Kingston Digital Ships Speedy Class 10 MicroSDHC Card

Large Capacity, Fast Performance a Perfect Match for Memory-Hungry Devices

Hsinchu, Taiwan – (February 24, 2010) –Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the release of a 16GB microSDHC Class 10 card. The high-capacity card complies with the SD Association Specification 3.00 to meet Class 10 requirements. The 16GB microSDHC card has a minimum data transfer rate of 10MB/sec. and ships either as a stand-alone microSDHC card or with adapters.

“With the new speed class, host devices such as high-definition cameras or the latest smartphones are being designed to optimize their write performance to take advantage of the more responsive memory card speeds,” said Nathan Su, Flash Memory Sales Director, APAC Region, Kingston. “Now that the Class 10 card specification is five times faster than a Class 2 card, users will see swifter copying and transferring of photos, music, videos and e-books when using a multi-format card reader such as the Kingston Media Reader or MobileLiteG2 with a PC.

Kingston takes mobility and versatility a step further with the addition of the SD adapter pack (Kingston part #: SDC10/16GB), and the SD and miniSD adapter pack (Kingston part #: SDC10/16GB-2ADP). Inserting the card into the SD adapter turns it into a large-storage, speedy SDHC card that can be used to capture continuous images or videos in digital cameras. Kingston also includes an adapter for other devices that utilize the miniSD form factor. Either adapter pack allows users to store all data on one card across multiple Class 10 device platforms.

The 16GB microSDHC Class 10 card is backed by a lifetime warranty, free tech support and legendary Kingston reliability. For more information visit: www.kingston.com/asia.

Kingston 16GB microSDHC Class 10 Features and Specifications:

·       Compliant: with the SD Specification Version 3.00

·       Versatile: when combined with an adapter, can be used as a full-size SDHC card with write protection or as a miniSDHC card to transfer data

·       Compatible: with microSDHC, miniSDHC and SDHC host devices; not compatible with standard microSD-enabled device/readers

·       File Format: FAT32

·       Reliable: lifetime warranty

·       Capacities*: 16GB

·       Dimensions: 0.43″ x 0.59″ x 0.039″ (11mm x 15mm x 1mm)

·       High-Speed Class Rating: Class 10 – 10MB/sec. minimum data transfer rate

·       Operating Temperature: -13°F to 185°F (-25°C to 85°C)

·       Storage Temperature: -40°F to 185° (-40°C to 85°C)

^*Some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions and thus is not available for data storage.  For more information, please consult Kingston’s Flash Memory Guide at Kingston.com/Flash_Memory_Guide.

To discuss this product on Kingston Blog, please go to www.kingston-blog.com. To try the game “Challenge Your Memory”, please go to

www.kingston-blog.com/challenge_your_memory/en/. To get the freshest information on Kingston, please go to http://twitter.com/KingstonFEPR.

To find out if your Kingston product is genuine, Kingston also provides an online verification site: www.kingston.com/asia/verify. To try the game “Search for Genuine Kingston”, please go to anti-counterfeit.kingston-blog.com. For the interesting animation: The Adventures of Rex, please visit: www.theadventuresofrex.com.

About Kingston Digital, Inc.

Kingston Digital, Inc. (“KDI”) is the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products. Established in 2008, KDI is headquartered in Fountain Valley, California, USA. For more information, please visit www.kingston.com/asia.

VIA VL700 USB 3.0-SATA Controller

 A highly integrated single chip solution that allows users to connect SATA hard disk drive (HDD), solid state drive (SSD), and optical disc drive (ODD) devices to their PC via new USB 3.0 specification ports.

With data transfer rates of up to 5Gbps, USB 3.0 (also known as SuperSpeed USB) offers ten times the throughput available to USB 2.0 based devices, meaning large amounts of information stored on a SATA device can be effortlessly transferred to a PC in a fraction of the time it would usually take.

The VIA VL700 supports both SATA 3Gbps and 1.5Gbps data transfer rates and also Native Command Queuing (NCQ), which allows HDDs/SSDs to internally optimize the order in which received read and write commands are executed, thereby increasing performance. Additionally, data transfer to and from SATA-based DVD and Blu-ray Disc players is supported.

