Storage News - Page 4

KIOXIA will be showcasing its next-gen, flash-based solid state drives (SSDs) that are optimizing Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) solutions, and in the words of KIOXIA "paving the way for the next wave of digital transformation".

We'll see it all unveiled at HPE Discover 2022 between June 28-29, but before that we've got news that KIOXIA has been collaborating with HPE on best-in-class storage solutions over the last few years. This spans from mobile, through to data center, through to enterprise.

KIOXIA explains that these new class of SAS SSDs will be doubling the performance of PCIe 4.0-based SSDs, as well as new form factors that enable high performance and density. KIOXIA will have both live demos of its new HPE-beefed storage solutions, as well as two breakout sessions that will be focusing on its new products, and its longstanding collaboration with HPE that "showcases the companies' leadership in storage technology".

If video killed the radio star, then Microsoft is killing the mechanical HDD as a boot option to Windows 11... at least according to data storage industry analyst firm Trendfocus.

A new report says that OEMs have said that Microsoft is pushing OEMs to not support HDDs as the primary storage device in pre-built Windows 11 PCs, using much faster SSDs in their place. Microsoft has plans to do this by 2023, so we should expect the world of all-SSD PCs of the future by next year.

Windows 11 minimum requirements from Microsoft are for a "64GB or larger storage device" right now, but this will most likely change when Microsoft makes the big change to drop HDDs as the primary storage option on pre-built PCs with Windows 11. At the moment: Microsoft DirectStorage and the Windows Subsystem for Android both require an SSD, but those features aren't forced on you... you can use a HDD and not use those features.

ASUS teased its ROG Strix SQ7 SSD but now we have more specifications on the first ROG Strix SSD.

The new ASUS ROG Strix SQ7 comes in 1TB, rocking the Phison E18 SSD controller, Micron's 176-layer TLC flash, DDR4 cache, and reads of up to 7GB/sec (7000MB/sec) and writes of up to 6GB/sec (6000MB/sec). This brings it in line with other high-end SSDs based on the Phison E18 controller.

ASUS says that its new ROG Strix SQ7 SSD will work inside of the PlayStation 5 console, with ASUS explaining: "The ROG Strix SQ7 internal M.2 PCIe Gen 4 x4 NVMe SSD redefines speed with DRAM buffering and a large SLC cache for up to 7000 MB/s data transfers. Built for superior security and accelerated gaming, the Strix SQ7 offers comprehensive hardware encryption and software solutions as well as extensive compatibility with both PCs and PlayStation 5. Level up your gaming experiences with faster loading times".

Phison unveiled its next-gen PS2026-E26 platform earlier this week, which will be the basis of PCIe 5.0 x4 storage solution for both consumers, and enterprise solutions.

But in a recent test, Phison tested out its new E26 SSD controller on AMD's next-gen X670 chipset with the use of the ASUS X670 Crosshair Hero motherboard. In this new test, we get to see that Phison's next-gen E26 PCIe 5.0 SSD controller is capable of a huge 12.5GB/sec reads, and 10GB/sec writes.

If you've got a new Intel Z690-based motherboard or one of AMD's upcoming next-gen X670 or X670E-based motherboards, then you'll be all good for the world of PCIe 5.0 SSDs. That is, if you have the need... the need for speed... and lust after more and more storage performance.

Crucial has just introduced its new P3 and P3 Plus Value M.2 SSDs that are for the mainstream market, and available in both PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 3.0 variants.

The new Crucial P3 Plus Gen4 NVMe and Crucial P3 NVMe SSDs offer some great speeds, with the Crucial P3 Plus SSD pushing up to 5000MB/sec (5GB/sec) reads, and up to 4200MB/sec (4.2GB/sec) writes. The new Crucial P3 SSDs offer slower, but still great speeds of up to 3500MB/sec (3.5GB/sec) reads, and up to 3000MB/sec (3GB/sec) writes.

