Storage -- Engadget

Intel finds SSD firmware bug, calls in the exterminators

by Vladislav Savov posted Nov 6th 2009 at 9:06AM

Amid Intel's recent catalog of problems is a pretty significant firmware update for the X25-M SSDs, which went rogue and started bricking drives for the sheer bloody-minded enjoyment of it. After promptly pulling the software, the chip giant set straight to work -- or so we presume -- and has today finally managed to replicate the fatal circumstances that may lead to your SSD's untimely demise. That's not to say the problem's been fixed, and there's no word yet on when the cleaned up patch will be back out for consumption, but at least we're a step closer to realizing those TRIM-related speed boosts. So, are you growing tired of Intel's suicidal firmware updates, or should we consider these mere bumps on the road to superfast SSD awesomeness?

Samsung slims down NAND memory packaging, wafer-thin gadgets to follow

by Vladislav Savov posted Nov 6th 2009 at 8:19AM

Good old Samsung and its obsession with thinness. After finally letting its 30nm 32Gb NAND chips out of the bag in May, the Korean memory maker has now successfully halved the thickness of its octa-die memory package to a shockingly thin 0.6mm (or 0.02 inches). The new stacks will start out at a 32GB size, though the real benefits are likelier to be felt down the line when the ability to pack bits more densely pays off in even higher storage capacities. Cellphones, media players and digital cameras will inevitably take the lion's share, but we're hopeful -- eternal optimists that we are -- that this could accelerate the decline of SSD prices to a borderline affordable level. Intel and Micron promised us as much, how about Samsung delivering it?

[Via Information Week]

Brinell Purestorage external hard drives are all kinds of classy

by Darren Murph posted Nov 5th 2009 at 10:37AM

Much like the great city of San Diego, Brinell's Purestorage line of external HDDs is amongst the classiest that we've ever seen. So classy in fact, that we'd probably be frightened to ever lug one around and risk marring the otherwise gorgeous leather, carbon, wood or stainless steel enclosure. That said, there's hardly a sexier way to carry around 160GB to 500GB in your pocket, and the USB-powered design enables you to leave the AC adapter in the very rear of your memory. Eager to caress one? These are available now across the pond in a variety of flavors starting at €189 ($280), so yeah, pony up.

[Via Unplggd]

Toshiba's 320GB hard disk is world's largest 1.8-incher

by Thomas Ricker posted Nov 5th 2009 at 1:35AM

That's the world's largest capacity 1.8-inch hard disk drive right there. A claim met by a list of specs going a little something like this: 3.0Gbps SATA interface, 320GB capacity, 5,400 RPM, 16MB buffer, and 19dB of emitted noise during seeks -- a 4dB cut from Toshiba's previous generation of 5,400 RPM 1.8-inchers. Of course, these 1.8-inch mechanical HDDs are the form factor most commonly found in those netbook-shoving CULV thin-and-light ultraportables now coming onto the market. Look for it in December when the MK3233GSG hits mass production.

Super Talent introduces world's first USB 3.0 flash drive

by Darren Murph posted Nov 4th 2009 at 1:27PM

USB 3.0 devices are just now starting to peek their heads out at retail, and it looks as if Super Talent is doing its darnedest to not be left out of the spotlight. Said company has just introduced what looks to be the planet's first USB 3.0 thumb drive (or "RAIDDrive," as it were), promising transfer rates of up to 320MB/sec when relying on a separate UAS Protocol driver with a USB 3.0 port. If you're using a stock USB 3.0 socket, you'll see speeds as high as 200MB/sec, while those bold enough to slam this into a USB 2.0 connector will see it slow to USB 2.0 speeds. There's no mention of a price or release date, but it should ship relatively soon in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB flavors.

[Via Hot Hardware]

Gallery: Super Talent introduces world's first USB 3.0 flash drive

OWC takes quad-interface Mercury Pro external BD burner to 12x

by Darren Murph posted Nov 4th 2009 at 10:36AM

Pioneer's BDR-205 may not be hitting shelves in retail form until early next year, but those who desperately need a Blu-ray burner that outpaces the optical media currently available still have an option. OWC has today updated its long-standing Mercury Pro external BD drive -- which boasts FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0 and eSATA connection options -- with Pioneer's latest, giving it the ability to toast BD-Rs at up to 12x. Of course, you'll need lady luck on your side to actually find any media that'll support said rate, but hey, there's always the future. It's available today for $349.99, or $449.99 if you want Roxio Toast Titanium PRO bundled in.

