ASUS’ RAIDR Express PCI-e SSD is compatible with both legacy and UEFI BIOS

ASUS' RAIDR Express PCI Expressbased SSD is compatible with both legacy and UEFI BIOS

These days, it's fairly easy to find a PCI Express-based SSD to transform one's desktop -- Angelbird, Fusion-io, Micron and ASUS will sell you one, just to name a few. That said, the last of those three has just revealed a new entrant that will certainly catch the eye of many, as the RAIDR Express claims to be the first PCI-e SSD to be compatible with both legacy and UEFI BIOS. The so-called DuoMode feature is joined by 240GB of storage space, sequential 830MB/s read and 810MB/s write speeds and a reported 620,000 hours mean time between failure (MTBF).

You'll also find the latest LSI SandForce controller, Toshiba-built 19nm MLC flash, and 100,000 4K read/write input/output operations per second (IOPS). The bundled RAMDisk utility allows users to dedicate up to 80 percent of a computer's available RAM for use as a high-speed virtual drive, and if you needed any further proof that it's fast, look no further than in the video after the break. Curiously, ASUS isn't talking pricing just yet, but it should start shipping in the very near future.

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Via: PC Perspective, Engadget Japanese

Source: ASUS

Fusion-io’s CEO and co-founder step down, new leadership looks to increase growth

Fusionio's CEO and cofounder step down, new leadership looks to increase growth

Times are a-changin' for Salt Lake City-based Fusion-io, as the company's CEO David Flynn has resigned alongside co-founder and CMO Rick White. It seems that both are stepping away in order to "pursue entrepreneurial investing activities," leaving the act of running one of the world's leading flash storage makers for Mr. Shane Robison. Effective immediately, Robison will be knighted chairman, chief executive officer and president, offering up over 30 years of experience in prior roles for AT&T, Cadence Design Systems, HP and Apple.

The outfit's stock price hasn't fared so well in the shuffle, and it seems that it's once again battling murmurs that a sale could be on the horizon. Combating that sentiment, Robison was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that a sale "is not my focus." Rather, he's hoping to "grow the company and build on what [it] has." Here's hoping it all pans out -- the world most certainly doesn't need one less company fighting for the death of the conventional hard drive.

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Source: Fusion-io

Samsung bundles Assassin’s Creed III with SSD 840 Pro to spark a sales revolution, ships the 840 line

Samsung bundles Assassin's Creed III with SSD 840 Pro to spark a sales revolution, ships the 840 line

Samsung's experiment with a Ghost Recon SSD bundle must have been a hit with gamers, since it's coming back for a second round the very same year. The upgrade-minded buying 128GB, 256GB or 512GB versions of the SSD 840 Pro can get a free downloadable copy of Assassin's Creed III for a "limited time" to take advantage of those 540MB/s peak read speeds while they skew the fate of the American Revolutionary War. The bundle comes not-so-coincidentally as Samsung has shipped and priced the wider SSD 840 line itself: while we knew the Pro line's impact on our wallets, the regular models are now ready to sell at prices between $140 for a 120GB drive to $700 for a 500GB model. That's a $50 to $190 savings over the Pro models, but we'll leave it to you to decide whether faster write speeds, slightly more capacity and Connor's secret fight with the Templars are worth the premium.

Continue reading Samsung bundles Assassin's Creed III with SSD 840 Pro to spark a sales revolution, ships the 840 line

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Samsung bundles Assassin's Creed III with SSD 840 Pro to spark a sales revolution, ships the 840 line originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Nov 2012 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LaCie intros Porsche Design drive for Macs with SSD and USB 3.0, helps the speed match the name

LaCie intros Porsche Design drive for Macs with SSD and USB 30, helps the speed match the name

Porsche Design may not be directly involved in building German supercars, but there are certain expectations to be met, aren't there? LaCie is rolling out a new version of its Porsche Design hard drive skewed towards Mac owners that should offer more of the performance you'd associate with the automotive brand. The P'9223 Slim SSD is a third thinner than its ancestor but carries the option of a 120GB SSD that makes the most of the USB 3.0 port. If all runs well, nearly any Mac launched in 2012 can shuttle data along at a brisk 400MB per second. Demanding Mac fans will need to pay $150 for the flash-based edition to have the P'9223 feel truly Porsche-like; others only have to spend $100 if they're content with the Volkswagen pace of a 500GB spinning drive.

Continue reading LaCie intros Porsche Design drive for Macs with SSD and USB 3.0, helps the speed match the name

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LaCie intros Porsche Design drive for Macs with SSD and USB 3.0, helps the speed match the name originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung creates F2FS file system for NAND flash storage, submits it to the Linux kernel

Samsung creates F2FS file system for NAND flash storage, submits it to the Linux kernel

Has the lack of NAND flash storage-optimized file systems been bugging you? Then you've got something in common with Samsung, which has developed F2FS (or "Flash-Friendly File-System") for the memory of choice for mobile devices and its specific "internal geometry." It's based on a log-structured method, but tackles problems associated with older file systems intended mainly for retro, spinning-disk storage. The company isn't keeping its hard work behind lock-and-patent either -- it's gone open-source and submitted the file system to the Linux kernel, meaning you could see it implemented in Android hardware of the future. It's nice to see Sammy contributing code for the greater good, and if you've got the skills to understand it, a low-down of F2FS is available at the source below.

