Storage - Page 7

Phison has announced its latest addition to its Pascari D-Series data SSDs, and it's set to be showcased at SC24 in Atlanta, Georgia, between November 17 and 22.

The newest SSD offering from Phison is the Pascari D205V drive, which the company claims is the world's first PCIe Gen5 128TB data center class SSD. Preorders for the new are currently available, and according to Phison's press release the new drive has been specifically designed to mitigate the data deluge that is pouring onto data centers around the world.

The company explains that data centers are currently under strain from ramping data usage, and the Pascari D205V drive is designed to alleviate some of that strain by providing a solution that maximizes investment from data center owners. As for what's inside of the new SSD, Phison explains the Pascari D205V drive combines Phison's X2 controller and the latest 3D QLC technology, making the SSD capable of pu8shing 14,600 MB/s sequential read and 3,000K IOPS random read performance.

SSD not big enough? Well, how does a speedy 60TB solid-state drive grab you? Micron just revealed the ION 6550 as the "world's fastest, most energy efficient" SSD of this capacity, and it is indeed something of a powerhouse.

The catch, as you've no doubt guessed, is that this isn't a drive for consumers, but one for data centers.

Micron's ION 6550 is a PCIe 5.0 NVMe drive currently sampling with its customers ahead of a full release.

The new PNY PRO Elite Prime microSD Flash Cards and PNY Performance Prime microSD Card Reader are designed for ultra-fast performance and users with high-demand workloads. With the latest high-speed flash memory technology, users can expect transfer speeds of up to 200 MB/s and write speeds of up to 150 MB/s.

With U3 technology and V30 Video Speed Class performance, alongside capacities that start at 64GB and go all the way up to a massive 1.5TB, the new PNY PRO Elite Prime microSD cards are perfect for high-quality photography, capturing 4K video, and running apps directly from the microSD card thanks to the A2 App Performance rating.

That last bit makes the PNY PRO Elite Prime microSD cards great for gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Nintendo Switch, reducing load times and improving performance.

ASUS has just launched its new TUF Gaming A2 SSD enclosure, which can take 4TB SSDs and handle up to 20Gbps of bandwidth through USB-C. Check it out:

The new ASUS TUF Gaming A2 SSD enclosure is a rugged portable SSD solution with high-speed transfers, capable of 20Gbps through USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x2, making it perfect for content creators, gamers, enthusiasts, and others who crave fast external SSD storage.

ASUS has built the TUF Gaming A2 SSD enclosure with durability at the forefront, with high-grade silicon rubber used in the exterior, which is capable of absorbing shocks and extreme temperatures. The enclosure even meets MIL-STD-810H standards which means it can survive a drop from 1.22 meters, with IP67-rated water and dust resistance, and data protection from potential static and electrical disturbances.

Corsair has announced that its new MP700 Elite SSDs are now available to buy.

The MP700 Elite is a PCIe 5.0 SSD using 3D TLC NAND that benefits from read speeds of up to 10,000MB/s and sequential writes of up to 8,500MB/s, with the drive available in 1TB or 2TB flavors.

Corsair observes:

Samsung has teased that its next-gen 400-layer V-NAND will store more data, more performance, and feature higher reliability through future-gen V-NAND technology.

The company is expected to launch its next-gen V-NAND in 2026 which will be the 10th Gen V-NAND, sporting a 400-layer configuration, far exceeding the current 9th Gen V-NAND by 120 layers (280 layers versus 400 layers). The gap between 8th Gen V-NAND and 9th Gen V-NAND isn't that big (236 layers versus 280 layers) so the jump to 400 layers is exciting, indeed.

How will Samsung do this? The company will use Bonding Vertical (BV) NAND technology, which is different to what is used today with the current CoP (Circuit on Periphery) design. The CoP design has the peripheral circuits on top of the memory stack, while vertical bonding will separate the manufacturing of the storage and peripheral circuits, followed by the vertical bond.

