Ssd which controller

SMXT — is the controller for budget drives. Buffer DRAM is not used, i. Currently the flagship controller. It is designed for high-performance SSD models. One more young manufacturer. This company makes controllers for the budget segment. However, what the company offers deserves attention, especially since there are interesting solutions.

Under the Phison brand also comes memory, in fact, produced by Toshiba OCZ , with which there is a close cooperation.

Nevertheless, can still be found in some models of budget SSDs. Not recommended for purchase. PSS10 — is the popular 4-core controller with 8 threads. Combination of features allows to compete with previously unattainable competitors. Quite an interesting model for inexpensive drives, at the same time showing rather average performance, which somehow does not allow to refer it to budget solutions by this parameter.

The company is gradually moving away from the reputation of producing the cheapest and slowest controllers. PSS11 — is the cheaper modification of the previous model, which has a single core processor.

It is also a very interesting solution, on the basis of which quite good drives for everyday use without high load on the disk subsystem are made. Considering the low cost, the appeal gets even higher. PSS12 — is the development of the S10 model. Eight channels are used for NAND access. PSS13T — is a fresh model, information on which is still scarce, and will be refined as it becomes available.

The maximum capacity of the drive is 2 TB. The announcement of the first motherboards with PCIe version 4. In fact, it is an upgrade of PSE12 controller for the new interface. Judging by the characteristics, exactly this controller can be called not an upgrade, but a development for PCIe 4th generation.

There are three ARM Cortex5 cores here, and this controller is produced with 12nm process technology, while the others are satisfied with the older 28nm. This is a single-core chip without DRAM cache chip support. It is oriented to be used in low-cost drive models. The speed indicators only slightly exceed the capabilities of the PCIe 3. This manufacturer is relatively new to the SSD controller market.

It offers several models, both current and prospective, announced quite recently. Being known as a manufacturer of audio processors, Realtek decided to take care of drives as well. It is known that the company is preparing for the mass application of controllers designed for higher-performance SSD models.

These are:. There is support for NVMe 1. Four channels are used to access the NAND. The company has all the resources to produce everything it needs on its own.

The fact that it was Samsung that managed to be the first to release 3D NAND memory and corresponding high-performance controllers, largely determined that drives of this particular brand are often seen as a goal that everyone else strives to achieve.

The new Polaris controller has 5 cores with ARM architecture, with 1 core dedicated to providing exchange between the PCIe bus and the controller.

Samsung drives are not cheap, but they are also fast. Given the serious technological capabilities of the company, modified controllers from other companies new firmware, combined with their own memory , can get very decent results. The drives produced under their own brand Toshiba or OCZ, which is the same thing inevitably turn out to be among the best in their classes.

The situation, which was observed a few years ago, has changed significantly. Before, everything was clear: on one side were Phison and Silicon Motion, offering not too fast, but cheap controllers, on the other — SandForce, Marvell, and Samsung. It was not about low price, but it was not about low performance either. Those who were previously looked down upon were able to surprise. If Silicon Motion still focuses on budget solutions, Phison is actively breaking into a higher class, and not without success.

New SSD models based on their controllers show very high test results. The biggest source of problems is the SSD controller and its firmware.

Since the controller is physically located between the interface and memory chips, the probability of its damage as a result of failure or power problems is very high. The low life of MLC chips is successfully solved by error correction with ECC-control, redundancy, wear control, and data blocks intermixing. At the same time, the data itself, in most cases, is preserved. In addition to physical damage that prevents access to user data, there is logical damage that also prevents access to the contents of memory chips.

Any, even a minor error in the firmware may result in complete loss of data. The data structures are very complex, the information is distributed over several chips, plus there is interleaving, all this makes the data recovery process quite a challenge. Usually, in such cases, it is possible to recover the drive by performing a low-level format, which recreates the data structures.

Producers are trying to constantly refine the firmware, fix bugs, and optimize the controller. Therefore, it is recommended to periodically update the firmware to avoid possible malfunctions. Although the storage component itself is not susceptible to mechanical failure, other components can fail.

SSDs require a capacitor and power supply, which are prone to failure — especially in the event of a power surge or power failure. In fact, in the event of a power failure, the data on the SSD can be corrupted , even if the drive itself remains completely intact.

On average, SSDs can be used for many years, but it pays to monitor the condition of the drive regularly, as having too many faulty cells can lead to data loss. Fortunately, there are symptoms that, by recognizing them, the user will understand that his SSD drive will fail soon. Among the most basic ones we can distinguish are the following:.

If you notice any of these signs — it is worth immediately making a backup of important data, as the possibility of losing your files is very high. Besides, it is recommended that you use software to monitor the condition of your SSD drive. This can be either software from the disk manufacturer or third-party software. For example, you can read an article describing how to use Victoria to check the health of your drive and fix errors.

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