Our review of Seagate’s latest FireCuda Gen4 DRAMless consumer SSD has left us somewhat perplexed, and quite frankly, a little surprised. Until we examined the controller used in this drive, we had long assumed that Seagate and Phison maintained a strategic, long-term partnership across their SSD product lines. This release appears to mark a significant departure from that relationship. Rather …

It might be an understatement to say that Phison pulled out all the stops at Computex Taipei this year. It amazes me how far they have come and the success well earned. I remember when we first met up with Phison way back at Flash Memory Summit 2013. They were showing off their PS5006 Gen2x4 SSD controller capable of blazing …

I wanted to bring this information to the forefront because it’s hard to imagine just how dramatically our world will change once PCIe 6.0 (Gen6) becomes mainstream. Today, we’re already achieving data transfer speeds of up to 14 GB/s, and Gen6 will double that to an astonishing 28 GB/s. What’s remarkable is how easily we overlook the advancements that faster …

It is funny how things work out sometimes.  While at Computex in Taipei a few weeks back, we were introduced to Frank Chen, CEO of Exascend, through our contacts at SMI.  Frank laid out their company values and explained key reasoning for their success which is their ability to customize and cater to their customers needs in a shorter time …

Business longevity and success don’t happen without strong relationships. While review sites must remain impartial, long-term professional connections often help foster collaboration and mutual respect. Corsair and The SSD Review are a perfect example of this. Over the years, our relationship has extended far beyond SSD reviews. Corsair has played a key role in nearly every test bench we’ve built, …

This report is rather special.  Just under ten years ago, we did a report on an Apricorn Aegis Secure Key 3.0 (ASK3) external SSD which is my longest standing product still in use today.  Ten years.  Most recently, Apricorn reached out asking if I might like to report on their newer updated version of the ASK3 and I couldn’t resist.  …

I just can’t wrap my head around why KIOXIA hasn’t brought its consumer SSDs to North America. And, in the same vein, I still don’t fully understand why Micron retired the much-loved Crucial brand. That said, I’m convinced KIOXIA-branded SSDs would do extremely well here, potentially rivaling those top-tier bestsellers we all know. In the meantime, our small team is …

This week at Computex Taipei, Silicon Motion displayed their newest SM2524XT Gen5 SSD controller which held a surprising first.  This SSD controller is built on the TSMC 6nm process and is a DRAMless controller which relies on your systems HMB, better known as the host memory buffer.  The HMB is an SSD feature that allows a drive without its own …

Phison’s newest E37T DRAMless controller was on display at Computex 2026 this week and appears to be a force to be reckoned with.  This DRAMless SSD comes along at a time when SSDs are at a premium, the result of NAND and DRAM pricing being driven up through AI needs.  I don’t think we have seen pricing this high since …

Many might not know the term ‘Olympico’ but it speaks to a corner kick which scores a goal without any other player touching the ball in football. It is incredibly rare.  It is considered the impossible goal. As coincidence may have it, it’s name comes from Argentine player Cesareo Onzari who scored the first one against the Olympic champions, Uruguay, …