July 20th, 2009
Intel to debut "Postville" SSDs in August
Rumors are circulating that Intel will shortly debut its new “Postville” solid-state drives (SSDs) based on a 34nm manufacturing process.
A smaller manufacturing process means lower production costs and higher capacities. Currently Intel SSDs has two series of drives. There are the X18-M and X25-M models which use 2 bits per multi-level cell (MLC) and come in 80GB and 160GB capacities respectively, and the faster 1 bit per cell single-level cell (SLC) X25-E which is limited to 32GB and 64GB capacities. It is expected that Intel’s newer SSDs will come in 80GB, 160GB and 320GB varieties.
The new drives will enjoy an array of features. Consumer desktop and mobile drives will have 32MB of wear leveling buffer, 90MB/sec sequential write performance, AES 128-bit Encryption, advanced NCQ, and Advanced Smart Support to improve reliability. Drives aimed at workstations and servers will feature faster I/O and have a Power Safe write cache feature to prevent data loss.
I expect that the SSD line up have X25-M and X18-M replacements that come with 80GB, 160GB and 320GB MLC and a new X25-E incorporating 32GB, 64GB and 128GB SLC.
No prices or firm release dates yet.
Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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