Storage - Page 2

Corsair has just announced its new MP700 PRO XT Gen5 SSD (reviewed here) with uncompromising speeds, offering up to 14.9GB/sec read speeds and up to 14.5GB/sec writes.

The new Corsair MP700 PRO XT SSD comes in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities with more capacities -- hopefully 8TB -- coming in 2026. It offers super-fast boot, load, and transfer times, with a power-efficient design that ensures top-tier performance with lower power draw and less heat. Corsair is using Phison's new E28 Gen5 SSD controller, providing the MP700 PRO XT with its wicked-fast read and write speeds, as well as great efficiency.

There's also support for Microsoft DirectStorage, letting Corsair's new MP700 PRO XT communicate directly with the GPU for even greater gaming speeds, loading times, and smoother in-game transitions. Corsair includes its in-house SSD Toolbox software and a 5-year warranty.

TEAMGROUP has just introduced its new T-Force Z54E Gen5 SSD, powered by the Phison E28 Gen5 SSD controller, with 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities with read speeds of up to 14.9GB/sec. Check it out:

The new TEAMGROUP T-Force Z54E Gen5 SSD is its new flagship SSD offering, with Phison's new E28 Gen5 SSD controller which is fabbed on TSMC's older 6nm process node. Phison says its new E28 controller is capable of up to 14.9GB/sec (14,900MB/sec) sequential reads, and up to 14GB/sec (14,000MB/sec) sequential writes, delivering best-in-class storage performance on mainstream platforms (desktop and laptop PCs).

We've already seen a handful of Gen5 SSDs offering huge speeds of between 10GB/sec and 14GB/sec (and just over), with the Samsung 9100 PRO and Kingston FURY Renegade G5 pushing 14.8GB/sec, but now TEAMGROUP has taken over with slightly faster read speeds at a huge 14.9GB/sec (100MB/sec more than Samsung and Kingston's Gen5 SSD offerings).

Last week, we reported on Phison's CEO discussing "severe shortages" expected to hit the NAND-based flash memory and SSD market due to a manufacturing shift prioritizing AI data centers and systems. This week, ADATA chairman Chen Lebai (via DigiTimes) has chimed in to confirm that DRAM, NAND Flash, SSDs, and even traditional HDDs are about to face an unprecedented and historic shortage as we head into 2026.

As foundries struggle to keep up with demand, including prominent players like Samsung Electronics, Micron, and SK Hynix, this will not only lead to rising prices but also make it much harder for consumers and non-AI-focused customers to get what they need. ADATA's chairman notes that when it comes to accessing stock for its own products, it's now competing directly with large cloud-based companies that are buying as much capacity as they can for their data centers.

He also states that this is the first time he has seen a situation where everything from DDR4 and DDR5 memory to NAND-based SSDs and traditional HDDs is experiencing simultaneous shortages. It has already reached the point where Chen Lebai is instructing his sales teams at ADATA to sell sparingly and focus on existing customers.

The 2025 Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit, which kicks off next week, is all about the industry coming together to showcase the latest advancements and share their insights in open-source hardware and software. Taking place at the San Jose Convention Center from October 13 to 15, as an Open Compute Project contributor and inventor of NAND flash memory, KIOXIA will be on hand to showcase its flash storage solutions and optimizations for data centers and AI.

From storage devices built using the company's latest BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory technology with PCIe 5.0 speeds, through to new open-source software optimizations that can improve the lifespan and performance of existing systems. Hardware-wise, the company will present its portfolio at its booth (#A51) with live demonstrations.

This includes KIOXIA's LC9 Series Enterprise SSDs, XD8 E1.S Data Center SSDs, and CD9P Series Data Center SSDs. The LC9 Series will be used to demonstrate fast retrieval of large datasets for AI with high-capacity QLC storage. XD8 E1.S Data Center SSDs will be used to showcase KIOXIA's new open-source RocksDB plug-in that improves the performance and lifespan of SSDs, while CD9P Series Data Center SSDs will showcase power-efficient data center NVMe SSDs.

KIOXIA's new RocksDB plug-in is designed for multi-SSD RAID configurations, which are becoming increasingly prevalent in the era of generative AI, cloud computing, and data centers that store massive datasets. The free and open-source plug-in is designed not only to improve the performance of these modern RAID setups but also to increase and enhance the lifespan of the flash storage being used.

KIOXIA notes that in a 4-drive RAID setup, the RocksDB plug-in reduces the write amplification factor (WAF) by 46% while increasing throughput by 8.22 times compared to MDRAID. Even in a 2-drive RAID setup, WAF is reduced by a third. Write amplification is a common issue with SSDs or Flash Storage, where more data is written than intended; reducing this is a significant win for both performance and SSD health.

