When we think about SSDs, most of us probably imagine a component encased in little metal enclosures that are designed to fit inside larger notebooks and desktop computers.
The typical SSD uses a 2.5-inch form factor sized roughly the same as a notebook hard drive. However, those 2.5-inch form factor SSDs are often too thick and bulky for thin mobile devices such as ultrabooks and tablets.
Fortunately, computer hardware maker Mushkin has announced an impressively high capacity and very small 480 GB mSATA SSD. The drive will be available for upgrading existing hardware that supports mSATA storage devices. The biggest downside to this small and high-capacity SSD? The price, which is set at $500.
“Keeping z-height as low as possible and managing to fit eight NAND flash chips and a controller on a mSATA PCB was no easy feat, but now capacity-hungry Ultrabook and notebook users can go beyond the 256GB mSATA barrier,” said Mushkin rep Brian Flood.
The storage device uses a SandForce SF-2281 SSD processor and supports ATA APM, Security Set, NCQ, and TRIM features. The SSD has built-in BCH ECC with up to 55 bits correctable per 512-byte sector, along with high-speed MLC NAND and slots for a mini PCIe interface.
Physical dimensions of the SSD measure 50.80 x 29.85 4.85 mm. Frankly, I think it’s impressive that Mushkin was able to stuff 480 GB of storage capacity into such a small space. The SSD is also covered by a three-year limited warranty. Availability in the US is set for early January 2013, with worldwide distribution slated for mid-January.
