Solidata recently started offering new P2 2.5-inch solid-state drives that come with an IDE interface. These drives are perfect for owners of older machines that do not support SATA ports, or just people that prefer the old 80-pin IDE cables over the new SATA ones. The firm is currently offering 32 GB and 64 GB versions of the IDE SSDs. The P2 drives use MLC SSD witha maximum read speed of 90 MB/sec, and maximum write speed of 70 MB/sec. The power consumption of these drives is 0.24 W at standby while the peak consumption is 0.5 W. Dimensions are standard at 100 x 70 x 9.5 mm (width x depth x height) and the drives weight exactly 75 g.

Patriot Memory, a global provider of premium quality memory module and flash memory solutions, today announced their 256GB Warp SSD v3. Patriot's newest Warp will be showcased at CeBIT Germany.

"Our new 256GB Warp SSD v3 now gives the consumer the fastest data-transfer rates plus all the storage space large enough to quench their multimedia thirst," says Meng Jay, Flash Product Manager for Patriot Memory. "With games and applications becoming larger all the time, for the hardcore gamer, someof the smaller SSDs would make poor investments, as they would quickly run out of space." Warp's v3 continues to be in a 2.5 form factor with SATA I/II connections for fast, reliable data transfer rates. For more information about Patriot's 256GB Warp v3 SSD and other memory module and flash memory solutions, please contact your Patriot Sales Representative or visit Patriot Memory.

Earlier this year, with the introduction of the Vertex series of solid-state drives (SSDs), OCZ sought to refine its SSD product lineup by introducing a performance drive. During the course of evaluating the new SSD, several reviewers and consumers found it to suffer 'drive-stuttering', lagging and momentary lock-ups. The problem was zeroed-in on the JMicron JMF602-series drive controller.

In the wake of several complaints and bad press, OCZ sought to issue a product change, by replacing the JMF602-series controller with a new Korean Indilink Barefoot 90 nm controller. The new controller will be able to enable speeds of up to 230/170 MB/s (read/write), when used in single-level cell SSDs, and up to 200/160 MB/s with multi-level cell SSDs. The controller is a favourite among SSD manufacturers,owing to its broad NAND-flash chip compatibility range, that includes chips from Intel, Micron, Samsung, Hynix and Toshiba. The new Vertex-series lineup will be available comprising of 30GB, 60GB, 120GB and 250GB capacities starting this week, with retail-prices of $129, $249, $469 and $869 respectively. The 30GB and 60GB variants will have caches of 32MB, while the 120GB and 250GB ones will carry 64MB caches.

Earlier this month, a Bloomber report claimed that the Santa Clara, California-based Intel was planning to release a new Solid State Drive product that would provide end users with as much as 320GB of storage capacity, double that of the company's current highest-capacity SSD offering. A recently leaked slide of the chip maker's SSD roadmap comes to confirm said SSD, which is now expected to debut sometime during the fourth quarter of this year.

As previously rumored, Intel will be manufacturing its new high-capacity SSDs using a next-generation 32nm process technology, moving from 50nm to the better-performance 32nm technology. This will enable the company to develop higher-capacity NAND-based SSDs, which will provide users with as much as 320GB of storage capacity. According to the roadmap madeavailable sometime during the first quarter of 2010 and will be designed for mainstream PCs, providing capacities of 4GB, 8GB and 16GB. The new product is expected to provide SSD-like performance for the company's second-generation Ibex Peak chipset, including Q57, P57 and H57. According to available specifications, Braidwood will require support for firmware, a Braidwood module and Intel's Rapid Storage technology.

In related news, Toshiba is also expected to drive the SSD storage technology by moving to its 43nm and 32nm lithography. This will further strengthen Toshiba's position in the market, taking advantage of the NAND Flash short supply issue, encountered by several manufacturers of NAND.

After biding its time for a couple of years, memory manufacturer Corsair has now decided that it also wants a share of the solid state disk (SSD) pie. The company has just introduced its first SSD, the S128, which Corsair says is the first in a new range of SSDs.

