I-O Data rolled out the SSDN-3V line of consumer SSDs. Built in the Ultrabook-friendly 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor, the drives just about take advantage of SATA 6 Gb/s interface, and include a USB adapter that lets you plug it externally, to clone your existing software installation, using the included Acronis True Image 2013 software license. Available in 60 GB (SSDN-3V60), 120 GB (SSDN-3V120), and 240 GB (SSDN-3V120) capacities, the drives appear to be based on a SandForce 2281 controller platform, offering transfer-rates of up to 308 MB/s reads, with up to 185 MB/s writes. A 7 to 9.5 mm adapter comes included. The three are slated for the end of May.Source: Hermitage Akihabara

Other World Computing (OWC) www.macsales.com, a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today the OWC Envoy Pro EX ultra-portable Solid State Drive solution. Elegantly designed in anodized aluminum to match modern Macs and PCs, the Envoy Pro EX fits easily into a coat pocket, backpack, or briefcase for rugged mobile high performance storage and/or backup capacity.

SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Bus-Powered SSD
Inside the Envoy Pro EX resides a SandForce Driven OWC Aura Pro 6G SSD which offers real world sustained reads up to 436 MB/s and writes up to 429 MB/s. Besides offering blistering fast performance, the USB 3.0 interface can bus-power the Envoy Pro EX so an AC power adapter isn't required.

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, today introduced the OWC Mercury Helios+E2 Thunderbolt SSD Solution. The bootable 'all-in-one' storage performance and expansion solution offers owners of Thunderbolt technology enabled Macs and PCs sustained read/write data throughput up to 617MB/s from up to 960GB of OWC Mercury SSD capacity; two Thunderbolt interfaces for connecting multiple Thunderbolt devices; and two eSATA 6Gb/s expansion ports for connecting up to an additional 32TB or more of external storage/backup capacity.

Intel expanded its performance-segment SSD 335 series with a new entry-level 80 GB variant (model: SSDSC2CT080AK5). It joins the 180 GB and 240 GB variants, and occupies a price-point around the 110€ mark (excl VAT), which makes it particularly pricey in comparison to 120 GB drives. SSD 335 combines an LSI-SandForce SF-2281 series controller with Intel-made 20 nm MLC NAND flash.

Intel didn't update the product sheet with details of the new 80 GB model, but its bigger siblings offer sequential speeds as high as 500 MB/s reads, with up to 450 MB/s writes. Built in the 9.5 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor, SSD 335 features SATA 6 Gb/s interface, and supports most standard consumer SSD features, including TRIM and NCQ. The drive should begin showing up on online stores worldwide, in both OEM (drive-only) and retail (includes bay-adapters and data migration software) trims.

First shown to crowds at this year's International CES event in January, ASUS' first enthusiast SSD, the ROG RAIDR, is heading toward a mid-May launch. A few more of its pictures and specs sheets were posted by SweClockers. As detailed earlier, the RAIDR is a compound SSD in the PCI-Express add-on card form-factor, with PCI-Express 2.0 x2 interface (supports x4, x8, and x16 slots). It uses two SandForce SF2281-driven SSD subunits striped in a hardware-abstract RAID 0 configuration. The subunits use Toshiba-made 19 nm MLC NAND flash chips, with 16 KB page size.

The ROG RAIDR supports TRIM command, NCQ and SMART, despite being a RAID 0-based SSD. It is bootable, and supports Windows 8 Secure Boot. Installing an operating system on the drive doesn't require any F6 drivers, as the controller masquerades as a standard AHCI controller and a single disk, with the subunits and their RAID 0 stripe completely abstract. This way, the drive can accept TRIM commands from the OS.

ADATA released a firmware update for its SSDs based on SandForce SF-22xx series controllers. These models include all capacity-variants of SX910, SX900, SP900, SP800, S511, S510 and S396. The new v5.0.7a, according to the company, improves TRIM performance, which affects the drives' write speeds. The firmware is also said to fix other "minor issues," although the company didn't detail them. The firmware is available as both the EEPROM binary image, and as an updater for popular operating systems.DOWNLOAD: ADATA Firmware Update 5.0.7a

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced a new 20 nanometer (nm) NAND flash version of its award-winning Vertex 3 SSD Series. The new Vertex 3.20 SSD is a 2.5-inch, 6 Gbps SATA III-based Multi-Level Cell (MLC) drive that implements the feature-set of the Vertex 3 Series but is built around smaller, state-of-the-art NAND flash process geometry.

