Samsung develops 256GB solid state drive

Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, announced today that it has developed the world’s fastest, 2.5-inch, 256 Gigabyte (GB) multi-level cell (MLC) based solid state drive (SSD) using a SATA II interface at the fifth annual Samsung Mobile Solution Forum held at the Westin Taipei Hotel. Samsung’s new 256GB SSD is also the thinnest drive with the largest capacity to be offered with a SATA II interface.

With a sequential read speed of 200 megabytes per second (MB/s) and sequential write speed of 160MB/s,
Samsung’s MLC-based 2.5-inch 256GB SSD is about 2.4 times faster than a typical HDD.

Furthermore, the new 256 GB SSD is only 9.5millimeters (mm) thick, and measures 100.3x69.85 mm. Power consumption is also exceptionally low at 0.9 watts in active mode.

Samsung is expected to begin mass producing the 2.5-inch, 256GB SSD by year end, with customer samples available in September. A 1.8-inch version of the 256GB SSD is expected to be
available in the fourth quarter 2008.