Solid State Drive
Ongoing coverage on Solid State Drive.
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The rise in drive prices is being driven by AI and even HDDs can't hide
The article discusses the rising prices of storage solutions, particularly Solid State Drives (SSDs), driven in part by the demand from Artificial Intelligence applications. While SSDs offer advantages, the increasing costs are making Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) a more sensible option in certain scenarios.
Samsung SSD 9100 PRO Review – Blending speed and storage
This review examines the Samsung SSD 9100 PRO, a 2TB M.2 drive with a heatsink, highlighting its impact on PC gaming performance. While benchmarks showed mixed results compared to another SSD, the Samsung drive offered significantly faster write speeds and noticeably reduced game loading times, particularly for titles like No Rest for the Wicked.
Brand DapuStor has unveiled a gargantuan 512 TB SSD at this year's FMS 2026 event, but it's sadly not for…
DapuStor has unveiled a 512 TB enterprise-grade SSD at the FMS 2026 conference, showcasing an E2 flash form factor drive. While not intended for consumer gaming PCs or consoles like the PlayStation 5, this massive storage solution is designed for AI data centers and workstations. Pricing and availability for the drive have not yet been announced.
Sandisk (SNDK) Q4 FY26 earnings results beat revenue & EPS expectations
Sandisk exceeded Wall Street's revenue and earnings-per-share expectations for its fourth fiscal quarter of 2026, reporting $8.97 billion in revenue and $39.25 EPS. The company's performance was driven by its Solid State Drive products and its role in providing infrastructure hardware for the AI market. Despite beating estimates, Sandisk stock saw a decline in after-hours trading.
Samsung 990 review: a lower-spec SSD that’s weirdly great for games
The Samsung 990 SSD, despite being a lower-spec model with a shorter warranty and less impressive synthetic benchmarks, performs surprisingly well for PC gaming load times. While expensive, the 1TB model offers competitive performance in game loading, matching high-end drives like the WD Black SN8100.
'We finally have some good news for you': Framework's new 1 TB Gen 5 SSDs are actually cheaper than its…
Framework is reducing the prices of its PCIe Gen 5 SSDs for the Framework Laptop 13 Pro, with some 1 TB drives now costing less than previous 500 GB options. This price adjustment, driven by sourcing a new ADATA XPG MARS 970 SSD, will also be applied to existing pre-orders that have not yet shipped. The 1 TB version of the ADATA XPG MARS 970 is priced at $299.
17 years ago, one engineer made a very important discovery: If you shout at data centre HDDs, they slow down
An engineer named Brendan Gregg discovered 17 years ago that shouting at Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) can increase their latency due to vibration. This phenomenon affects HDDs but not Solid State Drives (SSDs). The discovery was shared by Bryan Cantrill in a 2008 YouTube video and is relevant to data center operations.
Samsung has reportedly developed 900-layer flash memory chips and I'm thinking SSDs could get seriously cheap if…
Samsung has reportedly developed a prototype 900-layer NAND flash memory chip by bonding two 450-layer wafers, significantly increasing density compared to current technologies. This advancement is largely driven by the demand from the AI industry, though it raises questions about future SSD pricing if the AI market cools.
Lexar has kicked off a new line of SSDs inspired by the World Cup that show resellers the red card
Lexar has launched the 'Elite Legends Series,' a new line of portable solid-state drives co-branded with the Argentine Football Association. The collection features white and blue designs inspired by the World Cup and includes various storage capacities, with prices ranging from £59.99 for a flash drive to £359.99 for a 2TB model. These drives are intended for general storage and file transfer, with the SL500 Portable SSD model offering higher speeds suitable for gaming.
SATA drives are still going strong as Kingston announces it has shipped 100 million A400 SSDs
Kingston has announced it has shipped 100 million units of its A400 SATA SSD since its launch in 2017. Despite the rise of faster M.2 NVMe drives, SATA SSDs like the A400 continue to offer significant performance improvements over traditional hard disk drives, particularly in game load times, making them a relevant and cost-effective storage solution for many users.
Kingston has just launched a massive 30.72TB Gen 5 SSD, and it's not for us storage-starved gamers
Kingston has launched a 30.72TB PCIe 5.0 NVMe U.2 SSD, the DC3000ME, designed for enterprise applications like AI and data centers, not for gamers. This drive boasts sequential read speeds of up to 14GB/s, significantly exceeding typical gaming SSD performance. While not intended for consumers, its release highlights the growing demand for high-capacity storage in professional environments, with potential implications for future consumer SSD pricing.
Seagate's new FireCuda X Vault is a slow but solid way to beat the SSD price crisis
Seagate's FireCuda X Vault is a large external hard disk drive offering 8 or 20 TB of storage, ideal for gamers seeking to expand their library capacity, especially on laptops. While significantly slower than SSDs and requiring specific USB port power and speed, its cost-effectiveness per gigabyte makes it a solid option for cold storage, though desktop users might prefer internal HDDs.
A Redditor tries to return a failed enterprise HDD to Toshiba, but it turns out that a replacement would take at least a…
A user reported issues with a failed enterprise Hard Disk Drive from Toshiba, which would only offer a refund of the original purchase price instead of the current, higher replacement cost. This situation highlights the rising costs of storage solutions, including SSDs due to AI industry demand, and the potential unreliability of HDDs with moving parts.
SK hynix's latest 321-layer QLC flash memory chips are ready to roll out, with Dell's PCs first in line to…
SK hynix has announced the full production of its new 321-layer QLC PQC21 flash memory chips, with 1 and 2 TB modules now available. Dell will be the first customer to integrate these chips into its PCs, aiming to address the ongoing demand and supply chain issues in the SSD market.
Even as prices continue to climb, Teamgroup is launching a Gen 5 SSD for "high-stability performance for the AI…
TeamGroup has launched the T-Create Classic H514 M.2 PCIe 5.0 SSD, specifically designed for the demands of generative AI workloads. While not aimed at gamers, the drive boasts impressive read and write speeds of 14,200 MB/s and 13,300 MB/s respectively. The SSD will be available in 1TB to 4TB models with either a graphene or aluminum heatsink, though pricing and release date are yet to be announced.
Best SSD for gaming 2026
This guide reviews the best Solid State Drives (SSDs) for gaming in 2026, highlighting top picks like the WD Black SN850X for most users and the WD Black SN8100 for maximum speed. It discusses current inflated prices due to chip shortages and provides recommendations for various needs, including budget options, laptop SSDs, and external drives, while also explaining SSD technology and M.2 interfaces.