Being that the Vertex 3 Series is one of OCZ's most popular SSDs to date, and has received numerous accolades from media reviewers globally, the implementation of 20 nm NAND flash will extend its availability and enable mainstream users of mobile and desktop platforms to improve gaming, multimedia, and the overall computing experience over traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) and other competing SSDs. The Vertex 3.20 SSD will be available in 120 GB and 240 GB storage capacities, with 480 GB capacities to follow soon.

Intel made an addition to its SSD 335 line of performance-segment consumer SSDs, which is currently available in just one capacity, 240 GB. The new 180 GB variant (SKU: SSDSC2CT180A4K5) retains the feature-set and rated speeds of its older sibling, boasting of up to 500 MB/s reads, up to 450 MB/s writes, and up to 52,000 IOPS 4K random write throughput. Based on the LSI-SandForce SF-2281 processor, the drive features 20 nm MLC NAND flash chips by IMFlash Technologies (Intel, Micron JV).

In addition, Intel updated the drive body design, which will also apply to newer batches of the 240 GB variant. The new design consists of a brace running the perimeter of the drive (without affecting its 2.5-inch 9 mm-thick size compliance), and a "circuit board" print art. Backed by a 3-year warranty, the Intel SSD 335 180 GB is priced at US $179.99.

Intel's performance-segment mSATA SSDs, the SSD 525 series, started selling in Japan under OEM packaging, although freely available in ground stores (much like bare hard drives). Based on the LSI-SandForce SF-2281 processor and Intel's own 25 nm MLC NAND flash chips, the SSD 525 is available in four capacities: 30 GB, 120 GB, 180 GB, and 240 GB. The 240 GB variant stands out, with speeds of up to 550 MB/s reads with 500 MB/s writes; while the others max out at 500 MB/s reads with 275 MB/s writes. The 30, 120, 180, and 240 GB variants are priced at 5,180¥ ($57), 14,480¥ ($160), 20,800¥ ($228), and 26,980¥ ($295), respectively.Source: PC Watch

Mushkin, Inc., an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance and mission-critical computer products, today announces the U.S. availability of the 480 GB Atlas mSATA solid-state drive. Mushkin's 480GB Atlas mSATA solid-state drive (Model No.: MKNSSDAT480GB) is initially available in the U.S. at Newegg.com, with worldwide availability scheduled for end of January. MSRP on Mushkin's 480GB Atlas mSATA SSD is $499.99 USD. The Atlas mSATA SSD is covered by a three-year limited warranty.

Mushkin's Scorpion line of PCI-Express SSDs, which made for good show at last year's CES, made a comeback with this year's, albeit with a design overhaul. To begin with, while last year's Scorpion featured a PCI-Express 2.0 x4 host interface, this year's Scorpion uses a newer controller, with double the host interface bandwidth, at PCI-Express 2.0 x8. Also, this year's Scorpion shows traces that are designed to hold capacitors that can keep the SSD running for a few seconds, just enough to "gracefully" shut it down in case of a power-failure, and safeguard data. The new Scorpion also appears to use an auxiliary SATA power input. Aside from these, the new Scorpion appears to use the same SandForce SF-2281 based SSD subunits as last year's drive (which is pictured at the far-right, below).

Among an avalanche of other major products, memory maker Mushkin announced a new line of USB 3.0 flash drives that are SandForce-driven, and pack no less than 240 GB of space for your precious (n). The drives use a USB 3.0 to SATA 6 Gb/s host controller PCB, which is then wired to another one, which holds a SandForce SF-2281 processor, which marshals fewer NAND flash chips than it's capable of. Yet, the drive is capable of over 300 MB/s of transfer-rates (read/write specifics not mentioned).

Mushkin, Inc., an industry‐leading designer and manufacturer of high‐performance and mission‐critical computer products, today officially announced the worldwide launch of its new enterprise class ProSpec series solid‐state drives (SSDs).

