Samsung 128GB SSD and More

Samsung has updated its storage lineup with two of its largest drives yet in their respective categories. The company's simply-titled Flash SSD (solid-state drive) has now doubled in size to 128GB, allowing it to more closely match the capacity of traditional disks but exceed them in performance. The new model is faster than before and writes new data at 70 megabytes per second while reading back at a quicker 100 megabytes per second, all the while eliminating the lag that plagues spinning disks. It also operates far more efficiently and consumes just 0.5 watts while active, according to Samsung.

The drive connects through a Serial ATA interface (including SATA II) and is meant as a drop-in replacement both for 1.8-inch drive bays in ultraportable notebooks and handhelds as well as 2.5-inch spaces for typical notebooks. Samsung expects to roll out the SSD in the first half of 2008 but has not named any customers or indicated whether it will offer stand-alone pricing.

Samsung has also become the second company along with Hitachi to announce a 500GB notebook-class hard disk. Although an unprecedented density for a notebook, the Spinpoint M6 model still meets the same 9.5mm height as most other notebook disks and spins at 5,400RPM, providing performance as good or better than many lower-capacity drives. It comes with drop protection and an 8MB buffer and should be available as an option for SATA-equipped notebooks in March.

By Electronista Staff