Storage

Western Digital expanded its WD Blue NVMe family of budget SSDs this week with the introduction of the the WD Blue SN5000 series, an updated lineup of SSDs that, among other things, adds a 4 TB model. Being budget drives, the SN5000 series is not going to be a performance monster, but their combination of capacity, reliability, and relatively low price could make them popular both among casual buyers and among enthusiasts looking for relatively cheap bulk solid-state storage. Western Digital's WD Blue SN500 NVMe drives come in an M.2-2280 form-factor and are based around an in-house WD controller (the company rarely discloses their codenames these days). WD's controller is a 4 channel, DRAMless design, which is what we typically see for budget and mainstream...

Solidigm Announces P41 Plus SSD: Taking Another Shot at QLC With Cache Tiering

Although Intel is no longer directly in the SSD market these days, their SSD team and related technologies continue to live on under the SK hynix umbrella as Solidigm...

44 by Ryan Smith on 8/2/2022

Compute Express Link (CXL) 3.0 Announced: Doubled Speeds and Flexible Fabrics

While it’s technically still the new kid on the block, the Compute Express Link (CXL) standard for host-to-device connectivity has quickly taken hold in the server market. Designed to...

4 by Ryan Smith on 8/2/2022

Phison and Seagate Announce X1 SSD Platform: U.3 PCIe 4.0 x4 with 128L eTLC

Phison and Seagate have been collaborating on SSDs since 2017 in the client as well as SMB/SME space. In April 2022, they had announced a partnership to develop and...

15 by Ganesh T S on 8/2/2022

Akasa AK-ENU3M2-07 USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 SSD Enclosure Review: 20Gbps with Excellent Thermals

Storage bridges have become an ubiquitous part of today's computing ecosystems. The bridges may be external or internal, with the former ones enabling a range of direct-attached storage (DAS...

15 by Ganesh T S on 8/1/2022

Intel To Wind Down Optane Memory Business - 3D XPoint Storage Tech Reaches Its End

It appears that the end may be in sight for Intel’s beleaguered Optane memory business. Tucked inside a brutal Q2’2022 earnings release for the company (more on that a...

70 by Ryan Smith on 7/28/2022

Silicon Motion Announces SM8366 PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe Controller and MonTitan SSD Solutions Platform for Enterprise Storage

In the lead up to the Flash Memory Summit next week, many vendors have started announcing their new products. Today, Silicon Motion is unveiling their first enterprise-focused PCIe 5.0...

3 by Ganesh T S on 7/28/2022

Micron’s 232 Layer NAND Now Shipping: 1Tbit, 6-Plane Dies With 50% More I/O Bandwidth

Ahead of next week’s Flash Memory Summit, Micron this morning is announcing that their next-generation 232 layer NAND has begun shipping. The sixth generation of Micron’s 3D NAND technology...

18 by Ryan Smith on 7/26/2022

Samsung Portable SSD T7 Shield Review: Flagship PSSD Gets IP65 Avatar

Samsung's lineup of portable SSDs has enjoyed tremendous success, starting with the T1 back in 2015. The company has been regularly updating their PSSD lineup with the evolution of...

11 by Ganesh T S on 7/20/2022

Western Digital 22TB WD Gold, Red Pro, and Purple HDDs Hit Retail

Western Digital's 'What's Next' event back in May 2022 had seen the announcement of its 22TB platform based on ePMR and OptiNAND (with ArmorCache). At the event, WD indicated...

22 by Ganesh T S on 7/19/2022

Kingston DataTraveler Max UFD Series Review: New Type-A Thumb Drive Retains NVMe Performance

Kingston's new products in the portable flash-based external storage space have met with good market reception over the last year or so. Two products in particular - the Kingston...

17 by Ganesh T S on 7/11/2022

Samsung MUF-256DA USB-C Flash Drive Review: Thumb-Sized Performance Consistency

Portable SSDs have seen great demand over the last few years. Advancements in flash technology and controllers has resulted in compact drives delivering blistering speeds. These advancements have also...

20 by Ganesh T S on 7/6/2022

Destination 30 TB: HDD Vendors Plan Different Routes to Hit Storage Milestone in 2023

In the recent months all three hard drive manufacturers — Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital — and some of their partners have outlined plans to ship 30TB HDDs already...

24 by Anton Shilov on 6/3/2022

SK hynix Releases Platinum P41 SSD: Going Even Faster With PCIe 4 and 176L NAND

First introduced back at CES 2022, this morning SK hynix is finally kicking off sales of their new retail consumer SSD, the Platinum P41. The successor to the popular...

8 by Ryan Smith on 5/19/2022

Western Digital Announces 22TB CMR and 26TB SMR HDDs: 10 Platters plus ePMR

Western Digital is announcing the sampling of its new 22TB CMR and 26TB SMR hard drives today at its What's Next Western Digital Event. As usual, the hyperscale cloud...

25 by Ganesh T S on 5/9/2022

SanDisk Professional PRO-BLADE Modular SSD Ecosystem Unveiled

Western Digital is announcing a host of products under the SanDisk and SanDisk Professional brands today at its What's Next Western Digital Event. The company also provided a second...

6 by Ganesh T S on 5/9/2022

Western Digital Announces WD_BLACK SN850X NVMe and P40 Game Drive SSDs

Western Digital is announcing a host of consumer-focused SSD solutions today at its What's Next Western Digital Event. The gaming-focused WD_BLACK is getting the SN850X NVMe SSD and the...

10 by Ganesh T S on 5/9/2022

Solidigm Launches First Post-Intel Enterprise SSDs: D7-P5620 and D7-P5520

Back in late 2021, Intel and SK hynix completed the first stage of their long-awaited transfer of Intel’s NAND (and NAND-based SSD) business to SK hynix. That company, in...

10 by Ryan Smith on 4/26/2022

Kioxia Announces XG8 Client SSDs: PCIe 4.0 and BiCS5 For OEMs

Kioxia this morning is rolling out its next-generation of full-size client SSDs, the XG8 family. Like its predecessors, the XG8 is aimed at the OEM market, for customers who...

3 by Ryan Smith on 4/26/2022

Mushkin Redline VORTEX PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD Launched: Affordable Flagship

Mushkin's lineup of PCIe 4.0 SSDs has largely remained a Phison affair. The Delta series was based on the Phison E16 and the Gamma on the Phison E18. Recently...

29 by Ganesh T S on 3/18/2022

Western Digital Introduces WD_BLACK SN770: A DRAM-less PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD

The initial wave of PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs put emphasis on raw benchmark numbers, with power consumption remaining an afterthought. The targeting of high-end desktop platforms ensured that it...

31 by Ganesh T S on 2/2/2022

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