Nov 8, 2010 07:34 GMT  ·  By

Active Media Products decided to once again expand its consumer-aimed storage line, this time by introducing a solid state drive designed with the currently most compact of form factors.

Solid state drives (SSDs) have already begun to slowly erode the market share of hard disk drives (HDDs), in spite of the higher capacities of the latter, thanks to several factors.

Simply put, SSDs are faster, more reliable and more compact, in addition being totally silent, thanks to the lack of moving parts.

The new units that Active Media Products has come up with are part of the series known as SaberTooth Z4.

They are, in other words, different versions of the same drive, the only real difference being their storage capacities.

To be more specific, they have 32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB of storage, respectively.

All of them are constructed out of MLC (multi-level cell) NAND Flash memory chips and utilize the PATA ZIF interface.

Coupled with the SMI controller, this leads to read and write speeds of 80 MB/s and 32 MB/s, respectively.

Other specifications include ECC (error correction code), bad bit management, a sophisticated wear leveling algorithm (which ensures a long usable lifetime) and the 1.8 inch form factor.

"We developed the SaberTooth Z4 series as a cost-effective yet high performance upgrade solution for scores of laptop models using 1.8-inch ZIF drives." stated Jerry Thomson, vice president of sales at Active Media Products.

The SaberTooth Z4 already have their own product page on AMP's official website and are supposed to already be on sale on Amazon and the company's own web store.

Prices are of $99 for the 32 GB models, $189 for the 64 GB drive and $349 for the 128 GB SSD. They should mostly end up as part of notebooks, particularly as a “performance upgrade solution.”