Micron starts shipping its 176-Layer QLC SSD, available in a tiny form factor with 2TB...

[midian182]

What just happened? Micron has started volume shipments of the world’s first 176-layer quad-level cell (QLC) NAND SSD, which it says offers industry-leading storage density and optimized performance. The technology is being used in the Micron 2400 SSD that's available in a tiny 22mm x 30mm drive with a 2TB capacity and 4,500 MBps sequential read speeds.

It was back in November 2020 that Micron first started shipping the world’s first 176-layer 3D NAND flash memory. The company said it expected the technology to find its way into industries such as autonomous vehicles, in-car infotainment systems, and mobile storage, as well as client/data center SSDs.

176-layer 3D NAND is now shipping in Micron’s 2400 series Gen4 QLC SSD, which the company says offers 33% higher I/O speeds and 24% lower read latency than its previous-generation drive featuring 96-layer tech.

Opting for the drive with the highest capacity will get you sequential read speeds of 4,500 MBps and sequential writes of 4,000 MBps. Random reads/writes, meanwhile, are 650K and 700K IOPS, respectively.

Micron offers the M.2 drive in three different form factors: the familiar 22 x 80mm size, 22 x 42mm, and a tiny 22 x 30mm, all in 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities.

The drive offers an endurance of 600 terabytes written (TBW) for the 2TB version, while the 512GB capacity model is 150 TBW. Micron adds that the highest-capacity drive offers idle power consumption of under 150 milliwatts, a reduction of around 50% compared to previous-generation QLC SSDs. It meets Intel’s Project Athena requirements, which require more than nine hours of real-world battery life on laptops, even those using high-definition displays.

Micron says the drive is designed for client applications, such as budget desktops and laptops. Those speeds are far from the 7,000 MBps we see in the top Gen 4 SSDs, but the Micron 2400 SSD is expected to offer excellent value for the capacities available, and the 22mm x 30mm model should enable larger storage options on the smallest of laptops.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/92958-micron-starts-shipping-176-layer-qlc-ssd-available.html

 

[Burty117]

Ah, an SSD upgrade for the Steam Deck?

 

[passwordistaco]

Ah, an SSD upgrade for the Steam Deck?

My first thought.

 

[yRaz]

Look at how cute that little 2230 is

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I love SSD divisible by 2TB.

2TB, 4TB, 6TB, 8TB, 10TB , etc,etc.

All my personal files and games amount to roughly 5TB, but I wanted to make sure I am future proof, so an 8TB , for me, is the sweet spot till I can get a 10TB.

 

[meric]

Tech is advancing so fast, at this rate we'll be using petabyte drives in our desktops/home servers before the end of decade

 

[punctualturn]

Ah, an SSD upgrade for the Steam Deck?

Actually, Xbox Series X came to mind.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Tech is advancing so fast, at this rate we'll be using petabyte drives in our desktops/home servers before the end of decade

I doubt that. It's 2022 and a 4TB SSD is still more than $500.

We'll be lucky if we have 10TB drives for under $1000 by 2030.

 

[seeprime]

My experience in our computer shop is that any and all QLC SSD's are significantly slower than they're rated at. If Micron's 176 layer QLC drive actually performs as advertised, it'll be a practical drive to use. However, until I see benchmarks from reputable sites, or test one myself, I'll remain skeptical about the 4000MBps sequential write speed and how noticeable the difference is between the shorter lived QLC and the same size TLC gen4 NVMe SSD. Until third party data comes out, this is just PR. It's good PR, though, as it's written in a way that makes the drive sound exciting.

 

[Daniele 00]

Tech is advancing so fast, at this rate we'll be using petabyte drives in our desktops/home servers before the end of decade

it's just another illusion. that Tech was already discovered and aviable. That breaktrought was already done and aviable for scientific porpuse. What you are describing is the marketing aspect of the tech. They advance regularly each year to produce new sales.

 

[Kwerpi]

Someone tell Linus there’s an upgrade for his Flow X13

 

[Kwerpi]

I doubt that. It's 2022 and a 4TB SSD is still more than $500.

Still faster than I expected. Way better then when I paid $900 for a 2TB M.2

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Let's hope the sustained performance is good and doesn't fall off a cliff to SATA speeds after the cache is exhausted. Give me at least a 6TB drive for say $400AU and I'm in.

 

[umbala]

What the article and press release both leave out is the fact that write endurance for QLC chips is ABYSMAL.

"The drive offers an endurance of 600 terabytes written (TBW) for the 2TB version, while the 512GB capacity model is 150 TBW."

600TB endurance for a 2TB drive may sound like a really high number, but it's actually pretty horrible. I have a Corsair 1TB NVMe drive from a couple of years ago that uses TLC NAND and it is rated for 1800TB. Meaning, my TLC stick has 6x the write endurance of these QLC junk chips they're now pumping out!

 

[ZedRM]

No Thank You Micron. Hardcore Pass. QLC is garbage and is not acceptable in a boot/OS use case scenario.

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

I like that everything is shrinking in size. As it should. Just need servo's to keep progressing. Only way to get a humanoid type of robot.

 

[Guillermo Belli]

Everything QLC is garbage, bad performance and abysmal endurance. To insult to inury, QLC drives are usually DRAMLESS, which makes endurance even worse.

 

[pcnthuziast]

With write endurance of qlc being absolutely terrible, drives like these are only good for vaulting media. Stuff you plan to write once to a drive and never erase or overwrite. Movies, music, etc. For every other use case they are garbage.