Intel's recently announced X25-M G2 series solid state drives (SSDs) gave the company some good PR for being the industry's first 34 nm NAND-flash based SSD, which intends to lower power consumptions, increase data density, and lower prices along the way. Barely a week into its introduction, it has been diagnosed with a severe firmware-related bug. While this bug does not affect the drive's performance or stability in normal operation, it potentially renders it inoperable under some disturbingly common circumstances.

Intel's SSDs are meant for workstations, servers, portable workstations, and other high-end machines. In an enterprise environment, it's common for administrators or power-users to set a password for the HDD BIOS, and change it periodically as part of security practice. The X25-M G2 apparently doesn't respond well to this change, and is rendered inoperable. For the X25-M G2, if you have set a BIOS HDD password, you're advised not to change or disable it. If you don't have one in place, do not set one. Intel is correcting the issue in firmware and will be posting a firmware update shortly.

As demand for high performance and stable SSD continues to increase, A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd., a worldwide leader in high performance memory and Flash products, today expanded its XPG product line to include SX95 SATA II 2.5" SSD, designed for PC users who is seeking for killer speed and stable SSD storage.

The XPG SX95 SATA II 2.5" SSD features new architecture and controller design, provide outstanding transfer rates up to 230MB/sec read and 180MB/sec write (256GB/128GB), thanks to the onboard DRAM cache buffer. Whereas, the lower-density SSDs with 64GB or 32GB perform up to 210MB/sec and 140MB/sec read/write speeds.

Akasa expanded its portfolio of hard drive enclosures with the DuoDock. This highly portable desktop dock measuring 140 x 108 x 71 mm, uses a top-loader to mount 3.5 inch and 2.5 inch HDDs or SSDs using the standard SATA II interface. The loader allows you to insert and eject the drives like SNES cartridges. The device draws power from an external DC power plugin, and connects the drive to the system using eSATA or USB 2.0 interface. With an AHCI-aware operating system, the dock provides hot-plug capability it is available in matte-black and piano-white colours. It will be priced around US $40.

Intel Corporation is moving to a more advanced, 34- nanometer (nm) manufacturing process for its leading NAND flash-based Solid State Drive (SSD) products, which are an alternative to a computer's hard drive. The move to 34nm will help lower prices of the SSDs up to 60 percent for PC and laptop makers and consumers who buy them due to the reduced die size and advanced engineering design.

The multi-level cell (MLC) Intel X25-M Mainstream SATA SSD is aimed at laptop and desktop PCs and available in 80 Gigabyte (GB) and 160GB versions. SSDs are data storage devices found inside computers. Because SSDs have no moving parts they offer faster performance and greater energy efficiency and durability than traditional hard disk drives (HDDs). A draw for gamers, media creators and technology enthusiasts, SSDs have also played a key role in the emergence of ultra-thin and light notebook PCs that are becoming increasingly popular due to their design, size and longer battery life.

Lexar Media, a leading global provider of memory products for digital media, today announced its revved-up line of Crucial solid-state drive (SSD) products - the fastest, highest capacity Crucial SSDs to date. The most dramatic change in this new generation of Crucial SSDs is the blazing-fast read and write speeds. The flagship 256 GB Crucial M225 SSD screams at an impressive 250 MB/sec read speed and a 200 MB/sec write speed. The new Crucial SSDs enhance system performance by improving operating system boot and application load times. They also utilize a SATA 2.0 (3 Gb/s) interface and feature MLC NAND flash components housed in an industry standard 2.5-inch drive enclosure, making a Crucial M225 SSD easy to install.

Reports about Intel's new SSDs with 34 nm NAND-flash chips first surfaced in June, when the company was believed to be working on its quick and silent launch. As it turns out, we still have no signs of these 34 nm SSDs, which Intel reportedly codenamed "Postville". We do have more details about these, however, and how Intel plans to hand over the benefit of lower manufacturing costs to the consumers right away.

Intel's Postville familiy of SSDs use NAND-flash chips made by IM Flash, a joint venture between Intel and Micron Technology. Products based on this series will be part of Intel's X25-M series, which Intel and its partners (such as Kingston, A-Data, PQI, etc.) will market in capacities of 80 GB, 160 GB, and 320 GB. The 320 GB model is a first for Intel in its segment. While the tentative pricing of the 320 GB model isn't known, the 160 GB model is expected to cost at least a 100 Euros less than its 50 nm predecessor, the current X25-M 160 GB, sending its price below 400 Euros. The X25-M 80 GB which currently costs around 270 Euros, will be down to around 200 Euros.

