Wednesday, December 16, 2009

First SSD to Use SATA 6Gb/s Link Announced

Micron Technology released the new RealSSD C300 – the fastest SSD for notebook and desktop PCs to date and the first solid-state drive (SSD) to comply with the SATA Revision 3.0 (SATA 6Gb/s) specification. A 6Gb/s SATA link will help address the throughput bottleneck that today’s solid state drives face, making SSDs one of the major markets that benefit from SATA 6Gb/s. The move from SATA 2.0 to SATA 3.0 doubles the speed of link available to the SSDs. The Micron SSD will theoretically provide read speeds up to 355MB/sec and write speeds of up to 215 MB/sec.
So what makes these high speeds compelling?
New SSD options now available to consumers enable users to enjoy a better computing experience, from a faster OS boot times to quicker application loading, data transfer and file copying. There are many benefits to be gained by making the transition to SSDs. The video below provides a demonstration of advantages achieved when using Micron’s RealSSD C300 drive versus a hard disk drive (HDD).
Comparison of the Micron C300 SSD vs. HDD



The SSDs will be available in 1.8 inch and 2.5 inch form factors and in 128 GB and 256 GB sizes. Micron is sampling the C300 SSD in limited qualities and plans to enter production in Q1 of 2010.
Early in the development of the SATA Revision 3.0 specification, SATA-IO collaborated with test equipment companies to review testing parameters. Test platforms operating at the margin of SATA 3Gb/s will likely fail if they are not updated to meet SATA 6Gb/s requirements. SATA 6Gb/s compliance and certification will be needed to ensure interoperability in the SATA ecosystem.
Learn More
SATA Specification & Testing News