The S128 is primarily targeted at the mainstream market, and has what appear to be comparatively conservative read and write speeds of 90MB/sec and 70MB/sec respectively. However, Corsair was keen to point out that there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to quoted read and write speeds. Unlike many multi-level cell (MLC) SSDs, not including Intel’s, the S128 features a Samsung controller, as opposed to the often-used JMicron 602 controller.

This could prove to be a very wise decisionon Corsair’s part, as SSDs with the JMicron 602 controller, such as OCZ’s Core series, have proven to write at almost half the speed of drives based on Samsung controllers in some tests, with reports of the controller causing pausing and stuttering when handling random write tasks. This also corresponds with our own tests, in which an OCZ Core SSD failed to live up to OCZ’s quoted write speed of 93MB/sec, dropping down to 32.4MB/sec in our write speed tests.

As such, Corsair is confident that its S128 drive will be able to meet its quoted read and write speeds, although it will cost more than the aforementioned drives based on the JMicron 602 controller. As well as the Samsung controller, the drive will also feature 128GB of specially-selected Samsung NAND chips.

Corsair also promises that faster drives will be on their way in the future, although no details have been revealed as yet. In the meantime, the S128 is now available for pre-order from Scan for £326.54 inc VAT.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., announced today it is shipping the first two products in its SSDNow line of solid-state drives (SSD) with the SSDNow E Series and SSDNow M Series. Kingston is targeting its SSDs to Fortune 1000 companies and select vertical markets. The SSDNow E Series is specifically designed for the enterprise server environment while the SSDNow M Series is built for the road warrior who demands ultimate performance from a notebook PC. The Kingston SSDNow E and M Series use Intel's solid-state drives, which are the best-performing drives on the market.
"We are thrilled to enter the solid-state drive market with our SSDNow E and M Series SSDs. The combination of the fastest SSDs in the world along with Kingston's tremendous distribution capabilities and legendary customer service will position us to succeed in this arena," said Mark Leathem, director of Flash business development, Kingston Digital. "The performance capabilities of these first two offerings are off the charts andour enterprise customers will be very pleased to use them in servers and corporate laptop computers."

The SSDNow E and M series drives create greater return on investment through increased performance due to impressive input and output operations per second (IOPS). The SSDNow E Series' higher IOPS means enterprises need significantly fewer SSDs compared to standard hard disk drives (HDD), which also leads to energy savings in a server environment. The SSDNow M Series high IOPS allows for faster boot times and quicker application load times which help mobile power users become even more productive.

Kingston's SSDNow uses a standard SATA hard disk drive interface but unlike an HDD, they are very rugged and can withstand shock and extreme environments as there are no moving parts. Kingston's SSDNow E and M Series drives are equipped with S.M.A.R.T (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) to monitor the integrity and reliability of the drives. The drives are backed by a three-year warranty, 24/7 tech support and KingstonCare*, a comprehensive suite of tools and services designed to reduce downtime. For more information visit www.kingston.com.

Kingston SSDNow M and E Series Features and Specifications:

-- Fast: SSDNow E Series: 250MB/sec. read, 170MB/sec. write
SSDNow M Series: 250MB/sec. read, 70MB/sec. write
-- Durable: no moving mechanical parts, enabling the SSD to handle
rougher conditions
-- Guaranteed: backed by a three-year Kingston warranty, 24/7 tech
support and KingstonCare* program
-- Form factor: 2.5"
-- Interface: SATA 1.5Gb/sec. and 3.0Gb/sec.
-- Capacity**: SSDNow E Series: 32GB
SSDNow M Series 80GB
-- Storage temperatures: -55° C to 95° C
-- Operating temperatures: 0° C to 70° C
-- Dimensions: SSDNow E Series: 69.85mm x 100mm x 7mm
SSDNow M Series: 69.85mm x 100mm x 9.5mm
-- Weight: SSDNow E Series: 80 grams (+/- 2 grams)
SSDNow M Series: 86 grams (+/- 2 grams)
-- IOPS (Input and Output Operations Per Second): SSDNow E Series:
Random 4K read: 35K;
Random 4K write: 3.3K
-- Vibration operating: 2.17 G (7-800Hz)
-- Vibration non-operating: 3.13 G (10-500Hz)
-- Power specs***: SSDNow E Series: Active: 2.4 W TYP; Sleep: 0.06 W
TYP
SSDNow M Series: Active: 0.15 W; Sleep 0.06 W TYP
-- Life expectancy: SSDNow E Series: 2 million hours mean time
before failure
SSDNow M Series: 1.2 million hours mean time before failure
-- Operating shock: 1,000 G/0.5 msec operating and non-operating

* SSDNow E Series only. See your sales representative to determine your eligibility for KingstonCare.

