A mini SSD is barely larger than a microSD card
Chinese storage manufacturers have shrunk the SSD. The storage media called "Mini SSD" or "1517" are only slightly larger than a microSD card and three to four times as fast.
The mini SSDs are inserted into a card slot in a similar way to a SIM or microSD. An eject tool is also required to remove them. With the gaming handheld GPD Win 5 and the laptop-tablet hybrid OneXPlayer Super X, there are already two devices that can use the new storage media. GPD already shows their handling in the video:
With dimensions of 15 × 17 × 1.4 millimetres, the mini SSDs are only slightly larger than microSD cards, which usually measure 11 × 15 × 1 millimetres. The new storage media use PCIe 4x2 as an interface and are available in three capacities: 512 gigabytes, 1 terabyte and 2 terabytes.
Fast as an SD card, small as a microSD card
The mini SSDs are said to achieve transfer speeds of 3700 MB/s. By comparison, the fastest microSD Express cards for the Switch 2 only achieve up to 985 MB/s. The new storage media are about as fast as SD cards, but at 24 × 32 × 2 millimetres they are significantly larger. However, the even larger, classic M2.SSDs achieve transfer speeds of up to 14,000 MB/s.
The new mini SSDs are said to be very robust. They are waterproof and dustproof to IP68 and have a drop height of three metres - although how robust the device in which they are inserted is probably more relevant.
There are no prices yet for the Mini SSDs and no details on availability. They are also not yet an established industry standard. However, the latter would be necessary for them to have a secure future worldwide.
As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus.
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