Next generation Sandforce controllers able to triple capacity of SSD

August 16, 2013

LSI announced next generation technologies to feature in next generation SandForce driven Solid State Drive (SSD) during the Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara. One of the showcased technologies makes it possible to store more data on a SSD while the actual psychical NAND capacity remains the same.

The company is the developer of the most used controller in SSDs, the SandForce 2000 series of which it has new versions in the works that should appear in next generation SSDs. The technology LSI demonstrated during the Flash Memory Summit is a feature that enlarges the amount of data that can be stored on a SSD. While the physical capacity remains the same, the actual amount of data that can be stored on the drive is increased when this feature of the controller.

The technology is called LSI DuraWrite Virtual Capacity (DVC) and should make it possible to store three times more data than the physical capacity of the drive. During a demonstration this was showcased by using a controller from the SandForce SF-2000 series on a 120 GB SSD.

One installed and booted, Windows reported that the SSD stored 175 GB data and had 63 GB free space left. That means that the total capacity of the drive, reported to Windows, was now 238 GB. The capacity of the SSD had almost doubled and LSI claims it's able to triple it. Whether the technology will make it to consumer drives or that it will only end up in enterprise drives remains to be seen. In data centers it would make sense as there's usually more data that's compressible than on home PCs.

Besides the DVC technology, LSI also showcased an improved error correction method which the company calls Shield. Error correction becomes more important now the NAND cells decrease in size, the smaller the more error prone. The company states that Shield even works on less expensive flash memory which means it will likely work with SLC, MLC and TLC NAND.