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Samsung creates F2FS file system for NAND flash storage, submits it to the Linux kernel originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Oct 2012 11:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung SSD 840 Pro caters to speed seekers with faster random access

Samsung SSD 840 Pro caters to speed seekers with 100,000IOPS, faster writes

It's difficult to thrive in the solid-state drive world. Unless you've got just the right controller and flash memory, most performance-minded PC users will rarely give you a second glance. Samsung muscled its way into that narrow view with the SSD 830 last year; it intends to lock our attention with the new SSD 840 and SSD 840 Pro. The Pro's 520MB/s and 450MB/s sequential read and write speeds are only modest bumps over the 830, but they don't tell the whole story of just how fast it gets. The upgraded MDX controller boosts the random read access to a nicely rounded 100,000IOPS, and random writes have more than doubled to 78,000IOPS or 90,000IOPS, depending on who you ask and what drive you use. The improved performance in either direction is a useful boost to on-the-ground performance, as both AnandTech and Storage Review will tell you. We're waiting on details of the ordinary triple level cell-based 840 model beyond its 120GB, 250GB and 500GB capacities, although there won't be an enormous premium for the multi-level cell 840 Pro over existing drives when it arrives in mid-October -- the flagship line should start at $100 for a basic 64GB drive, and peak at $600 for the ultimate 512GB version.

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Samsung SSD 840 Pro caters to speed seekers with faster random access originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel pumps SSD 330 capacity up to 240GB, trims other drives’ prices to match

Intel SSD 330

If you haven't already dropped a solid-state drive into your computer, Intel just gave you a not-so-subtle nudge in that direction. Its entry-level SSD 320 has jumped in capacity from 180GB to 240GB, saving a few diñeiros for anyone who would rather not leap to the SSD 520 just to land a primary system drive. Either end of the price spectrum is also becoming a little more reasonable: the official reseller pricing has been slashed on the 320, 330 and 520 lines, even if Intel hasn't said by how much just yet. Intel's changes should be in immediate effect for those among us who just can't endure spinning storage one moment longer.

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Intel pumps SSD 330 capacity up to 240GB, trims other drives' prices to match originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 02:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RunCore rolls out Pro VI SSD for Ultrabooks in need of a jolt

RunCore rolls out Pro VI SSD for Ultrabooks in need of a jolt

Not to be left out of the Computex party, RunCore has just unveiled a 7mm-thick Pro VI solid-state drive to give new Ultrabooks a swift kick. The company is aiming squarely at the sunnier side of mid-range SSDs through a speedy JMicron controller that hits 550MB/s in reads, and a less aggressive but still brisk 380MB/s for writes. The SATA 6Gbps drive doesn't have any special tricks up its sleeves, but there's no doubt that it fits just about any ultrabook category: capacities swing from a very modest 32GB to a 512GB drive meant to take over from ho-hum spinning disks. While RunCore's customer list isn't public material, we wouldn't be surprised if a lot of extra-thin notebooks wending their way out of southeast Asia this year carry the Pro VI inside.

Continue reading RunCore rolls out Pro VI SSD for Ultrabooks in need of a jolt

RunCore rolls out Pro VI SSD for Ultrabooks in need of a jolt originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 18:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SanDisk’s new iNAND Extreme flash storage forms part of Tegra 3 ‘reference designs’

SanDisk readies iNAND storage for tablets and smartphones, forms part of Tegra 3 'reference designs'SanDisk has added a little more detail to its latest iteration of embeddable flash storage, iNAND Extreme. Built through 19 nm process technology, the flash memory is geared towards portables like smartphones and tablets, with SanDisk mentioning both Android and Windows RT in the same breath. Capacities will range from 16GB to 128GB and it's apparently already a core part of NVIDIA's Tegra 3 reference designs -- and we all know quad-core processor deserve the best. The 128GB version is capable of up to 45 MB/sec write and 100 MB/sec read speeds. SanDisk also mentions a new pair of PCIe-based SSDs for enterprise. Up to five of the Lightning PCIe SSAs (200GB / 400GB) can be connected together in a single system, while SanDisk also offers up a caching option for Windows users. You just have to be willing to stump up some more cash for the company's own FlashSoft software on top of a $1,350 entry price. The full details on both are waiting right after the break.

Continue reading SanDisk's new iNAND Extreme flash storage forms part of Tegra 3 'reference designs'

SanDisk's new iNAND Extreme flash storage forms part of Tegra 3 'reference designs' originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 11:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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