Corsair, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer and flash memory products, today announced that it has released firmware with TRIM support and a firmware update tool for its award-winning Performance Series P64, P128 and P256 solid-state drives.

The firmware (revisionVBM19C1Q) and update tool were both developed by Samsung, and have been rigorously qualified by both Samsung and Corsair using a large number of test platforms, in conjunction with a controlled end-user BETA test of the new firmware.

Cooler Master is days closer to unveiling the CM 690 II Advanced PC case, which builds on the legacy of its popular predecessor, the CM 690. What surfaced earlier this month as a cosmetic update to the CM 690 has turned out to be an overhaul in real terms, according to a leaked brochure. Noteworthy changes are listed below:

• All-black interiors and rear-panel, rugged-looking gradients to the exteriors
• Motherboard tray with discrete cable-management instead of cable-holding forks, opening behind CPU socket for easy cooler RM access,
• modular 3.5" HDD bays with 2.5" and 1.8" HDD/SSD adapter
• Mounts for two 2-fan radiators on top and bottom
• Utility panel on top has a SATA HDD/SSD dock

According to its very own teaser site, the CM 690 II Advanced is 17 days away at the time of writing this article.

A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd., the worldwide leader in DRAM modules and Flash application products, today announced a collaboration with SandForce Inc. on A-DATA's solid state drives (SSDs). As its major partner, A-DATA will work closely together with SandForce on a broad-scale basis in developing enterprise storage solutions for high-end workstations/servers in light of the emerging cloud computing technology in the near future. A-DATA has also planned to include the next-generation SandForce-based SSDs in its product lineup.

"Combining high-performance SSD Processors from SandForce with A-DATA's experienced design team and complete manufacturing base is expected to create synergy to further propel the SSD performance to the ultimate," said Gibson Chen, Vice President of A-DATA Technology. "From enterprise solutions designed for high-end workstations to mainstream solutions for general personal computing, A-DATA strives to optimize each aspect and detail to bring out an outstanding performance."

Micron Technology, Inc. has raised the performance bar for SSDs. The company today announced its RealSSD C300 SSD, the industry's fastest for notebook and desktop PCs. Micron's new RealSSD C300 drive enables users to enjoy a more powerful and responsive computing experience including faster operating system (OS) boot and hibernate times, and speedier application load, data transfer and file copying.

"The C300 SSD not only delivers on all the inherent advantages of SSDs - improved reliability and lower power use - but also leverages a finely tuned architecture and high-speed ONFI 2.1 NAND to provide a whole new level of performance," said Dean Klein, vice president of memory system development at Micron.

A little over a month after retracting its second faulty firmware for its otherwise breakthrough 34 nm X25-M G2 solid state drives (SSD), Intel released the 2CV102HD firmware update, this one hopefully being free of any critical bugs. The firmware update works for both the X25-M and X18-M SSDs. The firmware adds TRIM capability to the SSDs, which works to minimize data fragmentation at the hardware-level on systems with Windows 7. The 2CV102HD firmware update can be found here.

ASUS today launched the Eee PC T91MT, the world's first convertible tablet netbook to feature a multi-touch screen that supports Windows 7 Multi-Touch gestures. Particularly handy for students and professionals who need to take notes and make one-to-one presentations on a frequent basis, the slim and light Eee PC T91MT-which measures one-inch thick and weighs a mere 0.96kg-reproduces handwriting beautifully and allows users to perform tasks fluidly and intuitively with just their fingers. The Eee PC T91MT's multi-touch capabilities are further enhanced by a comprehensive suite of touch-optimized software that comes preinstalled. Designed for mobility, the Eee PC T91MT sports a shockproof 32GB Solid State Drive (SSD) and comes with an additional 500GB of online ASUS WebStorage.

The Eee PC T91MT's tablet form factor and multi-touch screen avail it to many uses. In slate form, it functions as a great e-reader, allowing users to read documents and books comfortably anywhere. In netbook mode, the Eee PC T91MT serves as an invaluable tool for discussions, as the screen can be swiveled to accommodate multiple users, as well as accept concurrent touch input from more than one source. With the Eee PC T91MT's multi-touch capabilities, free-flowing interaction between participants is now possible.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and flash-based storage and Symwave, a leading silicon supplier of system solutions for SuperSpeed USB devices, today announced a partnership to deliver next generation USB 3.0 solutions at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 7-10, 2010. The first outcome of this partnership is the industry's highest performance external Solid State Drive (SSD) storage product, ideal for consumers demanding uncompromised leading-edge technology. By working with Symwave, OCZ was able to leverage its flash technology expertise and develop even faster cutting-edge solutions making use of the new USB 3.0 standard.