RocksDB is also a widely adopted database for both generative AI and cloud applications, so KIOXIA's open-source plug-in seems like a must-have for systems with large amounts of historical data that require high-performance searches.

When it comes to the new AI era of edge computing, data centers, and cloud services, NAND-based flash storage sits alongside high-powered GPUs or graphics cards as two bits of hardware that are seeing unprecedented demand. In a recent interview, Pua Khein-Seng, CEO of Phison Electronics Corporation, a leader in all things flash storage, shared some insight regarding the forecasted NAND flash storage of 2026.

As seen over at the Taiwanese CommonWealth Magazine's tech column (via Tom's Hardware), Pua Khein-Seng notes that in addition to "severe shortages" next year, flash shortages "will be tight for the next ten years." That's a whole decade where it appears that buying SSDs and other NAND-based flash storage devices will become increasingly more expensive and difficult to source.

One of the reasons for the shortages stems from a shift toward HBM manufacturing for AI data centers and systems, where the margins are significantly higher. This leaves less room for older technologies, even though the demand for even PCIe Gen4 storage is increasing. Additionally, as companies shift toward more AI inference rather than training, the need for high-speed flash storage is rising.

After reviewing it earlier this month, where it earned an Editor's Choice award for "offering double the performance of all previous 8TB retail NVMe SSDs," Samsung has launched its new 8TB SSD 9100 PRO - available in two models, one without a heatsink and one with a Heatsink.

Like the previous 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB Samsung SSD 9100 PRO models, the 8TB version is a PCIe Gen5 SSD offering blazingly fast read and write speeds of 14,800 and 13,400 MB/s, respectively. As an SSD for consumers, this new model targets data-intensive workloads, including video editing, AI, and gaming. Samsung notes that the heatsink variant is also optimized for the PlayStation 5; however, there you are limited to slower PCIe Gen4 speeds.

As an 8TB Gen5 option, though, it's an impressive SSD with a Total Bytes Written (TBW) rating of 4,800, alongside random read/write IOPS of 2,200K and 2,600K, respectively. As the largest-capacity SSD in Samsung's lineup, it also features a larger cache with an impressive 8GB of LPDDR4X and comes with a five-year limited warranty.

Samsung will be unleashing monster-fast Gen6 SSDs onto the market in 2027, teasing it'll have new Gen6 SSDs in 512TB capacity in less than two years.

During the GMIF Innovation Summit 2025 event in Shenzen, China, SSD manufacturers have come out of the woodwork teasing their next-gen SSD technologies. The enterprise and HPC server segments will see multiple new technologies unleashed in 2026/2027 that will help unlock even higher speeds across the board (CPU, GPU, networking, storage) with PCIe Gen6 SSDs being a big part of that.

Samsung VP & Chief Technology Officer of its Memory Business Unit, Kevin Yoo, said that his firm is working on next-gen CXL 3.1 and PCIe 6.0 CMM-D products which should be available next year. Yoo teased that Samsung's next-gen PM1763 Gen6 SSD solution will be launching in early 2026, offering double the performance, improved power efficiency, and 25W power consumption. The company is also preparing its 7th Gen Z-NAND with GIDS for 2026, too.

The ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X gaming handhelds are set to launch on October 10 (check out our report on pricing and availability here), and they will debut with a custom version of Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system optimized for Xbox and PC gaming.

This collaboration between ASUS and the Xbox team has been in development for a considerable time. It marks a shift toward a future where Xbox hardware will encompass everything from a console to PC, gaming handheld, and mobile device connected to the cloud. With ROG Xbox Ally gaming handhelds right around the corner, Sandisk has announced that it's releasing two officially licensed storage expansion options for the handhelds.

First, there's the Sandisk microSD Card for ROG Xbox Ally (X), available in 512GB ($69.99 MSRP), 1TB ($149.99 MSRP), and 2TB ($299.99 MSRP) capacities, which allows gamers to store and play games directly off the card. With support for up to 50 modern AAA-sized games and read speeds of 200MB/s, these microSD Cards also ship with a lifetime limited warranty and are designed to withstand shocks, drops, and x-rays.

In the AI era, it's not uncommon to consider petabyte-sized storage capabilities in a wide range of data centers, designed for running AI workloads and cloud-based computing. However, when it comes to petabyte-sized storage capabilities orbiting the Earth, on the Lunar surface, or somewhere in deep space, it is no longer the realm of science fiction.

Axiom Space and Spacebilt Inc. have announced that they are collaborating with a range of technology leaders to bring "optically-interconnected orbital data center (ODC)" infrastructure and technology to the International Space Station, or ISS, in 2027.

