RSS Feeds
Hardware
Samsung Starts Mass Production of Cheap 128GB MLC Solid State Drives
Posted by Kit Eaton at 6:20 PM on July 9, 2008
We mentioned it back in February, and Samsung has now come good with its promise, announcing today that it's started mass-production of 128GB SSDs. They're of the slightly slower but cheaper multi-level cell technology, with a read speed of 90MBps and write speed of 70MBps. And Samsung claims they'll have a life span around "20 times longer than the generally accepted 4-5 year life span of a notebook PC hard drive." It'll be interesting to see what this move does to the price of SSDs, particularly now that we like them again. Press release below.
Seoul, Korea - July 9, 2008: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced today that it has begun mass producing 1.8- and 2.5-inch multi-level cell (MLC)-based solid state drives (SSD) with a 128 Gigabyte (GB) storage capacity. Mass production of the Samsung MLC-based 64GB SSD also began this month.
"With the 64 GB and 128 GB MLC SSDs, we are satisfying the density requirements of most business users and many PC enthusiasts, who will appreciate not only the performance gains and added reliability, but also the more attractive pricing," said Jim Elliott, vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.
Samsung SSDs feature far greater reliability, faster boot times and faster application start-up times than hard disk drives. Power consumption for the Samsung SSD is exceptionally low in standby mode at approximately 0.2 watts and in active mode at 0.5 watts.
The Samsung MLC-based SSD has a write speed of 70MB/s and a read speed of 90MB/s - performance levels that approach those of single-level-cell (SLC)-based SSDs now in mass production. Moreover, the new 128GB SSD will last approximately 20 times longer than the generally accepted 4-5 year life span of a notebook PC hard drive.
Featuring a 3.0 gigabit-per-second interface, the 128GB MLC-based SSD consists of 64 MLC NAND flash memory chips of 16 gigabits each, optimised single-chip controller technology and advanced flash-management firmware technology. Enclosed in a brushed metallic casing, it measures 100mm x 69.8mm and is only 9.5mm thick.
Samsung is aggressively expanding its SSD market offerings. It introduced a 64GB SSD in the second half of 2007, and plans to begin producing a 256GB at the end of this year. Samsung's mass production of 128GB SSDs helps it to maintain its position as the leading producer of SSDs in the world, with capacities ranging from 32GB to the highest available today.
Samsung expects sales of SSD units to increase 800 percent between now and 2010, keeping SSDs on pace to be the largest growth segment in the NAND flash market over the next few years.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
rahilmehta
Posted 7:06 PM 9/7/08
@daftrok: That is what I figured. Imagine that...a 90 mbps read rate...haha. Only 11.25 MB/s
rahilmehta
daftrok
Posted 7:04 PM 9/7/08
He meant 90 MB/s and 70 MB/s
daftrok
daftrok
Posted 7:04 PM 9/7/08
OCZ's new 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB SATA-II SSDs ring in at $169, $259, and $479 respectively. So in other words, this thing has to be less than 500 bucks in order to be competitive in the market.
daftrok
rahilmehta
Posted 7:02 PM 9/7/08
It has a 90 megabyte per second read right? Please don't tell me it is a 90 megabit per second read. If it is megabyte, the article is a bit misleading since "b" is bit and "B" is byte.
Anyway, I wonder exactly how "cheap" is defined in this context...
rahilmehta
deernet
Posted 7:00 PM 9/7/08
@ChaoticMind: I guess supposedly mass produced=cheap. I hope so, high speed storage for the average user would be nice.
deernet
ChaoticMind
Posted 6:57 PM 9/7/08
where does it say "cheap" other than the title?
ChaoticMind
loslosbaby
Posted 7:48 PM 9/7/08
This is the Seagate ST4096 of the SSD market, early, important, and soon to be surpassed, but the first drive avail as a component that will be widely seen in the wild.
loslosbaby
Kit Eaton
Posted 8:11 PM 9/7/08
@danson: I'm not sure. Though I suspect it's a bit like painting the pilot's uniform in a plastic aircraft model. No-one'll ever see, but you know it's there...
@rahilmehta: Ah yes... the wonderful misuse of the shift key. Cheers. Fixed now :-)
Kit Eaton
danson
Posted 7:55 PM 9/7/08
Why does it have such beautiful brushed aluminum finish casing? This will be internally installed and then never seen again.
danson
Amen-Ra
Posted 8:32 PM 9/7/08
Does this mean bigger iPhones/iPod touches? Because then I'd buy one if I could actually fit my music and movie collection on these so-called "everything" phones that don't give you enough memory to hold everything. retarded.
