"The density of MLC NAND enables the creation of smaller form factor high density storage solutions, and Toshiba, as the technology leader for NAND storage solutions, will continue to innovate in this space."Īs mobile devices get smaller and lighter, yet even more feature packed than ever, the SSDs inside them – the heart of storing all of the music and other entertainment data – must be even smaller, and much thinner.
"Delivering a product that enables superior user experience in a smaller footprint is the ultimate goal," noted Scott Nelson, vice president, Memory Business Unit, Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc.
Ideally suited for integration into space-sensitive products, including tablet PCs, laptops, mini-mobile and netbook PCs, Toshiba's latest SSD offering helps these devices achieve a super slim profile. Available now, the new drives are offered in capacities of 64-gigabyte (GB) (1), 128GB and 256GB, with a maximum sequential read speed of 220MB per second (MB/s) (2) and a maximum sequential write speed of 180MB/s. (TAEC)* today announced the Blade X-gale™ SSD series, an innovative new form factor in high capacity, high performance solid-state storage. (Toshiba) and Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. Toshiba Introduces High Performance Blade-Type SSD Modules with Capacities up to 256GBĪt a Thickness of 2.2mm, the 128GB Module is 42 Percent Thinner than the Typical mSATA Form Factor
In the meantime, PhotoFast has also produced a SSD upgrade kit for the MacBook Air that boosts internal storage to 256GB and turns the machine's original 64GB drive into a USB 3.0 device. There's no word on pricing or availability, but it seems likely that we'll soon see computers from other manufacturers using these parts as well. It's not yet known if the 256GB drive will fit into the 11-inch Air (a combination not offered by Apple) since the largest stick is marginally thicker than the other two parts. Apple has designed the Air to try and prevent end-user serviceability, but if you can find a five-point Torx screwdriver, you can perform a drive upgrade. They even have the same part number as the originals, indicating that Toshiba may be the OEM supplier. Toshiba is now offering these blade-type SSDs in the aftermarket in the same 64, 128, and 256GB sizes found in the 11- and 13-inch Airs. Rather than installing the flash memory in a case that could be installed in place of a spinning drive, the SSD looks like an old-school DRAM stick with exposed chips and the interface contacts along one end. One of the key elements that allowed Apple to make the new MacBook Air so slim was the elimination of traditional drive packaging for the solid-state drive (SSD).