[Via Macworld]

IronKey ships uber-secure D200 USB flash drives

by Darren Murph posted Nov 4th 2009 at 4:22AM

IronKey has never been one to shy away from sensational claims, but for whatever reason, it's announcing its newest secure drive in a rather low-key fashion. Or, somewhat so. The D200 range of USB flash drives are said to be more manageable and secure than ever, offering up the peace of mind necessary in government and enterprise scenarios. The new devices include policy enforcement, usability and field-maintenance capabilities, a dual-channel architecture for rapid transfers, the ability to double as an authentication token and a self-defense mechanism designed to resist "physical, malware and password attacks." It's available in 1/2/4/8/16GB capacities and should withstand most encounters with water and shock, though it's on you to dig up the presumably lofty MSRPs.

Paramount and Kingston team up for movies on flash memory

by Donald Melanson posted Nov 2nd 2009 at 6:43PM

Movies delivered on memory cards isn't an entirely new development (Sony did it back in the early days of the PSP), but it looks like Paramount and Kingston think the idea is prime for a comeback, and have today announced a partnership that'll see some of the studio's movies delivered on SD cards and USB drives. That gets started with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on a (presumably reusable) 4GB Kingston DataTraveler I USB drive that's available right now for $29.99, and will apparently continue with additional movies offered across Kingston's full line of memory cards and USB drives, although both parties are staying mum on any further specifics. There's also no word from any other studios or memory companies just yet, but we can only presume this means slotMovies are right around the corner.

[Via HotHardware]

USB 3.0 and SATA 6G put to good use: benchmarks

by Paul Miller posted Oct 31st 2009 at 1:26AM

The fine folks at both HotHardware and PC Perspective have run the new ASUS P7P55D-E Premium motherboard through its paces, which has the particular distinction of handling both USB 3.0 and the up-and-coming SATA 6G through controllers by NEC and Marvell, respectively. Lucky for us, both sites' tests came to similar conclusions. The Seagate Barracuda XT SATA 6G drive has almost zero improvement over SATA 3G, other than in some burst speeds due to the fancy cache on the 6G -- the bottleneck here is the drive, not the controller. Meanwhile, USB 3.0 has speeds that are roughly 5 to 6 times faster than USB 2.0 with the same drive, a huge win for fans of external storage the world over. Perhaps even better news is that an ASUS US36 controller card with USB 3.0 and SATA 6G support is a mere $30, so this stuff is already basically within reach to the average desktop user.

Read - HotHardware
Read - PC Perspective

Intel and Numonyx pave the way for scalable, higher density phase change memory

by Darren Murph posted Oct 30th 2009 at 1:51AM

Both Intel and Numonyx have been talking up phase change memory for years now, but for some reason, we're slightly more inclined to believe that the latest breakthrough is actually one that'll matter to consumers. In a joint release, the two have announced a new non-volatile memory technology that supposedly "paves the way for scalable, higher density phase change memory products." Put as simply as possible, researchers have been testing a 64Mb chip that "enables the ability to stack, or place, multiple layers of PCM arrays within a single die," and the two are calling the discovery PCMS (phase change memory and switch). We know, you're drowning in technobabble here, but if these two can really apply Moore's Law to density scaling, you'll be thanking 'em as you pick up your $50 6TB hard drive in 2014.