Micron has just announced its new 9550 PCIe Gen5 E1.S data center SSDs have been added to the NVIDIA recommended vendor list (RVL) for the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 AI system and its derivatives.

The company announced today that the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 uses the GB200 Grace Blackwell Superchip to deliver "rack-scale, energy-efficient AI infrastructure", while the enablement of PCIe Gen5 storage in the system makes the Micron 9550 SSD an "ideal fit for optimizing performance and power efficiency in AI workloads like large-scale training of AI models, real-time trillion-parameter language model inference and high-performance computing (HPC) tasks".

Compared with other industry offerings, the 9550 SSD delivers up to 34% higher throughput for NVIDIA Magnum IO GPUDirect (GDS) and up to 33% faster workload completion times in graph neural network (GNN) training with Big Accelerator Memory (BaM). The Micron 9550 SSD saves energy and sets new sustainability benchmarks by consuming 81% less SSD energy per 1TB transferred than other SSD offerings with NVIDIA Magnum IO GDS and up to 43% lower SSD power in GNN training with BaM.

Twenty years ago, Western Digital released its first My Passport drive, an external storage solution for backing up essential or personal files without a power outlet on a compact 2.5-inch drive. For many, My Passport drives were a convenient and effective solution for storing photos, music, and video files. And it didn't take long for PC and console gamers to use them for game installs and back-ups, too.

The first My Passport drive from 2004 had a maximum capacity of just 40GB, which has increased by up to 150 times. Western Digital's current My Passport line-up includes a massive 6TB model, making it the world's highest-capacity 2.5" portable hard drive.

Western Digital has launched the new WD My Passport Ultra, 20th Emerald Anniversary Edition, to celebrate the milestone. It is available in 2TB (MSRP $89.99) and 6TB (MSRP $199.99) capacities.

SSD prices can be volatile, and like RAM and other forms of flash memory and storage, the question of 'how much' is influenced by various supply and demand factors. According to TrendForce analysts, "weaker-than-expected seasonal demand in the second half of 2024" could see NAND Flash wafer prices drop by up to 15% in Q4 2024.

The overall demand in the enterprise segment, driven by AI, remains high, and the SSD market there is profitable as drives are installed in countless servers and systems running generative AI workloads.

However, it's a different story on the client side, with the report indicating that retail demand for SSDs, memory cards, and USB drives "has remained sluggish since the beginning of 2024."

It seems that Windows 11 24H2 has another bug, and a pretty nasty one at that, affecting some of those who have a Western Digital SSD.

After installing the 24H2 update, owners of certain NVMe drives are finding that Blue Screen of Death crashes are being triggered randomly, seriously disrupting their PC usage - or even worse, they're ending up in a boot loop, one of the most-feared negative outcomes from an update.

TechSpot, which noticed the problem being reported on WD's community forum, notes that the bug seems to mainly hit those with WD_BLACK SN770 and WD Blue SN580 SSDs (which don't have DRAM-based cache).

The 2024 Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit, which will run from October 15 to October 17, is currently underway at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. This year's theme, 'From Ideas to Impact,' is about turning theoretical discussions and innovation into real-world solutions.

NAND flash memory creators KIOXIA is there (booth #A) showcasing its data center and enterprise solid-state drive (SSD) portfolio, including the brand-new KIOXIA XD8 Series E1.S Data Center SSD line-up for hyperscale servers and storage. With the company's next-gen Enterprise and Datacenter Standard Form Factor (EDSFF) E1.S and PCIe 5.0 SSDs on hand, it will demonstrate cutting-edge speed, scalability, and energy efficiency.

This includes speeding up AI applications and workloads in the age of generative AI and demonstrating how innovative technology like Flexible Data Placement (FDP) can dramatically extend the lifespan of SSDs. Here's a breakdown of some of KIOXIA's 2024 OCP Global Summit demonstrations.

