Published work
Technical Analysis
More than 500 reviews, articles, guides and white papers, written to make storage technology legible and useful. 425 carry my byline and are listed below. The rest are white papers, press releases and technology-trend posts I wrote for enterprise SSD and server makers.
The archive
News, features and guides, 2011–2021
Every card opens the original.
Stories 1 to 50 of 154, newest first.
Upgrading Your Laptop with PCIe 4.0 Storage: Which SSD is the best?We dive deep to see if upgrading a Tiger Lake laptop with a PCIe 4.0 SSD is worth the high cost.
Unsavory Flash Swap: Re-Testing Crucial’s P2 SSD After QLC DowngradeNow shipping with QLC flash, Crucial’s P2 is significantly slower than the original sample that we initially reviewed.
Phison PS5018-E18 Controller With Micron 176L TLC Preview: Unleashing the BeastWe take a look at Phison’s second-generation PS5018-E18 with Micron’s latest and innovative B47R 176-layer replacement-gate TLC flash.
Not-So-Solid State: SSD Makers Swap Parts Without Telling UsAdata’s recent change of controller and NAND on its best-selling SSD makes for a slower experience.
TechInsights Outlines the Future of 3D NAND FlashJoengdong Choe, Senior Technical Fellow at TechInsights, Inc. outlines the future of 3D flash at FMS 2020.
Phison's New PCIe 4.0 Controller Tested: 7.4 GBps of PotentialPhison’s PS5018-E18, the company’s fastest NVMe SSD controller yet, is still in development.
New X-NAND Tech Detailed: SLC Speed at QLC Capacity and PricingNEO Semiconductor has plans to enable SLC performance on next-gen QLC through advanced X-NAND architecture.
Micron Now Shipping 176-Layer 3D TLC NAND FlashMicron is shipping 176 layer replacement gate TLC NAND flash for mobile, enterprise, and client storage.
Adata Switches to Slower Controller, NAND on SX8200 ProAdata is now shipping the XPG SX8200 Pro SSD with lower-clocked hardware than the initial release model, without changing its specification sheets or retail listings.
Exclusive: Phison’s E18 NVMe SSD Controller Hits 1.2 Million IOPSPhison is refining its new E18 NVMe SSD controller and has reached up to 1.2 million random IOPS.
Which PC Boots Up and Shuts Down Faster: AMD or Intel?We put Intel's Z490 platform head-to-head with AMD's X570 to see which system boots the fastest.
Phison's New E18 SSD Controller Rivals Samsung 980 Pro With 7 GBps of ThroughputPhison’s hot new PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD controller flashes some nasty digits on social media.
Seagate's IronWolf 510 is the World’s First Purpose-Built NVMe SSD for NASSeagate’s IronWolf 510 M.2 NVMe SSD boasts strong endurance and multi-gigabyte performance for 24/7 NAS use.
Adata Launches the SE760: Simply a Fast External SSDAdata’s launches a sleek external SSD with a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 for high performance.
Seagate Launches FireCuda Gaming and BarraCuda Fast SSDsSeagate unloads the fast flash at CES 2020.
SK Hynix to Introduce New NVMe SSDs With 128-Layer '4D NAND'SK Hynix wants to grab a piece of the SSD market pie.
Lexar’s New NVMe SSD Hits 7GBps, the Fastest yet for a PCIe 4.0 SSDLexar demos a new PCIe 4.0 SSD that is faster than any model on the market.
New PCMark 10 Storage Tests DebutPCMark 10's new storage tests place a heavy emphasis on new SSD testing methodology.
WD Introduces Blue SN550 M.2 SSDs up to 1TBNVMe SSDs are out-shipping everything and WD aims to ride that wave.
Seagate's Mach.2 Technology Doubles HDD Performance, Microsoft Jumps AboardMicrosoft has adopted Seagate's dual-actuator HDD technology.
Seagate Announces Thunderbolt 3 Gaming Dock and New FireCuda SSDsSeagate backs up a truckload of flash, and introduces a gaming dock, too.
