 25nm SLC NAND removes much of the Achilles heel of the SandForce processors, delivering consistent performance."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

• OCZ Vertex 3.20 – Vertex 3 updated to 20nm @ Bjorn3D
• OCZ Vertex 3.20 120GB Solid State Drive Review @ Pro-Clockers
• OCZ Vertex 3 .20 120GB SSD @ Tweaktown
• OCZ Vertex 3 .20 240GB SSD @ Tweaktown
• KingFast Ultra-Cache K13 & K25 SATA2 SSD Review @ ModSynergy
• Kingston V300 120GB SSD Review @ HCW
• Kingston V300 120GB SSD @ Bjorn3D
• Intel 335 Series 180GB SSD Review @ Hardware Canucks
• The SSD Review SSD Database Is Live
• ADATA DashDrive Air AE400 Wireless Storage Device @ Tweaktown
• Kingston DataTraveller Ultimate 3.0 G3 64GB USB3.0 Flash Drive @ Tweaktown
• Kingston HyperX Predator 512GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive @ Tweaktown
• QNAP TS-469L @ Legion Hardware
• G-Technology G-Drive Mobile USB 1TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive Review @ NikKTech
• OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro USB 3.0 Portable Enclosure Kit Review @ Madshrimps
• ADATA DashDrive HV610 External Hard Drive @ Tweaktown
• ADATA DashDrive Durable HD710 External Hard Drive @ Tweaktown

Need high volume SSD storage and can afford the price? Solidata has 2TB drives

Subject: Storage | March 18, 2013 - 04:23 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Solidata, K8 1920E 2TB, ssd, sf-1222, LSI, sandforce, Micron JMB393

We have seen some high capacity PCIe based SSDs but in the 2.5" form factor they have been few and far between.  This will soon change as Solidata will be releasing a 2 Terabyte SSD called the K8 1920E which will be somewhere in the neighbourhood of $5000 when it becomes available.  Each one of the flash storage chips you can see below is a 64GB chip and with 16 on each side you get a full 2048GB of storage.  It uses four of the LSI Sandforce SF-1222 controllers and a Micron JMB393 SATA II RAID-5 controller which is configured to act as a 4 port hub, treating each of the controllers as a separate 512GB SSD.  Once the SSD Review had formatted the drive for use there was a total of 1788GB available for storage which did not support TRIM as it is technically behind a RAID card.  The performance was on par with expectations, keeping in mind the difficulties that SandForce controllers have with incompressible data. This drive will be very expensive but it seems it will be the first product of its type available to be purchased.

"Ever since SSDs were introduced to the retail market back in 07, one of the main complaints has always been capacity. After all, the first SSD releases were only 32 and 64GB. The hopes of one day seeing the performance of an SSD coupled with the capacity of a hard drive has grown and, too many, we think our analysis of the new Solidata K8-1920E 2TB SSD might be welcome news."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

• SuperSSpeed S301 Hyper Gold 128GB SLC SSD @ [H]ard|OCP
• Intel 335 Series 180GB SSD Review @ Techgage
• MyDigitalSSD BP4 Slim 7 Solid State Drive @ Benchmark Reviews
• OCZ Vertex 3.20 20nm @ SSD Review
• Micron RealSSD P400m Enterprise SSD @ SSD Review
• Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB @ Tweaktown
• OCZ Vector 256GB SSD Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• Samsung 840 Pro 512GB @ Tweaktown
• Toshiba MK01GRRB/R 2.5-inch 6Gb/s SAS 15K RPM Enterprise RAID Report @ Tweaktown
• Patriot Gauntlet Node Wireless Enclosure Review @ NikKTech
• Adata DashDrive Air AE400 review: wireless card reader for mobile devices @ Hardware.info
• PQI Tiffany USB 3.0 32 GB @ techPowerUp
• Transcend RDF8 USB 3.0 Memory Card Reader Review @ Legit Reviews
• SuperTalent RC4 USB 3.0 Flash Drive With MS Windows To Go @ SSD Review
• Patriot Supersonic Magnum 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review @ Legit Reviews
• Patriot Supersonic Magnum 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• CalDigit AV Pro USB 3.0 HDD / SSD Enclosure @ Tweaktown
• Thecus N7510 7-Bay Affordable Tower NAS @ Tweaktown
• QNAP TS-469L High-performance 4-bay NAS Server for Home & SOHO Review @ Madshrimps
• StarTech 2.5-Inch to USB 3.0 Encrypted Hard Drive Enclosure Review @ Legit Reviews
• QNAP TurboNAS TS-469U-RP NAS Server Review @ NikKTech
• Icy Dock FlexCage MB973SP-2B 5.25-inch HDD Bay Adapter @ Tweaktown

Western Digital 3TB Red 3.5" SATA Internal Hard Drive (WD30EFRX) $145.95

Subject: General Tech, Storage | March 18, 2013 - 12:51 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: deals

Top deal

Western Digital 3TB Red 3.5" SATA Internal Hard Drive (WD30EFRX) for $145.95 with Free Shipping (normally $170).

