Jan 6 2010
Toshiba Corp. (Toshiba) and Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC), its subsidiary in the Americas, today announced an expanded line up of NAND-flash-based solid state drives (SSDs) including the industry's first 128-gigabyte(1) (GB) Half-Slim /mSATA SG Series SSD modules ideally suited for a variety of applications including mini-mobile/netbook PCs, and a third generation, high performance HG3 Series featuring higher performance read/write SSDs.
Both families of SSDs are based upon Toshiba 32nm Multi-Level Cell NAND. The new HG3 generation SSD delivers an industry competitive, high level of performance and endurance for use in notebook computers, gaming and home entertainment systems. Both drives series will be showcased for media at Digital Experience! during International CES 2010 at the Mirage Hotel Wednesday, January 6 and on the Toshiba website at ssd.toshiba.com.
Samples of the new drives will be available in the first quarter (January to March) of 2010, with mass production in the second (April to June) quarter.
The industry's first 128GB mSATA and Half-Slim modules, the fruits of Toshiba's layering technology, are ideal for applications enabled by smaller form factors and lower power such as mini-mobile PCs, netbooks and other mobile applications. The Toshiba SG2 series, with a maximum sequential read speed of 180 MB per second (MBps)(2) and maximum sequential write speed of 70 MBps, provides greater design flexibility and saves space and cost compared to SSDs in hard drive form factors and cases. The 128GB modules are only one seventh the volume and one eighth the weight of 2.5-inch form factor SSDs, and consume a fraction of the power.
Toshiba's 3rd-generation HG3 High Performance SSDs deliver the performance needed for higher end notebook computers. An advanced MLC controller supports higher read speeds, parallel data transfers and wear leveling to optimize performance, which increases reliability and endurance. The drives enable improved system responsiveness with a maximum sequential read speed of 250MB per second (MBps)(2) and maximum sequential write speed of 180MBps, enabling an improvement in overall computing experience, with faster boot and application loading times. The drives are offered in capacities of 64GB, 128GB, 256GB and 512GB in a standard 9.5mm, 2.5-inch case, or in a special 7mm thin 2.5-inch case in capacities of 128GB or 256GB. Smaller 1.8-inch drives are available in 64GB, 128GB or 256GB in a standard 1.8-inch disk drive case or as case-less or LIF-modules. The drives also offer AES data encryption to support only authorized data access.
Both new series support the TRIM Command implemented in Windows 7. In earlier models of solid state drives, a data block from which data was deleted was flagged as not in use and ignored by the controller. Once all the memory cells were written to once, this approach slowed down SSD operation. TRIM enables the OS to tell the SSD controller that the data can be actually deleted, freeing the blocks for subsequent use and maintaining SSD performance across its life.
Toshiba will continue to promote innovations that widen the horizons of the NAND Flash market and support its continued leadership in that market. The company will spur demand for SSDs in notebook PCs, netbooks, laptops and digital consumer products by enhancing its lineup, offering products with different densities and interfaces in a range of packages, while advancing device performance.