Hannover, Germany, March 4, 2010 — Corsair, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer and flash memory products, today announced the Force Series of SSDs, providing outstanding SATA II performance based on innovative SSD Processor technology from SandForce Inc.

By utilizing the state-of-the-art SandForce SF-1200 SSD processor combined with MLC flash memory, the Corsair Force Series of solid-state drives deliver outstanding performance figures of up to 280MB/sec read and 260MB/sec write. In addition, these drives feature class-leading random read/write performance.

Western Digital today announced that it has started shipping its first solid state drive (SSD) aimed at consumers. The new 2.5-inch SiliconEdge Blue SSD comes in capacities of up to 256GB and features a native serial ATA 3.0 gigabits per second interface with read speeds up to 250MB/sec and write transfer rates up to 170 MB/sec. The multi-level cell (MLC)-based SiliconEdge Blue SSD features advanced wear-leveling firmware which evenly distributes data on the drive to help increase drive longevity.

"When we first tested the RunCore Pro IV solid state drives we had no idea that the Indilinx Barefoot firmware would be updated more often than your typical motherboards BIOS. Some people may be a little disheartened by this since it can be a pain to update firmware every couple of months, but for the most part enthusiasts welcome the additional features and with them performance advantages that come from the latest in technological achievements.

When it comes to firmware updates for solid state drives, the company that manufactured your drive DOES MATTER!

FREMONT, California, February 26, 2009 — Corsair, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer and flash memory products, today announced the addition of the Reactor Series and Nova Series to its family of solid-state drives (SSDs). Both the Nova Series and Reactor Series provide the performance benefits of solid-state technology at an attractive cost per gigabyte.

The Reactor Series, including 60GB and 120GB drive capacities, is built using the new JMicron JMF612 controller.

Storage Visions® 2010, Las Vegas, NV, January 05, 2010 — Lexar Media, a leading global provider of memory products for digital media, today announced the Crucial RealSSD C300 drive, its highest-performing solid-state drive. Building on the success of the popular Crucial SSD line, the new Crucial C300 offers mobile and desktop users the fastest SSD read and write speeds available to end consumers.

San Jose, California - January 21, 2010 - Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today announced a new line of TeraDrive SSDs designed specifically for high end enterprise and database server applications.

"Super Talent has a solid track record of developing leading edge SSDs. Their new TeraDrive series, incorporating SandForce technology, is an impressive advance in enterprise storage" commented Thad Omura, VP Marketing at SandForce Inc.

Introducing the Icy Dock MB990SP-B Dual 2.5" to 3.5" SATA and IDE Solid State and Hard Disk Drive Converter. This dual bay drive bracket allows you to use two SATA or IDE SSD and HDD in an internal 3.5" drive bay in most standard cases. Since most cases are not set up to use 2.5" form factor, the MB990SP-B allows you to make a huge upgrade to your system with very little effort.

The bracket will fit most types of cases. Out of the box it can be used in both tool-less and standard cases.

San Jose, California - January 6, 2010 - Super Talent Technology, an inventor of USB 3.0 flash drives, today announced volume shipment of its newly announced USB 3.0 RAIDDrive. The new drive, available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities, is fully backward compatible with USB 2.0 standard and operates at 10x speeds when used in conjunction with a USB 3.0 port.

FREMONT, California, December 21, 2009 — Corsair, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer and flash memory products, today announced that it has released firmware with TRIM support and a firmware update tool for its award-winning Performance Series P64, P128 and P256 solid-state drives.

The firmware (revisionVBM19C1Q) and update tool were both developed by Samsung, and have been rigorously qualified by both Samsung and Corsair using a large number of test platforms, in conjunction with a controlled end-user BETA test of the new firmware.

"This new firmware release for Corsair's Performance Series SSDs adds support for the TRIM performance-maintenance command in Microsoft Windows 7, further enhancing what are already some of the fastest and most respected SSDs on the market," said Jim Carlton, VP of Marketing for Corsair. "While other SSD manufacturers have rushed out bug-ridden firmware and update tools, sometimes with disastrous consequences for end-users, Corsair refused to jump on the bandwagon. We took the time to rigorously test and quality our tools, ensuring that our users will have the best experience possible."

In July of 2008 we published the first State of Solid State article. In it we talked about products that were on the horizon, pricing and where we thought the market was headed. Looking back, even I am surprised at how accurate the article was and how long the information was valid for. Like all things in this industry, eventually all things become dated, so it is time to make some new predictions, look at emerging technologies and even make some suggestions to the companies that are offering products to the masses.