** Some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions and thus is not available for data storage. For more information, please consult Kingston's Flash Memory Guide at Kingston.com/Flash_Memory_Guide.

*** Measurement based on IO meter

Kingston SSDNow E and M Series Solid-State
Drives
Part Number Capacity and Features
SNE125-S2/32GB 32GB 2.5¿ SATA SSD
SNM125-S2/80GB 80GB 2.5¿ SATA SSD

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and computer components, today unveiled the OCZ Apex SATA II 2.5” Solid State Drive (SSD) Series, the affordable midrange offering for enthusiasts, system builders, and mainstream computer users demanding the latest technology in this fast-developing sector of the storage market. This cost-efficient SSD offers a reliable upgrade from traditional hard disc storage while maintaining a price point that is truly within the reach of a wide range of consumers.

“As the adoption of SSD drives continues to ramp, it is our goal to enable everyday consumers to take advantage of the benefits of solid state drives,” said Eugene Chang, Director of Product Management at OCZ Technology Group. “The new Apex Series is positioned at the center of our lineup and features an updated controller and internal RAID design to deliver superior performance to mainstream consumers at a very aggressive price.”

Offering your notebook or desktop system the incredible benefitsof flash-based technology, The OCZ Apex Series delivers the performance and reliability of SSDs at less price per gigabyte than other high speed offerings currently on the market. The OCZ Apex Series is the result of all the latest breakthroughs in SSD technology, including new internal RAID 0 architecture, updated controller design, and speedy 230MB/sec read and 160MB/sec write speeds. With its three levels of solid state offerings, the Apex will be positioned between the premium Vertex Series and the value oriented Solid Series. OCZ continues to place flash mass storage technology within reach of the average consumer with the Apex Series and delivers on the promise of SSDs as an alternative to traditional hard drives in consumer targeted mobile applications.

The Apex Series is ideal for energy-efficient mobile computing to extend battery life for notebooks with low power consumption, increase access time, and provide a durable alternative to conventional hard disc drives with superior shock resistance. With fast access and seek times combined with excellent reliability, the OCZ Apex Series SSDs are the answer for consumers demanding this latest storage technology.

The OCZ Apex Series drives feature a durable yet lightweight alloy housing, and because OCZ SSDs have no moving parts, the drives are more rugged than traditional hard drives. Designed for ultimate reliability, Apex Series SSDs have an excellent 1.5 million hour mean time before failure (MTBF) ensuring peace of mind over the long term. All Apex Series drives come backed a two year warranty and OCZ’s legendary service and support. Apex series SSD drives are available in ample storage capacities of 60GB, 120GB, and 250GB.

A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd., a worldwide leader in high performance memory products, announced today that it is launching XPG Dual SSD 3.5" RAID Enclosure to expand its portfolio of SSD solutions.

The A-DATA XPG Dual SSD 3.5" RAID Enclosure is a complete RAID solution through the use of two 2.5" SATA SSDs and/or HDDs mounted on one standard 3.5" form factor drive cage. This multifunctional RAID enclosure can be used as two separate drives, as a redundant drive to protect against drive failure, combined to becomeone high-performance drive or combined to become one large drive. By utilizing the hardware DIP switch on the back of the unit or included software utility, all these different RAID configurations and more can be set in an instant. Connection via SATA or USB enables easy direct access.
Designed for both internal & external purposes, A-DATA XPG Dual SSD 3.5" RAID Enclosure is the best choice for storage expansion and backup solution.

Furthermore, A-DATA also offers a 2.5" to 3.5" hard drive enclosure (Dual SSD 3.5" Enclosure - without built-in RAID function) converting simultaneously two 2.5" SATAI/II SSD and/or HDD into a 3.5" one. Both products will be available by end of Q1 2009.

