| Thursday, November 20 2008 |
Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced today that it has begun mass producing 256 gigabyte (GB) solid state drives for use in notebooks and desktop PCs. With the addition of the high-speed 256GB drive, Samsung now offers the most extensive line of SSDs in the industry with 8, 16, and 32GB SSDs for low-density designs and 64, 128 and 256GB alternatives for the higher densities.
The new 256GB SSD more than doubles the performance rates of Samsung 64GB and 128GB SSDs to become the SSD with the highest overall performance in the personal computer industry, combining sequential read rates of 220MB/s (megabytes per second) with sequential write rates of 200MB/s. This sharply narrows the performance gap between read and write operations to only 10 percent, compared to a read-write speed difference of between 20 and 70 percent for other SSDs. In addition, erase cycles are a rapid 100GBs per minute, allowing the entire drive to be re-written much faster, when needed.
"While SSD's have always been touted for their performance, Samsung is turning the storage industry upside down now with an SSD that delivers truly disruptive performance," said Jim Elliott, vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. "Getting our exceptionally high performing 256GB SSD in a notebook is analogous to having a 15,000rpm drive, without all of its size, noise, power and heating drawbacks."
The Samsung 256GB SSD expedites data transfer when large multimedia files are simultaneously read and stored. It can store 25 high-definition movies* in just 21 minutes, a significant advancement over a 7200rpm hard disk drive (HDD), which takes about 70 minutes. Furthermore, the 256GB SSD launches applications 10 times faster than the fastest 7200rpm notebook HDD.
The 256GB SSD's advanced performance can be attributed to a new, optimized, single platform design consisting of a chip controller, NAND flash and special drive firmware all developed by Samsung. This single platform is designed to easily adapt to Samsung's 40nm class NAND flash memory.
Also offering a high degree of energy efficiency, the new drive consumes 1.1 watts of power versus two or more watts for a comparable HDD, while delivering outstanding reliability and durability. The high operating speed of the 256GB SSD translates into longer periods in either stand-by or idle mode resulting in up to 40 minutes of extended operation on a single battery charge.
Similar in weight to a 128GB SSD (81 grams), the 2.5-inch multi-level cell (MLC) 256GB SSD retains the standard 9.5 millimeter (mm) drive thickness.
Samsung's 256GB SSD is also available with optional proprietary encryption programming that provides full disk encryption, a key feature for many corporate users.
Source: Samsung
The new 256GB SSD more than doubles the performance rates of Samsung 64GB and 128GB SSDs to become the SSD with the highest overall performance in the personal computer industry, combining sequential read rates of 220MB/s (megabytes per second) with sequential write rates of 200MB/s. This sharply narrows the performance gap between read and write operations to only 10 percent, compared to a read-write speed difference of between 20 and 70 percent for other SSDs. In addition, erase cycles are a rapid 100GBs per minute, allowing the entire drive to be re-written much faster, when needed.
"While SSD's have always been touted for their performance, Samsung is turning the storage industry upside down now with an SSD that delivers truly disruptive performance," said Jim Elliott, vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. "Getting our exceptionally high performing 256GB SSD in a notebook is analogous to having a 15,000rpm drive, without all of its size, noise, power and heating drawbacks."
The Samsung 256GB SSD expedites data transfer when large multimedia files are simultaneously read and stored. It can store 25 high-definition movies* in just 21 minutes, a significant advancement over a 7200rpm hard disk drive (HDD), which takes about 70 minutes. Furthermore, the 256GB SSD launches applications 10 times faster than the fastest 7200rpm notebook HDD.
The 256GB SSD's advanced performance can be attributed to a new, optimized, single platform design consisting of a chip controller, NAND flash and special drive firmware all developed by Samsung. This single platform is designed to easily adapt to Samsung's 40nm class NAND flash memory.
Also offering a high degree of energy efficiency, the new drive consumes 1.1 watts of power versus two or more watts for a comparable HDD, while delivering outstanding reliability and durability. The high operating speed of the 256GB SSD translates into longer periods in either stand-by or idle mode resulting in up to 40 minutes of extended operation on a single battery charge.
Similar in weight to a 128GB SSD (81 grams), the 2.5-inch multi-level cell (MLC) 256GB SSD retains the standard 9.5 millimeter (mm) drive thickness.
Samsung's 256GB SSD is also available with optional proprietary encryption programming that provides full disk encryption, a key feature for many corporate users.
Source: Samsung
User comments
I want one, but that is going to be stupidly expensive.
:(
:(
I going to get one... next year :)
I'm saving for the Fusion IO drive.
:D
:D
Maybe I'm just picky but i probably won't end up getting one until they're in the 1024gb territory for around $350. Could be a long wait :P
by: magibegWhy would you require a TB of high performance storage?
Maybe I'm just picky but i probably won't end up getting one until they're in the 1024gb territory for around $350. Could be a long wait :P
Well given the number of years it's going to take before they come down in price, i was assuming that the size of games will continue to increase to ridiculous proportions. Won't be surprised if games start eating up 25gb of hard drive space in the near future.
I can't remember which one it was that is already slated to consume 18 GiB of space. I'd say we'll hit 25 within a year from now.
Hard drives have a base cost (cost of the platters, general circuitry, casing, heads, etc.) and once you get beyond that base cost, you're paying for precision and therefore density. That's why hard drives of enormous capacity are relatively cheap and usually fall in price rather quick when something bigger comes out.
Solid state drives, on the other hand, have an increased cost in production with increased density. Right now, the density is increasing faster than Moore's Law dictates it shrinks. The result is extremely high prices due to high cost of manufacturing and improvements to process aren't keeping up. Simply put, I can't see a 1 TiB drive becoming affordable for a very long time (at least for sure until dies shrink a lot). SSD is certainly an improvement on long term storage from HDD but, I can't see the technology ever replacing their old metal bretheran. We'll need something that sticks to Moore's Law for that to happen.
Hard drives have a base cost (cost of the platters, general circuitry, casing, heads, etc.) and once you get beyond that base cost, you're paying for precision and therefore density. That's why hard drives of enormous capacity are relatively cheap and usually fall in price rather quick when something bigger comes out.
Solid state drives, on the other hand, have an increased cost in production with increased density. Right now, the density is increasing faster than Moore's Law dictates it shrinks. The result is extremely high prices due to high cost of manufacturing and improvements to process aren't keeping up. Simply put, I can't see a 1 TiB drive becoming affordable for a very long time (at least for sure until dies shrink a lot). SSD is certainly an improvement on long term storage from HDD but, I can't see the technology ever replacing their old metal bretheran. We'll need something that sticks to Moore's Law for that to happen.
by: DanTheBanjomanThat'd be like wanting a 1TB Raptor
Why would you require a TB of high performance storage?
GTA IV (PC) will be 18GB
by: [I.R.A]_FBiSign me up. lol.
That'd be like wanting a 1TB Raptor
Vanguard is one game that is already over 20 GB and it is 2 years old now. I bought a 32 GB OCZ SSD to put it on and the speed difference is phenomenal.
by: DanTheBanjomanFAST PORN
Why would you require a TB of high performance storage?
I don't want to wait for the video to load:shadedshu
I've said it before and I'll say it again, age of conan is 3 dvds and 32 gig is taken up on your HDD. :)
by: DEFEATESTLol if you're an MMO fan.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, age of conan is 3 dvds and 32 gig is taken up on your HDD. :)
Install the following games:
WoW + expansions
FFXI + expansions
AoC
Guild wars
You've just filled 90-100gb. XD
i like samsung ssd but it still expensive