Corsair, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer memory, power supplies and flash memory products, including solid-state drives, today announced the Extreme Series X32, X64 and X128 high-performance SSDs, in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB densities respectively.

Built using the renowned Indilinx Barefoot controller and Samsung MLC NAND flash memory, the Extreme Series has been designed to offer the highest performance currently available on the market, with read speeds of up to 240MB/s and write speeds of up to 170MB/s.

"The combination of the Indilinx Barefoot controller, Samsung flash memory, and 64MB of on-board cache delivers blistering, stutter-free performance, eliminating the bottleneck imposed by traditional mechanical hard disks," said Jim Carlton, VP of Marketing at Corsair. "The new Extreme Series SSDs are ideal for use as primary drives in desktop and notebooks systems, and also for RAID 0 configurations in high-performance desktops for enthusiasts who want extreme performance."

Active Media Products, maker of unique storage solutions including the WWF endangered species USB drives, today announced immediate availability of their new SaberTooth SSDs that are custom designed for Asus Eee PC upgrades.

This new line of SaberTooth SSDs is built with MLC NAND flash to deliver exceptional performance. These SSDs have been tested with and are guaranteed to operate with Eee PC S101, 900, 900A and 901 models. The SaberTooth SS, offered in 16, 32 and 64GB capacities, is the fastest available SSD upgrade for the Eee PC, supporting sequential read speeds up to 155 MB/sec and write speeds up to 100 MB/sec. The SaberTooth S is offered in 16 and 32GB capacities, and supports sequential read speeds up to 90 MB/sec and write speeds up to 55 MB/sec. All these products use standard 3Gbps SATA-II signaling and a Mini PCI express connector, as used in compatible Eee PC models.

Mushkin today announced the third-generation of its flagship solid-state disk lineup, the Europa III. The new series revolves around using a high-performance controller chip made by Samsung. The NAND flash configuration is of the multi-level cell (MLC) type, and in conjunction with the controller, provides high transfer rates.

The first model in this series is the Mushkin esi25607. This 250 GB SSD is of the standard 2.5 inch form-factor, and weighs 80.1 g. It is driven by Samsung S3C29RBB controller, which helps this drive churn out speeds of 220 MB/s (read), 200 MB/s (write). It uses the standard SATA II interface. The drive maintains a low power draw of 0.15W when idling, and 0.25W when active. It has its MTBF rated at one million hours. The drive comes packed in a fancy aluminum case. Details on its pricing and availability are yet to surface.

WhipTail Technologies Inc., a provider of solid-state drive (SSD) tier 0 storage appliances, announced availability of its 6TB WhipTail SSD appliance. Still manufactured as a 2 rack unit (2U), this makes WhipTail the highest-capacity SSD tier 0 appliance available to mid- to large-sized enterprises, with the smallest footprint.

"Enterprise customers continuously seek solutions that increase performance while satisfying their need for higher capacity. With advancements in technology, SSDs increasingly are sought after to deliver in many demanding applications," said Jeff Janukowicz, research manager, Hard Disk Drive Components and Solid State Drives, IDC. "As a relatively new player in the enterprise SSD space, WhipTail is making a name for itself with the introduction of 6TB, high performance SSD, a capacity point rarely seen."

WhipTail, now available in 1.5, 3.0 and 6.0 TB and varying levels of redundancies, is best suited for enterprises with poorly performing databases, over-taxed virtualization storage pools and under-performing email systems.

During the weekend Lexar Media announced that it is intending to update the Crucial SSD line-up, by providing new 2.5-inch M225 series solid-state drives, designed for use in laptops and desktop computers. The new Crucial M225 SSDs will be based on multilevel cell (MLC) flash memory and come in 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB versions equipped with SATA 3.0 Gbps interface. Read and write speeds for each one drive are as follows: 250 MB/s and 200 MB/s for the 256 GB model, 250 MB/s and 190 MB/s for the 128 GB model, and 200 MB/s and 150 MB/s for the 64 GB model. The official release of Crucial M225 2.5-inch SSDs is scheduled for July 20th, expect more information then.

Solid-state drive specialist PhotoFast innovated an easy RAID builder solution, which doesn't boast of being an expansion card, and doesn't require additional drivers from the OS. The G-Monster Evolution "Simple RAID Adapter", is a small orange PCB with SATA II and power input on one side, and two sets of SATA II data and power connections on the other. Users can connect two hard drives or SSDs to the device, and connect the device like any other hard drive, to the computer's storage controller. The RAID array the device builds using the member drives connected to it, remains abstract to the host machine, which sees it as a single hard-drive. The G-Monster Evolution supports RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID JBOD modes, with maximum transfer rates of 270 MB/s for both read and write. RAID modes are configurable with the bundled software. One limitation of this device is that it does not support SSDs that have internal RAID 0 connections between two or more sets of NAND flash memory. This is perhaps because the device uses the same controller, or at least the basic design, that goes into making SSDs with internal RAID connections. Popular SSDs of this type (incompatible with this device) include PhotoFast G-Monster V2, Patriot Warp V3, OCZ Apex, and G.Skill Titan. Its availability and pricing are yet to be known.

