Storage - Page 8

SK hynix has just announced it has developed PEB110 E1.S (PEB110), a new high-performance SSD for data centers and the emergence of the AI era.

The AI era, customer demand for high-performance NAND solutions including SSDs for data centers, as well as ultra-fast DRAM chips including High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) is growing, says SK hynix. In line with this trend, the company has developed and introduced a new product (PEB110) with improved data processing speed and power efficiency, by using PCIe Gen5 specifications.

SK hynix expects to meet the "diverse customer needs" with a more robust SSD portfolio, following successful mass production of PS1010 with the introduction of the PEB110. SK hynix says it is currently in the qualification process with a global data center customer, with plans of mass production of PEB110 in Q2 2025, pending qualification.

Lexar has just unveiled the world's first stainless steel encased SD cards, joining the growing Armor Series SD cards, with the new SD cards featuring "bend-resistance" and they're IP68 certified.

The company has unveiled its new Armor Series SD cards in the new Armor Gold SD UHS-II, and Armor Silver Pro SD UHS-II cards in up to 1TB capacities. If you've used an SD card enough -- you know, in and out of your cameras constantly, in and out of your SD card reader or into a laptop -- and the casing can break, well... not with a stainless steel SD card from Lexar.

Lexar says it's using 316 stainless steel in the construction of its new Armor Gold SD UHS-II and Armor Silver Pro SD UHS-II cards, with the company adding its new SD cards are bend-resistant and that they're stronger than regular plastic-encased models. Lexas pushes that its new Armor SD cards are "ideal for outdoor filming".

HighPoint has just unleashed its new RocketAIC 7749M2, the world's first 128TB Gen4 x16 AIC drive family, supporting up to 16 x Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 8TB Gen4 SSDs for a total of 128GB Gen4 SSDs at up to 28GB/sec insanity.

You'll be able to buy two different variantsof HighPoint's new RocketAIC 7749M2 AIC card: 64TB and 128TB of Gen4 SSD goodness. The 64TB option includes the RocketAIC 7749MC AIC and 16 x Samsung 990 PRO 4TB SSDs for a total of 64TB Gen4 SSDs for $9900.

The monster 128TB Gen4 SSD configuration includes the HighPoint RocketAIC 7749M2 and 16 x Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 8TB SSDs for a total of 128TB (!!!) of Gen4 SSDs for a much higher $25,999.

One of the great things about the PlayStation 5 is that Sony made expanding the limited internal storage with a high-speed PCIe Gen4 SSD relatively easy. Best of all, the Sony PlayStation 5 supports any compatible off-the-shelf SSD if it meets the minimum speed requirement of 5,500 MB/s.

With the advent of Gen5 SSD storage on PC, the price of Gen4 has come down dramatically, especially when you look at the prices of PCIe Gen4 SSDs when the PlayStation 5 first launched in 2020. Lexar's new PLAY 2280 PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD sports a massive 4TB capacity for $379.99 USD, with 2TB and 8TB options set to arrive in Q4 2024.

The integrated heatsink is designed to keep the SSD running cool while installed in a PS5, but it also features a design inspired by the PlayStation 5 console. Once installed, you won't see it when you're gaming, but it's a nice touch that makes it feel like a perfect fit for the console.

A microSD card with read speeds of up to 820 MB/s is impressive because it is faster than a standard SATA SSD (which tops out at around 560 MB/s) and more than eight times faster than the UHS-I microSD cards that people slap into tablets, cameras, and gaming devices like the Nintendo Switch. Silicon Power's new 256GB SET320 microSD card can reach read speeds of up to 820 MB/s. However, there's a catch.

The SET320 is the company's first microSD 'SD Express' memory card, which utilizes a new interface (PCIe Gen 3x1 and NVMe via SD 7.0) to achieve its impressive speed. Still, it is fantastic to see a microSD card deliver SSD-like speeds in such a tiny form factor.