Laptops

15.6" Dell Inspiron 15R Special Edition Core i5 Laptop w/2GB Radeon HD 7730M, Backlit Keyboard, 6GB RAM for $549.99 with free shipping (normally $799.99 - use $150 Coupon Code: 2Q?XNXR2DXQ13G).

23.6" HP Spectre ONE 23-e010se Core i5 Slim All-in-One PC w/TrackPad for $974.99 with free shipping (normally $1,299.99 - use coupon code: DT2617).

Entertainment

90" Sharp AQUOS LC-90LE745U 3D 1080p 120Hz LED HDTV + Free Wall Mount for $7,390 with free shipping (normally $10,000 - use coupon code: FREEMOUNT).

Components

Two (2) Dual UltraSharp U2412M IPS LCD Monitors with Dual Monitor Stand for $594.99 with free shipping (normally $699.99 - use coupon code: 6DBNK$ZJLR$L4J).

128GB OCZ Vertex 4 SATA III Solid State Drive for $116.99 with free shipping (normally $129.99 - use coupon code: VZQG7WPT?PJ4C4).

Netgear Universal WN3000RP Wi-Fi Range Extender for $69.00 with free shipping (normally $90).

Gadgets

Boombotix BB2 Bluetooth Speaker Limited Edition for $69.95 with free shipping (normally $79.99).

Waterfi iPod Shuffle Waterproof Swim Set (5th ten) for $154.95 with free shipping (normally $179.99).

Audio-Technica Portable Stainless Steel Headphones for $109 with free shipping (normally $249.99 - use coupon code: VMESAVESU20).

Seagate Introduces SSHD Lineup with Dual Mode NAND Cache

Subject: Storage | March 8, 2013 - 09:20 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: sshd, solid state, Seagate, Intel SRT, cache, adaptive memory

Following the announcement that the company would be axing 7200 rpm notebook drives, Seagate has introduced its third generation hybrid hard drives. The new Seagate Solid State Hybrid Drives (SSHD) will initially launch with two notebook drives and a single desktop-sized drive. The hybrid drives will combine a spinning platter drive with 8GB of NAND flash with Seagate’s Adaptive Memory tech that will reportedly cache reads as well as writes.

The 2.5” notebook SSHDs include a 7mm model that combines 500GB of mechanical storage and 8GB of Adaptive Memory cache. This model will retail for around $80. There will also be a slightly larger 9.5mm  with 8GB of cache and 1TB mechanical hard drive capacity. The 1TB model utilizes two 500GB, 5400RPM platters and will retail for just under $100.

The desktop SSHDs come in 3.5” form factor and will initially use 7200 RPM platters.  Seagate will offer up to 2TB of mechanical storage with its SSHDs and 8GB of NAND flash for caching.  Seagate claims that its desktop SSHD is up to four times faster than other mechanical hard drives, (according to PC Mark Vantage) which is likely due to the Adaptive Memory technology caching frequently used data on the flash memory and the use of 1TB platters. The 1TB and 2TB SSHD will cost around $100 and $150 respectively. Naturally, the SSHDs will carry a small premium over traditional mechanical hard drives. They will still be much more price-efficient than Solid State Drives for the storage offered (though I would still like to see a larger NAND cache).

Interestingly, Tech Report was able to glean a few more details about Seagate’s third generation hybrid drives. Reportedly, the drives will be capable of writing as well as reading to/from the NAND cache. That is a major step up from previous generation’s which limited the drive’s flash storage to a read-only cache. Seagate has reportedly built the drives such that they will have enough capacitance to flush the write cache in the event of a power failure (so that you will not lose any data). The dual mode NAND term stems from Seagate’s ability to use SLC for boot data and the write cache and address the remaining NAND as MLC flash. Unfortunately, details are scarce on how Seagate is doing this.

The SSHDs will come with three year warranties, but Seagate has rated the NAND flash at a lifespan of at least five years. In an neat twist, Seagate is also allegedly working on another SSHD implementation that will combine a mechanical hard drive and a larger NAND cache. However, the flash memory will be managed by Intel’s Smart Response Technology instead of Seagate’s own Adaptive Memory tech (which doesn't need additional drives, unlike SRT). Using the port multiplexing aspect of the SATA spec, Seagate will be able to put both drives into a single 3.5” form factor hybrid drive. Admittedly, this is the Seagate SSHD that I am most excited about, despite the fact that it’s also the drive I know the least about. I’m interested to see what kind of performance Seagate can wring out of the larger cache!