SanDisk Ships G3 Series SSDs Early

Even though the actual shipments weren't supposed to start for some time, SandDisk has somehow managed to get its G3 Series solid state drives up and running ahead of schedule and is now shipping them to North American and European retailers. Aimed as a “compelling alternative” to 7,200 RPM hard drives, the SSDs strive to merge together fast performance, rugged durability, long-term reliability and lower maintenance costs.

The SSDs use a smart flash management system known as the ExtremeFFS. This technology can accelerate random write performance and, thus, extends the endurance of the G3 storage units under Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. In addition, the SanDisk G3 SSDs are built with no moving parts.

This construction gives them a higher durability and drive damage resistance. Of course, such reliability and sturdiness would be wasted if the device did not have performance capabilities that spoke for themselves. The sequential read speed of the solid state drives can reach 220MB/s, whereas write speed can reach up to 120MB/s.

“Our rugged drive enables a superior customer experience by delivering extended endurance and fast performance in a resilient SSD design,” Eric Bone, vice president, retail product marketing, SanDisk, said. “SanDisk believes in an uncompromising development approach which insists that an SSD's long term reliability and durability are just as important as its overall speed. We're leveraging our long history of flash memory and retail expertise to bring the SanDisk G3 SSD to market.”

SanDisk's G3 Series drives are Microsoft Windows 7 certified and are also compatible with Apple's Mac OS X Snow Leopard. The devices support the latest Windows 7 TRIM feature, which continuously manages the resources of the G3, maintaining overall performance over time. Of course, the solid state storage units will also work under Windows XP, Windows Vista and the Linux OS.

The company's newest drives are built with MLC (multi-level cell) NAND Flash chips and carry price tags of $229.99 for the 60GB version and of $399.99 for the 120GB model.