OCZ outs its first Mini-PCIe SSDs in 16GB / 32GB capacities

Just as Buffalo did in December of last year, OCZ Technology is busting out a duo of netbook / notebook-ready SSDs in 16GB and 32GB capacities. Obviously aimed at the smaller, more low-cost machines, the company's first ever Mini-PCIe solid state drives are a so-called "affordable flash-based storage option to significantly increase the capacity for netbooks." The pair will be available in SATA and PATA interfaces, which will deliver read speeds of up to 110MB/sec and write speeds as high as 51MB/sec (or 45MB/sec [read] and 35MB/sec [write] for the PATA versions). Regrettably, there's no mention of price, but you can bet these will come packed in a specced-out version of the firm's Neutrino.

[Sea Urchin @ Apr 19th 2009 9:56AM]

WOW, were the HDD makers been caught with their pants down or what. How could they allow all of these companies just enter the memory field like that? I think HDD makers, at least some of them will die by the end of next year, they are too far behind.

[r3loaded @ Apr 19th 2009 10:09AM]

More likely, they'll just buy out the SSD upstarts.

[Juaquin @ Apr 19th 2009 11:15AM]

OCZ has been in the memory field for years...

[ohforfucksake @ Apr 19th 2009 10:03AM]

If this were Monster Cable, it would SUCK!

[stuff @ Apr 19th 2009 10:13AM]

While I appreciate what you're saying, anyone reading one of these comments for the first time without any back story is just going to think you're an idiot. If you're going to make the effort to post then at least go the extra mile and post links to *why* they suck so hard :D

[ryan @ Apr 19th 2009 10:14AM]

I'm pretty sure everyone knows why already.

[Oli D @ Apr 19th 2009 11:05AM]

not me, i think i must have missed this, someone fill me in

[Erb @ Apr 19th 2009 11:12AM]

This person probably works for Monster Cable, and every time someone reads this they think about Monster Cable.
Google picks this link up, adding +1 result to the Google search, and making Monster Cable that much more "Popular".

[ohforfucksake @ Apr 19th 2009 11:18AM]

@Erb If thats how it works, then you're doing a pretty good job yourself mentioning them 3 times in two lines!

[DWells55 @ Apr 19th 2009 3:49PM]

Total unrelated spam, but nonetheless upvoted since Monster Cable does, in fact, suck majorly.

[stuff @ Apr 19th 2009 9:09PM]

Actually the references to Monster cable on this page would only make *this page* more popular in Google, as the text 'Monster cable' isn't linked.

What would be better would be if everyone doing this 'Monster cable sucks' thing used the text 'Monster cable' and linked it to the same damning article. Most search engines rank the clickable text highly when doing their stuff.

[Stitchz @ Apr 19th 2009 10:14AM]

Any word on the controller (JMicron, Indilinx)?

[loosely_coupled @ Apr 19th 2009 7:58PM]

most likely JMicron, but OCZ has easily had the fastest SSDs.. Their best ones don't quite reach Intels X25 read speeds, but generally it away on right speeds..

[DR House @ Apr 19th 2009 10:14AM]

These are useless and let me tell you why

If you plan to use it on a netbook

#1 You really cant make use of these with how weak the Netbooks are plus XP doesnt support SSD very well unlike Windows 7 which have built in SSD support
#2 To install Windows 7 on your netbook 16/32GB is not cutting it you will end up with no space kinda
#3 Windows 7 is amazing for Netbooks so upgrade to win 7 would make your netbook smoother than XP+SSD option which doesnt work that well in the first place

Now if you plan to use them on Laptops

#1 Seagate 500GB 7200RPM already do 100MB Read and 100MB Write (Vs 51MB write of this SSD) Faster Write helps your pc when you copy files encode videos and Editing and many other stuff
#2 Who wants 32GB on a laptop? you cant even install windows vista with 30GB if you wanna do Full install and enable Virtual Ram and Restore Function
#3 some points up for the Netbooks apply here too

And most important thing is Capacity and Price HDS is cheaper and offer much more GB so why waste time on these SSDs?
SSD right now is high end product for Hardcore users and Video editors so dont bother with these yet

[ryan @ Apr 19th 2009 10:16AM]

Blah blah blah Win 7 blah blah Win 7

What about Linux? What about uncached random read? Do you have any idea what you're talking about?

[DR House @ Apr 19th 2009 10:19AM]

I love megaman so i'm gonna go easy on you

Most people dont care about Linux its simple as that, And its clear i'm talking to Windows users not apple or Linux Users

[Syl @ Apr 19th 2009 10:29AM]

You have to be some sort of Microsoft shill. Have you used XP on the likes of an Eee 900 901 at all? Works just fine.

