OCZ Announces New Indilinx Barefoot 3 Controller

Subject: Storage | July 18, 2012 - 07:19 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: ssd, aragon, Indilinx, barefoot 3, ssd controller

During a recent earnings call, OCZ CEO Ryan Petersen made an interesting announcement relating to the company’s solid state drives (SSD). Specifically, it concerns OCZ’s subsidiary company Indilinx which was purchased in 2011 for $32 million of OCZ common stock. According to a transcript provided by SeekingAlpha, OCZ is working on a new SSD based on the company’s Barefoot 3 controller. That controller is especially intriguing because it is reportedly being internally-developed and will use a new Aragon SSD processor which is a controller chip running at 400 Mhz with an optimized and custom RISC instruction set.

The Aragon core is further a 32-bit chip based on TSMC’s 65nm process node. It is using certain IP that is being licensed from an as-yet-unnamed third party. Allegedly, it is able to execute most instructions and branches in a single clock cycle. Bearing in mind that this is an announcement to shareholders, OCZ has stated the following about the new controller:

“When implemented in SSD controller, this gives the core a much higher performance than when using an off-the-shelf embedded safety field. And this design opens a world of new possibilities for game changing SSD solutions as it supports unprecedented levels of processing power.”

Beyond that we do not know what kind of performance to expect from the drives, but we should not have to wait too long to find out. OCZ should begin sampling the drives sometime between August and September of this year and are hoping to make them available for purchase by the holiday shopping season in Q4 2012.

It will be interesting to see where this new OCZ/Indilinx controller stands in relation to the other controller makers. Here’s hoping that it can give SandForce and Intel a run for their money and give us even more competition to drive down SSD prices for consumers!

You can see the full transcript over at SeekingAlpha.

Super Talent's fast and inexpensive USB 3.0 flash drives

Subject: Storage | July 18, 2012 - 04:25 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: super talent, ST1, ST2, usb 3.0

If you need fast and portable storage then a USB 3.0 flash drive is the way to go as there is a large difference in speed when you compare it to the previous USB 2.0 standard.  Super Talent currently offers two versions the the ST1 which uses ToggleMode DDR and has and advertised speed of 90MB/s read and 16MB/s write speeds as well as the ST2 which has dual channel MLC flash and 67MB/s read and 24MB/s write speeds.  The other difference between the two models is the capacity, with the ST1 going from 8GB to 16GB and the ST2 available in sizes up to 32GB.  Check out the real world results at Legit Reviews.

"The two drives we have to review today are the Super Talent Express 3.0 ST1 4GB and the Express 3.0 ST2 8GB. These two are the smallest capacity drives of their respective lineups. The ST1 ranges from 4GB-16GB, and the ST2 ranges from 8GB-32GB. The ST1 uses Super Talent’s ToggleMode DDR (double data rate) flash which claims 90MB/s read and 16MB/s write speeds. The ST2, however, uses a dual channel MLC flash, claiming 67MB/s read and 24MB/s write speeds..."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

• Kingston DataTraveler Elite 3.0 USB 3.0 Flash Drive @ TechARP
• Plextor M5S 256GB @ AnandTech
• Micron C400 256GB 6Gbps mSATA SSD Review - Crucial M4 mSATA SSD in Disguise @ SSD Review
• OCZ Vertex 4 SSD Review @ HardwareLOOK
• OCZ Vertex 4 256GB Review @ OCC
• Kingston HyperX 3K Series 240GB SSD @ [H]ard|OCP
• OCZ Vertex 4 SSD with 1.5 firmware @ Guru 3D
• Seagate Backup Plus @ The Inquirer
• Crucial Adrenaline Solid State Cache Review @ eTeknix
• Plextor M5S 256GB SATA 3 SSD Review - True Speed Through and Through @ SSD Review
• MyDigitalSSD Bullet Proof 3 SATA III 512GB SSD Review - A Force Behind SSD Affordability @ SSD Review
• Biwin NuvoDrive NX Novachips Bugatti Preview - World Exclusive @ Tweaktown
• OCZ RevoDrive X2 SSD Review @ HardwareLOOK
• Corsair Accelerator 30GB & 60GB Review @ OCC
• CoreRise Comay Venus 3S 120GB SATA3 MLC Synchronous SSD Review @ ModSynergy
• Corsair Force 3 240GB Laptop Upgrade Kit @ Pro-Clockers
• OCZ Vertex 4 256GB @ Bjorn3D
• Patriot EP Pro 32GB UHS-I SD Card Review @Hi Tech Legion
• Satechi 4 Port SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Hub Review @ Legit Reviews
• Western Digital My Passport 2TB: high capacity portable disk @ Hardware.info
• Kingston FCR-HS3 and FCR-MLG3 USB 3.0 Flash Card Readers Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• Synology DS412+ @ techPowerUp
• Western Digital My Passport 2TB Portable Hard Drive Review @ Techgage
• QNAP TurboNAS TS-869 Pro 8-Bay NAS Review @ eTeknix
• Netgear NV+ v2 and LaCie 2big NAS: A Second Look @ AnandTech

Intel adds 240GB model to Intel SSD 330 Series and lowers prices

Subject: Storage | July 16, 2012 - 02:55 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: ssd, intel 330, Intel

Good news SSD fans Intel has not only extended their SandForce SF2281 based 330 line, they have also dropped prices across the board.  The new 240GB Intel SSD 330 should be on sale for $194, dropping comfortably below the $1/GB mark.  Intel has reduced the costs to their resellers as well, by up to 38 percent on 520 Series, 10% - 18% for the 320 Series and 27% - 34% on the 330 Series.  These price changes may not directly translate into the same savings for those purchasing from major retailers but it will certainly have some impact.  For instance, right now the Intel 330 180GB model will cost you $160 while the 120GB 320 model remains $170.  The 520 series also remains above $1/GB but with this announcement from Intel you should really keep a close eye on PC Perspective and your favourite retailers for price changes.

