The Super Talent Technology line of SSD (Solid State Drive) products include both the DuraDrive and the newly expanded MasterDrive models, all of which are based on NAND Flash memory (SLC or MLC) and are billed by the vendor as drop-in, low-power-utilization replacements for existing platter-based hard disk drives. Various versions of the drives are offered, ranging in capacity from 8 to 256 GB, warranties of 1 to 3 years, form factors of 1.3, 1.8, 2.5, or 3.5 inches, and sporting IDE or SATA interfaces for integration with the host computer.

A key feature of the drives as noted by the vendor is their inclusion of proprietary "Wear Leveling" algorithms, which seek to apply data writes and erasures uniformly across the memory blocks of the drives such that no one block is more heavily utilized than any other; ensuring the maximum life of the drive as a whole. The vendor's data sheets for the drives list an MTBF for the drives of better than 1,000,000 hours; with built-in EDC/ECC functions providing data integrity for a listed 10 years.

The two primary SSD drive families in the vendor's product line are the DuraDrives, which are offered rated for both commercial and industrial temperature ranges; and the MasterDrive products, which are now shipped in separate models equipped with either SLC or MLC NAND Flash memory.

The DuraDrives are based on SLC NAND Flash and are offered with either SATA I or IDE interfaces (including a ZIF IDE version). The SATA I drives are offered in 1.8 inch (8 - 64 GB), 2.5 inch (8 - 128 GB), and 3.5 inch (16 - 256 GB) form factors, with sequential read/write performance listed at 65/50 MB/sec, maximum (respectively). The IDE drives are offered in 1.3 inch (8 - 32 GB), 1.8 inch (8 - 64 GB), and 2.5 inch (16 - 128 GB) form factors, also with sequential read/write performance listed at 65/50 MB/sec, max.

The MasterDrives are now offered in two primary flavors: The MasterDrive MXs, which are based on MLC NAND Flash memory and ship with a 1 year warranty, and the MasterDrive DXs, which are based on SLC NAND Flash memory and come with a 3 year warranty. Both models leverage SATA II interfaces (3.0 Gb/sec). The MX drives are offered in a 2.5 inch format with capacities ranging from 15 - 120 GB and read/write sequential performance of 120 and 40 MB/sec, respectively; while the DX drives are offered in a 2.5 inch format with capacities ranging from 15 - 60 GB and read/write sequential performance of 120 and 70 MB/sec, respectively.

The Super Talent Technology SSD drives are available now; the new MasterDrive MX models are priced from $299 to $699.

Visit the vendor's Web site for further information.

product submission by EITPlanet Staff

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