Silicon Power notes that its new high-speed microSD cards are an "industrial-grade solution designed to meet the growing demands of AI-driven applications." Based on their footprint alone, you could fit any number of these in a data center.

Sabrent has been teasing its new Thunderbolt 5 external SSD for a few weeks now, but the company has it in-house and has tested it on an ultra-spec Razer Blade 18 laptop at over 6GB/sec reads.

In CrystalDiskMark, the new Sabrent Thunderbolt 5 external SSD was pumping away at over 6GB/sec reads, and around 3.8GB/sec writes (this is from the Razer Blade 18 laptop, the only Thunderbolt 5-capable laptop on the market right now, and into the Sabrent Thunderbolt 5 as an external SSD... 6000MB/sec is insanity).

Sabrent transferred 1TB file from a Rocket 4 Plus inside of the Razer Blade 18 laptop at 2.8-2.9GB/sec when it was filling the cache on the SSD, and was transferring at 1.4GB/sec sustained over the Thunderbolt 5 connection to Sabrent's new Thunderbolt 5 external SSD.

Exascend might be a company you've never heard of, but they're a server-focused company that makes innovative storage and memory products, and have just announced a huge 15.36TB 2.5-inch SSD.

The company has announced the expansion of its 2.5-inch SATA SSD series -- the SA4, SI4, and SE4 -- to an unprecedented 15.36TB capacity. Exascend says that this advancement redefines the limits of SATA SSD storage, catering to demanding applications like digital and network video recorders, media post-production, and more.

Exascend's monster new 15.36TB SSD uses 3D TLC NAND flash technology, with the new Exascend SATA SSDs use direct write-to-TLC to maintain stable read and write performance, effectively mitigating performance drop-off when the SLC cache is exhausted. Exascend's new 15.36TB SSDs use high-density integration with 16 NAND Flash ICs, each with 1TB capacity, on a single PCB within a slim 7mm housing.

The surge in enterprise SSD prices by over 80% is being driven by a spike in orders for AI servers, with SK hynix and its subsidiary Solidigm, ramping up NAND flash production.

The AI boom has been here for a while now, which started being fueled by HBM memory chip demand, and is now pushing the enterprise SSD market upwards, too. The volume of data stored on AI servers is rising exponentially, with companies scrambling to secure high-capacity SSDs, with Chosun reporting that "some even paying above-average prices to ensure supply".

SK hynix and Solidigm are responding to the market demand of enterprise-class SSDs by prioritizing scaling up production of high-capacity SSDs using quad-level-call (QLC) technology, which is tailored specifically for enterprise use.

Microsoft will soon remove the 32GB size limit for FAT32 partitions in Windows 1, upgrading to volumes of up to 2TB... something that has plagued Windows for close to 30 years now.

The Windows team said in a blog post on Thursday: "When formatting disks from the command line using the format command, we've increased the FAT32 size limit from 32GB to 2TB". The limit is only being removed from the format command line right now, so we'll still see the existing format dialog box that will have the 32GB limit for FAT32 partitions, unless Microsoft updates this Windows feature in the future.

Microsoft first put the 32GB limit on FAT32 partitions during the development of Windows 95, which was over 30 years ago now. Dave Plummer is a former Windows developer said earlier this year that he was the man responsible for the format dialog box that hasn't been updated in 30 years now, and that he was the person who picked the 32GB limit for FAT32.

Sabrent has its Multi-Port USB Type-C Hub with 4K HDMI is on special right now on Amazon, bringing its original price of $13.95 down to $9.90 with this promo code (29NDOCO7).

The Sabrent Multi-Port USB Type-C hub is the perfect companion for your port and adapter needs, whether it's a PlayStation 5 console, a laptop, or a desktop PC. It's compatible with laptops and desktops that have an available USB Type-C port, so if you've got old adapters (and use multiple of them) you can replace it with the Sabrent Multi-Port USB Type-C hub.

