With standard SSDs not within a good price range yet, Seagate have decided to offer a half-step upgrade. They’ve released the Momentus XT, a hybrid SSD/traditonal spinning HDD. All models offer 4GB of SLC NAND SSD memory which the unit uses if it thinks using SSD would benefit the user. This clever trickery is performed by the Momentus XT’s Adaptive Memory technology.

Adaptive Memory technology enables the drive to tailor performance to the user. Whether you are gaming, editing digital media or crunching numbers, performance is optimized and ready for your next move.

The Momentus XT sports three capacities of spinny HDD, namely, 250, 320 and 500 GB which rotate at 7,200 RPM. Here are the rest of the details on the Seagate Momentus XT.

* Model Number ST92505610AS/ST93205620AS/ST95005620AS
* Interface SATA 3Gb/s
* Cache 32MB
* Capacity 250GB/320GB/500GB
* Areal density (avg) 394Gb/in2
* Height 9.7mm (0.378 in)
* Width 70.10mm (2.76 in)
* Length 100.55mm (3.959 in)
* Weight (typical) 105g (.227 lb)
* Spin Speed 7200 RPM
* Average latency 4.17ms
* Random read seek time 11ms
* Random write seek time 13ms
* I/O data transfer rate 300MB/s

The hybrid Momentus XT seems like a great idea to us, opening up SSD benefits to users for good prices, with the 250GB model available at Amazon for $118. Of course if you have already invested in the Momentus XT do let us know what you think.

Amazon Prices

250GB - ST92505610AS - $118
320GB - ST93205620AS - $126
500GB - ST95005620AS - $135

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With 2010 being the year of 3D TV, we’ve sort of forgotten about 2009’s favourite toy the Solid State Drive. So we were pleased to see Intal’s latest SSD offering come across our radar and thought we’d share the SSD joy with you all. The last time we took a look at an Intel SSD was back in January with their X25-V SSD range and less than six months later, their latest range, X25-M Mainstream is available. The X25M SSD range comes in three flavours, 40, 80 and 160 GB with the following specifications

* Serial ATA interface
* Data transfer rates up to 3 Gbps
* Sustained Sequential Read: up to 250 MB/s
* Sustained Sequential Write: up to 70 MB/s (80 GB drive) and up to 100 MB/s (160 GB drive)
* 2.5¨ Industry Standard Hard Drive Form Factor
* 1.2 million hours Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF)
* Intel® Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND Flash Memory

Needless to say the specs are an improvement on the January models, but what about the prices? Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to have been a lot of movement in this area, with the 40GB model still costing around the same $120 mark as back in January. However if you’re keen to upgrade your old ‘moving part’ drives then click on thru below to get to the Intel SSD X25-M range at Amazon.

40 GB - $118
80 GB - $225
160 GB - $430

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Last November we looked at OCZ’s Colossus 3.5 inch SSD range, and here we are only five months later the San Jose SSD manufacturer has unleased a new range of Colossus 3.5 inch SSDs. This time the top end of the range sports, dare we say, a colossus 1 TB model and as last time the range starts with a 120GB model. Here are the rest of the numbers on the latest OCZ SSDs.

* 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB capacities
* Internal RAID 0
* 128MB Onboard Cache
* Seek Time < .1ms
* Lightweight Aluminum Casing
* 146 (L) x 101.6 (W) x 25.4mm (H)
* Talks nicely with Windows 7, XP, Vista, and Linux
* Read: Up to 260 MB/s
* Write: Up to 260 MB/s
* Sustained Write: 220 MB/s (140 MB/s for 120GB model)
* Max IOPS: 15,000 (4K random)

Of course these models are not going to be cheap and over at Amazon, they sport the following price tags

OCZ Colossus 120GB - $431.48
OCZ Colossus 250GB - $820.05
OCZ Colossus 500GB - $1523.99
OCZ Colossus 1TB - $3539.81

But if you want super quiet, super swift data access then those price tags may not be too daunting.

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Whilst you might think SSDs are so 2009, OCZ should be able to grab your attention with their latest SSD offering, the Onyx Series SATA II SSD. This little sucker offers you 32 GB of zeroes and ones with a read speed of up to 125 MB/s. It’ll write them back at up to 70 MB/s. Here’s the rest of the specification of the Onyx Series SSD.

