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SandForce-based ExpressCard SSD from Renice Technology
Hi , today i saw a post from macrumors about express card SSD from Renice.
here is the post:
All,
I've been a longtime lurker on the boards, but have finally decided to sign up to share some news I just learned today. For all those of you with ExpressCard-equipped MacBook Pros who are looking to upgrade to an SSD while still keeping your existing 2.5" magnetic hard drive and optical drive, an ExpressCard SSD was the obvious choice.
Back in February, while browsing around, I ran across Rencie Technology (Renice Technology | Solid State Drive SSD). Looking through their products, I found their Renice X3 50mm Mini PCI-E SATA SSD. It's a SandForce controlled SSD that was designed for devices with a Mini PCI-E slot, such as the Eee PC. Although I don't own an Eee PC, I found some Eee PC forums and, from what I could tell, the product appeared to be well received by that community.
As would be expected with a SandForce controlled SSD, the specifications are pretty impressive: read/write speeds are listed as 260/200 MB/s. Their web page lists capacities of 25GB, 60GB and 120GB.
Now, a mini PCI-E is physically very similar to an ExpressCard, and the ExpressCard interface includes both a PCI bus and a USB bus. Therefore, I contacted the company to see if they had any plans for taking this design and porting it over to an ExpressCard. I pointed to sites like this one where MacBook Pro users have expressed interest in ExpressCard based SSDs for a variety of reasons. After a few back and forths, they appeared to come to their own conclusion that such a product may be viable and promised to get back to me once it was ready. Again, this was all back in February.
I just received an email this morning (May 5th, 2011) from one of their sales managers informing me that they expect to have a SandForce-based ExpressCard SSD available by mid-month (mid-May 2011)!
At this point, I have NO additional details, but I will post them as I learn of them. I have written back requesting information regarding costs and capacities. I will also ask for performance data (though I suspect it to not be substantially different than that of their Mini PCI-E SATA SSDs).
Assuming the price is not outrageous, I do intend to purchase one for my own usage. After I've received it and installed it, I'll also post my own impressions.
Full disclosure: I have absolutely no connection to Renice, nor even enough experience with them to be able to recommend them to others. I merely post this information because I have very much appreciated others doing the same sort of thing on these boards in the past.
Further news bulletins as events warrant...
here is the post:
All,
I've been a longtime lurker on the boards, but have finally decided to sign up to share some news I just learned today. For all those of you with ExpressCard-equipped MacBook Pros who are looking to upgrade to an SSD while still keeping your existing 2.5" magnetic hard drive and optical drive, an ExpressCard SSD was the obvious choice.
Back in February, while browsing around, I ran across Rencie Technology (Renice Technology | Solid State Drive SSD). Looking through their products, I found their Renice X3 50mm Mini PCI-E SATA SSD. It's a SandForce controlled SSD that was designed for devices with a Mini PCI-E slot, such as the Eee PC. Although I don't own an Eee PC, I found some Eee PC forums and, from what I could tell, the product appeared to be well received by that community.
As would be expected with a SandForce controlled SSD, the specifications are pretty impressive: read/write speeds are listed as 260/200 MB/s. Their web page lists capacities of 25GB, 60GB and 120GB.
Now, a mini PCI-E is physically very similar to an ExpressCard, and the ExpressCard interface includes both a PCI bus and a USB bus. Therefore, I contacted the company to see if they had any plans for taking this design and porting it over to an ExpressCard. I pointed to sites like this one where MacBook Pro users have expressed interest in ExpressCard based SSDs for a variety of reasons. After a few back and forths, they appeared to come to their own conclusion that such a product may be viable and promised to get back to me once it was ready. Again, this was all back in February.
I just received an email this morning (May 5th, 2011) from one of their sales managers informing me that they expect to have a SandForce-based ExpressCard SSD available by mid-month (mid-May 2011)!
At this point, I have NO additional details, but I will post them as I learn of them. I have written back requesting information regarding costs and capacities. I will also ask for performance data (though I suspect it to not be substantially different than that of their Mini PCI-E SATA SSDs).
Assuming the price is not outrageous, I do intend to purchase one for my own usage. After I've received it and installed it, I'll also post my own impressions.
Full disclosure: I have absolutely no connection to Renice, nor even enough experience with them to be able to recommend them to others. I merely post this information because I have very much appreciated others doing the same sort of thing on these boards in the past.
Further news bulletins as events warrant...