Patriot Memory, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash and computer technology, today announced the release of their Torqx M28 Series with capacities in 128 GB and 256 GB, backed by a new industry leading 10 year warranty for all Torqx SSD products.

The Torqx M28 SSD has been specifically designed with cutting-edge technology by increasing the DRAM cache from 64 MB to 128 MB of cache in conjunction with its current NAND flash technology. The ultimate result is an SSD that allows faster transfer rates between the controller and the host device. Compared to today†s hard drives, the Torqx SSD provides for better stability, faster access times, and lower power consumption. Consumers will also find added value with Patriot's included SSD bracket which makes using SSDs universal across all platforms; desktop or mobile.

OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and computer components, today released the latest addition to their premium Vertex solid state drive series, the Vertex Turbo Edition. The tried-and-true architecture and performance of the original Vertex has been upgraded to meet the demands of enthusiasts and other performance-seeking users who benefit from SSD technology. The Vertex Turbo Series maximizes the potential for ultimate productivity and state-of-the-art computing experience, by increasing both the host clock-speed and the SDR DRAM Cache to 180 MHz versus 166 MHz on the original series.

Taiwanese memory manufacturer A-DATA is to update its existing SSD line-up with the introduction of the recently unveiled S592 series of solid-state drives. Enclosed in a 2.5-inch box, the new S592 SSDs come in 32 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB capacities, featuring SATA 3.0 Gbps interface. The drives use MLC NAND flash memory chips and will likely boast not less than 64 MB of cache. The S592 drives are reported to achieve a sustained read rate at 230 MB/sec and write rate at 170 MB/sec with an impressive performance of 6,740 IOPS at sequential read and 2,851 IOPS at write. The S592 family is backed by a two-year warranty, and has already started to appear in stores, with the 32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB models being priced at about 122 Euro, 172 Euro and 317 Euro, respectively.

Japanese manufacturer Green-House recently announced lines of internal and portable SSDs. The company now announced two new IDE SSDs, in 1.8 and 2.5 inch form-factors. Both the 1.8 inch GH-SSDxxGP-1yA and 2.5 inch GH-SSDxxGP-2yA (where "x" is the capacity amount in GB, "y" being S or M, denoting SLC or MLC NAND flash type respectively) use the aging parallel ATA interface, and come in capacities of 16, 32, 64, and 128 GB.

The 1.8 inch drive's SLC variant offers read/write speeds of 65/55 MBps, while its MLC variant offers speeds of 60/35 MBps. The speeds of the 2.5 inch drive shows a simlar trend. The SLC variant provides speeds of 70/60 MBps, with the MLC variant trailing it at 60/40 MBps. While the 1.8 inch drive uses a ZIF ATA interface, the 2.5 inch drive has a standard 44-pin IDE interface. Sales will begin soon in Japan. While not exactly making a mark with its speeds, the SSDs could use durability and low access-times as their selling points for aging notebooks with the older interface.

German Memorysolution today introduces its first 2.5-inch solid-state drives, branded MAXFLASH. Weighting just over 80 grams, the MAXFLASH Rapstore SSDs come in 128 and 256 GB flavours and have a 3 year warranty. Full specs of both drives are listed below:
- MLC-technology
- Read up to 230 MB/s
- Write up to 160 MB/s
- 64 MB Cache
- Compatible with SATA Interface (SATA I/II)
- Low power consumption (410 mA)
- Voltage: 4,5 V ~ 5,5 V
- Shock-proof up to 1500 G max
- ROHS compliant
- NAND flash: Samsung
- Controller: Indilinx (Barefoot) IDX110M00-LC

Rumor has it that chip giant Intel will be launching new solid-state drives based on the company's 34 nm NAND chips in just a few weeks time. The report claims that these new SSDs will be faster and most importantly cheaper than what we're used to pay for a solid-state drive. Intel will manufacture the 34 nm drives in 320 GB, 160 GB and 80 GB capacities, and most probably in other capacities that are still unknown for one or another reason. The drives are said to be coming out in about two weeks so stay tuned.

