Storage
Seagate Technology has reportedly notified its customers abouts its plans to raise prices on new hard drive orders and for demands that exceed prior agreements, echoing a similar move by Western Digital, which increased its prices earlier this month. These changes come in response to a surge in demand for high-capacity HDDs and constraints in supply due to decreased production capabilities of both Seagate and Western Digital, reports TrendForce. According to industry insights reported by TechNews, the sector anticipates that the scarcity of high-capacity HDD products will persist throughout the current quarter and possibly extend over the entire year. It is forecasted that HDD prices will rise by 5% to 10% in Q2 2024 alone and could increase further as a reault of the ongoing...
Crucial Releases RealSSD C300 Firmware Fix, Bricks More Drives?
Back in March I posted an update on my experiences with Crucial's RealSSD C300. In it I pointed out that not only had my review sample apparently bricked itself...
21 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 5/4/2010The Impact of Spare Area on SandForce, More Capacity At No Performance Loss?
No, it’s not the new Indilinx JetStream controller - that’ll be in the second half of the year at the earliest. And it’s definitely not Intel’s 3rd generation X25-M...
32 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 5/3/2010OCZ's Vertex 2, Special Sauce SF-1200 Reviewed
Last week we reviewed OCZ's Agility 2 SSD with SandForce's standard, mass production SF-1200 firmware. This week we're back with the Vertex 2. For an extra $20 you get...
44 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/28/2010This Just In: OCZ Vertex 2 SandForce-1200 SSD with Special Sauce
Next week I'll have more to report on than just SSDs, I promise. Until then, the SandForce festivities continue with today's arrival: The OCZ Vertex 2. As you may have...
47 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/22/2010OCZ's Agility 2 Reviewed: The First SF-1200 with MP Firmware
SandForce made news last week, but for some not so great reasons. It turns out that the production firmware on SF-1200 drives drops random small file write performance by...
62 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/21/2010This Just In: OCZ Agility 2 SandForce-1200 SSD
Things move in real time around here. Just yesterday we published an article detailing the differences between SandForce's SF-1200 and SF-1500 controller. We also pointed out that the mass...
36 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/17/2010Understanding SandForce's SF-1200 & SF-1500, Not All Drives are Equal
Less than 24 hours ago I was called into a meeting with SandForce, the SSD controller manufacturer that has been on fire lately. The company makes two controllers: the...
84 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/16/2010Corsair's Force SSD Reviewed: SF-1200 is Very Good
Late last year we were told that SandForce's client controller, the SF-1200 wouldn't be as solid of a performer as the SF-1500. It would be on par with Indilinx's...
63 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/14/2010This Just In: Corsair Force 100GB SSD (SF-1200)
Testing is nearly complete on the last Corsair SSD that came my way, but this morning UPS dropped off another surprise: the Corsair Force SSD. Based on a derivative...
42 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/13/2010This Just In: Corsair Nova 128GB SSD
I haven't taken a look at a new Corsair SSD in a while. The company started out by shipping relatively uninteresting Samsung based SSDs, but since then we've seen...
12 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/10/2010Western Digital's New VelociRaptor VR200M: 10K RPM at 450GB and 600GB
We first laid eyes on Western Digital's Raptor line of 10K RPM desktop hard drives in 2003. The drives were only 36GB in size, but man were they...
78 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/6/2010Intel's X25-V for $98 at Newegg, Update:Dead Deal
A few folks have sent this in so I thought it was worth posting about. Intel's X25-V that we've recently reviewed is now on sale at Newegg for $98...
37 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/1/2010Intel X25-V in RAID-0: Faster than X25-M G2 for $250?
Intel has been shipping its value 40GB X25-V SSDs for a little while now, but the official launch was just 11 days ago. In our review we found...
87 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 3/29/2010Crucial's RealSSD C300: An Update on My Drive
Earlier this morning I published an article looking into the performance of 6Gbps SATA controllers, both integrated and off-chip. In it I mentioned my recently deceased Crucial RealSSD C300...
49 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 3/25/20106Gbps SATA Performance: AMD 890GX vs. Intel X58/P55
Seemingly overnight SSDs have changed the way in which we look at storage performance. With an order of magnitude of improvement in random I/O performance and at least...
57 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 3/25/2010Intel's X25-V & Kingston's 30GB SSDNow V Series: Battle of the $125 SSDs
Last year Kingston introduced a 40GB version of Intel's X25-M G2 for less than $100 after mail in rebate. Since then, Kingston and Intel couldn't agree on terms for...
81 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 3/19/2010Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue Review: WD Enters the Consumer SSD Market
Late last year Seagate announced its first SSD, and today Western Digital is introducing its first SSD for the mainstream consumer market. We find out who makes the...
66 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 3/3/2010OWC Mercury Extreme SSD - First Look at a 50GB SandForce Drive
OWC sent us its 50GB Mercury Extreme SSD based on the same SandForce controller in OCZ's Vertex LE. We try to find out if the 50GB drive is really...
74 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/26/2010OCZ’s Vertex Limited Edition Review & SSD State of the Union
The first SandForce SF-1500 SSD has arrived in the form of OCZ's Vertex Limited Edition. Only 5,000 drives are being made with MSRPs starting at $399. We...
84 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/19/2010Intel & Micron Announce 25nm NAND Flash Production, SSDs to get Bigger/Cheaper in Q4
Moore's law applies to more than just microprocessors. At roughly twice the density of 34nm flash, IMFT's announcement means we'll see SSD capacities double this year - without...
39 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/30/2010