Can't wait for these, there are build and quality issues with the likes of Runcore.

[dodo @ Apr 19th 2009 10:43AM]

I'm pretty sure that the HDD's speed that you are mentioning is not for random reads/writes, unlike the SSD.

[DR House @ Apr 19th 2009 10:48AM]

Random access speed is a different story its how fast you access the file not how fast you write to it or read from it
Its funny when people accuse others of not knowing what are they talking about yet they are the ones who have no idea

Did you see me talk about the random access or normal speed?
I'll take a HD that copy files twice as fast over a SSD that let me enter the file in 0.0001 Sec instead of 0.1 Sec

[ryan @ Apr 19th 2009 11:09AM]

If you knew what you were talking about, you'd know that uncached random read is about the worst bottleneck on HDDs. Even Velociraptors have uncached random read speeds in the fractions of megabytes, where even Runcore drives have uncached random read speeds in the megabytes. For a netbook user, this means less stuttering, faster boots, and overall better responsiveness. How often do you read or write huge files and how often do you (or your operating system) read or write a lot of small files on a netbook?

[Kwikit @ Apr 19th 2009 11:19AM]

It's nt all about you... show some love for the OS X / Linux. ;)

By the way, Random Read / Write is not the same as Random Access. It's in contrast to Sequential Read / Write. Random is usually a very low number, whereas Sequential is usually pretty high. Make sure you are comparing the same parameters.

[jergarmar @ Apr 19th 2009 11:48AM]

"XP doesnt support SSD very well"

This statement is not very specific. For the most part, any OS doesn't care what kind of hard drive it is, so the only thing you have to worry about is the specs. If the new OCZ SSD's have the same controller as the Vertex, then you don't have to worry about the specs -- they're quite good.

Maybe you're referring to "TRIM" support for SSD's, which slows down the performance degradation over time. It's nice to have but I have a feeling the "performance degradation" from using Windows 7 instead of XP will overshadow it. Does anybody think that Windows 7 will be as fast as XP? As CES this year they said repeatedly that it will be "as fast as Vista" -- not exactly encouraging.

[Kamokazi @ Apr 19th 2009 2:02PM]

You're a moron, and let me explain why, point by point:

#1 You really cant make use of these with how weak the Netbooks are plus XP doesnt support SSD very well unlike Windows 7 which have built in SSD support
-----XP and Vista will work just fine on these. The only thing better about Win 7 is that it can optimize it's disk access for SSDs, which is really a minimal performance increase.
#2 To install Windows 7 on your netbook 16/32GB is not cutting it you will end up with no space kinda
-----Windows 7 isn't much bigger than Vista. 5, *maybe* 6GB tops for OS. Leaving you plenty of space for applications even on a 16GB. Netbooks aren't for storing your pr0n.
#3 Windows 7 is amazing for Netbooks so upgrade to win 7 would make your netbook smoother than XP+SSD option which doesnt work that well in the first place
-----Win7 isn't available yet. These are. And why not do both? I already made it pretty clear 16GB is plenty for a netbook.

Now if you plan to use them on Laptops

#1 Seagate 500GB 7200RPM already do 100MB Read and 100MB Write (Vs 51MB write of this SSD) Faster Write helps your pc when you copy files encode videos and Editing and many other stuff
-----Those figures are total bullshit. Even desktop 7200RPM drives don't hit those speeds. I know a Seagate Momentus 320GB 7200RPM hits 35MB on a good day. I know this, because that is what is in my own laptop.
#2 Who wants 32GB on a laptop? you cant even install windows vista with 30GB if you wanna do Full install and enable Virtual Ram and Restore Function
-----SSD for OS and most applications, HDD for storage and larger applications = Performance on the stuff that counts. Full install of Vista ~4.5GB....Virtual Memory should never be more than 1.5x your installed RAM, so assuming you have the max supported RAM of 4GB, you're looking at 6GB. So that's 10.5GB. How the hell do you end up with 20GB of system restores? And you can easily point that to a HDD. Or do what I do, disable system restore and use a real backup program.
#3 some points up for the Netbooks apply here too
-----Points which are equally as moronic.

[martyFREEDOM @ Apr 19th 2009 4:48PM]

just gonna post in this thread real quick

[Miguel @ Apr 19th 2009 10:20AM]

its beginning to look like pci storage solutions are getting more popular. Who knows, maybe stand alone hard drives and ssd counterparts will become obsolete in the way future for these guys.

