Memory and storage manufacturer Kingston has announced its second generation of SSDNow V-series solid-state drives, designed for both mainstream consumer computer users and businesses. The new V-series drives range in capacity from 30 to 128 GB, offer improved performance over their predecessors, and incorporate TRIM support (which is built-in with Windows 7) to help the drives maintain their performance over their lifespan. The drives are available as drop-in replacements for both 3.5-inch desktop (via a mounting bracket) and 2.5-inch notebook hard drives.
“By bundling together all of the software, hardware and step-by-step instructions with the drive, we make it easy for everyday users to upgrade with an SSD,” said Kingston’s SSD business manager Ariel Perez, in a statement.
The 128 GB SSDNow V-series drive now offers a read speed of up to 200MB/sec, with a write speed as high as 160MB/sec. The 64 GB version steps down to a 110 MB/sec write time, while the 30 GB version reads at 180 MB/sec and writes at 50 MB/s. The drives all support SMART self-monitoring technology so users will know right away if a drive starts to develop problems, and all the drives now support a TRIM command, which is built into Windows 7. When a computer user deletes a file, typically the operating system just notes the data blocks that file occupied are available for use. The TRIM command lets the operating system pass that information along to the SSD drive controller, so the drive actually knows those sectors are available for re-use, and can organize its data storage more efficiently. The result is that SSD drives with TRIM support better maintain their performance levels over the entire life of the drive.
Kingston says the new SSDNow V-series drives should be available beginning February 15, with the 30 GB units going on sale a few weeks later on March 1. Suggested prices will range from $109.99 for a 30 GB stand-alone drive through $377 for a 128 GB notebook bundle.
