Search
Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
39 comments

Transcend Has a PATA SSD For Your Aging PC

By - Source: Tom's Hardware US

There is a way to update an old PC with PATA/IDE SSD that have been announced by Transcend.

The PSD320 series is offered in a 2.5-inch form factor with capacities of 32, 64 and 128 GB.

According to the company, the SSDs are designed to replace traditional 2.5-inch HDDs to lower power consumption and increase read-write data performance. The drives are rated at read and write transfer speeds of 104 MB/s and 93 MB/s, respectively. Transcend said that the PSD320 drives support PATA, Ultra DMA modes 0-6, PIO modes 0-4, and multi-word DMA modes 0-2.

There was no information of pricing, but we were told to expect street prices to begin at about $70 for the 32 GB model.

You need to be logged to post a comment

There are 39 Comments. B
Top Comments
  • 30 Ð
    sublime2k , March 31, 2012 4:34 AM
    I'm waiting for AGP version of GTX 680.
  • 16 Ð
    g0rd0 , March 31, 2012 4:08 AM
    Now if only they could make a solid state floppy, it takes forever to flash the BIOS....
Other Comments
  • 1 Ð
    anonymous@guest , March 31, 2012 3:16 AM
    I could use this for my old laptop... but how is TRIM implemented with ATA?
  • 6 Ð
    Chainzsaw , March 31, 2012 3:25 AM
    Quote:
    I could use this for my old laptop... but how is TRIM implemented with ATA?


    I'm guessing it doesn't. Most likely some kind of internal GC (garbage collection).
  • -2 Ð
    christoi , March 31, 2012 4:04 AM
    At that price, a CPU, motherboard and RAM upgrade may be a better choice. Something like a G530, ASRock H61M-VS and 4GB RAM would be much better (costs ~$120).
  • 16 Ð
    g0rd0 , March 31, 2012 4:08 AM
    Now if only they could make a solid state floppy, it takes forever to flash the BIOS....
  • 4 Ð
    memadmax , March 31, 2012 4:17 AM
    This would be good for proprietary equipment that can't be removed quite yet, but more speed is desired. Mostly manufacturing control type machines, centrally controlled POS systems. Those are the machines that the person is smashing on when they take ur money at mcdonalds or some supermarket, gas station, etc... Just about any computer that has a motherboard with a ISA slot with some goofball proprietary interface card on it..... Where the owner doesn't want to tear out the whole thing just for a little burst of speed at closing time.......
  • -2 Ð
    nekatreven , March 31, 2012 4:20 AM
    Haaaa Haa!
  • 4 Ð
    Branden , March 31, 2012 4:29 AM
    yes this sounds a bit stupid, the same way releasing a CD burner with lightscribe in 2012 sounds stupid.
    but i can imagine there being a small (yet not insignificant) market for it, and transcend is smart for seeing this.
  • 30 Ð
    sublime2k , March 31, 2012 4:34 AM
    I'm waiting for AGP version of GTX 680.
  • 1 Ð
    drwho1 , March 31, 2012 4:44 AM
    April 1 got early this year.
    LOL
  • 7 Ð
    TeraMedia , March 31, 2012 4:45 AM
    Might help a laptop with little RAM, but not sure it's worth the investment. 4 x that buys a new laptop.
  • -1 Ð
    cookoy , March 31, 2012 4:47 AM
    Better to invest in the future and let old units go into retirement. That is if you got the budget.
  • 4 Ð
    nurgletheunclean , March 31, 2012 4:50 AM
    christoiAt that price, a CPU, motherboard and RAM upgrade may be a better choice. Something like a G530, ASRock H61M-VS and 4GB RAM would be much better (costs ~$120).

    It absolutely is, except that this drive is the 2.5" format for laptops, you'll notice in the picture there's no 4pin molex connector. This is the only reason this thing would make sense since....

    a regular sata interface can be adapted to pata with a cheap adapter and vice versa. like this:
    http://www.meritline.com/ide-to-sata-or-sata-to-ide-adapter---p-36542.aspx
    Eliminating the need for a specialized product like this.

    This would only be useful for laptops, since it should carry a price premium for being a niche product, and the fact that it would physically fit in the laptop where there are space constraints.

    Again bad idea. Since you'll typically be way better off just buying a new laptop, since laptops are cheap and your pata equiped laptop is practically obsolete by now, anyway.
  • 2 Ð
    artk2219 , March 31, 2012 4:53 AM
    I actually remember working on a core 2 laptop that had a pata drive, I thought it was so odd until I realized the manufacturer was probably using the old stock motherboards for the core duo since they shared the same mobile socket.
  • 2 Ð
    omega21xx , March 31, 2012 5:50 AM
    I actually saw these on their site quite a while back and they are expensive. Haven't checked recently for the prices though. Building a new computer is ultimately a better route.
  • 2 Ð
    alidan , March 31, 2012 5:57 AM
    if i had the ability i would use light scribe over my crappy handwriting,
  • 1 Ð
    __-_-_-__ , March 31, 2012 7:10 AM
    no Transcend, you are not focused on what is really important... consumers don't really want new SSD's with new interfaces and such. just focus yourselves on lowering the prices!
  • 3 Ð
    Marco925 , March 31, 2012 7:13 AM
    christoiAt that price, a CPU, motherboard and RAM upgrade may be a better choice. Something like a G530, ASRock H61M-VS and 4GB RAM would be much better (costs ~$120).

    Perhaps people want to breathe new life into their old machines.
  • 1 Ð
    dreadlokz , March 31, 2012 8:10 AM
    good for ppl with old notebooks, nothing else ;x
Display more comments
Related Content