14 DAY TRIAL // TDK may be just one of many solid state drive makers, but it has moments when it stands out and apart, figuratively speaking of course, and now is one of those moments.
The company has introduced the TDK eSSD product line, a series of very small and nearly self-sufficient solid state drives.
Essentially, they are single-chip SSDs, the first such items to ever be created actually.
TDK built them by merging together a NAND Flash memory product and the GBDriver RS3 controller processor.
The result was a line of low-capacity drives that support Serial ATA-300 communication.
The type of NAND utilized is SLC (single-level cell), which means that the modest storage space is compensated for by high endurance.
Add to that the error correction capability of the aforementioned TDK GBDriver RS3 and you have just what professional, business and industrial equipment needs.
For those who want the precise specifications, the TDK eSSD series has members with capacities ranging between 1 GB and 4 GB.
Also, the chips come in a 208-ball BGA package and a size of 17 mm x 17 mm (0.66 x 0.66 inches).
Furthermore, the company implemented a data randomizer, an auto refresh function and a power interruption tolerance algorithm.
With that to make sure each single-chip SSD can last for a long time, TDK also tossed in an automated data defense function involving 128-bit encryption. This will keep the files stored on the eSSDs relatively safe.
Office devices, factory automation tools, medical and measuring instruments and banking terminals are just a few of the newcomers' potential uses. The greatly reduced mounting footprint and costs should secure at least a few customers in these areas.
Sales will start in April 2012 (next month), for a yet unspecified price. Evaluation kits composed of an mSATA module and an mSATA-SATA converter board will be offered as well.