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 101 to 150 of 154, newest first.
Kingston HyperX Predator M.2 SSD Capable of 1.4GB/s and 125K IOPS – CES 2015 UpdateMaking our rounds at CES, we made a stop by Kingston to check out what they had going on. It turns out, they have something pretty impressive. They are releasing a brand new PCIe 2.0 x4 M.2 SSD capable of 1.4GB/s reads and 1GB/s write, the HyperX Predator! UPDATE: Exclusive Full Review Here.
OCZ Displays New JetExpress Controller On New NVMe M.2 SSDs – CES 2015 UpdateThis week at CES 2015 in Las Vegas, our good friends at OCZ introduced us to a few new SSDs, as welll as a dynamite new SSD controller. On their display floor, OCZ has a brand new Vector series SSD, the Vector 180. This SSD will be the last of their Barefoot 3 powered product line.
PNY Shows Off New SSD Product Lines – CES 2015 UpdateWhile at Pepcom’s Digital Experience! 2015 in Las Vegas, NV, we were quite interested in what was going on at the PNY booth. They have announced a new line-up of SSDs for enterprise, client, and consumer applications. The naming scheme has also changed from before, now opting for a two letter abbreviation per drive class followed by a number series.
Trusted Computing Group Booth – Storage Visions 2015 UpdateWith computers in use reaching the two billion mark and mobile phones exceeding the world population, security is mission critical. Based on IDC estimates, about half of all data is unprotected. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse reports that 536,508,478 records have been breached from unencrypted drives that were lost, stolen or hacked since 2005.
Samsung Unveils Portable SSD T1- Storage Visions 2015 UpdateWhile about the exhibit floor here at Storage Visions 2015, we couldn’t help but notice a small gathering around Chris Geiser, senior memory and storage product manager at Samsung.
Marvell’s New 88NV1120 Pictures Display Ultra Small Controller – Storage Visions 2015 UpdateThis afternoon at Storage Visions, we had the fortune of bumping into our close friend Mike Chen, Marvell SSD and Strategic Marketing Director, who had a bit of a surprise in store. Some might remember Marvell’s announcement of their new 88NV1120 and 88NV1140 controllers back in December, but we don’t think anyone could have imagined a controller this small.
SanDisk Intros Very Low Priced SSDPlus SSD – Storage Visions 2015 UpdateToday at Storage Visions 2015, we met with Siobhan Lyons, Sr. SanDisk PR Manager, and Brian Cos, Sr. Director of SanDisk Enterprise Storage Solutions, both of who had some great SSD news!. Today SanDisk announces a new affordable SSD line option to customers, the SanDisk SSD Plus.- SATA-IO Demo 4TB WD Hybrid Drives – Storage Visions 2015 UpdateMaking our rounds at Storage Visions 2015, the SATA-IO booth really caught our eye. SATA-IO is and independent organization which provides guidance and support for implementing the SATA specification. At the booth they are demonstrating SATA Express (SATAe) with some 4TB WD hybrid prototype drives as well as an M.2 SSD connected to an M.2 to SATAe adapter.
Storage Visions 2015 – The Future of FlashAfter yesterday’s long cross country flight and well needed rest, we’re all here at Riviera Convention Center to check out Storage Visions 2015! Today and tomorrow there are sessions on all things storage.
SSD of the Week – ADATA SP610In last week’s SSD of the Week we highlighted AMD’s first entry into the SSD market, their Radeon R7. It is a gamer oriented drive that has been developed with OCZ to deliver some great performance. This week we are starting off 2015 by recommending a great performing drive at very good price points, the ADATA SP610.
SSD of the Week – AMD Radeon R7We hope you have been enjoying the holidays and to all we wish you a happy new year! To end the week, our SSD of the Week will be highlighting a newcomer’s introduction to the SSD market, AMD’s Radeon R7. This gamer oriented SSD continues to expand AMD’s Radeon product diversity.
Samsung Magician 4.5 RAPID Mode – Evaluated With Demonstrated Speed IncreaseOver the years, consumers have demanded and pushed manufacturers to develop SSD toolboxes to use when they install an SSD in their system. Offering a SSD toolbox has become almost a necessity in today’s SSD market.