One of the partners for this exciting and ambitious project is Phison Electronics, where Pascari enterprise-grade SSDs will deliver over one petabyte of storage to the Axiom Orbital Data Center Node (AxODC). These will be paired with PIC64-HPSC processors from Microchip to enable AI acceleration and high-end computing in space.

NVIDIA wants to co-develop new SSDs with KIOXIA that would be close to 100x faster in read speeds than current SSDs, and use them inside of AI servers to partially replace HBM as GPU memory expanders.

In a new report from Nikkei, we're hearing that KIOXIA is looking to partner with NVIDIA to commercialize new SSDs by 2027 with nearly 100x faster read speeds, to use inside of AI servers and to partially replace HBM as GPU memory expanders. KIOXIA has previously said that by 2029, almost half of NAND memory demand is projected to be AI-related.

Nikkei reports that NVIDIA is aiming for 200 million IOPS, with KIOXIA planning to use two SSDs to achieve that, which will also be on the next-next-generation PCIe 7.0 standard. Masashi Yokotsuka, Executive Vice President of KIOXIA said: "we will collaborate with the world's largest GPU manufacturer to achieve super performance in GPU systems".

Flash memory and SSD technology are now the standard for high-capacity internal and external storage solutions. What sets TEAMGROUP's new T-CREATE EXPERT P34F Find My External SSD apart from the pack can be found in its name. According to the company, it's the world's first external SSD with built-in location tracking.

However, it's an external SSD designed for Apple devices and users, as its seamless location tracking is compatible with the Apple 'Find My' app. When paired with a compatible Apple device, you can get "precise location tracking and audible alerts" for the T-CREATE EXPERT P34F to pinpoint its exact location. This makes it an excellent choice for Mac, iPad, and iPhone users who require additional on-the-go storage.

A very cool design touch for the T-CREATE EXPERT P34F Find My External SSD is that it also has a small internal speaker that "emits sound alerts within range." TEAMGROUP notes that adding location tracking to an external SSD not only reduces the risk of loss but also enhances security.

Earlier this month, reports began to emerge on social media that a pair of Windows 11 security updates (KB5063878 and KB5062660) were causing issues with SSDs. The first reported case involved a user attempting to install a significant update to the Cyberpunk 2077 game. Additional reports alleged that for large transfers of over 50GB on an SSD that is more than 50% full, the drive could either disappear or outright fail.

From there, it looked like DRAM-less SSDs from a wide range of companies, including many powered by a Phison controller, were affected by this Windows 11 security update. This led to both Microsoft and Phison responding with word that they were investigating the issue and the reports.

Last week, Phison released a statement that said that after conducting over 4,500 hours of testing, it was unable to replicate reports of SSDs failing due to the recent Windows 11 security updates. And now, Microsoft has confirmed (via BleepingComputer) that its investigation has also failed to find any link between the recent Windows 11 update and reports of SSDs failing.

FADU has just announced its new Gen6 SSD controller at FMS 2025, offering up to huge 28.5GB/sec read speeds, 6.9 million IOPS, and up to 512GB capacities at less than 9W of power.

Silicon Motion announced the world's first PCIe Gen6 SSD controller with the introduction of its new SM8466 SSD controller last week, a new enterprise Gen6 SSD controller with up to 28GB/sec speeds and 512GB capacities. But now, South Korean manufacturer, FADU, has unveiled its new enterprise-grade Sierra FC6161, a next-gen PCIe Gen6 SSD controller that's capable of 28.5GB/sec speeds and up to 512GB capacities on Gen6 SSDs.

FADU's new Sierra FC6161 Gen6 SSD controller has read and write speeds of up to 28.5GB/sec, which is 500MB/sec more (28GB/sec versus 28.5GB/sec) than the SM8466 Gen6 controller from Silicon Motion, also in up to 512GB capacity. We've got 6.9 million IOPS for random read, and 1 million IOPS for random write, with power consumption at less than 9W.

A pair of Windows 11 security updates rolled out earlier this month (KB5063878 and KB5062660), and they quickly sparked controversy due to reports that they were causing issues with SSDs, leading to outright failure in some cases. With the sources for these claims coming from individuals posting their first-hand accounts of encountering problems online, the reports were alarming and a cause for concern, but also anecdotal.

As we reported last week, a significant number of alleged SSD failures were attributed to Phison controllers. The first case of the issue was reported by an X user who was attempting to update Cyberpunk 2077, which subsequently caused their SSD to disappear from their Windows 11 system. Microsoft's initial response and statement on the issue was that it was investigating the reports, with Phison also responding in kind, adding that it was conducting a thorough review.

