➀ Today marks World Backup Day, a day to remind everyone to regularly back up their important data to prevent data loss;

➁ The article highlights various storage deals available during the Amazon Big Spring Sale, including SSDs, HDDs, and portable storage options;

➂ It provides details on specific deals, such as the Samsung 990 Pro 4TB SSD and Seagate IronWolf Pro 24TB HDD, along with their original and discounted prices.

➀ Solidigm showcased its liquid-cooled NVMe SSDs at NVIDIA GTC 2025;

➁ The new Solidigm D7-PS1010 E1.S 9.5mm SSD features a cooling design that can cool both sides of the PCB on the drive;

➂ This design will be important for future AI servers due to increasing power density and the need for more efficient cooling solutions.

➀ The Samsung 9100 Pro is Samsung's answer to the high-end PCIe 5.0 storage market, offering good performance and power efficiency.

➁ The drive is available in capacities up to 8TB and uses Samsung's 236-Layer V8 TLC flash memory.

➂ While not the fastest on the market, the 9100 Pro provides a solid and refined option for those seeking high-end storage.

➀ Introduction to STH Weekly Newsletters;

➁ Launch of new Substack by Axautik Group;

➂ Explanation of the format and content of the newsletter, including weekly recap, top five stories, and content preview.

➀ Samsung's 990 EVO Plus 4TB SSD is currently available for $249 on Amazon, which is a significant discount from its regular price of $270.

➁ The SSD offers high performance with read/write speeds up to 7,250/6,300 MB/s and comes with a five-year warranty.

➂ This deal is particularly good considering the SSD's newer technology and its affordability.

Kioxia LC9 is a new 122.88TB SSD from Kioxia designed for high-capacity and high-density AI clusters. It supports PCIe Gen5 and offers a 0.3DWPD endurance, making it suitable for large-scale data storage needs.

The LC9 uses Kioxia's 2Tb QLC BiCS FLASH generation 8 3D flash memory and is targeted at reducing power, footprint, and TCO compared to traditional hard drives.

The high capacity and advanced interface of the LC9 make it a compelling option for AI storage arrays.

➀ Micron and Astera Labs demonstrate the world's first PCIe 6.0 SSDs at DesignCon 2025;

➁ The SSD achieves read speeds of 27.14 GB/s with Astera's Scorpio PCIe 6.0 switch;

➂ PCIe 6.x promises to be the next horizon for enterprise and consumer products.

➀ The ASRock B860I Lightning is a budget-friendly Mini-ITX motherboard offering robust power delivery and a variety of features for around $220.

➁ It boasts a PCIe 5.0 M.2 socket, integrated Thunderbolt 4, and improved audio, while still offering Wi-Fi 6E.

➂ Performance was average, but gaming performance was competent with default settings.

➀ NAND manufacturers are often overlooked in the AI boom despite their role in storage.

➁ The demand for DRAM, especially HBM, in AI computing far outstrips that for NAND, which is primarily used for secondary storage.

➂ The NAND market has experienced ups and downs, with a surge in demand for enterprise SSDs driven by AI servers and a decline in consumer demand.

➃ SanDisk's HBF technology offers a potential new direction for NAND, providing high bandwidth and capacity for AI inference applications.

➄ NAND manufacturers are exploring other avenues, such as increasing storage density and optimizing production capacity, to adapt to the AI market.

➀ The LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 is the fastest external drive tested, with speeds near 7,000 MB/s on a Mac with Thunderbolt 5.

➁ It's not compatible with Windows 11 without Thunderbolt 5, and slower on USB 4/Thunderbolt 4.

➂ The drive is expensive and may not be the best choice for all users due to compatibility issues.

➀ MikroTik has introduced a new device, the RDS2216, which combines a U.2 NAS, a 100GbE, 25GbE, and 10GbE switch, and a lightweight Arm server into a single 1U machine.

➁ The device features 20x U.2 NVMe drives and a variety of networking options including 100GbE, 25GbE, and 10GbE ports.

➂ It is powered by a Marvell 98DX4310 chip and an Annapurna Labs (part of Amazon) 16-core Arm CPU.

➀ Lexar has launched the ARMOR 700 Portable SSD in India, designed for durability and performance.

➁ The SSD offers fast data transfer speeds up to 2000MB/s and supports Apple ProRes recording.

➂ It includes features such as IP66 water and dust resistance, 256-bit AES encryption, and a thermal control system to maintain performance.

➀ We found some great discounts on portable SSDs from brands like Crucial, Lexar, and Samsung, offering fast data transfer speeds.

➁ A 2TB Samsung T7 Portable SSD is on sale for $136.99 at Amazon, saving $133.

➂ The 4TB Lexar SL500 portable SSD is available for $279.99 at Amazon, saving $65.30.

➀ Researchers from the University of Chicago have developed a new storage technique using atom-sized crystal defects;

➁ This allows for a density of 'terabytes of bits within a small cube of material that's only a millimeter in size';

➂ The technique combines solid-state physics with quantum storage research.

➀ Micron has released its first Gen5 client SSD, targeting OEM system builders;

➁ The 4600 PCIe 5.0 SSD offers up to 14.5GB/s sequential speeds;

➂ Micron emphasizes the use of its 9th generation TLC NAND flash memory for performance.

➀ The Q1 NAND market remains over-supplied, leading to sustained price declines and financial strain for suppliers.

➁ Supply and demand are expected to be closer to balance in Q2, driven by production cuts, inventory reductions, and growing demand from AI and DeepSeek applications.

➂ China's trade-in subsidy policies have stimulated smartphone sales and accelerated depletion of NAND Flash inventory.

➀ SanDisk discusses its roadmap for upcoming UltraQLC-based 1PB SSDs.

➁ The UltraQLC platform uses Sandisk's BICS 8 QLC 3D NAND, a proprietary controller, and firmware to enable high-capacity SSDs.

➂ Sandisk addresses the AI memory crunch with potential solutions including 3D DRAM, but challenges remain.