Solid-State Flash Hard Drives : 2012 SSD Prices

2012 is looking to be a GREAT year for the solid-state flash drive upgrade scene. New generations of SSD controller chips arrived late last year, followed by premium SSDs with larger onboard cache and higher performance. Firmware updates ironed out alot of wrinkles for cross-platform use so that current SSD drives perform well across the board of Windows, Linux and Apple Mac OSX. Overall, SSD prices decreased rapidly at the end of 2011. SSD performance made huge gains largely at the same price points as the transition to SATA III interfaces took old. The latest crop of solid-state drives are dlivering much smoother Read-Write performance pushing down below the $2 per Gigabyte range.

Corsair Force Series

SandForce Based SSD

Patriot Inferno SSD

SandForce Controller

The trend is: Hybrid Solid-State drives. A small SSD + a high RPM conventional drive is an affordable performance upgrade - with storage space to spare.

2nd Generation Hybrid SSD

750GB Platter + Flash Drive

Explore SSD Pricing on Top Performing Solid-State Disk Drives from Intel, Patriot, OCZ, Samsung, Kingston, Corsair, Super-Talent and More:

Corsair 128 SSD

Samsung Controller Chip

SSD Adapter Bracket

Laptop SSD To Full Size SATA Drive Mounts

Full Size SSD Enclosure

Convert 2.5 to 3.5"

IcyDock Full-Size SSD SATA II Case w/Standard Screw Mounts

Regardless if your Windows PC or Mac computer has a SATA I, II, or III speed bus: The only smart drives to buy in 2012 should be based on Indilinx or Sandforce controllers. Typically these drives will have Peak Read and Writes in the 400-500 range. These drives really leave all previous generation Solid-State hard drives in the dust - and bring traditionally lagging Write speeds up to par with Reads.

500+GB drives will become more common - and (barely) affordable. Also after many announcements but shipping delays PCI-e Slot SSD's in RAID configurations are here for the high-performance Desktop computer scene to bring blazingly fast data transfers AND Terabyte + SSD options into the mainstream.

SSD DEALS : BEST SSD PRICES 2012

NAND flash Solid-State drives are delivering astounding performance in 2012. With current 6GBps SATA III SSD's clearly outpacing ANY spinning platter drive, they're the single best computer performance upgrade you can buy. 128GB is the sweet spot in SSD prices and delivers unprecedented Read-Write Speeds and decent capacity at around $200 USD. Larger 255GB and now up to 600GB drives are still beyond wallet's reach for most, but have had significant price drops recently.

Solid State 2012 SSD Drive Deals

Peak Performance - Backward Compatible - Forward Thinking SATA III interface SSD's are where your money's best spent. Even if your current computer only has a SATA II or I drive controller, you'll be glad you bought a current SATA III interface drive to future-proof your disk upgrade investment.

120GB OCZ Vertex 3 SandForce Controller	120GB Intel Value 320 Series SATA II Interface	SATA III SSD 6Gbps Interface
SF2281 Controller Reads/Writes ~500MB/s	120 to 600GB High Capacities	Crucial - Micron C300 Series

Of note: Amazon's SSD Drive Selection keeps growing and prices are getting ALOT more competitive - especially their 3rd-party sellers often undercutting NewEgg's prices. Recently the Intel X25M-G2 120 GB SSD has dipped below $220 - coming in close to $2/GB for a reliable overall performer.

NewEgg.com has a large range of SSD Drives -- Once the Go-To place for SSD hunting Geeks, they're not always as cut-throat competitive as they used to be as demand for flash memory and its commodity pricing levels the playing field. You really have to watch thier newsletters, SSD rebates and promos closely to snag deep discount and rebate deals. The SSDs on rebate at NewEgg typically are for OCZ, Corsair and others - but expect 2+ month waits on rebate SSD checks at the soonest.