And thorough it was, with Phison's Chris Ramseyer confirming in a statement provided to TweakTown that the company "dedicated over 4,500 cumulative testing hours" and "conducted more than 2,200 test cycles" with the reported SSDs and Phison controllers. And after all that, Phison was "unable to reproduce" the reported issues.

"We are addressing the falsified document through appropriate legal processes," Phison's Director of Technical Marketing Chris Ramseyer writes in a statement. He's referring to a document that is currently being circulated, which contains a long list of storage issues and data-related failures related to a wide range of SSDs with Phison controllers. Yeah, strap in as this one is a little strange.

First, let's start with the facts. A recent Windows security update for Windows 11 (KB5063878) that was released on August 12 led to an unknown number of users reporting issues related to data loss, data corruption, or even outright SSD failure.

"We're aware of these reports and are investigating with our partners," Microsoft's official statement on the matter reads. Many point to X user @Necoru_cat as the "patient zero" for this issue after they reported on their SSD disappearing while trying to install a significant update for Cyberpunk 2077.

Samsung has just launched its huge 8TB version of its new 9100 PRO Gen5 SSD, offering up to 14.8GB/sec speeds for $999.

Samsung Electronics' 9100 PRO is the latest addition to the company's growing consumer SSD products, with its Gen5 interface the new 9100 PRO offers a huge upgrade for users inside of their laptops, gaming PCs, and gaming consoles. The huge 8TB capacity means you can have the best of both worlds: wicked-high near 15GB/sec reads, with a ton of storage ready for any workload or game.

The company has unveiled two different variants of its 9100 PRO Gen5 SSD: the 9100 PRO 8TB and 9100 PRO 8TB with Heatsink, the first of which doesn't come with a heatsink and relies on the heatsink inside of your laptop, PC, or console, while the version with the heatsink is self-explanatory.

A couple of weeks ago, KIOXIA announced its new LC9 Series, which includes the world's first high-capacity 245.76 TB NVMe SSD built for the enterprise market, data centers, and complex generative AI workloads. 245 TB of storage in 2.5-inch and Enterprise and Datacenter Standard Form Factors (EDSFF) is a game changer, especially when it's built on KIOXIA's 8th Gen BiCS FLASH with CBA (CMOS directly Bonded to Array) technology that delivers PCIe 5.0 speeds.

This week, KIOXIA and Dell Technologies have announced a new partnership that will see Dell systems adopt LC9 Series storage, enabling power-efficient and high-performance AI-scale systems to manage multi-petabyte data sets and support cutting-edge generative AI applications and training large language models (LLMs).

KIOXIA notes that the compact size and capacity allow 245.76 TB KIOXIA LC9 Series SSDs to deliver sequential read speeds of up to 12,000 MB/sec and sequential write speeds of up to 3,000 MB/sec while reducing physical space, cooling, and power requirements. Having that level of speed also allows LC9 Series SSDs to better utilize and work alongside GPUs.

KIOXIA's new LC9 Series offers the industry's first 245.76 TB NVMe SSD built for the enterprise data center market and the AI era. With PCIe 5.0 speeds and KIOXIA's advanced 8th Gen BiCS FLASH with CBA (CMOS directly Bonded to Array) technology delivering density, performance, and power efficiency, nearly 250 TB of storage capacity in 2.5-inch and Enterprise and Datacenter Standard Form Factors (EDSFF) is an impressive achievement.

At the FMS: the Future of Memory and Storage event this week, KIOXIA showcased its new high-capacity LC9 Series SSD with a live demonstration as part of a Dell PowerEdge 7715 system. And with attendees getting to see the SSD in action, the KIOXIA LC9 Series 245.76 TB enterprise SSD won the 'Best of Show' award in the 'SSD Technology' category.

With sequential read speeds of up to 12,000 MB/sec and sequential write speeds of up to 3,000 MB/sec, it's a storage solution designed to meet the demands of cutting-edge generative AI systems head-on thanks to its speed and low power consumption. In addition to winning a 'Best of Show' award, KIOXIA has confirmed that it's now sampling KIOXIA LC9 Series SSDs to select customers.

FMS: the Future of Memory and Storage is kicking off this week at the Santa Clara Convention Center, and KIOXIA will once again be on hand to showcase and demonstrate its latest breakthroughs and readily available solutions for scalable and efficient AI.

At FMS 2025, KIOXIA will be demonstrating its new LC9 Series, which includes the industry's first 245.76 TB NVMe SSD as part of a Dell PowerEdge 7715 system. The company will also be displaying its next-generation BiCS FLASH generation 9 and generation 10 3D Flash Memory technology, alongside its current BiCS FLASH

generation 8-powered devices.