Key Features: In-house USB 3.0 PHY Supports Bulk-Only-Transport (BOT) mass storage class Supports UAS/UAP mass storage class Supports SATA 3Gbps and SATA 1.5Gbps oNCQ support 8051 processor core External ROM for firmware upgrades SPI EEPROM for customized VID/PID GPIOs for customization Built-in regulatorKey Features:

• In-house USB 3.0 PHY
  • Supports Bulk-Only-Transport (BOT) mass storage class
  • Supports UAS/UASP mass storage class
• Supports SATA 3Gbps and SATA 1.5Gbps
  • NCQ support
• 8051 processor core
• External ROM for firmware upgrades
• SPI EEPROM for customized VID/PID
• GPIOs for customization
• Built-in regulator

Kingston today announced it will ship its second generation SSDNow V Series solid-state drive (SSD) on February 15. Targeted for mainstream consumers and small and medium businesses, the new Kingston SSDNow V Series offers higher performance than its predecessor and supports Windows 7 TRIM functionality while maintaining pricing. Capacities are 30GB, 64GB and 128GB and the drive comes as a standalone unit or with a bundled solution for desktop or notebook systems.

San Jose, California – February 11, 2010 – Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today announced the new USB 3.0 Express

“This product underscores Super Talent’s continued leadership in the USB 3.0 storage market.”, said Super Talent COO, C.H. Lee. “We’ve listened to our customers and responded with a USB 3.0 product that not only meets the market needs but hits the balance point between price and performance.”
Measuring 62 x 37 x7.5 mm, the new Express Drive requires no separate cable and is fully backward compatible with USB 2.0 ports, at USB 2.0 speeds. Both the USB 3.0 RAIDDrive^TM and USB 3.0 Express^TM drive use Super Talent’s patented technology and are protected under US Patent # 7457897.

The USB 3.0 Express will be available in March from Super Talent resellers worldwide.

OCZ first USB 3.0 external hard drive is just smaller than an iPhone, but its a lot lighter and all solid state! Here are some pictures of it. It will be demonstrated at Gigabyte booth at CeBIT 2010. This is how it looks :

Shouldn’t SSD be more reliable than the traditional HDDs as it has less movable parts. That doesn’t seem to be the case to me as my Intel X25-M has just died for no reason.

First it was 2 random BSOD during my review writing and my work were not saved! The third time, the system rebooted on its own and the worst thing that happened is the message “No boot device”.

Luckily the PC is able to detect the SSD device in BIOS. So I took the SSD to another PC and plug it into the SATA port. I went into Windows XP and checked. The 4 partitions of 20GB each are all gone, it has become a single 80GB partition.

Knowing that, I took out Arconis Disk Director 10, trying to recover the lost partitions. The scan took a while and couldn’t find any partitions.

I took a rest and shut down the system and that is probably the biggest mistake. After I am back and started up the machine, the BIOS seems to hung on and refuse to boot my Win XP from the HDD. It seems to be unable to detect the presense of the SSD.

1 minute passed and it bypassed and went into WIn XP. Gosh, the SSD is nowhere to be seen in MMC (disk management). The SSD has totally missing in action. All my 80GB of OS and DATA are just gone like that without  a proper back up !

The irony is that all my 3 old 80GB HDDs are still functioning well after 3 to 5 yrs without any issues. I doubt I would want high speed with data loss in the end. SSD is probably not for me but for non data critical OS and system files where you can replace.

I wonder if anyone is capable of retriving the data inside or any tools you know, please let me know.

Thanks.

Kingston Digital Adds TRIM Support, Boosts Capacity in

New, Faster SSDNow V+ Solid-State Drive

Second-Generation V+ SSD Boosts System Performance  

Hsinchu, Taiwan – (January 27, 2010) – Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the release of the second-generation SSDNow V+ solid-state drive. The SSDNow V+ solid-state drive has Windows 7 TRIM support, is available up to 512GB and provides faster performance than the previous generation. 

“The new SSDNow V+ is an ideal solid-state drive for high-level consumers and in corporate environments where efficiency and performance are important as more system resources are in use,” said Nathan Su, Flash Memory Sales Director, APAC Region, Kingston. “Users will be more productive as the drive now features TRIM support, is available in higher capacities and is speedier overall with improved read/write speeds.” 

The addition of TRIM support helps keep the SSDNow V+ maintain optimal write speed throughout its lifespan. Using PCMark Vantage 1.0.1 for Windows 7, the 512GB SSDNow V+ drive received a score of 28,264, whereas a 7200RPM hard-disk drive reached 3,294**. PCMark Vantage 1.0.1 for Windows 7 runs a series of tests such as operating system startup, importing photos, adding music to Windows Media Center and application loading. The score is an indicator of how many bytes are moved per second.  

