When we completed our review of the Samsung SSD 830 in September, we praised the SSD for being built entirely in-house, which includes key components like the NAND, processor, cache RAM and firmware. Being a home grown creation generally means to better host system compatibility and better/faster support when issues arise. But SSDs need to
OCZ has announced that Intel has approved their enterprise-grade Deneva 2 mSATA SSDs for use in Ultrabooks configured with Intel’s Smart Response Technology (SRT). SRT acts as a caching mechanism for an internal hard drive and SRT only works with SSDs approved by Intel. OCZ will offer both 30GB (D2CSTEMS1A10-0030) and 60GB (D2CSTEMS1A10-0060) Deneva 2
Apple enabled TRIM support in OS X Lion 10.7 but there’s a catch; Apple only allows TRIM to work when using an Apple sanctioned SSD. If you switch to a non-Apple SSD or upgrade your hard drive to an SSD, TRIM support does not get enabled by default. In fact, Lion offers no simple switch
The Corsair Force Series 3 is one of three current generation SSDs offered by Corsair. It’s nearly identical to their Force Series GT, both leverage a SATA 6Gb/s interface, SandForce SF-2281 processors and 25nm MLC NAND. The key difference is the Series 3 uses Asynchronous NAND where the GT uses Synchronous NAND. The difference gives
The Pyro SE is the latest SSD from Patriot and is a new and improved version of the Pyro, both of which are powered by SandForce’s SF-2281 processor. The main difference between the two is that instead of asynchronous NAND, the Pyro SE is equipped with 25nm synchronous MLC NAND, which can deliver up to
We recently reviewed the OCZ Octane SSD in a 512GB capacity, one of the four capacity points offered by OCZ in the Octane family. For many SSD buyers though the 128GB capacity is the sweet spot, with the average consumer SSD capacity hovering near 150GB, 128GB SSDs offer a nice blend of capacity, performance and
The Corsair Performance Pro SSD is powered by the Marvell 9174 processor, Toshiba 34nm Toggle MLC NAND and a SATA 6Gb/s interface. The Performance Pro adds to Corsair’s already excellent line of SDD products that leverage perhaps the most robust set of combinations of NAND and SSD processors available with a SATA interface. In this
Like their recent M2P SSD, the Plextor PX-M3S uses a Marvell 9174 processor, however where the M2P used Toshiba’s 32nm Toggle NAND, the M3S is using 24nm Toshiba Toggle NAND. This translates into a modest boost in the spec sheet speeds over the M2P – the M3S can drive read speeds of up to 525MB/s
The HyperX SSD is Kingston’s latest and greatest flagship SSD. Offering speeds up to 550MB/s read and 510MB/s write speeds, this enthusiast-level drive features a SandForce SF-2281 processor and is available in 120GB and 240GB capacities. Packed with 25nm synchronous NAND this drive is claimed to top out at 90,000 4K read IOPS and 60,000
OWC makes the only MacBook Air SSD replacements, which offer tremendous performance improvements especially with the latest generation MacBook Air which can leverage the benefits of the SATA 6Gb/s interface. To help upgraders get some use out of their stock SSD, OWC released adaptations of two of their 2.5″ drive enclosures. We tested the Mercury On-The-Go and enjoyed its
Amazon