A company called DataSlide has decided its not time for mechanical disk drives also known as hard disk drives (HDD) to roll over and die with SSDs beating them in just about every aspect other than price. The key aspect of the new technology is that it does not require the data platter to be spun like conventional hard disk drives do. For a start this provides savings in power consumption and due to the use of magnetic recording media as found in hard disk drives should allow the hard rectanguar drive (HRD) to be cheaper than an SSD or at least provide significantly more usable space for your money. A diagram explaining the technology and the manufacturers details and specifications follow.

Corsair, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer memory, power supplies and flash memory products, including solid-state drives, today announced two new products in its Performance Series SSD family: the P128 and P64 high-performance solid-state drives.

Building on the success of the award-winning P256 SSD, the Corsair P128 delivers the same 220MB/sec read speeds and 200MB/sec write speeds as its higher capacity cousin, at a lower cost. The P64 is one of the best-performing, lower-density SSDs available, with read speeds of up to 220MB/sec and write speeds of up to 120MB/sec. Both drives utilize the same cutting-edge technology as the P256, including a sophisticated Samsung controller IC with 128MB of cache memory and NCQ support to deliver class-leading, stutter-free performance.

Japanese company Green-House unveiled two new lines of SSDs, the internal MLC-based GH-SSDxxGS-2MA (where "xx" can be 32, 64, 128, or 256, corresponding to the model's capacity in GB), and the portable GH-SSDExxGU-M. To begin with, the GH-SSDxxGS-2MA comes in the standard 2.5" form-factor. It comes in capacities of 32, 64, 128, and 256 GB, and sports a 64 MB cache. It uses standard SATA II interface, and offers read/write speeds of 220/140 MB/s.

The GH-SSDExxGU-M portable SSD on the other hand, comes in capacities of 32, 64, and 128 GB. It measures 117 x 72 x 10 mm (WxDxH), and weighs in at a pocketable 63 g. The connectivity however, is limited to USB 2.0 for some reason, with lack of a faster interface such as eSATA. Its read/write speeds are limited to 20/18 MB/s. Perhaps the only selling point is its higher durability compared to mechanical portable HDDs. With USB sticks already touching 64 GB capacities, choose with your wallet. The pricing and avilability for the two are yet to surface.

Active Media Products, manufacturer of unique USB drives including the Obama drive, today introduced the new Predator GT series of 2.5-inch Serial ATA solid state drives that support outrageously fast data transfer speeds and include a Flex-fit adapter bracket to facilitate mounting in 3.5-inch drive bays.

The Predator GT is immediately available through Amazon and other online resellers in 64 GB and 128 GB capacities. Predator GT SSDs are based on a new 8-channel controller and employ a beefy 128 MB SDRAM cache to reach blistering fast speeds. The 128GB model supports sequential write speeds up to 200 MB/sec while the 64GB drive supports sequential write speeds up to 120 MB/sec. Both models are capable of sequential read speeds up to 220 MB/sec and 0.1ms access times.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced today that it is now sampling a SATA-interface mini-card solid state drive (SSD) with some of its customers, for use in the expanding netbook marketplace. The Samsung SATA mini-card SSD expands the use of SSDs from not only being a primary storage medium, but also as a complementary drive to boost the performance of PCs with dual drive capabilities.

Samsung's new mini-card form factor, with a highly robust interface, makes an already rugged SSD even less susceptible to damage from jarring, jostling and dropping.

Shuttle Inc., the market leader in the Mini-PC segment and manufacturer of Multi-Form-Factor solutions, is now shipping the All-in-One-PC X 5000TA that was shown at the Computex in Taipei as a barebone. Now users can decide for themselves which components should be installed in their All-in-One-PC.

Now individualists can really get their money's worth. With the Shuttle X50 Barebone the decision for HDD or SSD, 512 MB or 2 GB DDR2-memory is totally left to the purchaser of this little gem that is only 3.6 cm thin.

Reacting to users' demands for portable, high speed storage, Walton Chaintech has announced its new APOGEE Pronto eSATA drive. Modeled after APOGEE's award-winning SSD design, the Pronto uses the eSATA port instead of the USB 2.0 port for its file transfers. This product specifically targets users who require better performance and capacities than conventional flash pen drives but do not require speeds to run software and operating systems like SSDs.

The APOGEE Pronto eSATA has dualistic connectors, supporting both the eSATA and USB ports. This flexibility allows users to use the Pronto as a simple high capacity storage device, while also supporting read/write speeds of 90/50MB/s respectively, about three times faster than conventional flash pen drives. Available in 32G and 64G capacities, the Pronto supports users to store a multitude of different file types, from multimedia to office documents or any combination of both.