RunCore, a producer of Flash-based sorage solutions, recently announced the expansion of the company's consumer-oriented solid state drive products, with the addition of new 1.8-inch low-cost Zif/PATA and 2.5-inch 256GB SATA SSDs. The company also announced that its 1.8-inch Zif/PATA solutions, with capacities ranging from 16GB to 128GB, were immediately available for purchase.

The new Solid State Drives provided by RunCore have been designed as a low-cost storage upgrade alternative to current SSDs on the market. Coming in a small and lightweight 1.8-inch form factor, the company's SSDs are available with capacities of 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. Depending on the amount of storage provided, prices are expected to be of $69.99, $119.99, $199.99 and $389.99, respectively. Performance wise, the new 1.8-inch SSDs can provide read and write speeds of up to 75/40MB/sec, designed to boost the performance of computer systems that have been featured with a 1.8-inch HDD.

In addition to the 1.8-inch low-cost SSDs, RunCore alsoannounced the new 2.5-inch 256GB Pro II Hyper Speed SATA SSDs, provided to support the storage requirements of both notebook and desktop computer users. The new drives can provide an increased storage space, while also delivering a boost in the performance level. The 256GB SATA SSD from RunCore is said to reach read speeds of 230MB/s, while write speeds are expected to go as high as 150MB/s. Unfortunately, the new 2.5-inch, 256GB SATA SSD is expected to become available in February 2009, with an estimated price point of $699.99.

In addition, according to the company, all of its Prosumer SSD products, with the exception of the 2.5-inch SSD, are available with an integrated USB slave port and USB cable, enabling users to easily clone the data on the SSD, using any cloning software.

Hard drive storage has been a bottleneck point in computers for as long as most of us can remember. Solid State Drives have hit the market, but currently are so expensive for the amount of storage that you get that they just aren't feasible. When you're looking at $200 for 128 GB of storage (for a generic SSD) you're likely to keep your old slow hard drive and just drool over the SSD line of products, wishing they offered a better price performance ratio.

We feel your storage needs pain and went in search of higher speed, better price performance products that still offer good speeds, but a better price performance ratio than SSD's. The Western Digital VelociRaptor 300 GB hard drive offers faster transfer rates than traditional platter drives, larger storage capacities than their more expensive cousins, the SSD, and speeds that rival SSD's when used in RAID 0.

To show how the different drives perform we went to the ends of theEarth and collected seven hard drives and ran them in nine different configurations, but none will ever have the coolness factor of the Western Digital VelociRaptor. With one exception, the Western Digital VelociRaptor in RAID 0!

Companies love the word extreme; it conjures images of back flipping, snowmobile riding wolverines, cliff top power sliding rally cars driven by Travis Pastrana and death defying low altitude skydiving. It’s gone beyond just meaning the bleeding edge of whatever it’s applied to, it’s become a byword for awesome.

So when that word is applied to such an unassuming product as an SSD, some might think Intel is taking liberties with it. After all on looks alone an SSD is perhaps one of the most uninteresting and unassuming products we review here at bit-tech – it’s just a featureless black tin after all. However, it’s what’s under the hood here that makes the Intel X25- E (the E stands for Extreme by the way) interesting, and very much worthy of its moniker.

We’ve recently looked at a few SSDs, and while they all were able to demonstrate much improved read speeds in comparison to the conventional mechanical drives, write performance was disappointing andonly the pricey 80GB Intel X25-M (M standing for Mainstream) was able to deliver performance that improved on read speeds without compromising on write speeds.This is where the Intel X25-E comes in, claiming to not only significantly improve read speed, but also provide massively increase write speeds too. It’s able to do this thanks to the use of the much more costly SLC (single level cell) rather than MLC (multi level cell) NAND flash technology. While cheaper MLC NAND flash memory is capable of storing multiple bits of data per cell thanks to the cells' ability to store data in multiple distinct states, SLC memory only stores a single bit per cell, with data interpreted in just two states, on or off.

While this means that while the data density per chip of SLC memory is significantly reduced, the memory is able to alter state far quicker than MLC based memory, resulting in significantly improved write performance while still delivering the nippy read speeds you’d expect from an SSD thanks to Intel's in-house disk controller chip.
Cracking the Intel X25-E’s matt black 2.5” casing reveals a surprisingly similar bit of kit to the X25-M, with an identical PCB layout, excellent memory controller and 16MB Samsung cache chip. Even the NAND flash memory chips look all but identical bar tiny differences in serial numbers indicating they’re the faster SLC type of NAND flash memory.

