Plextor, leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital storage devices, is slated to give a sneak preview of their new M6 SSD at the Flash Memory Summit and Exhibition to be held August 13-15 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.

The M6 features the next generation of Plextor’s proprietary TrueSpeed technology that works in tandem with the Marvell 88SS9187 controller for enhanced performance and reliability. The new drive will also feature the latest generation of A19 Toggle NAND flash from Toshiba and an ultra-slim 5mm casing.  Additional product specifications and a formal release date are expected to be announced in the coming months.

In addition to the M6, Plextor will be displaying its complete lineup of storage solutions. Included are Plextor’s flagship M5 Pro Extreme and M5S series, the critically acclaimed M5M mSATA drive, and their much-anticipated M.2 form-factor drive. The M.2 (formerly New Generation Form Factor or NGFF) is the new industry standard form factor and is slated to replace drives such as the mPCIe, mSATA, and other versions of the blade SSD.

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Today, CDRLabs takes a look at StarTech's new PCIe SATA III RAID controller cards. Based on Marvell's 88SE9230, the PEXSAT34RH and PEXSAT34SFF are fully compliant with the SATA 3.0 specifications and support hardware RAID 0, 1, and 1+0 modes. Port Multiplier FIS-based and Command-based switching is also supported on all ports, enabling multiple SATA drives to be connected using a single cable, for a total of 7 drives. The cards also feature support for Marvell's HyperDuo SSD auto-tiering technology, which balances the performance advantages of SSD storage with the cost-effectiveness and large capacity of standard hard drives. The technology uses intelligent algorithms to automatically migrate hot data to SSDs, while enabling all data to be safely stored on larger capacity hard drives. 

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun mass producing the industry’s first three-dimensional (3D) Vertical NAND (V-NAND) flash memory, which breaks through the current scaling limit for existing NAND flash technology. Achieving gains in performance and area ratio, the new 3D V-NAND will be used for a wide range of consumer electronics and enterprise applications, including embedded NAND storage and solid state drives (SSDs).

Samsung’s new V-NAND offers a 128 gigabit (Gb) density in a single chip, utilizing the company’s proprietary vertical cell structure based on 3D Charge Trap Flash (CTF) technology and vertical interconnect process technology to link the 3D cell array. By applying both of these technologies, Samsung’s 3D V-NAND is able to provide over twice the scaling of 20nm-class* planar NAND flash.

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Mach Xtreme Technology Inc., a worldwide leader in top performance, high reliability and user-friendly designed PC components, today launched LX Series USB 3.0 flash drives. The MX-LX is based on a native USB 3.0 controller chip and implementing advanced dual-channel technology. It is an economical USB 3.0 peripheral for those who demand leading-edge technology without paying more. 

There is a wide range of high-end USB 3.0 flash drives available on the market. These pendrives typically carry a relatively high price tag compared to traditional USB 2.0 flash drives. MX-LX series utilizes the latest USB 3.0 specification and delivers blazing fast performance at an extremely competitive and affordable price. MX-LX USB 3.0 flash drive is fully backward compatible with USB 2.0 ports, at USB 2.0 speeds. Its dual-chip design and compact size makes it easy to carry virtually anywhere. The aluminum housing is also extremely durable, making it an ideal upgrade flash drive for users with busy and active lifestyles.

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Sony Corporation (‘Sony’) and Panasonic Corporation (‘Panasonic’) today announced that they have signed a basic agreement with the objective of jointly developing a next-generation standard for professional-use optical discs, with the objective of expanding their archive business for long-term digital data storage. Both companies aim to improve their development efficiency based on the technologies held by each respective company, and will target the development of an optical disc with recording capacity of at least 300GB by the end of 2015. Going forward, Sony and Panasonic will continue to hold discussions regarding the specifications and other items relating to the development of this new standard.

Optical discs have excellent properties to protect them against the environment, such as dust-resistance and water-resistance, and can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored. They also allow inter-generational compatibility between different formats, ensuring that data can continue to be read even as formats evolve. This makes them a robust medium for long-term storage of content. Both companies have previously developed products based on the Blu-ray™ format, leveraging the strengths of optical discs. However, both Sony and Panasonic recognized that optical discs will need to accommodate much larger volumes of storage in years to come given the expected future growth in the archive market, and responded by formulating this agreement.

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ASUS ROG today announced RAIDR Express, the first PCI Express-based SSD in the world with a DuoMode feature that allows it to work with either legacy (traditional) or modern UEFI BIOS. Aimed at hardcore gamers and PC enthusiasts demanding a faster and more reliable computer experience, RAIDR Express combines the best compatibility and great performance with incredible durability.

With 240GB capacity, sequential 830MB/s read and 810MB/s write speeds, and bundled with tons of features that maintain the high-speed performance and extend the lifespan, RAIDR Express is made for real speed-demons. Boasting the gorgeous ROG red and black design with double-sided metal shielding and an incredible 620,000 hours mean time between failure (MTBF) to ensure quality, RAIDR Express is built to last.

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Seagate Technology plc, a world leader in storage solutions, today announced it is shipping the world’s fastest hard drive— the Seagate Enterprise Turbo SSHD. The industry’s first enterprise solid state hybrid drive (SSHD), the Enterprise Turbo SSHD combines the capacity of a hard drive with solid-state flash enabling high-speed performance for mission critical data.

Setting a new standard in mission critical performance, the Enterprise Turbo SSHD provides up to a 3X increase in random performance over existing 15K-RPM drives and is available with up to 600GB of capacity. By unifying the best of solid-state and magnetic technologies, Turbo improves tiered storage performance combining accelerated speed with hard disk drive (HDD) high-capacity.

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