"Thanks to Symwave's industry leading USB 3.0 storage controller, our external SSD device delivers 10x the transfer rate of USB 2.0 at 5Gb/s, as well as several 'green' improvements including superior power management and lower CPU utilization," said Eugene Chang, Vice President of Product Management at the OCZ Technology Group. "We are determined to be at the forefront of the market by offering products with unparalleled performance, reliability, and design to unleash the potential of flash-based storage."

OCZ Technology has perhaps the most diverse solid-state drive portfolio, which includes 1.8" and 2.5" internal SATA 3 Gb/s SSDs - with SLC, and MLC NAND flash technologies; 3.5" SSDs, bootable PCI-Express SSDs, and even eSATA based ones. While SSDs utilizing SATA 6 Gb/s are very predictable in the near future, the company already has plans to unveil an external, portable SSD that utilizes the USB 3.0 SuperSpeed interface, at the upcoming CES 2010 event. With over 4 Gb/s of interface bandwidth at its disposal, it can also be expected of the drive to be powered entirely by the USB port. A concept design is already in place.

Patriot Memory, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash and computer technology, today announced the release of their new PS-100 Series SSDs.

The PS-100 is the latest in Patriot's "cache" based SSD drives and has been targeted for cost-conscious consumers pursuing performance and reliability without having to empty their bank account. The 2.5" SSD makes use of a 64MB cache, power consumption of 5.3W when operating, and .5W when in standby mode; an option that is sure to attract notebook and laptop users alike. The PS-100 boosts sequential read speeds of up to 210MB/s, with sequential write speeds up to 150MB/s, another feature that will be attractive to end users. The low power consumption of the PS-100 drives extends battery life on notebooks and netbooks while the performance reduces system boot times and application load times improving overall system responsiveness.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and flash-based storage as an alternative to hard disk drives (HDDs), today released the Colossus 3.5" Solid State Drive (SSD) Series, designed to meet the performance and storage demands of high-end desktop users and enterprise clients. Available in up to one terabyte configurations, the Colossus Series marks a milestone in solid state drive technology, making it possible to have both high performance and high capacity in one solution.

"The new Colossus Series is designed to boost desktop and workstation performance and is for high power users that put a premium on speed, reliability and maximum storage capacity," said Eugene Chang, VP of Product Management at the OCZ Technology Group. "The Colossus core-architecture is also available to enterprise clients with locked BOMs (build of materials) and customized firmware to match their unique applications."

Active Media Products, manufacturer of SSDs and innovative USB drives, today announced the new Wink USB drive measuring merely 1.2 x 0.5 x 0.1 inches and tipping the scales at only 1/20 of an ounce. The Wink drive is available now in capacities from 2GB to 16GB.

Waterproof Wink Drive Measures only 1.2 inches Long and Weighs Less Than 1/20 Oz. Although its size is small, the Wink drive's storage capacity is great. The 16GB model holds up to 5,000 MP3 songs. The Wink drive is also quite rugged. The delicate electronics are encapsulated in a waterproof COB unit, which is in turn protected by a high-impact polymer outer shell. The outer case features an embossed wink face and an eye hole for an included keychain. According to Active Media Products VP of Sales, Jerry Thomson, "We designed the Wink drive to be extremely small, yet rugged and reliable." These new drives are Windows 7 and OS X compatible. All four capacities are available today through Amazon at prices starting at $7.95.

PhotoFast announced three new solid state drives in the 1.8 inch form-factor. All three use IDE interfaces, and hence are ideal for consumer electronics such as PMPs, video cameras, etc. The new series these come under is the G-Monster V4. The drives offer capacities ranged between 32 and 256 GB (probably including 64 GB and 128 GB models along the way), and are characterized by the interface type: 40-pin ZIF, 44-pin IDE, and 50-pin IDE. All three feature MLC NAND flash chips, with 64 MB DRAM memory for the NAND flash controller. The controller offers a "Built-in Garbage Collection" feature that clears deleted data, relocating existing data onto its area. In this way, data fragmentation is reduced. The read-write speeds on offer are 128/90 MB/s, respectively.