"We have time after time demonstrated to PC enthusiasts how Mushkin's solid‐state drive solutions can dramatically improve performance and reduce data transfer times, delivering levels of performance that have earned Mushkin its place as one of the top SSD manufacturers," said Brian Flood, Director, Product Management at Mushkin, Inc.

Mushkin, Inc., an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance and mission-critical computer products, today announces that the company will begin shipping the world's largest capacity mSATA Solid-State Drive in January 2013. As the latest addition to Mushkin's Atlas family of mSATA drives, the new solid-state drive delivers up a colossal 480 gigabytes (GB) of storage capacity on a single mSATA module.

"We're excited to present our latest Atlas 480 GB mSATA solid state drive, demonstrating once again Mushkin's consistent ability to combine top performance, functionality, capacity, and low-power innovation," said Brian Flood, Director of Product Development at Mushkin Inc. "Keeping z-height as low as possible and managing to fit eight NAND flash chips and a controller on a mSATA PCB was no easy feat, but now capacity-hungry Ultrabook and notebook users can go beyond the 256 GB mSATA barrier."

Intel's SSD 525 line of performance mSATA SSDs may be slated for 2013, but made an early debut with the company's NUC (next unit of computing) desktop. A 180 GB variant of the drive was put to test by VR-Zone, which is driven by LSI-SandForce SF-2281 processor, and features three Intel-made 20 nm MLC NAND flash chips (6-channels). The drive cracked Anvil Storage Utilities benchmark with 504 MB/s (compressible) and 463 MB/s (incompressible) sequential read speeds, 468 MB/s (compressible) and 240 MB/s (incompressible) sequential writes, and about 55,841 IOPS 4K random write (QD16) performance. The performance numbers make the drive appear nearly as fast as larger 2.5-inch SATA SSDs, and could be a boon for Ultrabook makers.Source: VR-Zone

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, announces its USB 3.0 Express RC8 has been certified as a go to market partner with Microsoft for usage with Windows To Go, a new feature of Microsoft's Windows 8 Enterprise edition. Windows To Go enables enterprises to provision a full corporate image on an external USB drive which users can boot and operate from almost any PC.

Certified through the Windows 8 Hardware certification kit, Super Talent's RC8 is one of the world's top USB 3.0 drives with SSD technology; it provides high random read/write speed capabilities and reports itself as fixed media. Supertalent RC8 meets and surpasses many of the performance requirements of Windows To Go certified drives.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it is shipping the next generation of its most cost-effective SSDNow V Series solid-state drive. The Kingston SSDNow V300 is a powerful upgrade solution for cost-conscious consumers looking to upgrade their existing desktop or notebook PC.

The new SSDNow V300 is 10x faster than a 7200 RPM hard-disk drive†. It is powered by an LSI SandForce Flash Storage Processor (FSP) solution customized for Kingston, and optimized for industry-leading 19 nm NAND Flash memory to deliver sequential read and write speeds of up to 450 MB/s. Using best-in-class components, SSDNow V300 combines quality, performance and affordability for first-time SSD users or anyone looking to upgrade an existing system.

Mushkin, Inc., an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance and mission-critical computer products, today announced the worldwide launch of its new 30 GB Atlas deluxe mSATA solid-state drive (SSD), scheduled to start shipping this month.

The new 30 GB Atlas deluxe, the latest from the award-winning mSATA SSD product line, is the fastest on the market, featuring read/write speeds up to 555/365 megabytes per second, and 4KB random read/write IOPS up to 92,000/70,000. Atlas deluxe delivers SSD reliability and performance, in a lower-powered, smaller mSATA SSD form factor that measures about an eighth of the size for easy installation on any device with an mSATA slot. Validated for NVELO Dataplex caching software and Intel Smart Response Technology, the Atlas deluxe mSATA is well-suited as a cache for existing hard drives or as a standalone SSD for thin and light laptops and Ultrabooks.

Other World Computing (OWC) www.macsales.com, a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today the OWC Mercury Aura Pro is the industry's first high-performance Solid State Drive upgrade for the new 2012 13" MacBook Pro with Retina display (rMBP) computers introduced by Apple last week.

