Massive (or at least decently sized) SSDs are still priced too far into the stratosphere to be practical replacements for traditional magnetic storage-based hard disk drives – but the performance advantages of SSDs are just far to compelling to ignore.
SSD makers are now hoping to attack that angle by offering more affordably priced solutions that can sit in a happy middle ground, but proposing small SSDs that are large enough to function as boot drives that hold the operating system and system files.
Kingston will ship next month the SSDNow V Series 30GB Boot Drive which will be promotionally priced at $79.99 after rebates (U.S. only). Performance is rated up to 180MB/sec. read, 50MB/sec. write. The SSD will offer Windows 7 TRIM support, which helps the SSD maintain high performance through the life of the drive.
"In our quest to bring SSDs into mainstream use, we're aiming to deliver a lower price point while boosting performance. The new SSDNow V Series 30GB Boot Drive accomplishes those goals," said Ariel Perez, SSD business manager, Kingston. "Desktop users can extend the life cycle of their systems with this drive and IT managers in the enterprise space like it as there is less data for them to backup to the network. In addition, we will also release a 30GB SSD twin-pack for prosumers and enthusiasts who want to take performance to the next level."
Last week, Intel's 40GB X25-V drive for $130 finally arrived at retail, giving those who need a fast boot drive a solution available today.
Even though capacity may be limited, RunCore demonstrated at CES that even the most modest of computers can be given new life and become usable again with an SSD upgrade.