Now Shipping: Intel 510 G3 SSD

SATA III - Marvell Controller

NEW 120GB SSD Price Low

OCZ Technology revamped their drive lineup with the new '2' series: OCZ is also changing the size of thier drive capacities with the new '2' line: in 50GB, 100GB and 200GB sizes to replace their previous 30/60/120/250GB lineup. It seems they're allocating more 'spare' flash memory space for reliability and performance reasons. First out of the gate: there's notably improved performance in the value-priced Onyx and Solid 2 Series line by switching from the older generation JMicron to a tried-and-true Indilinx Barefoot controller chipset.

SSD Price Bargains

TigerDirect.com has recently expanded their inventory of SSDs - and like NewEgg.com are rather fond of SSD rebate promos if you're willing to play the game by the rebates rules. See what SSD deals they've currently got by searching here:

Search at TigerDirect.com:

Top-Performing SSD Disk Deals

> Single-Layer SLC drives continue to provide the best write speeds and longevity - at a price. In the Multi-Layer MLC arena, Intel's custom chipset, Indilix 'Barefoot' chip and SandForce controllers lead the pack. If I were to buy a high-perfomance SSD today, it could be easily narrowed down to 3 choices: Intel X25M for overall value, Vertex 2 for top performance, or a Crucial SATAIII - if I knew I was headed for a SATA III interface computer down the road.

BEST SSD PRICES & REBATES

A few pricing quirks recently: Amazon OCZ Price Check Snafu? For around $130 you could have any variants OCZ Vertex 2, Agility 2, or Onyx. But you wouldn't anything other than the Vertex 2 or Agility 2 with its superior read-write performance and Sandforce or Indilinx controller chips for the money. Amazon is generally very price competitive - but pricing can change from day to day depending on competition from it's own 3rd party sellers. Any way you slice it: comparison shop for SSD's carefully. There can be significant performance differences in drives with only a few dollars difference in the cost.

Best Tech Analysis Articles of 2011:

For those seeking ultimate disk performance, check out this nerdy yet informative in-depth analysis of SSD drive controllers and chipset design by Anand at www.anandtech.com. His extensive take on the current Solid-State storage market in his "Final Thoughts" section is a must-read for Top-SSD-Performance Geek Freaks. Keep in mind, Anandtech and other deep-geek sites fret over nanaosecond differences that the average consumer wouldn't even perceive - or care about.

Low-Cost Bargain SSD Deals

> Several previous-generation drives were recently removed from this section. Most were OLD JMicron chip SSDs which were just not optimal for smooth WRITE performance in particular. However, revised next-generation JMicron controllers with far more onboard cache are now available in 2011 - and are deivering great price/performance in many 'VALUE' series SSD drives. Unless you can find discontinued models at an absolute bargain-bin closeout price -- focus on finding a CURRENT Jmicron 612, Indilinx, Sandforce or Intel chipset flash drive for best overall performance.

2.5 Inch To 3.5 Inch Drive Adapter Case

For easy mounting a small 2.5 Serial-ATA solid-state laptop drive in desktop computers with a full size drive bay:
Convert your 2.5" SATA disk to standard 3.5" mounts w/an ICY DOCK SATA II ADAPTER CASE

Smart design: just plop a 2.5"drive in - tension springs hold it in place - and slide the cover shut. 4 standard drive-rail mount screws are all thats needed to complete the SSD installation in your computer.

SLUG IT OUT ON EBAY FOR LOW-COST SSD DISKS

eBay lists an interesting selection of solid-state drives - tho beware of discontinued, previous generation, and used drives:

SSD COST PREDICTIONS - Price TRENDS FOR 2011

Like hard drives, SSD's are rapidly becoming high-volume COMMODITY ITEMS. But unique to the solid-state market is the insane demand for flash-memory chips - not just for SSD's - but in digital cameras, iPods, MP3 players and ever more intelligent consumer electronic devices. Apple's demand for flash chips for the iPod, iPad and iPhone alone is staggering, and has directly influenced rather STEADY flash prices into 2011. SSD drives are facing increasing competition. With much higher production and efficiencies of scale - solid-state drive mfts have finally allowed SSD prices to drop signifincantly. Performance has made significant strides as well. The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show will gave a good indication of next-generation SSD disk products in the pipeline that will shape where storage is headed. That at means SATA II SSD's and External USB 3.0 SSD drives for the fastest backup drives ever.