Alongside announcing its next-gen KIOXIA XD8 Series E1.S Data Center SSD Series with PCIe 5.0 technology, the company will also be at the Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit, which will take place this week from October 15th to 17th in San Jose, CA.

It will demonstrate the benefits of KIOXIA XD Series SSDs equipped with Flexible Data Placement (FDP) functionality running the RocksDB database there. RocksDB is widely used in generative AI workloads, training, and cloud applications and is all about high-performance searches through vast amounts of data.

FDP is part of the NVM Express base specification (TP4161), where flexible control over data placement on an SSD can enhance performance and extend its lifespan. Here's KIOXIA summarizing what FDP brings to the table and how it can be an invaluable tool for modern data centers and generative AI.

KIOXIA has announced that its new KIOXIA XD8 Series PCIe 5.0 E1.S SSDs in the popular Enterprise and Datacenter Standard Form Factor (EDSFF) are now available. The XD8 is KIOXIA's third-generation E1.S SSDs for cloud and hyperscale environments, with speed to meet the needs of modern systems that demand cutting-edge performance.

Thanks to PCIe 5.0 technology, the new KIOXIA XD8 Series presents a very welcome upgrade over the previous generation. With a sequential read performance of 12,500 MB/s and a sequential write performance of 5,800 MB/s, the XD8 is up to 73% faster than the previous generation.

It's improvements all around, too. The Random Read performance of 2,300 K IOPS represents a 48% improvement over the previous generation, while the Random Write performance of 250 K IOPS represents a 25% improvement. The XD8 also benefits from having a KIOXIA-designed SSD controller and the company's BiCS FLASH 3D memory and firmware.

Patriot Memory has launched its latest blisteringly fast storage solution for PC gamers and enthusiasts with the new Patriot Viper PV573 PCIe Gen5 x4 M.2 2280 SSD. With advanced 3D NAND vertical stacking technology that enhances storage density, speed, and efficiency, the Viper PV573 boasts impressive read speeds of up to 14,000 MB/s and write speeds of up to 12,000 MB/s.

Hardware-wise, it's built with the latest Innogrit IG5666 PCIe Gen 5 x4 controller and 232-layer TLC NAND. Other notable specs include 4K Aligned Random Read speeds of up to 2,000K IOPs and 4K Aligned Random Write speeds of up to 1,650K IOPs, fully compliant with the NVMe 2.0 specification.

It's a bit of a storage beast with a 16.5mm "extra thin heatshield" that includes an active cooling solution to accelerate heat dissipation. Yes, you'll need a tiny fan to maintain peak performance - speeds up to 2.8 times faster than the previous Gen 4 SSD standard.

Patriot's Viper Gaming brand has been steadily impressing us in recent years with a string of high-performance SSDs and RAM options that also hit that price-to-performance sweet spot. Its latest release is slightly different; the new Viper Gaming Series V30 A2 is a microSD card designed for portable gaming handhelds like Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch.

microSD storage is the easiest way to expand the storage capabilities of a gaming handheld. All you need to do is put a microSD card into the relevant slot and immediately double or triple the available room to store games, media files, screenshots, and video recordings. The only problem is no two microSD cards are the same, and everything from speed to overall reliability can vary wildly from product to product.

The Viper Gaming Series V30 A2 microSD card sports some impressive specs as a gaming-focused product. It's built with U3, Class 10, A2, V30, and UHS-I technology standards, offering read speeds of up to 100MB/s and write speeds of up to 90MB/s.

KLEVV, the premium brand of Essencore and creator of great-looking and high-performance memory and storage, has announced a pair of new storage options. First is the futuristic and stylish KLEVV GENUINE G560 PCIe Gen5x4 NVMe M.2 SSD, which boasts impressive read and write capabilities of up to 14,000 MB/s and 12,000 MB/s, respectively.

Interestingly, this is the company's first PCIe Gen5 SSD, and it's coming in solid thanks to specs that include 4K random IOPS (up to 1,400K), 5th Generation LDPC technology, and what the company is calling a revolutionary 23x-layer 3D NAND.

