ZDrive
Latest
OCZ's Z-Drive PCI-Express SSD gets exhaustively reviewed
Man, talk about a letdown. It's hard to put into mere words just how excited we were about the OCZ Z-Drive when we saw an early prototype shell way back at CeBIT, and now that it's shipping out to affluent users, we've got a remarkably thorough review explaining that it's probably not the dream device we were all hoping for. The good folks over at Hot Hardware managed to slam the Z-Drive m84 into their PCIe slot and run it through a battery of tests, and aside from larger file transfers, there just wasn't a mind-blowing amount of awesomeness to speak of. Critics expected this thing to rival at least an SSD RAID solution driven by a software RAID controller, but for whatever reason, that simply wasn't the case. Hit the read link for more benchmarks than you'd ever care to see on a weekend, and feel free to pocket that plastic.
OCZ's PCIe SSD Z-Drive finally starts shipping
Call it coincidence if you will, but on the same day that Super Talent announced that its 2TB RAIDDrive would begin shipping next month, OCZ has finally confessed that its Z-Drive is shipping... right now! Originally shown in prototype form back at CeBIT, this PCIe card is equipped with four SSDs linked in a RAID 0 configuration. We'd originally assumed that just a few capacities of the same device would be available, but we're learning today that two iterations will be produced: the Z-Drive p84 will be MLC-based and tout a 750MBps maximum read rate / 650MBps maximum write rate, while the SLC-based Z-Drive e84 cranks that to 800MBps and 750MBps (respectively). Also of note, both models will be available in 256GB and 512GB sizes, though the 1TB flagship will be p84 only. We've checked Amazon again and it's still showing "1 to 3 months" before release, but hopefully there's a memo waiting in some admin's inbox to remedy that.
Final press shots emerge of OCZ's Z-Drive, shipments still forever away
Le sigh. When OCZ's hotly-anticipated Z-Drive popped up for pre-order on Amazon back in May, we just knew that this thing would be shipping out to consumers in no time flat. Yet, here we are in early September with an estimated ship date of "1 to 3 months." Thankfully for those anxiously awaiting a serious dose of PCI-Express-based SSD goodness, it looks as if the firm has finally nailed down the final look, feel and performance numbers for the device. There's no arguing that the unit you see above is all the excuse you need to invest in a translucent chassis, but it's the promised sustained write rates of up to 600MB/sec that really have us drooling. So far as we know, the outfit will still be charging somewhere in the neighborhood of four arms and 2.5 legs for the privilege of ownership, but if that 1TB edition just feels too far out of reach, hopefully the 250GB and 500GB models will only require a smattering of heists.
OCZ's Z-Drive priced at Amazon: $1,561 and way up
The kind folks at OCZ Technology's CeBIT booth told us that they expected the forthcoming Z-Drive to be priced between $1,500 and $2,000, and unfortunately for consumers, they were obviously just talking about the starting tag. Today, the much-hyped PCI-Express SSD card -- which strings a few blocks of flash memory together on a wicked fast PCI-E pipeline -- has been listed at Amazon, and the asking prices are downright eye-popping. The drive is slated to ship in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB flavors, with Amazon demanding $1,561.30, $2,450.50 and $3,368.99 for each in order of mention. We know read rates up to 500MB/sec and write rates of up to 470MB/sec are appealing and all, but damn.[Thanks, Gary]Read - 250GB Z-Drive listingRead - 500GB Z-Drive listingRead - 1TB Z-Drive listing
Prototype OCZ Z-Drive PCI-Express SSD splayed, scoped out
Mmm, PCI-Express-based SSD storage. Be honest, is there anything more delicious? The camera-wielding cats over at Hot Hardware managed to climb behind the scenes at OCZ Technology and snap a bevy of shots of the outfit's highly anticipated Z-Drive in prototype form, and while the device doesn't look all that different than the press shots we peeked last month, there seems to be some ways yet to go before this bad boy's available for purchase. At any rate, the innards look about as you'd expect 'em to, with loads of green PCB littered about with oodles of ultra-speedy flash storage. The drive pictured above is actually a 512GB version with a single 4-pin molex power connector and an X4 PCI-e slot, and it benched at upwards of 500MB/sec during read tests and 400MB/sec on write tests. Check the read link for a closer look -- just don't forget to prep the drool rag before heading over.
OCZ gets official with Z-Drive PCI-Express SSD
Technically, OCZ outed this here PCI-Express SSD way back at CeBIT in March, but it's just now making things super official. Now available with a fresh face and hard specifications, the Z-Drive is aiming to take on wares by firms like Fusion-io and provide blistering transfer rates to anyone who buys in. Essentially, this device removes the SATA bottleneck by employing the PCIe architecture and four Vertex controllers configured in four-way RAID 0 array. Curious about performance? Read speeds can hit upwards of 510MB/sec, while write speeds top out at 480MB/sec -- plenty respectable in our eyes. OCZ's planning to push these out in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB capacities, and while final pricing is still being kept under wraps, we're told that it'll be kept "competitive."
OCZ's Z Drive puts 1TB of blazing SSD capacity in your PCIe slot: eyes-on
Here's a little something OCZ Technology cooked up just for CeBIT: a PCIe enclosure that'll contain 1TB worth of SSD storage with maximum read rates of up to 600MB/sec and maximum write speeds of up to 500MB/sec. Oh, and the sustained write speeds are right around 400MB/sec. Essentially, this device will contain four 256GB MLC-based OCZ SSDs along with 256MB of ECC DDR2 RAM; when slapped in one's desktop, they can choose to set it up as the boot disk or a slave. OCZ is also hoping to offer a 4TB edition by the end of the year, which is totally plausible given that 1TB SSDs are already a reality. The on-hand demo was just a mockup shell, but the finalized version shouldn't look much different than what's pictured in the gallery below. As for pricing and availability? It should hit the US of A in around six weeks for somewhere between $1,500 and $2,000. It's high-end, y'all.
