SSDs don’t go round and round

Solid-State Drives (SSDs) have captured the loyalty of many embedded computing vendors and system users, whether the system is classically VME based or spun in another form factor. SSDs’ main selling point, of course, is their innate fixed and immovable nature, a highly desirable characteristic when storing, reading, or writing data in harsh environments. So we’d imagine it’s this resiliency that motivated Swissbit AG to develop their P-100 and X-100 series of 2.5″ SSDs. Far as we can tell, the two primary differences between the series are: P-100 is a Parallel ATA (PATA) interface, while X-100 is a Serial ATA (SATA) interface; second, their data transfer modes’ modus operandi differ: P-100 is up to UDMA4, PI04, and multi-word DMA4, while X-100 operates via SATA 1 at 1.5 Gbps (PIO, DMA). At the same time, similarities between the two series, designed for industrial environments, include their 2 to 8 GB density (though Swissbit makes other SSDs up to 32 GB – see photo); 45 MBps performance speeds; and temperature ranges (commercial 0 to +70 °C and industrial -40 °C to +85 °C). Burst rates for both are approximately 66 MBps, with read sequences up to 38 MBps and write sequences up to 16 MBps. And finally … both have voltage allowances of 5 V +/- 10%.