HighPoint has just unveiled the industry's first 16 x M.2 Ports NVMe RAID AIC: its new SSD7749M2.

The new HighPoint SSD7749M2 features 16 independent M.2 device channels, powered with its in-house PCIe Gen4 Switch Architecture and NVMe cooling technology, the new SSD7749M2 RAID AICs are capable of pushing an incredible 28GB/sec of read speeds, and up to 128TB of client-class NVMe M.2 SSD storage.

The beauty of this new AIC card is that its innovative, dual-sided, vertically-aligned M.2 loading trays can host up to 16 x 2280 form factor M.2 SSDs onto just a single side of the PCB. With its dual-slot design, it's not much bigger than a high-end, dual-slot graphics card.

Western Digital showed off its next-gen storage solutions at FMS 2024 last week, including a new Gen5 SSD using its in-house Gen5 SSD controller pushing 15GB/sec with just 7W power consumption.

The company has been pushing out Gen4 SSDs with great speeds, but Western Digital has yet to enter the Gen5 SSD space, but we're getting close. Western Digital will use its in-house Gen5 SSD controller which uses BiCS8 218-layer 3D TLC NAND and features up to 8-channel DRAM and 4-channel non-DRAM.

Western Digital says its new Gen5 SSD will have up to 2TB capacity and twice the performance of its Gen4 SSDs, with a 55% efficiency uplift over Gen4 SSDs. The company also showed off its new Gen5 SSDs inside of laptops (mobile workstations) which marks the first time we've seen Gen5 SSDs inside of a laptop (which is so good to see).

Western Digital unveiled the world's first 8TB SD card and a 16TB external SSD at the 2024 Future of Memory and Storage Conference.

The new 8TB SD card features the Secure Digital Ultra Capacity (SDUC) and will enable transfer speeds of up to 100Mbps. The new SD card is aimed at consumers who are struggling with the 4TB variant, which, for those wondering, is mostly purchased by professional photographers and videographers who are shooting in extremely high resolutions and bitrates.

However, casual photographers who don't mind paying a premium can also take advantage of such storage as they will simply never have to worry about reaching capacity. At the moment, neither the 8TB SD card nor the 16TB external SSD has a pricing or release date, but reports indicate we can expect Western Digital will soon reveal more details about the upcoming storage solutions.

Regular PC users don't worry about RAID or data redundancy unless they are running a home server or NAS. However, its importance must be recognized in the enterprise space. Mitigating the risk of losing data - yeah, it's a must.

And for those with a RAID setup, the downside for enterprise isn't merely sacrificing capacity for storing data - the compute costs and DRAM bandwidth requirements are very real. With the rise of NVMe SSDs and increased read and write performance, RAID configuration and compute requirements can be the bottleneck in slowing down an entire system.

KIOXIA's RAID Offload data protection technology ensures that performance scales as the number of SSDs increases and more advanced storage solutions are added. Described as a "standards-based, host-orchestrated scale out and sustainable solution to offload RAID parity compute," it frees up CPU, memory, and cache resources.

At the Future of Memory and Storage (FMS) event this week, the storage experts at Phison showcased their latest cutting-edge technologies. Alongside winning a Best of Show award for its innovative aiDAPTIV+ AI hardware and software solution, there were some exciting SSD advances for controllers, storage, and enterprise.

One was the Phison E31T controller, described as the world's first mainstream Gen5 SSD. It can reach impressive read and write speeds of 10,000 MB/s in a heatsink-free design fully optimized for notebooks. Other impressive performance specs include 1,500K IOPS for both read and write and a capacity of up to 8TB.

Thanks to Phison, we'll finally see PCIe Gen5 storage come to laptops and mobile devices in a big way - with E31T supporting the M.2 2280 and M.2 2230 form factors. And in case you were wondering, Phison isn't entirely done with PCIe Gen4 technology, either.

