April 20th, 2012 by Kevin OBrien
Intel SSD 330 Review
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Intel was one of the last manufacturers to adopt SandForce controllers for their enthusiast grade SSD 520, but apparently they seem to be doing well enough with it to commit to a second line of SandForce-based SSDs with the Intel SSD 330 family. The SSD 330 uses the same controller as the 520 does, the core differentiation being the a change in NAND layout from the SSD 520 to SSD 330 and different firmware. The Intel SSD 330 makes use of fewer memory channels, resulting in slower write speeds in certain scenarios. Such diversification is common in the client SSD space as manufacturers look for ways to provide different levels of performance and pricing for broader market appeal.
April 16th, 2012 by Kevin OBrien
Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB Review
While SSDs get all the attention when it comes to high-performance storage, the venerable platter-based alternatives aren't dead yet. Western Digital is out to prove that hard drives can still create substantial performance under the right conditions, with capacity points that would make most SSD users envious. The new WD VelociRaptor is a 10,000 RPM hard drive with enlarged 1TB total capacity, up from 600GB in the prior model. The goal is to provide enterprise-grade drive reliability for workstation users and creative professionals who want a high-performance, high-capacity drive, without the expense of SSDs.
April 13th, 2012 by Kevin OBrien
Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo Review
Western Digital has long made excellent external hard drive solutions that appeal to creative types and others who want large capacity local drive access with the fastest interface available. From a Mac perspective, the current interface of choice for speed is Thunderbolt. But to this point we haven't seen much in the way of direct attached storage where Thunderbolt has proven a worth investment for the mainstream user. WD's hoping to change our perspective on that with the My Book Thunderbolt Duo, a two-drive external which supports up to six Thunderbolt Duos daisy-chained together.
April 10th, 2012 by Kevin OBrien
Micron RealSSD C400 mSATA SSD Review
Micron has released a new version of their RealSSD C400 SSD in an mSATA form factor. While most consumers aren't familiar with the C400 line, it closely mirrors the performance and design of the client-facing Crucial m4. The C400 mSATA SSD will be offered through Micron's OEM partners and will generally be found in the ultrathin compute space where mSATA SSDs are finding great strength in caching and in some cases even as primary storage. The C400 mSATA SSD leverages a SATA 6Gb/s interface, 25nm Micron NAND and a Marvell 9174 controller.
April 10th, 2012 by Kevin OBrien
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD Review
Kingston has launched the HyperX 3K SSD, a new entry in their enthusiast line of client SSDs. The twist with the HyperX 3K compared to its HyperX bigger brother is a simple NAND change. While they both use high-quality 25nm Intel MLC NAND, the 3K is rated for 3,000 P/E cycles where the HyperX is 5,000. The difference in practical terms is modest, most consumers won't ever tax the write life of an SSD in the five year effective life of the drive. Even better then that Kingston offers the HyperX 3K SSD for those who want the great performance the HyperX line provides, with a lower price.
April 8th, 2012 by Kevin OBrien
Crucial Adrenaline Caching SSD Review
The Adrenaline Caching SSD solution is Crucial's effort to leverage their m4 SSD pedigree to make application acceleration for consumers easy and affordable. Based around the Marvell controller and SATA 6Gb/s interface, the 50GB caching SSD gives consumers an interesting blend of performance, reliability and Micron home-grown NAND in an easy to install caching platform based on NVELO's Dataplex software.
April 7th, 2012 by Kevin OBrien
Western Digital My Passport Studio Review (2TB)
WD has been in rapid fire mode this year when it comes to refreshing and bumping capacities on their popular line of My Passport and My Passport Studio portable hard drives. The newly increased in capacity (and girth) My Passport Studio picks up on the new design deployed earlier this year in the 1TB My Passport Studio. The 2TB portable drive uses the same all metal body that is both stylish and functional and provides users with dual FireWire 800 ports and a single USB 2.0 port for compatibility.
April 5th, 2012 by Kevin OBrien
Corsair Accelerator Series Caching SSD Review
At CES Corsair formally announced they had partnered with NVELO to launch a caching SSD for consumer use. The Corsair Accelerator Series Caching SSDs are shipping now and promise to give users up to a 5X performance boost over a standard hard drive. With hard drives trickling to market at up to 4TB, the idea of getting near SSD speeds across such a large volume is desirable to many.
April 4th, 2012 by Kevin OBrien
OCZ Vertex 4 SSD Review
The OCZ Vertex 4 SSD is a bold step for the company - OCZ has abandoned the high-flying LSI SandForce controller for their own Indilinx Everest 2 in the flagship Vertex 4 client SSD. It could be said that OCZ has had as much to do with SandForce's success as SandForce has had with OCZ's. But OCZ had long wanted to own their own controller technology, buying Indilinx to bring that key IP in-house. The first consumer-facing products of the updated Indlinx controller were the Octane and Petrol SSDs, which did well with market validation. With the Vertex 4 on Everest 2, OCZ goes all-in, making the commitment to go forward in the consumer space at least, with their own controllers and technologies.
Read moreMarch 28th, 2012 by Kevin OBrien
Plextor PX-M3P SSD Review
When we reviewed the Plextor M3S last year, it earned an Editor's Choice award for excellent read performance, aggressive pricing and class leading support with the included five year warranty. At CES in January, Plextor showed us the upcoming M3P (P stands for Pro), which from a hardware perspective is nearly identical to the M3S, they both use the same Marvell controller and Toshiba Togggle NAND, but the M3P uses a 7mm form factor to be friendly with space contrained devices. The big difference though is firmware; the Plextor M3P is designed to post the fastest Marvell-based SSD speeds yet, with 540MB/s read and 450MB/s write sequential and upwards of 75,000 IOPS read and 69,000 IOPS write.
