SSDs
When Western Digital introduced its Ultrastar DC SN861 SSDs earlier this year, the company did not disclose which controller it used for these drives, which made many observers presume that WD was using an in-house controller. But a recent teardown of the drive shows that is not the case; instead, the company is using a controller from Fadu, a South Korean company founded in 2015 that specializes on enterprise-grade turnkey SSD solutions. The Western Digital Ultrastar DC SN861 SSD is aimed at performance-hungry hyperscale datacenters and enterprise customers which are adopting PCIe Gen5 storage devices these days. And, as uncovered in photos from a recent Storage Review article, the drive is based on Fadu's FC5161 NVMe 2.0-compliant controller. The FC5161 utilizes 16 NAND channels supporting...
WD Blue 3D NAND SATA & SanDisk Ultra 3D SSDs Launched: 3D TLC NAND, SATA, Marvell
Western Digital on Monday officially launched its first consumer SSDs based on its 64-layer 3D NAND memory. The new drives will be available under the WD Blue 3D NAND...
12 by Anton Shilov on 5/29/2017TechInsights Publishes Preliminary Analysis of 3D XPoint Memory
Now that the Intel Optane Memory M.2 SSDs are readily available on the open market, anyone with an electron microscope and the skills to use it can begin to...
22 by Billy Tallis on 5/27/2017NVMe 1.3 Specification Published With New Features For Client And Enterprise SSDs
The first major update to the NVMe storage interface specification in almost two and a half years has been published, standardizing many new features and helping set the course...
16 by Billy Tallis on 5/24/2017Western Digital Seeks To Intervene In Toshiba's Sale Of Memory Business
Western Digital, through its SanDisk subsidiary, is seeking arbitration to prevent Toshiba from selling off its stake in their flash memory joint venture without the consent of Western Digital...
12 by Billy Tallis on 5/23/2017Western Digital Launches HGST Ultrastar SS300 SSDs: 3D NAND for Data Centers
Western Digital has officially introduced its first data center-class SSDs using 3D NAND flash. The new HGST Ultrastar SS300 SSDs are designed for SAS applications with mixed workloads that...
3 by Anton Shilov on 5/22/2017Western Digital Ships Client SSDs Based on 512 Gb 3D TLC NAND Chips
Last week Toshiba demonstrated the operation of its XG-series SSDs NVMe PCIe SSD based on the company’s 64-layer 512 Gb 3D NAND chips. What was left unnoticed is that...
10 by Anton Shilov on 5/19/2017Previewing Maxiotek's MK8115 SSD Controller: Can DRAM-less Drives Make The Cut?
Maxiotek, the fabless SSD controller design group formerly part of JMicron, has released their first new controller since being spun off. The MK8115 is a DRAM-less SATA SSD controller...
60 by Billy Tallis on 5/9/2017Toshiba Demonstrates NVMe SSD With 64-Layer BiCS3 3D NAND
Toshiba's transition from planar NAND flash to 3D NAND flash memory has been a long, drawn-out process. Their BiCS 3D NAND architecture is on its third generation but has...
10 by Billy Tallis on 5/8/2017Intel Announces New DC P4500 And P4600 Datacenter SSDs
Intel has announced the most significant updates to their enterprise PCIe SSD lineup since the launch of their first NVMe SSDs. The new Intel SSD DC P4500 and P4600...
4 by Billy Tallis on 5/2/2017MSI to Bundle Intel Optane Memory 16 GB Cache Drives with Select Motherboards
MSI this week announced plans to bundle Intel Optane Memory 16 GB caching drives with select Intel 200-series chipset motherboards. The company claims that the drives will not increase...
18 by Anton Shilov on 4/28/2017Micron Hires New CEO: Sanjay Mehrotra, SanDisk Co-Founder And Former CEO
In February, Micron CEO Mark Durcan announced his retirement after three decades with the company. Durcan had previously announced plans to retire in 2012 while serving as the company's...
1 by Billy Tallis on 4/27/2017The Intel Optane Memory (SSD) Preview: 32GB of Kaby Lake Caching
Last week, we took a look at Intel's first product based on their 3D XPoint non-volatile memory technology: the Optane SSD DC P4800X, a record-breaking flagship enterprise SSD. Today...
110 by Billy Tallis on 4/24/2017The Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X (375GB) Review: Testing 3D XPoint Performance
Intel's new 3D XPoint non-volatile memory technology, which has been on the cards publically for the last couple of years, is finally hitting the market as the storage medium...
117 by Billy Tallis on 4/20/2017Giveaway: OCZ RD400 & VX500 SSDs
In the mood for some free hardware? Well then you're in luck: our awesome community team in conjuction with OCZ is holding a giveaway for a trio of SSDs...
29 by Ryan Smith on 4/19/2017Dell To Offer Toshiba HK4 SATA SSDs In PowerEdge Servers
Toshiba is announcing today that Dell will begin offering Toshiba HK4 series enterprise SATA SSDs as a storage option for Dell's PowerEdge servers. Dell currently offers a wide range...
2 by Billy Tallis on 4/18/2017SK Hynix Launches 72-Layer 256 Gb 3D TLC NAND with Increased Performance
SK Hynix has formally introduced its fourth-generation 3D NAND memory chips with 72 layers. Initially, the 3D TLC flash chips will be offered in 256 Gb configurations, but by...
3 by Anton Shilov on 4/14/2017HighPoint RocketStor 6618 Thunderbolt 3 DAS: 8-Bays, Up to 96 TB, 2.7 GB/s, $999
HighPoint has started to ship its RocketStor 6600-series Thunderbolt 3 RAID enclosures that can accommodate up to eight storage devices. The enclosures support all popular RAID levels and can...
21 by Anton Shilov on 4/11/2017Western Digital Announces My Passport SSD: Up to 1 TB, AES-256, USB-C
Western Digital has announced its first external SSDs to be sold under the WD brand. The My Passport SSDs are shock resistant, support hardware-based AES-256 encryption, use USB 3.1...
8 by Anton Shilov on 4/11/2017ADATA Announces The XPG SX7000 Series SSDs: Up to 1 TB, M.2, PCIe 3.0 x4
ADATA has announced its new lineup of SSDs designed to combine high-performance with 3D TLC flash memory. The new XPG SX7000 is positioned below ADATA’s flagship XPG SX8000 series...
9 by Anton Shilov on 4/10/2017Transcend Launches New PCIe M.2 SSDs: The MTE850 Series
Transcend has announced its first SSDs based on 3D MLC NAND flash memory. The MTE850-series drives are aimed at the higher-end of the market and promise up to 2.5...
24 by Anton Shilov on 4/4/2017