Crucial is making its new P3 Plus and P3 SSDs available in up to 4TB capacities, the additional speeds that the P3 Plus SSDs are pushing is all thanks to its PCIe Gen4 standard. The regular Crucial P3 Gen3 NVMe SSD is still hella-fast, but if you've got a Gen4 board, get the Crucial P3 Plus Gen4 NVMe SSD.

APACER has announced the world's first consumer-grade PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 SSD, which are capable of up to 13,000MB/sec (13GB/sec) reads and up to 12,000MB/sec (12GB/sec) writes.

The new APACER PCIe Gen 5 NVMe SSDs are available in two versions: a standard APACER design, and then the ZADAK one, which looks virtually the same. Both of the new PCIe 5.0-ready SSDs support the latest NVMe 2.0 standard, with reads of up to 13GB/sec and writes of up to 12GB/sec on both drives.

You'll need a PCIe 5.0-ready motherboard (Intel Z690 or AMD X670E/X670) to get the huge speeds of 13GB/sec+ but both the APACER + ZADAK PCIe 5.0 SSDs are backwards compatible, working on PCIe 4.0 at half the speed.

AMD has now revealed its next-gen X670E and X670 chipsets, dropping later this year with the new AM5 socket and Zen 4-powered Ryzen 7000 series CPUs -- and with it: DDR5 + PCIe 5.0 support.

Phison has announced a strategic collaboration with AMD + Micron to form a cooperative PCIe Gen 5 ecosystem of compatible products. Phison will be at the heart of this with their flagship PCIe Gen5 SSD controller -- the new Phison PS5026-E26 -- that has 2x the performance over its previous generation flagship SSD controller.

Leo Huang, Sr. Director, Product Marketing, Phison said: "We are pleased to announce our cooperative effort with Micron and AMD to advance the technological development of PCIe Gen5 storage offerings, as this validates Phison's commitment to upholding customer-centric values. The E26 controller enables gamers to compete at the highest level and helps content creators to maximize the overall system performance to increase productivity".

OWC has just announced their new Envoy Pro mini SSDs, a super-small portable SSD with full-sized SSD performance that fits in your pocket.

The new OWC Envoy Pro mini SSDs are available in 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB capacities that works with everything. We're talking USB and Thunderbolt-powered (USB-C) Macs, PCs, Linux servers, iPads, Chromebooks, and more as millions of USB devices are in the wild.

We're looking at up to 450MB/sec reads and up to 465MB/sec writes over USB 3.2 Gen 1, while we can expect up to 1025MB/sec reads and 1026MB/sec writes on USB 3.1 Gen 2 (the speeds vary slightly between 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB capacities). You'll get somewhere up to that across your Xbox, PlayStation, iPad, PC, Mac, or everything in-between.

Sabrent has just released its new CFexpress Type-B Card, which are now available in 512GB and 1TB capacities with some wicked speeds for content creators and professionals.

The new Sabrent CFexpress Type-B Card pumps away at up to 1.7GB/sec (1700MB/sec) reads, and up to 1.5GB/sec (1500MB/sec) writes with support for standards seen in SSDs including TRIM, SMART, encryption, and even upgradeable firmware.

Western Digital has just unleashed the industry's first 22TB CMR and 26TB UltraSMR HDDs to "select hyperscale cloud customers, further expanding its areal density leadership and delivering customer value by driving TCO lower".

The huge new 26TB and 22TB drives use unique OptiNAND technology, energy-assisted PMR (ePMR), triple-stage actuator (TSA), HelioSeal, and now UltraSMR technologies. So... not only is WD already offering 26TB and 22TB HDDs but they're already teasing bigger 30TB+ drives using ePMR.

Western Digital CEO David Goeckeler said before the "What's Next Western Digital Event in San Francisco": Everything we do starts with the belief in human potential as it intersects digital innovation, and in turn, creates possibility. This possibility is fueled by a technology platform that the world's innovators are building on and enabling the best new experiences - intelligent devices, powered by the cloud, connected by high-performance networks. We have only scratched the surface on the value of data and the technologies that unlock it".