Samsung has announced a new solid-state drive (SSD) based on the Next-Generation Small Form Factor (NGSFF, NF1) - and it packs eight terabytes of storage and 12GB of cache in a 110 x 30.5mm footprint.
Designed for high-density server environments, the Next-Generation Small Form Factor (NGSFF, also known as NF1) calls for a device measuring 110mm long by 30.5mm wide, with Samsung's implementation measuring 4.38mm in height. Compared to the M.2 SSD form factor standard, common in consumer applications, it allows for a claimed fourfold increase in capacity in a high-density server environment. Samsung's launch product, though, falls somewhat short of its August 2017 promise of 16TB of storage per stick, offering half its planned capacity at a still-capacious 8TB.
Based on 16-layer triple-level cell (TLC) V-NAND Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) 1.3 chips, Samsung's 8TB NF1 claims sequential read and write speeds of 3,100MB/s and 2,000MB/s respectively - five and three times greater, the company boasts, than a SATA SSD. Random read and write performance has been measured by the company at 500,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS) and 50,000 IOPS respectively, assisted by 12GB of LPDDR4 cache RAM, while a 2U rack filled to capacity with the drives would offer 576TB of storage and one million IOPS.
Samsung is also standing by the longevity of its design, a must for the data centre market, claiming that the drive is rated for 1.3 drive writes per day (DWPD) over its three-year warranty period - equivalent to nearly 11 petabytes written over the full warranty period.
Pricing for the new drive has yet to be confirmed, while Samsung has pledged to launch the 16TB version it teased back in August last year 'in the second half of this year' by switching from its current 256Gb V-NAND chips to 512Gb versions.
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review
October 14 2021 | 15:04
Want to comment? Please log in.