WD Launches New Red SSDs for NAS, 14TB Red HDDsWD bulks up its storage offerings for NAS users.
Micron Unveils the X100 – World’s Fastest SSD with 3D XPointAt Micron Insights, in addition to the announcement of their 5300 and 7300 series SSD, the company unveiled the world’s fastest SSD with their own 3D XPoint, the X100.
Micron Announces Portable SSD and 96L TLC Powered Enterprise SSDsCrucial Memory and Micron, their parent company, have got some big announcements today. At Micron Insight in San Francisco, the company announced a bunch of new products, including their first portable SSD under the Crucial brand as well as two new enterprise SSDs.
SSD vs HDD Tested: What’s the Difference and Which Is Better?Should you buy an HDD or SSD? Here's all you need to know.
Toshiba Talks 5-Bit-per-Cell Flash, Demos First PCIe 4.0 Enterprise SSDsToshiba is working on Penta-Level Cell (PLC) flash that stores five bits per cell.
Maxiotek Shows off New NVMe SSD ControllersMaxiotech shows off its latest SSD controllers at the Flash Memory Summit 2019.
Phison Brings the PCIe 4.0 Pain: E18-Powered SSDs to hit 7 GBps and One Million IOPSPhison was the first SSD vendor to bring a blazing-fast PCIe 4.0 SSD to market, but it has a new controller in the works that will hit 7 GB/s and one million IOPS.
Silicon Motion Displays its First PCIe 4.0 SSD ControllersNow that AMD's Ryzen 3000 series chips have brought support for PCIe 4.0 to the desktop, the race is on for new, faster SSDs.
Platform Storage Face-Off: AMD Upsets IntelWe put AMD and Intel systems head-to-head to find out which platform provides the top performance with storage devices.
PCIe 4.0 SSD Exclusive: Testing Phison's PS5016-E16 NVMe ControllerWill 5 GB/s of throughput have a real impact on common desktop workloads, like gaming? Let's see.
Zombie Loading: Intel Patches Slow Down SSDs as AMD Gains GroundWe've tested the impact of the new Zombieload, RIDL, and Fallout vulnerabilities on storage performance with both Intel and AMD platforms.
Intel Optane vs Samsung Z-NAND: SSD Memory Face-OffWe pitted Intel's Optane against Samsung's Z-NAND in a 7-round death match for your data.
Toshiba Announces BG4 NVMe SSD SeriesToshiba announces the BG4 SSD Series at CES 2019.
Samsung Announces QLC SSDs And Second-Gen Z-NANDSamsung made a few important announcements about its memory and storage products at its Samsung Tech Day event.
Here’s How We Booted Windows 10 in 4.9 Seconds (Now, Beat Us)With these tweaks, you can go from hitting the power button to seeing the desktop in under 5 seconds.
MyDigitalSSD Pocket Vault eXpress (PVX) Thunderbolt 3 USB-C External SSD Now AvailableLast December, MyDigitalSSD teased their Pocket Vault eXpress (PVX) and now that it is June, it has finally made its way to retailers. The PVX is an ultra-portable Thunderbolt 3 External SSD that combines PCI Express 3.0 technology with a Thunderbolt 3 USB-C interface for a variety of uses at home or on the go.
Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory Announced: Now Sampling, Up to 512GB DIMMSToday Intel held a memory and storage event to announce their latest product and we were there to get the inside scoop on what that is, Optane DC Persistent Memory.
Micron Launches 5200 Series SATA SSDs With Latest 64-layer 3D NAND TechnologyToday Micron Technology, Inc. announces the launch of the Micron 5200 series of SATA SSDs, the first series of enterprise SSDs that are available for purchase today with 3D 64-layer NAND. Built heavily on the 5100’s architecture, the new 5200 series is simply a well-refined product. As such, it promises to deliver industry-leading performance, consistency, capacity, reliability, and overall infrastructure value.
