Daniel Harris
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ED Online ID #17971 |
January 11, 2008
Some critics say 64 Gbytes won’t cut the hard-disk drive (HDD) mustard. So, Samsung Semiconductor ups the ante to 128 Gbytes with its latest solid-state drive (SSD). Based on multi-level cell (MLC) flash, the drive will be offered 1.8- and 2.5-in. versions for PC and embedded mobile applications.
And the mustard can be cut and tasted rather quickly these days, as the SSD offers a write speed of 70 Mbytes/s and read speeds of 100 Mbytes/s. Samsung accomplished these speeds by using optimized controller technology and efficient flash-management firmware technology.
“Our SSD can be used by the widest range of corporate notebooks, particularly where additional storage is needed beyond what is typical in most business applications,” said Jim Elliott, director, flash memory marketing, Samsung.
At a mere 5 mm, the 1.8-in. version dropped the holiday waistline, making it ideal for mobile consumer applications, whereas the 2.5-in. version targets standard notebook drive bays. The device also features a 3.0-Gbits/s SATA II interface, native command queuing, and spread-spectrum clocking to increase performance. It provides device/host-initiated power management for a power-consumption level of a mere 0.5 W in the active mode as well.
Additionally, the device includes wear-leveling technology and advanced flash management, and it’s rated for a mean time between failures (MTBF) of 1 million hours. Samsung expects to begin mass-producing its 128-Gbyte SSD in the first half of 2008.
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