The SSDNow V+ is the latest addition to Kingston’s SSDNow family of solid-state drives. It is available in 64GB, 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities. As part of Kingston’s goal to provide an easy upgrade path, the drive is also available with a bundle that includes cloning software, 2.5″ USB enclosure, 2.5″ to 3.5″ mounting brackets and SATA data and power cables.  

The Kingston SSDNow V+ solid-state drive is backed by a three-year warranty, free tech support and legendary Kingston reliability. For more information visit: www.kingston.com/asia. 

Kingston SSDNow V+ Features and Specifications:

• Sequential Speed*: 230MB/sec. read

              180MB/sec. write

• Innovative: 2.5″ form factor; uses MLC NAND Flash memory components
• Silent: runs silent and cool with no moving parts
• Shock Resistant: no moving mechanical parts means the SSD handles rougher conditions
• Supports S.M.A.R.T.: Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology
• Guaranteed: three-year Kingston warranty, free tech support
• Interface: SATA 1.5Gb/sec. and 3.0Gb/sec.
• Capacity¹: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
• Storage temperatures: -40° C to 85° C
• Operating temperatures: 0° C to 70° C
• Dimensions: 69.85mm x 100mm x 9.5mm
• Weight: 84 grams
• Vibration operating: 2.17G
• Vibration non-operating: 20G
• Operating Shock: 1500G
• Power specs: 2.6W active; 0.15W idle
• Life expectancy: 1,000,000 hours MTBF

* Based on internal testing. Performance may vary based on system settings.

** Test system: Intel DG945ID Desktop Motherboard; Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 CPU at 2.83GHz; 4GB system memory; on-board SATA 3Gbps with AHCI-enabled; Windows 7 Professional x64

¹Some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions and thus is not available for data storage.  For more information, please consult Kingston’s Flash Memory Guide at Kingston.com/Flash_Memory_Guide. 

ASRock USB 3.0 Card

10X faster transfer speed Speed up to 5 Gb/s Upgrade Flexibility ASRock USB 3.0 Card allows you to enjoy the high speed data transfer rate up to 5.0 Gb/s, which is ten times faster than current USB 2.0 standard (480 Mb/s). With two USB 3.0 ports on ASRock USB 3.0 Card, you can enjoy USB 3.0 super speed. Ultimate Data Transfer Speed Delivering data transfer rates up to ten times faster than USB 2.0 with optimized power efficiency, USB 3.0 card features super speed at 5 Gb/s. Upgrade Flexibility Utilizing the new generation USB3.0 interface, ASRock USB 3.0 card includes much advantages, such as higher data transfer speed and more flexible to adopt in different ASRock motherboards.

Specifications

The specification is subject to change without notice in advance. The brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Any configuration other than original product specification is not guaranteed.

Super Talent Announces Enterprise Class TeraDrive^TM SSDs based on SandForce^TM SSD Processor

New SSDs Deliver Extreme IOPS and Outstanding Reliability

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.

The new TeraDrive FT2 is a SATA 3Gbps SSD based on the advanced new SandForce SF-1500 SSD processor. It delivers sequential read and write speeds up to 250MB/sec that will not degrade over time. It also supports blazing fast transaction speeds up to 30,000 IOPS, making it a formidable storage solution for database servers where random read and write speeds are critical.

The TeraDrive FT2 makes no compromises in reliability or endurance with state-of-the-art wear leveling, bad bit management, and excellent ECC with up to 24 bytes correctable per 512 byte sector. Set to revolutionize enterprise storage, the TeraDrive FT2 is available with either MLC or SLC NAND flash, and is offered in capacities from 50GB to 400GB.

According to Joe James, Director of Marketing at Super Talent, “We engineered the TeraDrive FT2 for optimum performance and reliability in server applications, especially where fast random access to small files is needed”. MLC and SLC TeraDrive SSDs are available to OEMs directly from Super Talent in sample quantities this month and in volume later in Q1/2010.

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Corsair® releases firmware with TRIM support for its Performance Series Solid-State Drives

- New firmware, rigorously tested and qualified by Samsung® and Corsair, maintains optimal SSD performance in Microsoft® Windows® 7 operating systems -

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.”
The new firmware and firmware update tool are available immediately from Corsair’s Product Forum. The new firmware has been specifically designed to add support for the TRIM command in Windows 7, which enables the operating system to progressively ‘clean’ previously deleted or ‘invalid’ data from the drive’s memory cells, automatically maintaining optimal performance over time. In addition to the end-user firmware update tool for existing owners, all new Corsair Performance Series solid-state drives currently have firmware VBM19C1Q pre-loaded by default.

An image of the Corsair Performance Series P256 solid-state drive is available for download here