14 DAY TRIAL // First spotted during during the Computex 2011 fair at the beginning of the summer, ADATA's XM13 mSATA solid sate drive based on a SandForce SSD processor has now finally started shipping with prices ranging between US $70 and $135 (51 to 99 Euros).
The XM13 is built around a first generation SandForce SF-1200 controller which supports a SATA 3Gbps interface.
In ADATA's latest creation, the SF-1200 is paired together with four 25nm multi-level cell NAND Flash memory chips manufactured by IMFT (a joint venture between Intel and Micron).
This setup can provide either 30GB or 60GB of storage space, and, even though some of the memory channels available were left unpopulated, the drive is capable of reaching sequential transfer rates of up to 250MB/s read and 170MB/s write.
Random read/write throughput is rated at 12,500 IOPS (input/output operations per second), while MTBF is set at 1.2 million hours. ADATA estimated the shock resistance of the XM13 to 1500G/0.5ms, which makes it extremely durable.
The Taiwanese company has designed the XM13 to be used in tablet, ultra-thin notebooks and other highly portable devices, as well as a cache drive for an HDD using Intel's Smart Response Technology.
“To this end, ADATA has set its sights squarely on the market trends of the near future, applying the full force of the company's development capability and years of experience in memory storage,” said an ADATA spokesperson.
“The result is the introduction of the XM13 mSATA SSD, incorporating mSATA memory cache, low power consumption, and implementing the latest Sandforce controller,” concluded the company's rep.
In the US, pricing for the 30GB unit ranges between $70 to $80, while the 60GB version retails for $125 to $135.
At the Computex 2011 fair, together with the XM31, ADATA also showcased a series of other mSATA solid state drives, but no information regarding the availability of these SSDs was provided.