Sabrent has confirmed it’s set to launch its first 16TB SATA enterprise SSD (and possibly the one 2.5-inch one) through the summer season.
“Again [in December 2020] when this 16TB SSD was introduced, shortly after, Phison discovered issues with the controller used and canceled the challenge,” a spokesperson informed TechRadar Professional.
“The excellent news within the points have been fastened and we anticipate to see engineering pattern SSD’s very quickly. So, briefly, it is going to be produced quickly, within the following months, if all goes effectively after testing the samples.”
16TB M.2? Not so quick
The drive will probably use Micron’s 96-layer QLC packages with a Phison E12S controller. We don’t know what the value might be, however given you may choose up an 8TB SSD from as little as $749 (Samsung 870 QVO from Amazon (opens in new tab)), we’d be unpleasantly stunned if Sabrent sells its 16TB mammoth drive for greater than $1,500, beneath the $100/TB value level.
The target market might be enterprises trying to exchange previous 2.5-inch onerous disk drives which have hit a capability ceiling. No new 5TB 2.5-inch laptop computer drives have been introduced for the previous few years; distributors like Seagate and WD have centered their efforts on 3.5-inch fashions, with 20TB fashions already out there and 50TB ones within the pipeline.
An esteemed editor from our sister publication Anandtech wrote again in 2019 that nobody needs over 16TB per SSD, however Sabrent is adamant that there could be an enormous demand for one, most likely boosted by post-Covid demand. And the agency already produces a transportable SSD of that capability that bundles two 8TB SSDs.
When will we see an M.2 class 16TB SSD, although? There are various obstacles, even when the expertise exists.
Micron introduced a 232-layer NAND chip earlier this yr, with Chinese language YTMC more likely to comply with swimsuit later in 2022. That’s greater than twice the capability of the 96-layer NAND utilized by Sabrent in its Rocket Q SSD and ought to be sufficient for even 19.2TB M2 SSD. And controllers shouldn’t be a problem, given there’s technically no onerous higher restrict to storage capability.
The most important drawback stays energy, each when it comes to consumption and warmth dissipation. May the present M.2 spec present sufficient energy with out the necessity for an exterior energy supply? The jury continues to be out.