MSI Possibly Working on SandForce SF-2000-series SSD

Subject: Storage | July 14, 2012 - 07:43 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: storage, ssd, SF2000, sandforce, msi

The solid state market is heating up as spindle-based drives continue to sell at much higher prices than last year and NAND flash is getting cheaper. The latest entrant may be motherboard and laptop vendor MSI, if a recent addition to SandForce’s SSD partner list holds true.

Unfortunately, we do not have any further details so it’s hard to say what sort of drive this will be other than it will use solid state NAND flash. Being a 2000-series SandForce controller is promising for performance, however. Stay tuned for more details as they develop. I’m excited to see what MSI can bring to the SSD table, and here’s hoping that they break a cost/GB record (I can dream heh). For now though, we will have to suffice with the currently available SSD options, which you can check out on our SSD Decoder at pcper.com/ssd. What do you think about the prospect of an MSI SSD?

Kingston Launches DataTraveler Locker+ G2 with hardware-based AES256 encryption

Subject: Storage | July 10, 2012 - 09:18 PM | Allyn Malventano
Tagged:

Kingston has announced an addition to their USB drive lineup, this time a securely encrypted model featuring hardware-based AES-256 crypto.

It might not be the fastest out there, as the controller chip only supports USB 2.0 speeds, but the pricing looks to be highly competitive for a part with this encryption capability. The Locker+ also features software capable of securely storing login information for up to 20 internet accounts. As a bonus, the front end software responsible for unlocking the secure store is compatible with both OSX and Windows systems.

Intro MSRP:

• 4GB -   $18
• 8GB -   $21
• 16GB - $37
• 32GB - $82

Full release after the break!

Western Digital releases 'Red" series of SOHO NAS hard drives

Subject: Storage | July 10, 2012 - 08:04 AM | Allyn Malventano
Tagged: western digital, wdc, red, NAS, hdd, Hard Drive

** Note ** - Full review has been posted HERE!

Today Western Digital launches their Red series of hard drives. These are basically Caviar Greens that are specificially tuned to operate in small RAID configurations - namely home and small business NAS solutions containing up to 5 drives. These drives carry over some of the features present on Western Digital's Enterprise lines while adding a few of their own.

We got samples of the Red in yesterday evening, so instead of going on with conjecture derived from the news post, I'll hit you with the new features and a bit of my initial impressions from our early benching:

• Extremely quiet operation thanks to a new dynamic balancing mechanism built into the spindle motor hub. The drive essentially re-balances itself on-the-fly as temperatures change, etc.
• Seeks are equally quiet - quiet enough that a bunch of these doing random access outside of an enclosure would barely be audible from only a few feet away.
• Great sequential throughput (~150MB/sec at start of disk, ramping down to ~65MB/sec at the end).
• Random access times in the 20ms range - likely due to the very quiet seeking mechanism.
• Red Series drives will all be advanced format (i.e. internally addressed by 4k sectors).
• Reds will all be 1TB/platter, available in 1, 2, and 3TB capacities. This gives similar throughput figures regardless of capacity purchased.
• 3-year warranty, with a 24/7 support hotline specifically for Red owners.
• Red drives feature a QR code on the label to assist with any support issues down the road.

I'm not kidding about the quiet operation. The only sound the Red makes is reminiscent of a DVD spinning at low speed, in a sound deadening enclosure. There is no motor whine whatsoever and the head actuator is nearly inaudible. I have to almost lay my head on the drive to tell it is seeking at all.

A full review with all of the gory details will be up later today. For now I leave you with the WD press release after the break, along with this nifty QR to get you more info on the Red Series:

*note - the QR page may not yet be live.

Corsair Force Series GS SSDs with Toggle NAND Boost Performance of SandForce Lineup

Subject: Storage | July 5, 2012 - 03:35 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: ssd, corsair, Force Series GS, toggle NAND

The new Corsair Force GS series come in four sizes, 180GB, 240GB, 360GB, 480GB.  All are SATA 6Gbps drives and powered by the Sandforce 2200 controller but there are differences in speed because of the different sizes of drive, though perhaps not in the breakdown you would expect.  The smaller 180GB and 240GB models sport specifications of:

• Max Sequential R/W (ATTO): 555 MB/s sequential read
• 525 MB/s sequential write
• Max Random 4k Write (IOMeter 08): 90k IOPS (4k aligned)

The two larger drives have slightly slower listed random write speeds, with the 360GB having slightly improved sequential writes:

• Max Sequential R/W (ATTO): 555 MB/s sequential read
• 530 MB/s sequential write
• Max Random 4k Write (IOMeter 08): 50k IOPS (4k aligned)

Finally the largest 480GB model is slower at everything:

• Max Sequential R/W (ATTO): 540 MB/s sequential read
• 455 MB/s sequential write
• Max Random 4k Write (IOMeter 08): 50k IOPS (4k aligned)

You can head over to Corsair and see the drives yourself.  If you are looking to purchase the drives their MRSPs are $189.99 for 180GB, $239.99 for 240GB, $349.99 for 340GB and $489.99 for 480GB capacities, meeting the ~$1/GB we all like to see.