Amen-Ra
yesthisisapc
Posted 8:24 PM 9/7/08
For most of the applications I'd use an SSD for, I'll take cheap over fast any day of the week.
yesthisisapc
Joseph
Posted 9:48 PM 9/7/08
@ChaoticMind: He's probably guessing that since they will be mass produced, they will be cheap.
Joseph
AndrewJayPollack
Posted 9:47 PM 9/7/08
@loslosbaby -- The ST4096 was a big deal, but the ST225 a few years earlier was in virtually everything for a while. The ST235 (50% more through advanced RLL technology!) was crap but was the half step toward the 4096. Those drives really defined the market space for years, until 'voice coil actuators' finally came along and replaced stepper motor bands to give us quieter, faster, and more reliable drives.
AndrewJayPollack
DashTheHand
Posted 10:42 PM 9/7/08
Call me when a 300GB SSD 2.5" is under $200 and we'll talk about the word 'cheap' being used.
DashTheHand
fostina1
Posted 10:42 PM 9/7/08
rule #1. you shouldnt use cheap in a title if you have no price information.
fostina1
Dook_In_The_Urinal
Posted 10:35 PM 9/7/08
@Amen-Ra: I dare say theres more than enough room as it stands right now to fit more memory on the iTouch/iPhones mainboard, Apple just chooses not to. Especially considering there are 32gb flash drives the size of my pinkie.
Dook_In_The_Urinal
stryder100
Posted 10:20 PM 9/7/08
@Amen-Ra: Exactly. 16 gig (as in the "big" iPhone 3g) just ain't big enough when you're dealing with video and music. Throw in no expansion card slot and you've lost me as a customer.
stryder100
strider_mt2k
Posted 11:05 PM 9/7/08
What's the power usage on these things?
Wasn't there some concern recently that SSDs actually draw more power over time than spinning disks?
Regardless, it seems silly to want to put one in my trusty dusty old B130 at this point.
Maybe there will be one in the Dell E Video Plus I'm hoping for. :)
strider_mt2k
theshortguy
Posted 10:55 PM 9/7/08
Proof Read, Im stupid.
theshortguy
theshortguy
Posted 10:47 PM 9/7/08
When are they going to start to big memory with M-Resistors.
theshortguy
HawkSkater0
Posted 10:46 PM 9/7/08
i have a 6 year old dell laptop (from back when dell was ok) and its hd failed within the first month i had it, but the replacement one they sent me has been working for 6 years now without a problem. (knock on wood). I also used to have a 10 year old dell xps (yes they made them 10 years ago, and they were just as outrages as they are now, 64mb of ram! pentium II, Oh yeah baby) rocking windows 95, and the hd on it never failed, even after 10 years of use.
Who needs a hd that will last 100 years, 20 times 5 years = 100 years. I don't think i wont to pass my hd onto my kids, and i dont think i want to use a 100 year old hd, because in the future i am sure, operating systems will take up more then 128 gb.
HawkSkater0
B. Whaler
Posted 11:23 PM 9/7/08
256gb SSD?
I own a MBA, and I would upgrade in a New York minute for that feature alone.
I hope the next revision of the MBA offers that as an option.
B. Whaler
dmenafro
Posted 11:21 PM 9/7/08
anyone ever try raiding SSD? just curious
dmenafro
SigmundTheSeaMonster
Posted 11:54 PM 9/7/08
Wake when they have 500GB-1TB SSDs. And fix the Read/Write speed on the smaller blocks sizes.
SigmundTheSeaMonster
scarbrtj
Posted 12:08 AM 10/7/08
@dmenafro:
[www.nextlevelhardware.com]
scarbrtj
doublehelix
Posted 12:56 AM 10/7/08
sooo....cuanto cuesta?
doublehelix
rubicon_65
Posted 2:07 AM 10/7/08
@scarbrtj: Oops... seems you already answered the question!
rubicon_65
rubicon_65
Posted 1:59 AM 10/7/08
@dmenafro: I'm sure once the price comes down a bit(a lot) more, SSD RAID systems will become pretty common. It's just too expensive for the average Joe to do right now.
That said, I don't see why it can't be done. They behave like a normal drive, just without the spinning disks.
rubicon_65
Felix26591
Posted 3:00 AM 10/7/08
cool finally mass production, this will probably bring the price down over the next few years, while improving the technology to make it better for all us average JOe's
Felix26591
FireZingr
Posted 3:55 PM 10/7/08
@ Strider_MT2K
Samsung SSDs feature far greater reliability, faster boot times and faster application start-up times than hard disk drives. Power consumption for the Samsung SSD is exceptionally low in standby mode at approximately 0.2 watts and in active mode at 0.5 watts.
FireZingr