NVMe
At FMS 2024, the technological requirements from the storage and memory subsystem took center stage. Both SSD and controller vendors had various demonstrations touting their suitability for different stages of the AI data pipeline - ingestion, preparation, training, checkpointing, and inference. Vendors like Solidigm have different types of SSDs optimized for different stages of the pipeline. At the same time, controller vendors have taken advantage of one of the features introduced recently in the NVM Express standard - Flexible Data Placement (FDP). FDP involves the host providing information / hints about the areas where the controller could place the incoming write data in order to reduce the write amplification. These hints are generated based on specific block sizes advertised by the device. The feature is...
The Best NVMe SSD for Laptops and Notebooks: SK hynix Gold P31 1TB SSD Reviewed
SK hynix has entered the consumer NVMe SSD market with a big splash: the new Gold P31 has solid high-end performance, but its power efficiency blows the competition out...
80 by Billy Tallis on 8/27/2020SK Hynix Launches First 128 Layer 3D NAND SSD: Gold P31 NVMe
Last year SK Hynix re-entered the consumer retail SSD market with their Gold S31 SATA SSD. At CES 2020, they previewed a pair of consumer NVMe drives, the first...
20 by Billy Tallis on 8/18/2020Intel Previews 4-Layer 3D XPoint Memory For Second-Generation Optane SSDs
As part of Intel's Architecture Day 2020 presentations, Raja Koduri spent a bit of time talking about the status of their Optane products. Most of it was a recapitulation...
27 by Billy Tallis on 8/13/2020The Next Step in SSD Evolution: NVMe Zoned Namespaces Explained
In June we saw an update to the NVMe standard. The update defines a software interface to assist in actually reading and writing to the drives in a way...
46 by Billy Tallis on 8/6/2020Microchip Announces Flashtec NVMe 3108 PCIe 4.0 Enterprise SSD Controller
Microchip is announcing their first PCIe 4.0-capable SSD controller for low-power and entry-level enterprise SSDs. The new Flashtec NVMe 3108 is the smaller 8-channel derivative of the 16-channel Flashtec...
5 by Billy Tallis on 8/4/2020Memblaze Releases New PBlaze5 520 Series Low-Power Enterprise SSDs
Yesterday we saw Memblaze introducing a new series of low-power server-class NVMe SSDs that focus on providing excellent performance whilst maintaining lower power consumption levels, aiming at enterprises improving...
3 by Andrei Frumusanu on 7/30/2020Western Digital Announces Ultrastar DC SN840 Dual-Port NVMe SSD
Western Digital is introducing a new high-end enterprise NVMe SSD, the Ultrastar DC SN840, and a NVMe over Fabrics 2U JBOF using up to 24 of these SSDs. The Ultrastar...
25 by Billy Tallis on 6/24/2020Intel Announces D7-P5500 and D7-P5600 Series PCIe 4.0 Enterprise SSDs
Intel has yet to launch their first CPUs supporting PCIe 4.0, but other parts of the business are keeping pace with the transition: network controllers, FPGAs, and starting today...
36 by Billy Tallis on 6/18/2020Storage Matters: Why Xbox and Playstation SSDs Usher In A New Era of Gaming
A new generation of gaming consoles is due to hit the market later this year, and the hype cycle for the Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 has been...
200 by Billy Tallis on 6/12/2020ZADAK Announces First PCIe SSD: The Spark RGB M.2, NVMe Up to 2 TB
ZADAK, a company that up until now has primarily been known for its memory modules, has just announced its first-ever PCIe 3.0 SSD. The ZADAK Spark PCIe 3.0 x4...
22 by Gavin Bonshor on 6/10/2020Crucial Announces P5 and P2 NVMe SSDs: Going In-House for the High-End
Micron's consumer brand Crucial has introduced two new NVMe SSD product lines, including their first high-end NVMe SSD which features Micron's in-house SSD controller design. However, Crucial's adoption of...
31 by Billy Tallis on 4/23/2020Western Digital Introduces WD Gold Enterprise SSDs
On what would have been the first day of the Open Compute Project's annual Global Summit, Western Digital is bringing out a new line of enterprise SSDs. The WD...
20 by Billy Tallis on 3/4/2020Kioxia Releases First PCIe 4.0 SSDs: CD6 & CM6
Following through on their roadmap for transitioning to PCIe 4.0, Kioxia (formerly Toshiba Memory) has announced the availability of their first two PCIe 4.0 SSDs. The CD6 and CM6...
4 by Billy Tallis on 2/20/2020Western Digital Roadmap Updates: Energy Assisted Recording, Multi-Stage Actuators, Zoned Storage
Between CES at the beginning of the month, a series of presentations at Storage Field Day last week and a quarterly earnings report this week, we've heard from just...
115 by Billy Tallis on 1/31/2020Enmotus MiDrive: Rethinking SLC Caching For QLC SSDs
For consumer storage, CES 2020 brought a new wave of competition for PCIe 4.0 SSDs and promise of faster portable SSDs, but the most intriguing product demo was from...
44 by Billy Tallis on 1/30/2020CES 2020: ADATA Preparing Three PCIe 4.0 Consumer SSDs
Among a mountain of new product announcements at CES, ADATA previewed three upcoming high-end consumer SSDs supporting PCIe 4.0. These will launch under their XPG gaming-oriented brand, and will...
29 by Billy Tallis on 1/17/2020Phison At CES 2020: Preparing For QLC To Go Mainstream
NAND flash memory prices are projected to climb in 2020. The manufacturing transitions to 96-layer 3D NAND and beyond are not going to increase bit output as quickly as...
10 by Billy Tallis on 1/17/2020CES 2020: Innogrit SSD Controllers Score Multiple Design Wins
Innogrit is one of the latest SSD controller designers to enter the market, having come out of stealth mode and announced their roadmap last August at Flash Memory Summit...
7 by Billy Tallis on 1/17/2020CES 2020: Samsung 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 SSD Makes An Appearance
Samsung's booth at CES 2020 includes our first look at their next flagship consumer SSD, the 980 PRO M.2 NVMe SSD. This would appear to be Samsung's first client/consumer...
55 by Billy Tallis on 1/7/2020AnandTech Year In Review 2019: Solid State Drives
In 2019, flash memory prices have leveled out and have even crept back upward a bit, and new technologies have been slow to roll out, although we are currently...
42 by Billy Tallis on 12/31/2019