CDRLabs has taken yet another look at Crucial's popular MX500 Series SSD. This time around, we've reviewed the 500GB version of the drive which combines Silicon Motion's SM2258 controller with Micron's second generation 3D TLC NAND to deliver 560 MB/s read and 510 MB/s write speeds. The MX500 also offers a long list of features including AES 256-bit encryption, thermal and power loss protection, TRIM support and active garbage collection. It also comes equipped with Crucial's Dyamic Write Acceleration technology, which uses an adaptable pool of high speed, single-level cell flash memory to enable faster saves and file transfers.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced it is shipping the UV500 family line of SSD products. Available in multiple form factors, UV500 will be Kingston’s first 3D NAND-enabled SSD featuring full-disk encryption. UV500 is powered by the Marvell 88SS1074 controller, and combined with 3D NAND Flash, delivers incredible read/write speeds of up to 520MB/s and 500MB/s, making it 10x faster than a 7200RPM hard drive.

UV500 dramatically improves a system’s overall responsiveness with incredible boot, loading and transfer times; and, with no moving parts is far less likely to fail compared to mechanical hard drives. UV500 protects sensitive data with 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption and supports TCG Opal 2.0. It is available in three different form factors (2.5″, M.2 2280, mSATA) to accommodate any client system. UV500 is perfect as a boot drive or for primary storage as it is available in 120GB, 240GB, 480GB, 960GB and 1920GB capacities.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, today launched the HV300 and HD330 external hard drives. Measuring in at 10.3 mm thick the HV300 is one of ADATA’s slimmest large capacity external hard drives to date, and features a sleek and sophisticated design that’s sure to impress. The HD330 on the other hand is designed with durability in mind, featuring a robust silicone layer that protects it and the data inside from accidental drops and bumps.

HV300: Slim, Sophisticated, Safe
Sporting a profile of just 10.3 mm the HV300 slips easily into the pockets of briefcases and backpacks, and is equally easy to grasp in one hand. What’s more, it features an elegant design that’ll satisfy even the most discerning users, namely is eye-catching, glossy front cover surrounded by a beautifully textured frame. For an added injection of personality, users can choose from four2 colors to match their style: black, red, white and blue.

As the adoption of 4K Ultra HD video, emerging artificial intelligence (AI) applications and analytics drive the rapid growth and evolution of data in surveillance, Western Digital Corp. today unveiled the Western Digital Purple microSD card, purpose-built for the complex and dynamic data demands of modern surveillance cameras and edge systems.

Whether it’s a business employing surveillance video to keep their assets secure or a retailer utilizing surveillance to accurately analyze shopping behavior through video facial recognition, capturing and assessing every moment is critical. Optimized for 24/7 surveillance video capture, surveillance system operators can count on the robust Western Digital Purple microSD card to support a continuous surveillance workload. With its outstanding performance, the card captures and preserves video in a variety of high-definition and next-generation formats, including 4K Ultra HD video, as well as nimbly supports the movement of data to core data systems for analytics and fast business insights. The rugged and humidity-resistant design of this new card enables trusted video capture in a wide range of environmental conditions, including outdoors in snowy winters and indoors in hot and humid factory settings.

“From Big Data, to Fast Data, to data-centric applications such as surveillance, the volume, speed, variety and value of data continues to exponentially grow and transform. Leveraging our proven capabilities in consumer and industrial memory card innovation, the Western Digital Purple microSD card is the ideal solution for mainstream commercial surveillance data at the edge,” said Christopher Bergey, vice president of embedded and integrated solutions at Western Digital. “Whether capturing 4K video, used in AI-enabled cameras, or part of a larger data system supporting ‘smart surveillance’ applications, this rugged and intelligent card delivers ‘surveillance-class’ endurance and tremendous performance to enable trusted video capture in some of the harshest conditions. When combined with our popular Purple and Ultrastar hard disk drives (HDDs) to support data preservation and real-time analytics, Western Digital now provides the industry’s most comprehensive offering for surveillance data, from the edge to the core.”

Micron today announced general availability of the 128GB and 256GB density of edge storage microSD card solutions and collaboration with several leading video surveillance solution providers to promote surveillance-grade edge storage. Built on Micron’s industry-leading 64-layer 3D TLC NAND technology, the newly released solutions enable greater capacity in a smaller space, delivering up to 30 days of surveillance video storage in the camera itself.

Over 98 percent of all microSD cards sold globally in 2017 were used in consumer applications, according to IHS Markit. These consumer-grade memory cards are not designed and validated for commercial use in video surveillance applications. Micron’s industrial microSD cards are designed specifically for professional video surveillance use cases and include a three-year warranty for 24x7 continuous video recording usage. The Micron microSD card design and firmware is optimized to ensure a reliable, robust and low-maintenance system design that delivers 24x7 continuous recording capability with minimum video frame drops.

“Due to a lack of surveillance-grade solutions, organizations have relied on the use of retail microSD cards that are not optimized for 24x7 recording. As a result, these cards may fail earlier and also experience video frame drops as high as 30 percent,” said Amit Gattani, senior director of embedded segment marketing at Micron. “With a strong industry trend toward more analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) in surveillance cameras, there is a growing demand for higher reliability and higher density storage in the cameras. Micron is addressing this need with industry-leading density of 256GB in a surveillance-grade microSD card.”

Western Digital Corporation is meeting the escalating fast-transfer and high-capacity demands of professional content creators by enabling real-time 4K and 8K workflows with three new professional-grade ultra-fast solutions in its powerful G-Technology G-DRIVE and G-SPEED Shuttle product families.

Working with large 4K and 8K RAW video means massive file sizes and is undoubtedly one of the largest pain points for content editors. With new cameras capable of capturing over 400 MB/s of RAW data, there is an opportunity for content professionals to create incredibly high-resolution footage and ever-more immersive viewer experiences. It is not uncommon for a production crew to be on-location for two or three months recording three to four terabytes per day of footage from multiple cameras. With this expansion of data capture, comes a potential bottleneck in maintaining a real-time workflow on location – until now.

The unique and attractive Bolt B75 Portable SSD has joined Silicon Power’s (SP) lineup of noteworthy memory storage devices. In an effort to design a well-rounded portable SSD with combined design and performance prowess, SP blended the award-winning design of a previous device with the functionality of an in-demand SSD.

Inspiration for a Captivating SSD

Inspiration for the Bolt B75 SSD came from a German transport plane born nearly a century ago with corrugated metal skin. It inspired the Silicon Power design team to add strong, prominent, fortifying ridges to the Bolt B75 SSD. For SP diehards, the Bolt B75 will appear nearly identical to the Armor Series A75 Portable Hard Drive, a popular storage device released in 2017. The A75 Portable Hard Drive received the Taiwan Excellence Award for 2018 and the Golden Pin Design Award for 2017. Rabi Tsai, SP’s designer, who designed the A75 and B75, added:

“Inspiration came from an old airplane—the Junkers F.13. I’m happy with the design and winning the two awards. But, I know everyone at SP, including me, would be extremely proud of a Red Dot or iF Design Award for the B75 or one of our upcoming products.”