Gizmodo: mlc

Seagate Won't Do Flash SSDs, Waiting For Next-Gen Tech

Kit Eaton — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:03:36 EST

Just last month we were reporting "Seagate to begin to switch to SSD" and now company CEO Bill Watkins has said that that's not quite the truth. Seagate will indeed be launching an enterprise-level SSD in 2009, but will not enter the "mobile SSD" market. Whyever not? Because there's no money to be made there: "Right now if you look at it whether it's Micron or Samsung or SanDisk - they're selling at a loss. To do the product is not a big deal but to make money at it - it's important to us." he notes. Instead the company is banking on post MLC technology, something like "a spin around magnetic RAM, it could be a phase shift type of process" says Watkins. Seagate hard drives might be around for a while longer. [Silicon via MRAM-info]

Samsung Tweaks SSD Design for Low-Cost, Low Density Drives for Netbooks

Kit Eaton — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:45:00 EDT

Samsung came up with news that it was going to make 128GB SSDs cheaper last month, and now its saying that it's adjusted its production to also give low-cost, low-density 32GB drives. The SATA II drives will be just 30% of the size of 2.5-inch SSDs, based on the same muti-level cell technology as the earlier 128GB devices, and will come in 8, 16 and 32GB versions. The 32GB version will even have pretty good access speeds: 90MBps to read data (sequentially) and 70MBps to write. Since the devices are "highly cost-efficient to manufacture" you should expect the pricing to be attractive—just the thing for your cheap netbook, perhaps—when they go in to mass production next month. Press release below.

Samsung Introduces High-Performance, Low-Density SATA II SSDs for Low-Priced PC Market
SEOUL, South Korea —(Business Wire)— Aug. 26, 2008 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced today that it has begun sampling low-density, higher-performance solid state drives (SSDs) that are only 30 percent of the size of 2.5-inch SSDs and highly cost-efficient to manufacture. With the introduction of these smaller, low-capacity SSDs, Samsung now offers an attractive replacement for existing hard drives used in low-cost PCs. Available in densities of 8GB, 16GB and 32GB, the new multi-level-cell SSDs will be mass produced beginning next month.

"We've refined our manufacturing techniques and redesigned our low-density SSDs to get what the low-priced PC market is looking for in the way of improved cost, performance and availability," said Jim Elliott, Vice President, Memory Marketing, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.

The low-density Samsung SSDs use the same high-performance SATA II controller technology as that being used on Samsung's just-introduced MLC-based 128GB SSD.

Samsung's new MLC-based SSD at 32GB capacity will read data (sequentially) at 90MB/s and write it (sequentially) at 70MB/s - performance levels much greater than low-density SSDs on the market today. The 16GB reads at 90MB/s and writes at 45MB/s, while the 8GB reads at 90MB/s and writes at 25MB/s.

Samsung incorporates four individual 16 gigabit (Gb) MLC NAND chips in its 8GB SSD, as well as four dual-die packages and four quad-die packages of 16Gb NAND for its 16GB and 32GB SSDs respectively. Furthermore, by including a 32MB DRAM as the buffer and four-channel system for the new low-density SSDs, these solutions are better suited for high-speed reading environments.

Samsung has expanded its SSD market offerings since it introduced its first SSD in 2006 in 16GB and 32GB capacities targeted at the Ultra Mobile PC market. This was followed by the announcement of the 64GB SSD in 2007, a 128GB SSD in 2008, and sampling of a 256GB SSD in the second half of 2008.

With increased sales of low-cost PCs and recent efforts by most major PC manufacturers to develop their own low-cost PC offerings, the market for lower density SSDs has been experiencing explosive growth. By unit sales, the low-density SSD market is expected to increase annually by 57% until 2011, with SSDs for low-priced PCs being the main driver of market demand.

[Samsung]

Samsung Starts Mass Production of Cheap 128GB MLC Solid State Drives

Kit Eaton — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 04:20:06 EDT

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, optimized 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.

Toshiba Introduces 3 New SSD Flavors, 128GB is the Tastiest

Sean Fallon — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:50:34 EST

Toshiba is throwing its hat into the SSD business with a new line of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND SSDs in three distinct flavors: 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. They will also be available in three distinct form factors: embedded module, 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch drive enclosures. Expect 100MB/s peak read speed, 40MB/s peak write speed, a SATA II interface, and a lifespan of 1,000,000 hours. No word yet on pricing, but we should be able to see these on store shelves starting in March 2008. [infosync and MacBidouille via Ubergizmo]