Best of all, the stylish design includes passive cooling, with the aluminum fin-style heatsink blending in nicely with the white finish. The new KLEVV GENUINE G560 PCIe Gen5x4 NVMe M.2 SSD is designed for enthusiast and professional gamers, content creators, and general enthusiasts looking for a super-fast SSD and is available in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB variants.

Samsung has announced it has started mass production of its new PM9E1: a new Gen5 SSD with the industry's highest performance and largest capacity.

The company is using a Gen5 SSD controller that's made on its in-house 5nm process node, using 8th-generation V-NAND (V8) technology. Samsung says its new PM9E1 will provide "powerful performance and enhanced power efficiency, making it an optimal solution for on-device AI PCs".

Samsung has made improvements to performance, storage capacity, power efficiency, and security over its predecessor in the PM9A1a SSD. YongCheol Bae, Executive Vice President of Memory Product Planning at Samsung Electronics, said: "Our PM9E1 integrated with a 5 nm controller delivers industry-leading power efficiency and utmost performance validated by our key partners. In the rapidly growing on-device AI era, Samsung's PM9E1 will offer a robust foundation for global customers to effectively plan their AI portfolios".

Microsoft has reportedly deployed robots and artificial intelligence to pull apart defective hard disks to gather the valuable materials within them.

Reports from Tom's Hardware and Blocks & Files revealed Microsoft is using a line of robots paired with artificial intelligence capabilities to disassemble old hard drives used in its data centers. Components within these hard drives are also removed by the robots, which feature AI that has been trained to identify the different screw and components locations on various hard disks. Notably, 90% of the components deemed valuable are recycled, which contributes to Microsoft's overall goal of becoming carbon-negative by 2050.

So, what is a valuable component? According to the reports, each year, between 20 and 70 million hard drives die, and just in 2022, Microsoft shredded two million hard drives. Now, Microsoft is committed to "NoShred" and is aiming to hit a 90% recycle rate with its hard drives. The robots dismantling the drives recover valuable components and materials such as magnets, circuit boards, stainless steel chassis, neodymium, and more. Moreover, these robots are designed to ensure data security by identifying and destroying components that carry data.

HighPoint has just announced that its SSD7540 RAID AIC is now qualified to be used with LiquidCool Solutions' immersion-cooling rack servers as well as immersion-cooled server platforms in general.

What does this mean? What's immersion cooling? Why does an SSD RAID AIC need that? Immersion cooling is a style of liquid cooling that submerges either most, or the entire PC in a non-conductive liquid, usually mineral oil. This is for aesthetics and sometimes, cooling efficiency, and sometimes both.

In the data center business, where there will be multiple fully-decked systems stacked on top of one another, immersion cooling becomes a savior in cooling servers. HighPoint's SSD7540 RAID AIC is the first to be submerged into the world of immersion cooling, so it'll be interesting to see a data center do this and show some results of the improvements using immersion-cooled RAID AICs with 8 x SSDs per card (and multiple of these cards installed, by the way).

Iodyne has just introduced its new Pro Mini: a new Smart Drive external SSD with both USB4 and Thunderbolt 4, offering sustained 3GB/sec of read performance when you're on-the-go. Check it out:

The new iodyne Pro Mini features two of Frore's AirJet Mini Slim SSD active cooling devices, which combine the best of performance and reliability, enabling the Pro Mini to blast sustained 3GB/sec performance under intense workloads. If you're a professional with a laptop or PC with USB4 or Thunderbolt 4, you've got 4TB or 8TB capacity to choose from.

Inside, we've got RAID-6 data protection, XTS-AES-256 encryption, fleet management capabilities, Find My tracing (using a Chipolo chip), and device passkeys. The new iodyne Pro Mini consumes around 15W of power under load, and if you remove the 10W of power used by Frore's AirJet Mini Slim SSD cooler, the new drive only uses 5W. 15W for full-blast coolng, and full-blast performance.