They boast Toggle DDR 2.0 NAND Flash chips and move data at 470 MB/s

Mar 13, 2014 11:54 GMT  ·  By

Normally, solid-state drives have a clear difference between read speed and write speed, but that is not the case for the new ones launched by Apacer. Called SFD 18S6 and mSATA A1 SSDs, they both read and write data at 470 MB/s.

Similarly, their 4K random read and write performance is of 70,000 IOPS (input/output operations per second).

The use of Toggle DDR 2.0 NAND Flash chips had a lot to do with this, as did, of course, the SATA 3.0 high-speed interface.

After all, if not for that bandwidth of 6 Gbps, we might have been faced with an SSD line limited to 200 MB/s, or thereabouts.

That said, there are two SSDs in Apacer's new release, and they aren't of the same type. One is the JEDEC MO-297-compliant SFD 18S6, and the other is the MO-300-compliant mSATA A1.

SFD stands for SATA flash drive, though the package is very small, while mSATA stands for, obviously, mini-SATA.

It's actually somewhat amusing that the SFD drive is smaller, slightly, than the mSATA one. The latter is just longer, with the pin-out on one of the narrow ends.

Apacer's SSDs are meant to be used in medical tablets, tablet personal computers, healthcare applications, mobile on-board units, data communication system devices, and other industrial systems.

Even less than stellar conditions can be withstood, since the temperature range is of -40°C to 85°C.

As for capacity, it can go as high as 256 GB, which is actually quite good for the size of the Apacer SFD 18S6 and mSATA A1.

That said, if the Toggle DDR 2.0 NAND Flash proves too expensive, Apacer has created a cheaper, MLC NAND-based set of SSDs, which are only somewhat slower. The sequential read and write speeds are of 475 MB/s and 430 MB/s, respectively, while the 4k random read/write rates are of up to 65,000 IOPS.

Furthermore, the newcomers possess the 40 bit ECC (Error Correcting Code) function, plus support for the CoreSecurity Technology, which boosts reliability and stability. The Apacer SSDWidget real-time SSD monitoring software can be used to keep an eye on every parameter if you want further proof, for your peace of mind.

Finally, IP57 certification means that the Apacer SFD 18S6 and mSATA A1 are waterproof and dust-proof to a decent extent. They won't survive being dunked underwater for long, but humidity and maybe rain should be fine. Not like they're likely to wind up in particularly fragile or exposed systems anyway.