* 32GB capacity
* 64MB Onboard Cache
* TRIM Support
* Seek Time: < .1ms
* Slim 2.5″ Design
* 99.8 x 69.63 x 9.3mm
* 77g
* 1.5 million hour mean time between failure (MTBF)

The 32GB Onyx will retail for $100 which means SSD technology is now within reach of even the most frugal budgets. Obviously the $ per GB figure still does not match spinning HDDs but of course there’s an upside in power usage and noise reduction which is up to the individual to quantify in dollar terms. We’re not yet convinced that the average consumer is ready for the SSD revolution but $100 drives like the OCZ Onyx can only bring that date closer. At the moment we couldn’t find an online purchase option for the Onyx but if you’re reading this a bit after the launch then this link may produce some results on Amazon.

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Here’s another SSD for you to feast your eyes over. SanDisk have announced a G3 range coming in two capacities 60 GB and 120 GB, here are the full details on the two units

* 220 MB/sec read
* 120 MB/sec write
* Long-term endurance - can withstand at least 80 terabytes of data written to it over it’s lifetimeiv
* SanDisk ExtremeFFSTM technology has the potential to accelerate random write performance
* Lower power consumption that saves energy and extends battery usage time, and results in cooler operation
* Noise reduction for quiet operation while at home or on the road
* Interface: SATA 3Gb/s
* 9.5 x 100.5 x 69.85 mm
* 65 grams
* Operating temperature: 0˚C to 70˚C
* Power Active: 0.4W
* Capacities: 60GB and 120GB

The price tags on these units are not exactly small at $230 and $400 for the 60 and 120 GB respectively and intriguingly compare to the OCZ Vertex Turbo from last July. So we’re not convinced the G3 range will be winner SanDisk may think it has on its hands.

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AMP have just launched the Aviator External USB 3.0 64 GB SSD which is a bit of mouthful to say the least. In a nutshell it’s a 64 GB SSD which utilises the 4.8 Gb/s speed of USB 3.0 ports. Sounds impressive, eh? Here’s the full low-down on the Aviator

* 64GB MLC NAND Flash SSD
* 2.5-inch External Case with SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface - backward compatible with USB 2.0
* Typical Read/Write Speeds 150MB/sec; Up to 230MB/sec Read depending on system configuration
* Rugged and stylish Black all-metal case
* 135 x 84 x 15 mm

The availability of USB 3.0 seems to have been a significant boon to the SSD world, with a number of manufacturers now offering units that will move your zeroes and ones at the 4.8 Gb/s USB 3.0 speed. Hopefully consumers will catch on and the SSD marketplace will grow throughout 2010.

If you fancy one of AMP’s Aviator 2 SSDs then stroll on over to Amazon.

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Want an SSD for a snip just over $120? That’s what you’ll have to stump up at Amazon to get your mits on Intel’s latest SSD offering, the 40GB X25-V SSD. Now 40 GB may not sound like a lot of zeroes and ones but the cunning plan would be to have your OS installed on your super-fast SSD and all your data on the old HDD. This means, in theory that your OS would fly along to free up time for you to actually ‘do stuff’ with your data on the machine. We’ve heard the plan before and we think it is a good idea and with small SSDs priced keenly it even becomes an affordable plan. Anyway should you choose Intel as your SSD provider here are the bits and pieces on their X25-V 40 GB SSD.

* Sustained Read/Write: 170/35 MB/s
* Power: 150mW active, 75mW idle
* 1.2 million hour MTBF
* Read Latency: 65 microseconds, write Latency: 110 microseconds
* 4.3 x 0.8 x 6.1 inches
* 4 ounces
* Model number: SSDSA2MP040G2R5
* Random 4 KB reads up to 25 K IOPS
* Random 4 KB writes up to 2.5 K IOPS

The X25-V is certainly one of the cheapest SSDs around but isn’t the fastest available. However for giving your machine’s OS a helping hand $120 is not a lot to pay. If you’re still keen check out Intel’s 40GB SSD over at Amazon where it also gained 4.5 stars out of 5.

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