Sabrent has been enjoying FMS 2024 so far, teasing its array of Rocket SSDs -- in both Gen4 and Gen5 -- and its upcoming Thunderbolt 5-based Rocket XTRM5 external SSD.

The company showed off all of its leading SSDs at FMS 2024 this week, including the Rocket 4 in both 1TB and 2TB capacities (and the larger Rocket 4 4TB teased, which is coming soon) and the Gen5-ready Rocket 5 in 1TB, 2TB, and the larger 4TB capacity. Sabrent also had its Rocket Nano 2242 in 1TB, and the Rocket Q4 (it's so cute) in 2TB on the show floor at FMS 2024.

Our SSD review Jon Coulter said in his review of Sabrent's new Rocket 5 4TB SSD: "Sabrent is back to doing Sabrent things. We love it and can't help but admire their strategic move to wait for a final form E26 14,000 MB/s SSD before jumping into the PCIe Gen5 fray and then being the first among storage retailers with it. Additionally, making their first Rocket 5 offering to be fully reviewed its highest capacity, most over the top 4TB model, is exactly what Sabrent has done historically".

KIOXIA is attending the Future of Memory and Storage (FMS) conference in Santa Clara, California. The creator of flash memory and the innovative BiCS FLASH 3D technology is showcasing a new prototype broadband SSD with an optical interface designed for the next generation of data centers.

Replacing electrical wiring with an optical interface allows KIOXIA to create a greater distance between the compute and storage devices, paving the way for more flexible designs without sacrificing efficiency or signal quality.

In fact, an optical interface makes it possible to aggregate components like an SSD and CPU that can "efficiently utilize resources according to a specific workload" by placing them in different rooms or locations separated by up to 40 meters of optical fiber (up to 100 meters in the future). In a data center, optical SSD storage could be located in one room with fewer cooling requirements, lowering the energy footprint.

Memblaze has announced it has hit a significant milestone at FMS 2024: the shipment of over 150,000 units of its PBlaze7 7940 series PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSDs since they launched at FMS 2023 last year.

The enterprise-focused Memblaze PBlaze7 7940 SSD features the Marvell Bravera SC5 controller and the latest NAND flash technology. Leveraging deep optimization by the engineering team at Memblaze and its Unified Framework Platform, the PBlaze7 7940 SSD delivers 2.5x the performance and 1.5x the power efficiency of conventional Gen4 SSDs.

FMS 2024 is this week, with Memblaze expanding the capacity of its PBlaze7 7940 to a huge 30.72TB of Gen5 SSD goodness for enterprise customers. This expansion significantly reduces SSD and server deployments, lowers TCO, and decreases carbon emissions.

Silicon Motion has just unveiled its new SM2508 Gen5 SSD controller, the best performance-per-watt Gen5 SSD controller at FMS 2024.

The new Silicon Motion SM2508 Gen5 SSD controller is the world's first PCIe Gen5 client SSD controller using TSMC's 6nm EUV process node, which provides a 50% reduction in power consumption compared to other SSD controllers using the 12nm process node.

The company says that the entire SSD uses less than 7W of power, the new SM2508 Gen5 SSD controller has 1.7x better power efficiency than Gen4 SSDs and up to 70% better than competitive Gen5 SSDs already on the market.

Micron has just announced it's the first in the industry to develop a PCIe Gen6 data center SSD for ecosystem development.

Ahead of FMS 2024 this week, the US-based memory giant continues on its announcements recently of the world's fastest data center SSD -- the new Micron 9550 -- which further bolsters Micron's leadership position in AI storage.

Micron's new PCIe Gen6 SSD delivers a sequential read bandwidth of over 26GB/sec, which is a large leap over the 14GB/sec (or so) that we're getting from new Gen5 SSDs on the market now. Micron is making its new PCIe Gen6 SSD available to partners, kickstarting the PCIe Gen6 ecosystem.