The switch to the lower data density SLC memory has meant that the X25-E is only able to pack in a diminutive 32GB of storage though (29.7GB formatted), spread over the drive’s twenty NAND flash memory chips. That’s a pathetic amount of storage in this day and age for a boot disk or even a utility drive. You’ll struggle to fit an install of Vista 64 Home Premium and Crysis onto such a small drive, as we found out when building a test system using the drive.

Yet despite its tiny capacity the use of the enormously expensive SLC NAND flash memory means the Intel X25-E retails for a wallet crushing £505! For that sort of money you can buy seven 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F1s and even a nippy Intel 80GB X25-M is a whole £50 less for more than twice the storage. Can the X25-E’s performance possibly justify this mountainous price tag? Let’s find out.

This past year we've seen a major push by several manufacturers to move solid state drives (SSDs) into the mainstream market, but the lower pricing has often come at the expense of performance. Enter Intel, who did away with any notion of bang/buck and instead focused on lightning-fast read speeds with its X-25M SSD.

Now OCZ is getting into the high performance SSD game with the introduction of its new Vertex series. Unlike the company's existing Core series SSDs,which target average users, the Vertex is aimed squarely at enthusiasts.

"The new Vertex Series of SSD drives are a premium MLC based SSD solution that are designed for consumers that require fast, rugged, and reliable solid state storage,” commented Eugene Chang, Director of Product Management for theOCZ Technology Group. “The Vertex makes use of our newest architecture and controller design complete with 64MB of cache to offer faster transfers and superior overall system response times in a broad range of applications and games."

Write speeds have traditionally been a weak spot for MLC-based SSDs, but that doesn't appear to be the case with the Vertex drives, at least on paper. OCZ claims read and write speeds of up to 200MB/s and 160MB/s respectively. By comparison, Intel claims up to 250MB/s and 70MB/s read and write speeds for its X-25M, making the Vertex appear to be a more balanced higher performance solution.

No word yet on availability, but OCZ did say the Vertex series will come in 30GB, 60GB, 120GB, and 250GB capacities. MSRPs for the 30GB-250GB will be set at $130, $250, $470, and $870 respectively.

Intel announced that it had completed the development phase of its next-generation manufacturing process that further shrinks chip circuitry to 32 nanometers.

The company said that it is on track for production readiness of this future generation using even more energy-efficient, denser and higher performing transistors in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The company will provide technical details around the 32nm process technology along with several other topics during presentations at the International Electron Devices meeting (IEDM) next week in San Francisco.

Finishing the development phase for the company's 32nm process technology and production readiness in this timeframe means that Intel remains on pace with its ambitious product and manufacturing cadence referred to as the company's "tick-tock" strategy.

That plan revolves around introducing an entirely new processor microarchitecture alternating with a cutting edge manufacturing process about every 12 months.

The Intel 32nm paper and presentation describe a logic technology that incorporates second-generation high-k + metal gate technology, 193nm immersion lithography for critical patterning layers and enhanced transistor strain techniques. These featuresenhanced transistor strain techniques. These features enhance the performance and energy efficiency of Intel processors. Intel's manufacturing process has the highest transistor performance and the highest transistor density of any reported 32nm technology in the industry, the company claims.

"Our manufacturing prowess and resulting products have helped us widen our lead in computing performance and battery life for Intel-based laptops, servers and desktops," said Mark Bohr, Intel Senior Fellow and director of process architecture and integration. "As we've shown this year, the manufacturing strategy and execution have also given us the ability to create entirely new product lines for MIDs, CE equipment, embedded computers and netbooks."

Other Intel IEDM papers will describe a low power system on chip version of Intel's 45nm process, transistors based on compound semiconductors, substrate engineering to improve performance of 45nm transistors, integrating chemical mechanical polish for the 45nm node and beyond; and, integrating an array of silicon photonics modulators. Intel will also participate in a short course on 22nm CMOS Technology.

