OWC (aka Other World Computing) said that it added four new "prosumer" SSDs to its Mercury Extreme Pro SSD line. The drives will come in four capacities--60 GB, 120 GB, 240 GB, and 480 GB. They also promise sustained read rates up to 285 MB/s with no speed degradation thanks to the tasty SandForce processor, write speeds of up to 275 MB/s, and sustained random 4KB write performance of 10,000 IOPS (with a burst of up to 30,000 IOPS).
The drives also feature a 7-percent over-provisioning to ensure a high level of data reliability. OWC said that SandForce DuraClass with ultra-efficient Block Management & Wear Leveling technologies eliminate the reduction in data transfer speeds over heavy long-term usage of the drive without the need for depending on external TRIM management.
"Utilizing SandForce DuraClass technology, the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD is able to provide up to 100X higher data protection than provided by ordinary SSDs as well as leading enterprise class hard disk drives," the company said. "By combining the highest level of Error Correction Code (ECC) and SandForce RAISE (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements) technology, the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD provides RAID like data protection and reliability without loss of transfer speed due to parity."
Although the drives aren't on the market just yet, consumers can head here to pre-order. Unfortunately, the SSDs aren't cheap, ranging from a meaty $219.99 for the 60 GB version to a crazy $1,579.99 for the 480 GB model. Although OWC didn't specify, the new small form factor SSDs are built for laptops, however the company also offers a separate adapter for desktop use.