G.Skill announced the Falcon II family of SATA solid state drives (SSDs). This new line of SSDs brings with it support for the Windows 7 TRIM command feature, which improves performance by reducing file fragmentation using clever ways to allocate data on the flash modules. Speaking of which, like its predecessor, the NAND flash technology of Falcon II is of the multi-level cell (MLC) type. The NAND flash controller in use is Indilinx ECO. It comes in 256 GB (model: FM-25S2I-256GBF2), 128 GB (FM-25S2I-128GBF2) and 64 GB ( FM-25S2I-64GBF2) variants. They come in the usual 2.5" form-factor, have 64 MB of DRAM cache memory, and under 0.2 ms of access time. The read/write speeds on offer are 220 MB/s (read) and 150 MB/s (write). Backed by a two year company warranty, the SSDs come with an MTBF of over 1.5 million hours. Its pricing is yet to be known.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and flash-based storage as an alternative to hard disk drives (HDDs), today announced its collaboration with SandForce on OCZ's next generation of mainstream and enterprise solid state drives (SSDs). Based on the highly-anticipated SandForce SSD Processor family, OCZ's new line of SSDs will be the pinnacle of storage options designed to optimize complex IT infrastructures as well as the computing experiences of everyday consumers.

To accommodate a wide range of consumer and enterprise storage applications, OCZ's impending solutions will feature various configurations of SandForce's innovative SF-1500 and SF-1200 SSD Processors and multi-level cell (MLC) and single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash memory, all with the objective of providing best-in-class storage with exceptional performance, reliability, endurance, and power efficiency. The SandForce-based SSD line will be available in multiple interfaces including 3Gb/s SATA and 6Gb/s SAS in capacities ranging from 50GB to 400GB, addressing an assortment of storage and infrastructure requirements.

Active Media Products, manufacturer of SSDs and endangered species series USB drives, today released a new line of Windows 7 compatible SaberTooth S4 SATA Mini PCIe SSDs that achieve sequential read speeds up to 130MB/sec. Available now in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities, these drives are guaranteed compatible with many models of Asus Eee PC including 900, 900A, 901 and 1000 models.

The company posted a detailed Benchmark Report on the SaberTooth S4 tested on an Eee PC 1000 under Windows XP here. The benchmark results show the S4 soaring to read speeds over 120MB/sec, nearly four times faster than the default SSD in the Eee PC 1000. "We optimized the SaberTooth S4 for exceptional read performance", explained Active Media Products Vice President of Sales, Jerry Thomson. "But it also runs circles around the default SSD in write speeds, scoring about 2X faster than the default SSD in write tests."

Speed plays a decisive role in computing. When the computer runs slowly, not only will the work progress be delayed, even our thoughts will be interrupted. Therefore, hard drives with higher speed will mean efficiency to professional graphic designers. The 2.5-inch P2 IDE Solid State Disk (SSD) from Team Technologies not only enhances the computer startup and data transfer speed, but also loads programs much faster than conventional mechanical hard drives. The excellent speed performance of the P2 IDE SSD is particularly felt when users open many windows at the same time. This saves designers a lot of time from searching images and drawings and allows them to enjoy speedy reading and writing, thus fully displaying computing performance and speed.

Active Media Products, manufacturer of SSDs and innovative USB drives, today began shipping an eco-friendly silicone rubber Koala drive, that is both waterproof and shock resistant, in capacities from 2GB to 16GB.

The Koala drive is exceptionally rugged. The sealed COB style USB drive has a soft silicone rubber outer casing that provides outstanding protection from the elements and protects the drive if it is dropped or banged around. "Customers will enjoy the Koala drive's durability as much as its stylish design." commented Active Media Products' VP of Sales, Jerry Thomson. "The Koala drive merges form with function, and the result is an awesome little product with great visual appeal and a soft tactile feel that protects its contents much better than most USB drives".

Stealth.com Inc. (Stealth Computer) a leading ISO 9001 manufacturer of industrial rugged computers and peripherals has released the new Model LPC-395F, a rugged, small footprint, fanless computer with integrated removable storage.

Stealth's LPC-395F fanless mini PC includes front loaded removable media slots for both hard drive and compact flash media. An industry standard mobile 2.5" SATA hard drive slides directly into the machine without having to open the chassis. The system also supports a front loaded CF memory card for easy system updates and file deployment. Ed Boutilier, President & CEO of Stealth.com states; "Stealth's removable storage feature presents a new level of security, maintenance and data protection in a small form factor PC. There is no longer any need to spend lengthy time to open a chassis to change/ remove the hard drive. Our removable storage feature allows the user to secure or replace their critical data in a matter of seconds."

Icy Dock is out with its newest single-drive enclosure that converts 2.5 inch HDDs or SSDs into 3.5 inch drives, to properly fit into PC cases with 3.5 inch bays. The Icy Dock MB882SP-1S-2B provides enclosure and ventilation for 2.5 inch drives, while connecting them to the SATA interface (data and power) in accordance with the standards, so it could be easily inserted into desktop HDD docks that use a 'cartridge-load' mechanism. Measuring 145 x 101 x 25 mm, it is the size of a the typical 3.5 inch HDD. It weighs 163 g, and is made of plastic. The unit also has a simple slide-open lid that makes handling it (installing/uninstalling 2.5 inch drives) tool-less. The Icy Dock MB882SP-1S-2B is priced at $17.