Toshiba will halt chip production at two plants for nine days due to weak demand, in its first output break in seven years, broadcaster NHK reported on Friday.

According to Toshiba, the company is looking at its operating schedule for the year-end and considering suspending some chip-making lines, adding that this would not be a rare move.

Toshiba on Wednesday said that it would speed up restructuring to cut costs at its loss-making chip operations, faced with faster-than-expected price falls since October and weakeningeconomies around the world.

The NHK report said Toshiba, which competes with Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor , will halt output at the two plants between December 27 and January 4, the first semiconductor plant shutdown since 2001.

Toshiba made the decision after the global financial crisis and economic downturn dampened demand for gadgets such as digital cameras, Apple's iPod and mobile phones that use Toshiba's flash memory, NHK said.

Toshiba's Yokkaichi memory factory, partly run with production partner SanDisk, has a capacity to make 290,000 300 millimeter-wafers per month.

How big a deal is Intel’s entry into the solid-state-drive game? The announcement of the company’s new X-25M SSD, and a faster version for enthusiasts, all but overshadowed details of the company’s next-generation CPU at its fall developer conference.

After testing Intel’s entry-level SSD, we can understand why. The X-25M offers the fastest read speeds we’ve ever seen from a single SSD or hard drive.

How fast? The 10,000rpm Western Digital Velociraptor (reviewed September 2008) offered sustained transfer speeds of 98MB/s. The $1,500 MemoRight MR25.2-32/64S GT from our SSD roundup (November 2008) turned in read speeds of 112MB/s. The Intel X-25M hits 206MB/s read speeds.Not all is roses though. The X-25M SSD is based on the more-affordable multilevel chip (MLC) technology. The Achilles’ heel of MLC drives is subpar write performance. For example, the RiData and Super Talent MLC-based drives in our seven-drive SSD roundup averaged write speeds of about 23MB/s. The X25-M is almost three times faster than the other MLCs, but it can’t touch the write speed of drives that are based on single-level chip (SLC) memory. The slowest SLC drives hover in the 80MB/s range, with the faster drives pushing 100MB/s.

The X-25M SSD took a hit in our Premiere Pro benchmark, in which we write an uncompressed Microsoft AVI to the drive. The Velociraptor hard drive continues to be the best performer in our Premiere Pro benchmark, with the Memoright SSD coming in a close second.

That’s probably the only thing that dampens our enthusiasm for this drive. The X-25M’s read speeds are simply to die for—you’d have to run lesser SSDs or hard drives in RAID 0 to even come close. Just think about what you’d get from two X-25Ms in RAID 0.

This is just one of many SSDs you can expect from Intel. The company plans to release a 160GB SSD next year. For enthusiasts, Intel will soon introduce the X-25E, with 250MB/s reads and 170MB/s writes. Because it will use SLC technology, though, it’ll be far pricier.

As for the X-25M, we’re unimpressed by its write performance, but since its read speeds are twice as fast as those of the other SSDs we’ve tested, and it costs about a third of what the fastest SLC drive on the market runs, we have no choice but to pronounce it Kick Ass worthy.

If solid state drives (SSDs) continue to march into the mainstream market, 2008 might very well one day be looked at as the start of the SSD era. But for that to happen, the performance numbers have to improve and users have to be convinced that the technology can be reliable on a long-term basis. Performance, which is supposed to SSD's strong point, has come under fire amid real-world benchmark comparisons, and as far as SanDisk is concerned, Vista is to blame.

Taking matters into its own hands, SanDisk has developed a new file system, ExtremeFFS, which the company claims has the potential to increase write performance by up to 100 times in SSDs over existing systems."To maximize random write performance, SanDisk developed the ExtremeFFS flash file management system," the company wrote in a press release. "This operates on a page-based algorithm, which means there is no fixed coupling between physical and logical location. When a sector of data is written, the SSD puts it where it is most convenient and efficient. The result is an improvement in random write performance – by up to 100 times – as well as in overall endurance."

ExtremeFFS allows NAND channels to work independently of each other, so while some might be reading data, others can be simultaneously writing. The technology also purports to "learn" user patterns and eventually localize data, which sounds a lot like advanced defragging routines. Admittedly, SanDisk senior VP and GM Rich Heye's concedes that it might not make a difference in benchmarks, but believes "it is the right thing to do for end-users."