Available in 480 GB capacity for immediate ordering and with additional capacities to be announced in November, the 6G (6 Gb/s) SandForce Driven Mercury Aura Pro offers rMBP owners up to nearly 3x more storage and/or backup capacity than the factory 128 GB flash module.

The 330 Series solid state drives are already old news for Intel as the Santa Clara-based company has already begun to roll out the 335 Series drives. The first 335 model, codenamed SSDSC2CT240A4K5, just went on sale in Japan and it features a 240 GB capacity, a 2.5-inch form factor (9.5 mm thickness), a SATA 6.0 Gbps interface, a SandForce SF-2281 controller, and 20 nm MLC (multi-level cell) NAND Flash memory.

Intel's 335 Series SSD delivers read/write speeds of up to 500/450 MB/s, is backed by a three-year warranty, and costs ¥16,980 (about $214). 80 GB and 180 GB models are expected to arrive in Q1 2013.Source: AKIBA PC Hotline

Mushkin, Inc., an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance and mission-critical computer products, today announced that its new line of slim 7 mm Mushkin Chronos Deluxe Solid-State Drives (SSDs) geared for the new generation of ultrabooks that has started shipping worldwide.

Continuing the tradition of Mushkin's award-winning Chronos Deluxe SSDs, the new drives unleash scorching-fast read and write speeds, cutting-edge SandForce technology, and unmatched performance for the dollar. Featuring high-speed synchronous MLC NAND, advanced controller technology, optimized NAND management and a SATA 6 Gb/s interface, Mushkin now offers enthusiasts the ability to upgrade their PC or notebook that pushes the limits of slim computing.

Super Talent Technology, a leader of NAND Flash storage solutions, today announced their fourth-generation Value SSD (VSSD), the VSSD Bolt. The new VSSD Bolt is perfect for business and home users who want the performance and durability gains of solid-state drives without breaking the budget.

The Bolt features a second-generation SandForce processor and offers fast read/write speeds of up to 250 MB/s – up to three times faster than previous-generation VSSDs. TRIM support and S.M.A.R.T. Command Transport (SCT) technology keep the Bolt performing like new and help prevent data loss by reporting on a number of reliability indicators.

Green House has today revealed to the world its newest solid state drive family, the GH-SSD32A Series which is made up of four models, all 2.5-inch in size and all equipped with MLC (multi-level cell) NAND Flash memory and a SandForce SF-2281VB1 controller.

Green House's SSDs also feature a SATA 6.0 Gbps interface, TRIM support, and a three-year warranty. The GH-SSD32A line includes 60 GB (550 MB/s read speed, 480 MB/s write speed), 120 GB (550/500 MB/s), 240 GB (550/500 MB/s) and 480 GB (540/420 MB/s) drives.

MyDigitalSSD has teamed up with SuperSSpeeds to offer the fastest and top performing solid state drives on the market today. Utilizing the SandForce SF-2281 controller and SLC NAND flash, the SuperSSpeed boasts incredible speed for advanced gaming, multitasking, and multimedia computing power. Rated at 550MB/s Read and 520MB/s Write, the SuperSSpeed is proof that in this day and age, you get what you pay for, being arguably 20 times better than its nearest MLC rival at only twice the expense including accessories.

As with all MyDigitalSSD drives, the SuperSSpeed runs cool and quiet with no moving parts to create heat. Coupled with being shockproof, meaning that dropping your SSD or notebook no longer means losing your data, the SuperSSpeed it a far more durable and reliable upgrade to a traditional spinning hard drive (HDD).

SP/Silicon Power, the world's leading provider of memory storage solutions today launches the new Slim series 7 mm 2.5" SSD for the new generation of ultra slim notebook. Built in a slim and stylish enclosure, the new SSD unleashes the full potential of the 6 Gbps SATA III interface to further expand computing experiences and mobility.

Unlike the standard 9.5 mm SSD, SP Slim series features a new slim 7mm form factor for easy integration into the latest mobile computing platforms. Presented in a chic aluminum metal body, the Slim series SSD perfectly complements Ultrabook in design, and its impressive transfer rates make it the ideal SSD upgrade solution. Powered by the latest SandForce technology, SP Slim series can significantly reduce boot time, quickly load applications and provide higher reliability and durability over traditional hard drive.