SSDs

Western Digital expanded its WD Blue NVMe family of budget SSDs this week with the introduction of the the WD Blue SN5000 series, an updated lineup of SSDs that, among other things, adds a 4 TB model. Being budget drives, the SN5000 series is not going to be a performance monster, but their combination of capacity, reliability, and relatively low price could make them popular both among casual buyers and among enthusiasts looking for relatively cheap bulk solid-state storage. Western Digital's WD Blue SN500 NVMe drives come in an M.2-2280 form-factor and are based around an in-house WD controller (the company rarely discloses their codenames these days). WD's controller is a 4 channel, DRAMless design, which is what we typically see for budget and mainstream...

Kingston KC3000 PCIe 4.0 NVMe Flagship SSD Hits Retail

Kingston had previewed their 2021 flagship PCIe 4.0 x 4 M.2 NVMe SSD (codename "Ghost Tree") at CES earlier this year. Not much was divulged other than the use...

9 by Ganesh T S on 10/25/2021

SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE SSD and ArmorLock SSD Review

Western Digital introduced the SanDisk Professional branding in May 2021 for its G-Technology products targeting the content-capture market. The company has taken the opportunity to update some of the...

6 by Ganesh T S on 10/12/2021

Seagate Updates Game Drive SSD for Xbox with New Look and Internals

Seagate has been maintaining a line of Xbox-certified external SSDs since late 2016. The current Game Drive for Xbox SSD is based on the Seagate Fast SSD's internals and...

19 by Ganesh T S on 10/7/2021

Western Digital Updates WD Blue Series with SN570 DRAM-less NVMe SSD

Western Digital is unveiling its latest addition to the WD Blue family today - the SN570 NVMe SSD. A DRAM-less PCIe 3.0 x4 drive, it brings in performance improvements...

21 by Ganesh T S on 10/4/2021

Kingston DataTraveler Max UFD Review: NVMe Performance in a USB Thumb Drive

Rapid advancements in flash technology and continued improvements in high-speed interfaces have driven the growth of small, bus-powered portable SSDs. Kingston introduced the DataTraveler Max in August 2021 as...

12 by Ganesh T S on 9/30/2021

Western Digital Introduces WD Red SN700: PCIe 3.0 M.2 NVMe SSDs for NAS Systems

Western Digital's Red series of drives for network-attached storage systems has a significant share in various NAS market segments. The series started off with a focus on hard drives...

24 by Ganesh T S on 9/28/2021

Akasa M.2 SSD Enclosures Reviewed: Giving Spare Drives a New Lease of Life

The internal storage device market segment has seen rapid evolution over the last decade after the introduction of flash-based disk drives. Beginning with 2.5-inch SSDs in early 2010s, the...

15 by Ganesh T S on 9/22/2021

Seagate Introduces IronWolf 525 PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSDs for NAS Systems

Seagate's IronWolf series of drives for network-attached storage systems has gained significant traction in its market segments. One of the primary reasons has been the breadth of offerings -...

9 by Ganesh T S on 9/21/2021

USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Portable SSDs Go Native: The Silicon Motion SM2320 UFD Controller Preview

The external storage market has experienced rapid growth over the last few years, particularly in the retail consumer segment. It has been fueled in part by advancements in bus-powered...

18 by Ganesh T S on 9/16/2021

Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSD Review: RGB-Infused USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Storage

The gaming market has experienced significant growth over the last decade. In addition to boosting PC sales, the peripherals market associated with the segment has also expanded. Installed sizes...

17 by Ganesh T S on 8/27/2021

SanDisk Extreme PRO and Crucial X6 4TB Portable SSDs Review: Contrasting High-Capacity Storage Options

The portable SSD market has been steadily expanding thanks to the increasing digital footprint of consumers. Technological advancements such as 3D NAND with high layer counts and the emergence...

20 by Ganesh T S on 8/18/2021

SK Hynix Releases 2TB Version of Gold P31 NVMe SSD

Coming off of the popular reception of their first family of retail NVMe SSDs, SK hynix this morning is adding another model to the Gold P31 family: the long-awaited...

32 by Ryan Smith on 8/17/2021

Seagate Announces FireCuda 530 PCIe 4.0 SSD at SG21

The gaming segment continues to experience rapid growth in the PC market, and we have seen PC component vendors come up with launch events specifically targeting gamers. Seagate's...

23 by Ganesh T S on 6/23/2021

NVMe 2.0 Specification Released: Major Reorganization

Version 2.0 of the NVM Express specification has been released, keeping up the roughly two year cadence for the storage interface that is now a decade old. Like other...

24 by Billy Tallis on 6/3/2021

Micron Announces PCIe 4.0 Client SSDs

In Micron's keynote today at (virtual) Computex, the memory manufacturer announced they have started shipping the companies first PCIe 4.0 SSDs, using their latest 176-layer 3D TLC NAND flash...

30 by Billy Tallis on 6/1/2021

Marvell Announces First PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD Controllers: Up To 14 GB/s

Today Marvell is announcing the first NVMe SSD controllers to support PCIe 5.0, and a new branding strategy for Marvell's storage controllers. The new SSD controllers are the first...

47 by Billy Tallis on 5/27/2021

Western Digital Introduces WD Black SN750 SE SSD: Entry-Level PCIe Gen4

Among several announcements today, Western Digital is introducing a new more affordable PCIe Gen4 SSD under their gaming-oriented WD Black brand (styled WD_BLACK). The new WD Black SN750 SE...

14 by Billy Tallis on 5/26/2021

Western Digital Introduces WD Black D30 Game Drive External SSDs

Western Digital is adding a new external SSD to their WD_BLACK product line: the WD Black D30 Game Drive SSD. The D30 is a bus-powered USB SSD offering up...

5 by Billy Tallis on 5/26/2021

Caching And Tiering: Intel Optane Memory H20 and Enmotus FuzeDrive SSD Reviewed

Two competing products break out of the mold of typical consumer SSDs and combine two kinds of storage on one drive, with extra software to use that storage intelligently...

45 by Billy Tallis on 5/18/2021

Best SSDs: May 2021

A solid state drive is often the most important component for making a PC feel fast and responsive; any PC still using a mechanical hard drive as its primary...

21 by Billy Tallis on 5/14/2021

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now