QLC
Crucial introduced the X6 Portable SSD last year as an entry-level alternative to their NVMe-based X8 Portable SSD. Launched in capacities of up to 2TB, the X6 adopted a 96L 3D TLC version of the BX500 SATA SSD along with an ASMedia ASM235CM SATA to USB 3.2 Gen 1 bridge chip. Today, the company is launching a unique high-performance product in the external SSD space within the same X6 family. Direct flash-to-USB controllers have traditionally been used only in thumb drives, where compactness is the primary feature. These controllers present a number of advantages including significant reduction in bill-of-materials (BOM) cost and overall device power consumption. However, such controllers have typically been restricted to speeds of around 400MBps. Taking advantage of the USB 3.2 Gen...
How We Test PCIe 4.0 Storage: The AnandTech 2021 SSD Benchmark Suite
Our new SSD test suite is ready, updated and expanded for the latest trends in storage including PCIe 4.0 and QLC NAND.
70 by Billy Tallis on 2/1/2021Phison at CES 2021: New USB SSD Controllers, Adds E21T For Low-End NVMe
At CES 2021, Phison gave us the usual updates on their SSD controller roadmap. The most significant new products coming this year are a pair of USB flash drive...
13 by Billy Tallis on 1/14/2021Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q USB / Thunderbolt 3 Dual Mode External SSD Review: Yin and Yang
The external storage market has shown renewed vigor in recent years, thanks in part to growth fueled by bus-powered flash-based storage solutions. The introduction of 3D NAND, coupled with...
14 by Ganesh T S on 12/14/2020Mushkin Announces 8TB M.2 SSD: ALPHA Series
Anyone in the market for high capacity 8 TB M.2 drives has so far only had one choice on the market. Today Mushkin is coming in as the second...
26 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 12/8/2020QLC Goes To 8TB: Samsung 870 QVO and Sabrent Rocket Q 8TB SSDs Reviewed
Flash memory prices have been on a downward trajectory for years. A decade ago, this trend was helping SSDs establish a foothold in the consumer market—largely for enthusiasts. Now...
149 by Billy Tallis on 12/4/2020Crucial Portable SSD X6 and X8 2TB Review: QLC for Storage On-the-Go
Bus-powered portable flash-based storage solutions are one of the growing segments in the consumer-focused direct-attached storage market. The emergence of 3D NAND with TLC and QLC has brought down...
18 by Ganesh T S on 10/21/2020Nimbus Data’s New ExaDrive NL: 64 TB of Enterprise Grade QLC in 3.5-inch
Today Nimbus Data, one of the first companies to venture into enterprise flash storage in 2003, is announcing its latest generation ExaDrive product. Following on from the success of...
27 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 8/26/2020USB 3.2 Gen 2 Portable SSDs Roundup - Featuring the Samsung T7 Touch and the SanDisk Extreme Pro
External bus-powered storage devices have grown in storage capacity as well as speeds over the last decade. Palm-sized flash-based storage devices with a Thunderbolt 3 interface are capable of...
38 by Ganesh T S on 1/23/2020AnandTech 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 12/31/2019Western Digital Begins Shipments of 96-Layer 3D QLC-Based SSDs, Retail Products
Western Digital announced this week that it has started shipments of its first products based on 3D QLC NAND memory. The initial devices to use the highly-dense flash memory...
28 by Anton Shilov on 11/1/2019Intel Announces SSD 665p: Denser, Faster QLC NAND
Intel's Memory and Storage Day event today in South Korea was mostly focused on enterprise and datacenter products, but they did announce an upcoming consumer SSD: The Intel SSD...
27 by Billy Tallis on 9/26/2019Micron: Shipments of 3D QLC for SSDs Nearly Double QoQ as Wafer Starts Cut Again
Micron was among the first companies to start mass production and shipments of 3D QLC NAND, so it is not surprising that at present it is among the leading...
11 by Anton Shilov on 6/28/2019ADATA Reveals Ultimate SU630 SSD: 3D QLC for SATA
ADATA has introduced its new entry-level SSD for client PCs. The Ultimate SU630 is the first drive from an independent maker of SSDs based on 3D QLC NAND, which...
14 by Anton Shilov on 11/15/2018SK Hynix Launches 96-Layer 3D NAND and Discloses QLC Plans
SK Hynix this week officially launched its new 96-layer 3D NAND flash memory chips, which feature a new architecture and a faster interface. The NAND has already been qualified...
4 by Anton Shilov on 11/8/2018Flash Memory Summit 2018, Micron Keynote Live Blog: QLC Flash
The afternoon keynote session has talks from Micron, SK Hynix, and YMTC, speaking all about future Flash products. This first talk is titled 'QLC Flash: Metting the Challenges of...
0 by Ian Cutress & Billy Tallis on 8/7/2018The AnandTech Podcast, Episode 48: Computex 2018
Wrapping up Computex 2018 with discussions about AMD's Threadripper 2 with 32 cores, Intel's new limited edition Core i7-8086K, and that really odd 28-core 5 GHz demo where Intel...
22 by Ian Cutress on 6/15/2018