SSD of the Week – OCZ Arc 100Our SSD of the Week series became a little side tracked over the past few weeks. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals going on, almost any SSD was a good buy. Now however, prices are back where they should be and the holidays are just around the corner.
Top Cyber Monday SSD Deals 2014Don’t miss out on a chance to upgrade your PC on the cheap. If this Thanksgiving and Black Friday wasn’t enough, there is still time to get some great deals on new SSDs this Cyber Monday. SSDs speed up everything from system boot time, to application loading. We’ve seen dramatic differences in old systems with just a simple SSD upgrade.
Top SSD Thanksgiving Sales 2014It’s that time of the year again, when online retailers are dropping prices on products left and right. Over the past few days there have been some okay deals when it comes to SSDs in anticipation of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
SSD of the Week – The Plextor M6eWhen building a gaming PC, the first thing you think of is speed.
SanDisk’s Fusion ioMemory Accelerates High Energy Physics ResearchTo speed up the potential discovery of new particles and forces that will help explain the building blocks of the universe, physicists need supercomputers with the fastest storage solutions. Today, SanDisk announced that the University of Michigan and University of Victoria (CA) are utilizing SanDisk’s Fusion ioMemory solutions.- SSD of the Week – SanDisk Ultra IIIn the most recent SSD of the Week we went over the top performing Samsung XP941 as our highlight. It offers speeds that are twice that of the SATA 6Gb/s limit in a M.2 form factor. Now, we are going to focus back on the mainstream market. This week we are looking at the SanDisk Ultra II.
Intel Expands DC S3500 Series SSD Family – Higher Capacity and M.2 OptionsIntel’s DC S3500 Series SSDs for data centers and cloud computing are designed for fast consistent read performance with strong data protection in mind. Intel puts their drives under 5000 unique tests to ensure quality and a low .44% failure rate.
SSD of the Week – Samsung XP941 M.2 PCIe 2.0 X4Last week we went over the top SATA based SSD on the market, the Samsung 850 Pro. Today, we are going to take a look at the top M.2 drive on the market…which also happens to be by Samsung, the XP941! Most manufacturers have been releasing SATA based M.2 drives recently. These drives have a 6Gb/s interface limit.
SSD of the Week – Samsung 850 ProSamsung has had a strong track record with SSDs. Their drives offer high reliability as well as high performance for those with a need for speed. They are one of the few manufacturers that designs and manufacturers every major SSD component in their drives. That alone should tell you about their expertise and strength in the industry.
SSD of the Week – Crucial M550 M.2 SATA SSDCrucial has been a leader in delivering value to their customers, whether it be in their SSDs or their great customer support. A few weeks ago we dubbed their new MX100 one of the best budget 2.5″ SSDs out. It follows in the footsteps of their M550.
SSD of the Week – RevoDrive 350Focused on the SanDisk Extreme Pro, last week’s SSD of the Week was aimed towards high end SATA performance at a cost that wouldn’t break the bank. This week, we will be following a similar trend, however this time, we are focusing on the PCIe interface. When working with large media files, speed is king.
SSD of the Week – SanDisk Extreme ProLast week we stepped it down a bit for the SSD of the Week with the value oriented Crucial MX100. This week, we decided to step it back up and focus on the enthusiast class 2.5″ drives. This week’s SSD highlight is the SanDisk Extreme Pro.
SanDisk Announces X300 SSD and STAR Services for Corporate EnvironmentsThis morning, SanDisk announces the X300 SSD and its SanDisk Tech Assisted Refresh services. The 24/7 mobile workforce continues to grow in the corporate world. HDDs are becoming too slow and unreliable. Corporations demand storage solutions with higher performance and reliability. SanDisk’s the release of the new X300 SSD and STAR program are the perfect solutions for these issues.
SSD of the Week – Crucial MX100Last week we kicked it up a notch for the SSD of the Week with the enterprise Intel NVMe PCIe DC P3700. However, this week we are on the opposite spectrum with the budget SSDs. The highlight of this week is the Crucial MX100.
Micron Announces M600 Client SSD Family To Include Notebook, M.2 and mSATA Form FactorsMicron Technology, Inc., a global leader in storage technology, is announcing their next generation SSD, the M600. The M600 is a client-class SSD that sets the bar for high performance, high power efficiency, and robust endurance.
