OCZ Technology Group has unveiled a special series of solid-state drives designed to enable hybrid storage solutions consisting of a solid-state drive and a hard disk drive. The new Synapse SSDs will come with special Dataplex cache software that will ensure efficient caching of data from HDD onto SSD and thus significantly boost performance of storage sub-system.

OCZ Synapse Cache SSDs are available in 64GB and 128GB flavours, are based in multi-level-cell NAND flash memory and use Serial ATA 6Gb/s interface. The solid-state drives for caching fully support Trim command, ECC recovery, data encryption and other modern functionality. The 128GB version of Synapse Cache SSD has maximum read speed of 550MB/s, maximum write speed of 510MB/s and can perform 80 000 IOPS (input/output operations per second); the 64GB flavour is slightly less powerful: 550MB/s|490MB/s, 75 000 IOPS.

The drives feature “integrated” Dataplex caching software that dynamically manages the use of both SSD and HDD for superior overall storage performance. This combination creates an environment where the most frequently used "hot" data stays on the SSD, while the "cold" data remains on the larger capacity HDD. Advanced caching algorithms learn user behavior and adapt storage policies to ensure optimal performance for each individual user, maximizing productivity for the most demanded programs and applications. Synapse series integrates seamlessly within any modern PC platform, ensuring optimal compatibility along with performance gains.

Creation of hybrid storage sub-systems is not exactly a new trend. But this year it became rather popular since solid-state drives became more affordable, but did not become more capacious. As a result, it makes a lot of sense to use SSDs for caching of frequently used data and utilize HDD to store content that requires a lot of disk space. Intel Corp. recently released its Intel Z68 chipset that integrates SSD caching capabilities in hardware.

“The industry has shown that it craves the performance advantages that SSDs provide, however, many users still value the high capacities associated with HDDs. We see the Synapse Cache SSDs integrated with Dataplex software as a big win for a large number of customers who value SSD performance but still require HDD capacity. We are proud to be the first to offer this no-compromise approach to enabling high-performance and high-capacity storage for virtually any PC platform,” said Tobias Brinkmann, director of product management at OCZ Technology Group.

OCZ Synapse Cache SSDs are available now throughout the company’s global channel.

Tags: OCZ, Synapse Cache, SSD, HDD, NAND, Flash