[Neg @ Apr 19th 2009 10:38AM]

Eventually we will most probably outmode spinning magnetic discs as a portable storage medium (as they get cheaper) - however, they will always be more expensive than spinning discs. This won't matter so much when the price difference is less than 30% (SSD makes up for it by being better and random reading and writing amongst other things, like size concerns). Right now, it's 1000% - i can get a 320GB 7200RPM laptop disk for the same price as a 32GB SSD (~$130AU).

Once you've completely done away with spinning disks in a laptop device however, why use their form-factors and even interfaces? right now miniPCIe SSDs just run PATA or SATA through a miniPCIe connector...but i see no reason for them to not create a whole new standard for small, solid state storage devices.

Physical is of relatively little concern (some people seem to struggle with the idea that copper/gold does not care what is going through it, hence why you can run anything over any cable (to some extent...some cabling will work but not well)) but SCSI and ATA are all built around the limitations and functions of a spinning disk - time for a whole new protocol, methinks.

And i'm equally sure that behind the scenes all the HDD makers are busy standardizing on a brand new SSD interface, hence why few of the major players are entering the field with PATA/SATA-over-miniPCIe based devices.

*shrug* just my two cents.

[SpeedRacer @ Apr 19th 2009 12:09PM]

Good point. FusionIO is using PCI express x8 for their SSD and it's rated at 1500MB (that's B, not b) per second sustained write.

In the end there may just be three memory types; on-die cache, super-fast DRAM, and persistent flash.

With networks getting fast enough to eliminate the need for optical disks to transport data, we may soon see the day of computers with no moving parts (except maybe the keyboard).

[Scump @ Apr 19th 2009 10:52AM]

Does anyone know if it would be possible to use the spare PCIe slot in a laptop that has being pre-designed for a WWAN card?

I ask only because I'm unsure if the BIOS needs some tweaking to enusre it would work as a boot drive.

[Oli D @ Apr 19th 2009 11:08AM]

im wondering the same question, i just ditched 1 gb of "TurboMemory" because it isnt supported in W7b yet and im looking at storing the OS on a 16Gb drive...

[David @ Apr 19th 2009 7:06PM]

You running a mini 9? If so, you have to do a mod to run this over the WWAN slot/space. Check out the forums in mydellmini.

[Dave @ Apr 19th 2009 11:26AM]

Nice to see some competition in these small form factor ssds. Prices are sure to drop.

[RioRyan @ Apr 19th 2009 11:37AM]

God, Spammers in this thread are such massive dick heads!

[Apreche @ Apr 19th 2009 3:07PM]

So I can just stick this into the PCIe slot on my desktop motherboard, and it will work? I'm out of SATA holes, so it would be cool if I could get one of these instead of a PCI controller card.

[OQuaTanginWann @ Apr 19th 2009 4:12PM]

Can someone smarter than me please explain what they are talking about with SATA and PATA? I know what SATA and PATA interfaces are with regard to hard drives. But these little cards are Mini-PCIe. Wouldn't they just pass data directly over that bus, or do all PCIe devices require a separate bus on top of that for the actual data from the disk or SSD?

In any event, these little cards are cool for a lot more than netbooks. My primary laptop for work these days is a very fast Gateway P7805u that has two unused PCIe slots. The 320 GB disk in this machine is about as quick as a laptop disk gets, but installing Vista to a Mini-PCIe SSD should result in a huge performance boost.

[OQuaTanginWann @ Apr 19th 2009 4:14PM]

Nevermind the question. Apparently all PCIe storage devices have IDE cards built in.

That's stupid. Even more stupid is why anyone would want the slower version.

[NOB @ Apr 19th 2009 6:23PM]

Is this bootable?

[jg @ Apr 19th 2009 11:19PM]

The problem with ssd's in general is the backwards compatibility with fat32 which m$ has kept alive but which is also holding file system's in general back. Windows7 isn't so new that it has forgotten fat32. It's mostly some code cleanup with some lipstick and breath mints. In keeping in line with the fat file system we truly limit the ability of the way in which are hardware can interact with the data itself. It is similar to buying a sportscar with a speed limiter.

[Joe @ Apr 20th 2009 2:10PM]

This is silly nonsense. Nobody is requiring these devices be Fat32 compatible. The main reason Fat32 is being kept around is that it's a pretty good way to format a USB memory stick.

[reytron @ Apr 20th 2009 10:25AM]

if the come out with the half-minis that'll fit in the dell mini 9s, it'd be too late since I already bought a runcore