New ssd brands, models, and upgrades

[JohnnyLucky]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

December was an interesting month. New ssd manufacturers and brands were announced while existing companies announced new ssd models. Here's the list of companies:

ADATA
Fusion-io
Galaxy
Monster Digital
OCZ
Orico
Plextor
Runcore
Samsung
Seagate
Stec
SuperTalent
Verbatim
Western Digital
Zalman

I thought the ssd database was pretty much up to date. Looks like I'll have to roll up my shirt sleeves tomorrow and do a major update.

Intel is conspicuously absent. Some web sites that cater to gamers and enthusists thought Intel would release the new 520 ssd before the end of the year. At the same time mainstream sites indicated Intel delayed the release of the 520. The mainstream articles turned out to be correct.

In addition there was a lot of speculation about the 520 Controller. A few individuals thought the new 520 might use a SandForce controller. Speculation, unsubstantiated rumours, and wishful thinking quickly spread among the gaming and enthusist community. Meanwhile over on the mainstream side there was speculation the 520 might use a new Marvell controller and Nand combination that is a SandForce killer. As usual Intel remained silent. Perhaps there will be some news at the big CES show that will take place in a few weeks.

Samsung turned out to be a quiet giant. Samsung supplies OEM versions of their popular 470, 830, and PM800 (mSATA) solid state drives for "off the shelf" brand pc's - Dell, Sony, Lenovo, Apple, and a few smaller brands. It is estimated Samsung has about 29% of that ssd market. The Samsung ssd's have an absolutely stellar performance record. There have been no major issues or problems. It appears Samsung has edged past Intel in ssd quality mainly due to problems the Intel 320 and 510 developed last Summer.

Samsung has done exceptionally well with just three models. All three are Samsung's own 100% in-house design and manufacture. OCZ has done just the opposite. Currently there are 35 OCZ models listed in the ssd database. OCZ and SandForce have experienced more than their fair share of issues and problems. That's quite a difference.

To be fair I should mention that Samsung has quite a bit of experience with solid state drives while OCZ is a relative newcomer. Samsung has been developing ssd's for quite a few years. Samsung released their first ssd in June 2006. Tom's Hardware published the first review of a Samsung 32GB ssd on September 20th, 2006. That was the same year that hard disk drives celebrated their 50th Anniversary.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

I was working on the ssd database this morning when I discovered the Crucial C300 SATA 2 3Gb/s ssd is no longer listed at the Crucial web site or at Newegg. Although the C300 is still available available for purchase at some web sites, it must be out of production. That leaves Crucial with just the m4 which is very popular with gamers and enthusiasts.

Like Samsung, Crucial has one SATA 2 3Gb/s and one SATA 3 6Gb/s ssd for desktop pc's. They are all excellent products. THG veteran posters often recommend Crucial. What a contrast when compared to OCZ. Samsung and Crucial each concentrated on two excellent products. Both companies have proven track records for quality and reliability. On the other hand OCZ used a shotgun approach and flooded the market with 35 models so far. In the process OCZ and SandForce took quite a few hits due to issues and problems.