Computers

OCZ releases world's first terabyte 2.5-inch SSD

OCZ releases world's first terabyte 2.5-inch SSD
OCZ's new model Octane SSDs will come in 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB capacities
OCZ's new model Octane SSDs will come in 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB capacities
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The SATA 2.0 Octane SSD from Octane
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The SATA 2.0 Octane SSD from Octane
OCZ's new model Octane SSDs will come in 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB capacities
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OCZ's new model Octane SSDs will come in 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB capacities

If you're like me, you're waiting for storage capacities to increase and prices to decrease before ditching the traditional platter-based hard drive and jumping on the SSD (solid-state drive) train to take advantage of lower power consumption and faster boot up and access times. Having already released the world's first 3.5-inch 1 TB SSD in 2009, OCZ has now removed the capacity hurdle for laptops with the release of the world's first 2.5-inch SSD that is available in capacities up to 1 TB.

OCZ's new Octane SATA 3.0 and SATA 2.0 SSD series is based on the Indilinx Everest controller and feature a rapid boot feature that is claimed to reduce boot times by 50 percent over previous OCZ SSDs. The SATA 3.0 (6 Gbps) Octane model offering 560 MB/s read and 400 MB/s write and up to 45,000 random read IOPS (Input/Output Per Second) using 4K blocks, while the Octane-S2 SATA 2.0 (3 Gbps) model offers 275 MB/s read and 265 MB/s write and up to 30,000 IOPS (Input/Output Per Second).

Compare this to the Intel 510 series SATA 3.0, 2.5-inch SSD that boasts read, write speeds of 500 MB/s and 315 MB/s respectively, random read IOPS of up to 20,000 and only comes in 120 GB and 250 GB capacities.

The SATA 2.0 Octane SSD from Octane
The SATA 2.0 Octane SSD from Octane

OCZ says technology from its Indilinx subsidiary also provides the new SATA 3.0 and SATA 2.0 drives with reduced latency, enabling read and write access times of 0.06 ms and 0.09 ms respectively. Meanwhile, Indilinx's proprietary NDurance technology is also onboard, which is claimed to increase the program/erase cycles of NAND flash memory by up to two times and minimize performance degradation of the drive even after the storage capacity has been highly utilized.

"Until now SSDs have been tailored for specific applications, forcing users into a product which maximizes performance for a narrow band of applications, but is significantly lacking in others," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology. "The Octane Series solves this problem by providing the highest level of performance across varied workloads including mixed file sizes and mixed compressible and uncompressible data, all while nearly doubling NAND flash endurance."

OCZ will offer its new SSDs from November 1st 2011 in capacities of 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB capacities. The company hasn't released pricing details, but Computer World is reporting the new drives will be priced from US$1.10 to $1.30 per gigabyte. Looks like I'll be waiting for a little longer yet to make the switch.

7 comments
7 comments
DemonDuck
One of those drives costs more than my car....
Professor Chaos
On august 5th 2011 Smart unveiled a 1.6TB SSD so this isn\'t a world first, or a Gizmag first for that matter Link: http://www.gizmag.com/smart-optimus-fast-ssd-enterprise-storage/19445/
Jack Thompson
If someone would be so kind as to buy me two too run in Raid 0 instead of my 500GB normal HDD\'s i\'d be eternally grateful. I\'d probably have too win the lottery too have these within the next year though...
Fred Ross
It could be the worlds first \"terabyte 2.5-inch SSD\" drive. The other drive is 1.6T, not 1T.
der
@ ross, re-read the article prior to slating others. "the world's first 2.5-inch SSD that is available in capacities up to 1 TB" UP TO 1T, Ducky was on the money.
Calson
I just bought a 1TB hard drive for $67. So for only $1233 more I could get a SSD. What people seem to forget is that 99% of the time the drive is not being accessed so whatever performance improvement gained needs to be factored in in terms of actual time saved over the course of the day. The average person will save less than a minute a day when they boot their computer.
Only significant advantage is going to be with run times for battery powered devices but even then what will it really be worth. A SSD would save 8 ounces in laptop weight and add less than an hour of run time for a netbook. A 1TB SSD would enable storing more movies on a tablet for viewing if you have the time to illegally rip and copy them to a computer.
There is geek appeal to the SSD\'s that overrides any practical advantages to their use so they will continue to gain market share.
Facebook User
If you spend your money on memory, you negate the value of a fast hard drive. then, it\'s just \'start up\' bragging rights.