Sharkoon unveils Do-It-Yourself SSD

Posted on Tuesday, November 04 2008 @ 13:11 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Sharkoon debuts the Flexi-Drive S2S, this device is an SSD adapter that allows you to build your own 2.5" SSD. Up to six SDHC memory cards can be inserted into the Flexi-Drive S2S, allowing for a maximum storage capacity of 192GB. The SSD adapter uses RAID 0 and Sharkoon claims a read speed of 140MB/s and write speed of 115MB/s can be achieved with six 8GB SDHC memory cards. The performance sounds pretty good but the use of RAID 0 means that if just one of the six memory cards fails, all your data will be lost. The Sharkoon Flexi-Drive S2S has a MSRP of 79EUR. It's an interesting concept but unless you already have a bunch of SD cards you will probably be much better off with a real SSD.
Solid State Disks (SSDs) are all the rage these days. The robust flash based hard drives offer many advantages to typical magnetic storage solutions. Silent operation, minimal electricity requirements, almost no heat build-up and fast read/write rates. Because of their high resistance to shock and impact damage, SSDs are especially suited for mobile computers. Disadvantages include their high price and relatively low capacity--at this time capacities greater than 128GB are hard to find.

Sharkoon is now introducing an alternative that allows users to build a Notebook SSD themselves. The Sharkoon Flexi-Drive S2S is an SSD adaptor with the size and connections of a 2.5 inch SATA hard drive. The necessary flash memory is provided by the up to six SDHC cards that can be installed in the enclosure. Users can select the manufacturer, number, chip type (SLC or MLC) and capacity of the memory cards according to their needs. As the installed memory cards use Raid-0, the performance and capacity of all installed cards should be the same. At this time the maximum available SDHC capacity is 32GB, allowing for a maximum of 192GB to be installed in the Flexi-Drive S2S. Testing with HD-Tune, six 8GB SDHC memory cards with Class 6 speed ratings had a read speed of 140 MB/s and a write speed of 115 MB/s.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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