In related news, SanDisk has also come up with a performance metric it is calling vRPM, or virtual RPM. The metric has been designed to let users know how fast a typical hard drive would need to spin to match the performance of an SSD, which would also allow for a performance comparison between SSDs.

Traditional hard disk drives face a fierce competition from solid state drives these days, and all seems to favor the SSD technology. The new storage solutions offer more reliability and robustness and are also able to provide more performance compared to the spinning platters. They operate in silence, output almost no heat and offer faster read/write rates. Yet, that's not all, since SSDs also have lower power requirements which make them a great option for mobile machines greatly dependent on battery life.

SSDs would come with the disadvantage of featuring high prices and offer a relatively small capacity. Fortunately, capacities greater than 128GB start showing on the market. Sharkoon is now offering an alternative solution meant to allow users to create their own notebook SSDs.

Basically, what the company offers is an SSD adaptor which features the size and connectivity capabilities of a 2.5 inch SATA. The Sharkoon Flexi-Drive S2S allows for up to six SDHC cards to be installed in the enclosure, providing this way with the necessary flash memory. The solution gives a great advantage by allowing users to choose the manufacturer, number, chip type (SLC or MLC) and capacity of the memory cards according to their preferences and needs.The memory cards are installed using Raid-0, which means that the performance of all cards is expected to be the same. Since the highest-capacity SDHC currently available features 32GB of storage space, a maximum of 192GB can be installed in the Flexi-Drive S2S. When running a test with HD-Tune on six 8GB SDHC memory cards with Class 6 speed ratings installed in the enclosure, they were able to provide 140 MB/s read speed and 115 MB/s write speed.

The Sharkoon Flexi-Drive S2S is available immediately at authorized retailers and features a suggested retail price of 9€ (99.5$). More information on the technology can be found on the manufacturer's site.

Intel has begun shipping the X25E Extreme SATA SSD, which the company has proclaimed as its “highest performing SSD”. The 32GB SSD is based on Intel’s 50nm single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash memory technology.

Intel claims that the X25E can increase the performance of servers, workstations, and storage systems by 100 times over hard drives, if measured in terms of Input/Output per Second (IOPS).

The 32GB SSD, which Intel claims can reduce energy costs by five times, boasts of 35,000 read IOPS and 3,300 write IOPS. The official press release pegged the maximum read speed at 250 MB/s and maximum write speeds at 170 MB/s respectively.The 32GB version is out now and carries a price tag of $695. The production of the 64GB version will begin in first quarter of 2009.

In an announcement, computer builder Zepto claims to have produced the "world's fastest" 14-inch notebook, in the form of the Nox A14. The computer technically uses a 14.1-inch display, capable of resolutions up to 1440x900; this is supported by a 512MB GeForce 9600M GT video card. The main processor scales up to a 2.53GHz mobile Core 2 Duo chip, and buyers can configure the system with up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM, supplemented by as much as 2GB of Intel Turbo Memory.

Top-end permanent memory comes in the form of a 500GB hard drive or 128GB of SSD storage, as well as the option of a Blu-ray combo drive in place of the standard DVD-RW. A two-megapixel webcam is integrated by default, as are Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. Operating system choices are limited to 64-bit versions of Windows Vista Business, Home Premium or Ultimate.Zepto systems are currently only sold in Europe; UK configurations of the A14 start at £827 ($1,407).

Noticeably late to the solid state storage (SSD) party is Seagate, who earlier said it would offer its first SSDs sometime in 2008. As the year is quickly coming to an end, the company has now pushed its entry into 2009.

"Our history is based on rotating magnetic media," Seagate's senior manager of market development Rich Vignes told Cnet. "But as solid-state comes online, we're embracing this new media type."

Not everyone would agree that Seagate is "embracing" the increasingly popular storage medium. While several companies have made a push to get SSDs into the mainstream market, Seagate's late entry will focus solely on the enterprise market with consumer drivers to be sold "later."So far the company has not yet announced announced plans to manufacturer NAND flash memory by itself like many of it competitors are doing. Instead, Seagate has kept the focus of its flash business to hybrid (flash/HDD) hard drives.