A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd., the worldwide leader in DRAM memory and Flash application products, announced today its industry-leading SSD S596, a 2.5" SATA 3 Gb/s SSD designed specifically for PC enthusiastic, multi-task and heavy-graphic users to perform assorted applications five times faster.

Delivering sequential read and write speed up to 250 MB/sec and 180 MB/sec, the S596 eases the bottleneck conventional HD causes. The S596 utilizes the next generation of Flash technology and DDR2 SDRAM cache buffer to provide an amazingly fast boot-up time at 20 seconds on platforms running Windows 7, a 40% performance improvement compared to platform equipped with ordinary SSD.

Verbatim introduced a new USB/eSATA combo portable SSD. What looks like just another USB stick, which pops its USB connector out with a push of a slider, pops an eSATA connector out from the other side, with the push of the same slider, the other way. Measuring 80 (L) x 23 (W) x 9 (H) mm, and weighing 19 g, the USB/eSATA combo SSD offers 32 GB of storage, with the eSATA interface offering high-performance wherever an eSATA port is available, while the USB 2.0 interface ensures high compatibility. In eSATA mode, the drive offers speeds of 60 MB/s (read) and 25 MB/s (write), which goes down to 26 MB/s (read) and 16 MB/s (write) in USB 2.0 mode. The bundled EasyLock software provides 256-bit AES data encryption. Backed by a 2-year warranty, the Verbatim USB/eSATA Combo SSD sells for 159 EUR.

Intel has retracted the recently released 02HA Firmware Update for its X25-M solid state drives, in view of the firmware causing the drive to malfunction on systems with Windows 7. Reports suggest that a bug in the firmware causes the drives to stop working. To investigate the issue further, and possibly release a corrective firmware, Intel retracted the software from its website. This is not the first time such a thing has happened. Soon after its release in July, the X25-M Gen 2 54 nm SSDs were diagnosed with a problematic firmware, to which the company had to release corrective firmware two weeks later.

Intel's formidable enterprise-grade solid state drive (SSD) lineup has received an important feature update, which includes a new firmware that adds support for the "Trim" feature on Windows 7, which enhances the drive's stability and extends its service life. This is the second major update for the company's breakthrough 34 nm NAND based X25M Gen.2 SSDs. The first one corrected a major stability issue. These stress the importance for users to keep the drive's firmware up to date. Not only do they correct major issues, but also add to the feature-set. The new firmware update promises an up to 40% increase in sequential write speeds, which will now top 100 MB/s.

For users of older versions of Windows, Intel is providing the SSD Toolbox and SSD Optimizer software, which intend to provide similar levels of reliability, as Windows 7 Trim brings about. The new firmware, with relevant information can be found here, while the SSD Toolbox, and SSD Optimizer can be found here.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the release of the Kingston SSDNow V Series 40GB Accelerator Drive, the latest addition to its SSDNow V 'Value' family of solid-state drives (SSD). The Kingston SSDNow V Series 40 GB Accelerator Drive is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to accelerate any desktop's start up, shutdown and application load times.

"The SSDNow V Series 40GB Accelerator Drive offers instant performance enhancement and lower power consumption on existing systems at a fraction of the cost of a new system," said Ariel Perez, SSD business manager, Kingston Digital. "In real-world numbers this means that by upgrading with an SSDNow 40GB drive, you can speed up open and close times of web browsers such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, and programs like iTunes or Photoshop by almost 4 times over existing regular desktops hard-disk drives*".

pureSilicon Inc. is now shipping Renegade R2, its latest generation of ruggedized solid-state drives (SSD), designed to deliver uncompromised performance in the harshest conditions. Renegade R2 Series SSDs offer enhanced read and write speeds (sequential read: 255 MB/s; sequential write: 180 MB/s), improved IOPS (random read: 18,000 IOPS @ 4K; random write: 1,200 IOPS @ 4K) and proprietary SiPher data security technology. The drives are available immediately in a wide range of densities (4GB, 8GB, 16 GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB) with SATA II configuration, in a low profile (9.5mm height) 2.5-inch form factor. 256GB, PATA, 1.8-inch form factor, and encryption versions will start shipping in Q1 2010.

"pureSilicon is dedicated to providing high-performance, rugged storage solutions to the defense, military, industrial, and government markets," said Jason Breakstone, founder and CEO of pureSilicon. "While many SSD manufacturers are focusing their efforts on the mass consumer markets, pureSilicon is committed to designing and delivering technologies that will provide significant benefits to our customers such as full-disk encryption and data declassification methods. Renegade R2 is designed to operate in the harshest conditions."