Samsung 512GB SSD Has Toggle-mode DDR NAND

This is a big, fast SSD. We want it.

SSDs are now hitting sizes that are beginning to make them viable replacements for the magnetic counterparts. Samsung has introduced a new SSD offering in a 512GB configuration – boasting both capacity and speed, utilizing high-performance "toggle-mode" DDR NAND.

"The highly advanced features and characteristics of our new SSD were obtained as a direct result of an aggressive push for further development of our NAND flash technology, our SSD controller and our supportive SSD firmware," said Dong-Soo Jun, executive vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Electronics. "Early introduction of this state-of-the-art toggle DDR solution will enable Samsung to play a major role in securing faster market acceptance of the new wave of high-end SSD technology," he added.

The new 512GB SSD makes use of a 30 nanometer-class 32 gigabit chip that the company began producing last November. The toggle-mode DDR structure together with the SATA 3.0Gbps interface generates a maximum sequential read speed of 250 MBps and a 220MBps sequential write speed, both of which provide three-fold the performance of a typical hard disk drive.

Samsung says that those speeds could mean that two 4GB DVD movies can be stored in just a minute.

Samsung provides further gains in power efficiency by having developed a low-power controller specifically for toggle-mode DDR NAND. The resulting power throttling capability enables the drive's high-performance levels without any increase in power consumption over a 40nm-class 16Gb NAND-based 256GB SSD. The controller also analyzes frequency of use and preferences of the user to automatically activate a low-power mode that can extend a notebook's battery life for an hour or more (but probably only in best-case-scenarios).

Samsung plans to begin volume production of the 512GB SSD next month.