SSDs
SK hynix is one of the few vertically integrated manufacturers in the flash-based storage market. The company is well-established in the OEM market. A few years back, they also started exploring direct end-user products. Internal SSDs (starting with the Gold S31 and Gold P31) were the first out of the door. Late last year, the company introduced the Beetle X31 portable SSD, its first direct-attached storage product. In February, a complementary product was introduced - the Tube T31 Stick SSD. The Beetle X31 is a portable SSD with a Type-C upstream port and a separate cable. The Tube T31 is a take on the traditional thumb drive with a male Type-A interface. The size of the Beetle X31 makes the use of a bridge solution...
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Portable SSDs Go Native: The Silicon Motion SM2320 UFD Controller Preview
The external storage market has experienced rapid growth over the last few years, particularly in the retail consumer segment. It has been fueled in part by advancements in bus-powered...
18 by Ganesh T S on 9/16/2021Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSD Review: RGB-Infused USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Storage
The gaming market has experienced significant growth over the last decade. In addition to boosting PC sales, the peripherals market associated with the segment has also expanded. Installed sizes...
17 by Ganesh T S on 8/27/2021SanDisk Extreme PRO and Crucial X6 4TB Portable SSDs Review: Contrasting High-Capacity Storage Options
The portable SSD market has been steadily expanding thanks to the increasing digital footprint of consumers. Technological advancements such as 3D NAND with high layer counts and the emergence...
20 by Ganesh T S on 8/18/2021SK Hynix Releases 2TB Version of Gold P31 NVMe SSD
Coming off of the popular reception of their first family of retail NVMe SSDs, SK hynix this morning is adding another model to the Gold P31 family: the long-awaited...
32 by Ryan Smith on 8/17/2021Seagate Announces FireCuda 530 PCIe 4.0 SSD at SG21
The gaming segment continues to experience rapid growth in the PC market, and we have seen PC component vendors come up with launch events specifically targeting gamers. Seagate's...
23 by Ganesh T S on 6/23/2021NVMe 2.0 Specification Released: Major Reorganization
Version 2.0 of the NVM Express specification has been released, keeping up the roughly two year cadence for the storage interface that is now a decade old. Like other...
24 by Billy Tallis on 6/3/2021Micron Announces PCIe 4.0 Client SSDs
In Micron's keynote today at (virtual) Computex, the memory manufacturer announced they have started shipping the companies first PCIe 4.0 SSDs, using their latest 176-layer 3D TLC NAND flash...
30 by Billy Tallis on 6/1/2021Marvell Announces First PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD Controllers: Up To 14 GB/s
Today Marvell is announcing the first NVMe SSD controllers to support PCIe 5.0, and a new branding strategy for Marvell's storage controllers. The new SSD controllers are the first...
47 by Billy Tallis on 5/27/2021Western Digital Introduces WD Black SN750 SE SSD: Entry-Level PCIe Gen4
Among several announcements today, Western Digital is introducing a new more affordable PCIe Gen4 SSD under their gaming-oriented WD Black brand (styled WD_BLACK). The new WD Black SN750 SE...
14 by Billy Tallis on 5/26/2021Western Digital Introduces WD Black D30 Game Drive External SSDs
Western Digital is adding a new external SSD to their WD_BLACK product line: the WD Black D30 Game Drive SSD. The D30 is a bus-powered USB SSD offering up...
5 by Billy Tallis on 5/26/2021Caching And Tiering: Intel Optane Memory H20 and Enmotus FuzeDrive SSD Reviewed
Two competing products break out of the mold of typical consumer SSDs and combine two kinds of storage on one drive, with extra software to use that storage intelligently...
45 by Billy Tallis on 5/18/2021Best SSDs: May 2021
A solid state drive is often the most important component for making a PC feel fast and responsive; any PC still using a mechanical hard drive as its primary...
21 by Billy Tallis on 5/14/2021The Inland Performance Plus 2TB SSD Review: Phison's E18 NVMe Controller Tested
Phison's E18 is their second-generation PCIe 4.0 SSD controller, and it keeps them in the running for the fastest consumer SSDs. Micro Center's Inland Performance Plus is the cheapest...
118 by Billy Tallis on 5/13/2021The ADATA GAMMIX S50 Lite 2TB SSD Review: Mainstream PCIe Gen4
Today we're taking a look at ADATA's XPG Gammix S50 Lite, a mid-range consumer NVMe SSD based on Silicon Motion's new SM2267 controller. Among other notable features, the Gammix...
93 by Billy Tallis on 4/30/2021Sabrent Rocket Q4 and Corsair MP600 CORE NVMe SSDs Reviewed: PCIe 4.0 with QLC
A PCIe Gen4 SSD controller can get more performance out of QLC NAND, but can a QLC SSD ever be more than a low-end drive?
60 by Billy Tallis on 4/9/2021Kingston Introduces NV1 Entry-Level NVMe SSD
As previewed at CES, Kingston's newest entry-level consumer NVMe SSD is now shipping. The new NV1 uses a similar strategy to Kingston's entry-level SATA drives like the A400, where...
11 by Billy Tallis on 3/30/2021Mushkin Launches DELTA And GAMMA PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs
Mushkin has announced two new product lines for PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs. Following on from last year's introduction of the ALPHA series, the new DELTA and GAMMA drives continue...
12 by Billy Tallis on 3/30/2021The Western Digital WD Black SN850 Review: A Very Fast PCIe 4.0 SSD
Western Digital has rapidly risen to being a top-tier player in the market, and this is no more evident than with their newest high-end SSD, the WD Black SN850.
83 by Billy Tallis on 3/18/2021The Samsung SSD 980 (500GB & 1TB) Review: Samsung's Entry NVMe
Samsung's new SSD 980, with no PRO, EVO or QVO suffix, is the company's first entry-level NVMe SSD. We've got two of the capacities in for review.
54 by Billy Tallis on 3/9/2021Crucial X6 Portable SSD 4TB Launches at $490: Phison's U17 Flash Controller Enters Retail
Crucial introduced the X6 Portable SSD last year as an entry-level alternative to their NVMe-based X8 Portable SSD. Launched in capacities of up to 2TB, the X6 adopted a...
1 by Ganesh T S on 3/2/2021