Samsung Electronics announced that it has begun mass producing 1.8- and 2.5-inch multi-level cell (MLC)-based solid state drives (SSD) with a 128GB storage capacity. Mass production of the Samsung MLC-based 64GB SSD also began in July.
The MLC-based SSD has a write speed of 70MB/s and a read speed of 90MB/s – performance levels that approach those of single-level-cell (SLC)-based SSDs now in mass production. Moreover, the new 128GB SSD will last approximately 20 times longer than the generally accepted 4-5 year life span of a notebook PC hard drive. The company also noted that power consumption for its SSDs is low in standby mode at approximately 0.2 watts and in active mode at 0.5 watts.
Featuring a 3Gb/s interface, the 128GB MLC-based SSD consists of 64 MLC NAND flash memory chips of 16Gb each, single-chip controller technology and flash-management firmware technology. Enclosed in a brushed metallic casing, it measures 100mm x 69.8mm and is only 9.5mm thick.
Samsung is aggressively expanding its SSD market offerings. It introduced a 64GB SSD in the second half of 2007, and plans to begin producing a 256GB at the end of this year. Samsung expects sales of SSD units to increase 800 percent between now and 2010, keeping SSDs on pace to be the largest growth segment in the NAND flash market over the next few years.