Crucial’s FREE Momentum Cache Works on Any NVMe SSD! – Our First Look at RAM Caching on NVMe SSDsYou heard that right. This is the first time we are exploring RAM caching on an NVMe SSD in this fashion. While many RAM caching softwares exist, no other SSD manufacturer has yet to enable RAM caching for NVMe SSDs in quite the way Crucial has.
Phison Demos Entry-level NVMe E8 Controller – CES 2017 UpdateWhen talking about high-performance storage and the controllers that power them, you can be sure that Phison will be in the conversation. Many companies have taken advantage of their E7 NVMe controller to bring out enthusiast class SSDs, such as the Patriot Hellfire, Corsair MP500, and MyDigitalSSD BPX (all of which are in our queue to review).
ADATA Reveals XPG 950 and Demos Latest NVMe SSDs in RAID – CES 2017 UpdateIn December, ADATA announced the first ever SSD to feature Micron’s latest 3D MLC NAND, Ultimate SU900, which is a huge announcement because Samsung will no longer be the only player in the market with 3D MLC NAND ( ie 850 PRO).
WD Unveils WD Black PCIe NVMe SSD – CES 2017 UpdateAfter stepping into the WD suite at CES this year we saw quite the array of storage products. From traditional mechanical disks and NAS storage devices to USB drives and the like, WD has devices for anybody’s needs. Recently we reviewed their first SSD product, the WD Blue SSD and at the same time, they launched the green series too.
Seagate and LaCie Showcase Latest SSD Products – CES 2017 UpdateLaCie, as many of you know, is Seagate’s premier/professional product brand. At CES they have on display their latest product updates, which feature upgraded interfaces and performance improvements. The Rugged Thunderbolt USB-C can connect to USB 3.0-compatible computers as well as to USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 models.
Kingston Reveals World’s Largest Flash Drive and More – CES 2017 UpdateCES 2017 and all the chaos that comes with it has just begun. One of our first booth tours is with Kingston, where they just revealed the world’s largest flash drive, the DataTraveler Ultimate GT.
Samsung Magician 5.0 Released – Is Less More?SSD toolboxes are quite useful for monitoring your SSD’s health, updating its firmware, and more often than not, have some other features built into them to optimize the operating system and/or boost the SSD’s performance. Almost every company has one, but one company is more well known for theirs over anyone else.
LiteOn Demos Open Channel on Protoype U.2 SSD and Unveils EP3 M.2 NVMe SSD – Flash Memory Summit 2016 UpdateFrom the emergence of new flash storage server companies to more participation from the big players in flash, we are seeing FMS grow year after year as more and more gain interest in speedy memory. We see companies delivering break through products and solutions as well as industry wide trends forming.
Phison Displays Next Gen Controllers and More – Flash Memory Summit 2016 UpdateMaking our way over to the Phison booth we were greeted with some new products. First up is the S11T, which will help OEMs and other customers reduce their BOM cost. It is an industrial grade SATA 6Gb/s controller that is DRAM-less. It supports MLC/TLC 2D and 3D NAND. It features their SmartECC, end-to-end data path protection, and SmartZip technologies.
Maxiotek Shows Off Latest DRAM-less Controllers – Flash Memory Summit 2016 UpdateMaxiotek is a new name in the controller industry, but not new to the game. Maxiotek is the result of JMicron’s SSD controller and external enclosure departments splitting. The company is full of engineers and are working hard on delivering reliable controllers to the masses. Here at Flash Memory Summit they have on display quite a few new controller products.
OCZ RD400 Sales Through the Roof – Flash Memory Summit 2016 UpdateSince their acquisition by Toshiba, we have seen the OCZ booth get smaller and smaller at trade shows. This year at FMS, it is narrowed down to a single display. Not only has their booth been shrinking, but we have notices that their naming conventions have been shrinking as well.
From my author pages at Tom’s Hardware and The SSD Review, as of November 4, 2026. TechnologyX is offline, so its cards open the Internet Archive copies.
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