The new drives are built with either SLC or MLC memory chips

May 13, 2008 10:35 GMT  ·  By

Following the successful introduction of world's slimmest 256GB SSD in March, Super Talent has announced a new 2.5-inch solid-state drive in the MasterDrive family of products. The new solid-state storage products from Super Talent are not only fully compatible with the notebook 2.5-inch form factor, but they are also tailored to suit the needs of any customer, from the home user to the corporate environment.

The MasterDrive disks can completely replace conventional hard-disk drives in notebooks. They come with a standard 3Gbps SATA-II interface and offer increased performance over the spinning platters at lower energy costs. Moreover, their rugged structure and the absence of moving parts make them the ideal pick for industrial environments with increased amounts of vibration.

"These new SSDs are a rugged, lightning fast, low power storage alternative for mobile professionals and enthusiasts. With such overwhelming benefits, MasterDrive SSDs are sure to revolutionize mobile storage", claimed Super Talent Marketing Director, Joe James.

Super Talent's new SSD offerings come in a wide range of models, with storage capacities ranging from 30GB to 120GB. The MasterDrive family of products is comprised of two distinct series and address different markets.

Corporate and enterprise customers will be able to select the MasterDrive DX products, built with the extremely reliable, but also expensive single-level cell NAND flash chips. SLC NAND memory offers an estimative lifespan of 1,000,000 read/write cycles and delivers data transfer rates of 120 and 70 MB/sec for reading and writing, respectively.

The MX SSD budget products are mostly targeted at home users, as they are built using multi-level cell NAND flash chips. They are much cheaper than the DX counterparts, but have a limited lifespan of just 10,000 read/write cycles and offer data rates of 20 and 40 MB/sec for read and write operations, respectively.

Super Talent's new solid-state drives are available immediately in capacities of 30GB, 60GB and 120GB. While the DX products sell for prices ranging between $699 (30 GB) and $1,299 (60 GB), the MX parts come with price tags ranging from $299 (30 GB) to $699 (120 GB).