Kingston's $85 40GB SSDNow V Series SSD gets heavily benchmarked

by Darren Murph posted Oct 27th 2009 at 5:36PM

Aw, snap. For years now, we've been waiting (and waiting) for solid state disc prices to stoop down from the realm of you've-got-to-be-kidding-me, and now it finally looks like the everyman can ditch the HDD and get onboard with flash. Kingston's newly announced SSDNow V Series 40GB Boot Drive ain't very capacious, but for just $84.99 (after rebates) at NewEgg, it's definitely affordable. The drive itself isn't slated to ship until November 9th, but the cool kids over at Legit Reviews seem to have already wrangled a unit for review. Kingston promises sequential read rates of up to 170MBps and write rates of up to 40MBps, and while that's certainly not mind-blowing, it's not too awful given the 2.5-inch form factor and bargain-basement price. Oh, and critics found that the drive far surpassed published speed ratings in testing, which is always completely and utterly awesome. Hit the via link for more, vaquero.

[Via Legit Reviews]

Intel pulls SSD Toolbox for killing drives under Windows 7

by Nilay Patel posted Oct 27th 2009 at 4:01PM

Well, that was a short honeymoon -- Intel's now pulled its SSD Toolbox and associated TRIM firmware update amid reports that it was bricking drives under Windows 7. We haven't heard more than anecdotal evidence about this, but we'd definitely pick having a functional drive over the promised 40 percent speed boost from the code, so you should probably hold off if you've downloaded but haven't updated yet. We're looking into things, we'll let you know -- but man, the X-25M just hasn't had an easy life, has it?

Update: Intel just gave us its official statement on the matter:

Yes, we have been contacted by users with issues with the firmware upgrade for our 34nm SSDs and we are investigating. We take all sightings and issues seriously and are working toward resolution. We have temporarily taken down the firmware link while we investigate.

[Thanks, Joseph and Ty]

Read - Former SSD Toolbox download page
Read - Intel support forum page

Fusion-io ioXtreme and ioXtreme Pro PCI Express SSDs sneak out

by Darren Murph posted Oct 27th 2009 at 3:21PM

Mmm, flash. Fusion-io's product line has largely targeted enterprise users, but with the introduction of the ioXtreme PCI Express SSD back at E3, it was clear that the next-gen storage outfit was serious about breaking into the consumer market. Today, the 80GB ioXtreme and ioXtreme Pro (which was previously unheard of) have both broke cover over at Hot Hardware, with the former being useful for single-drive installs and the latter good for multi-drive setups. We should note that Fusion-io is obviously behind schedule on these, and there still doesn't look to be a definite price and release for the laypeople out there. That said, if the company's shipping out products that punch out an average write rate of 300MB/sec and read rate of 775MB/sec (yes, seriously), we'd say it's darn near ready for the real world.

pureSilicon adds 256GB model to new Renegade R2 SSD range

by Darren Murph posted Oct 26th 2009 at 8:00AM

pureSilicon's original Renegade family just started shipping in Q1 of this year, but as it looks to stay one step ahead of the competition (and provide us all with a version big enough to hold all of our, um, family photos), the company is already introducing its Renegade R2 family. Designed to meet MIL-STD-810F standards while still offering 255MB/sec sequential read rates and 180MB/sec sequential write rates, these low-height (9.5 millimeter) 2.5-inch SSDs should fit perfectly within the bulk of laptops on the market today. The crew -- which is comprised of 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB models -- will soon be joined by PATA and 1.8-inch siblings. If you're looking to get your hands on one, most all of 'em are shipping today, though the 256GB flavor and encrypted models won't leave the dock until Q1 of next year.

NC State gurus develop new material to boost data storage, conserve energy

by Darren Murph posted Oct 25th 2009 at 10:57PM

We've all assumed that anything's possible when dabbling in the elusive realm of spintronics, and it seems as if a team at NC State University is out to prove just that. While using their newfound free time on Saturdays (you know, given that the football team has quit mid-season), Dr. Jagdish Narayan and company have utilized the process of selective doping in order to construct a new type of metallic ceramic that could be used to create a "fingernail-size computer chip to store the equivalent of 20 high-definition DVDs or 250 million pages of text." The material could also be used (in theory, anyway) to create a new generation of ceramic engines that could withstand twice the heat of normal engines and hit MPG ratings of 80. Granted, this all sounds like wishful thinking at the moment, but we wouldn't put it past the whiz kids in Raleigh to bring this stuff to market. Too bad the athletic director doesn't posses the same type of initiative.

[Thanks, Joel]