Top SSD Picks for Fall 2014Summer has come and gone, and over the past few months, there have been quite a few SSDs released into the market, and the question of, “Which SSD should I buy?” seems to still come up a lot around forums. Usually, there are some predetermined recommended favorite in each.
Plextor PlexTurbo Demo and M6 Pro Release Imminent- FMS 2014 UpdateWell, things have been very busy here at FMS over the past few days and now it is finally drawing to a close. Before we left, we stopped by the Plextor booth to see what was going on with them and their product line. There we saw a demonstration of their new PlexTurbo.
LiteOn Shows Off 2TB 2.5″ SATA and 1TB M.2 Enterprise SSDs – FMS 2014 UpdateFrom the many things we have seen at FMS this year, we were surprised to see two things from LiteOn. One being their 1TB P1P M.2 form factor enterprise drive and the other being their 2TB 7mm 2.5″ N9S drive.
LSI SandForce SF3700 Displays 1.3GB/s in Mixed Workloads – FMS 2014 UpdateAs much as the LSI SF3700 speaks to 1.8GB/s performance as a spec high data transfer, this year at FMS they are focusing more on real-world performance and endurance. Currently, we are seeing the SF3700 controller reaching 1300MB/s in mixed 80%/20% read/write workloads in this demonstration.
Toshiba Shows Off OCZ Acquisition and Also Displays 15nm NAND & New SSDs – FMS 2014 UpdateThose familiar to FMS might have noticed a bit of a change this year; the conference was missing that all too familiar OCZ flair around the entrance that so many had become accustomed to.
Hynix Presents 1TB M.2 SSDs and 3D NAND – FMS 2014 UpdateWalking around the booth floor of FMS, we found Hynix displaying some new products. What happened to catch our eye was a 1 TB M.2 SSD on display. Advertised performance for the PCIe Gen 2 M.2 drives comes in at 1.4GB/s reads and up to 930MB/s writes and 120k/100k read/write IOPS for the 1TB model.
Phison Intros Strong SATA 3 SSD controller – FMS 2014 UpdateAfter a quick briefing with Phison’s Michael Wu, we learned of their new SATA 3 based controller. Designed from the ground up by Phison, the PS3110 is a 32-bit quad-core 8 channel controller that supports SLC, MLC, and TLC NAND flash. It offers capacity support for up to 2TB. It also offers external DDR3L memory support from 256MB-2GB.- There Is No Difference Between SATA CablesDo you need a SATA 6Gb/s cable for a SATA 6Gb/s drive? No, and the SATA-IO spec says why. Written with CmosCmos.
- Storage Essentials ThreadThe index thread that gathered the forum’s storage guides, tools and benchmark threads in one place.
- Sean’s SSD Buyers Guide & Information ThreadWhich SSD to buy and why, with the basics of how SSDs work for first-time buyers.
Sean’s Windows 7 Install & Optimization Guide for SSDs & HDDsA step-by-step clean install of Windows 7 on an SSD, and which tweaks are worth making.
Sean’s Windows 8 Install & Optimization Guide for SSDs & HDDsThe Windows 7 guide carried forward to Windows 8.
Sean’s SSD & HDD Troubleshooting GuideFixes for drives that vanish, slow down or refuse to boot.
How to: Secure Erase your Solid State Drive (SSD) with Parted MagicWhen a secure erase helps, when it does not, and how to run one.- Storage Drivers, Utilities, and Firmware ThreadWhere to get every storage driver, vendor utility and firmware update.
SSD Interface Comparison: PCI Express vs SATAWhy SATA 6Gb/s had become the bottleneck for SSDs and what PCIe meant for buyers, with two reviews of the Plextor M6e.
Sean’s Data Backup Guide- How to: Verify TRIM Is Working in Windows
How to: Disk and Partition Cloning, Backup, Restoration, & Migration
How to: Set up and Utilize RAM Disks
How to: Properly Re-align Your SSD/HDD Partitions- How to: Change SATA Modes After Windows Installation
How to: Initialize and Format a New Disk for Use in Windows
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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