Gadgets and Gizmos

Samsung offers 128GB Solid State Drive

Samsung announced today that it would offer a 128GB Solid State Drive in the first half of 2008. The new drive uses multi-level-cell technology, using different voltages to store several bits per cell, and Samsung claims a write speed of 70Mbytes/sec - the fastest yet for storage of this type. The claimed read speed is 100MB/sec. Samsung pioneered the use of SSDs when it used a 32GB one in a version of its Q1 ultra-mobile.

Samsung’s 128GB SSD will be demonstrated in a notebook PC at CES 2008 in its Semiconductor Product Showcase, Room N236, at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), North Hall, 2nd Floor. The complete suite of Samsung SSDs will also be displayed at Samsung Electronics’ Booth 11033, in the LVCC’s Central Hall.

Featuring a 3.0 gigabit-per-second SATA II interface, the new 128GB SSD uses native command queuing and spread-spectrum clocking to add to its higher performance levels.

It also features device/host-initiated power management for an exceptionally low power consumption level of 0.5W in active mode. Samsung’s state-of-the-art wear-leveling technology, combined with its advanced flash management technology, provides high reliability for its MLC-based-SSD and a mean time between failures (MTBF) of one million hours.

The data reading speed is even higher at 100MB/s, helped by the 3 gigabit-per-second SATA II interface and some nifty controller processing.

These multi-level cell (MLC) drives feature a SATA II interface and the uses native command queuing and spread-spectrum clocking to boost the performance levels. It also features device/host-initiated power management. Both the models are set for production in the first half of 2008.