Chinese storage manufacturing company Biwin has announced a new type of storage format known as the Mini SSD. The concept of such an innovation is to provide the performance of an NVMe SSD with a form factor as small as a microSD card. The new standard may have a great effect on the portable devices as it provides a smaller, faster storage solution that exceeds the shortcomings of existing solutions.
A New Standard in Compact Design
Biwin Mini SSD is only 15 by 17 millimeters, the size is significantly smaller than that of conventional M.2 2230 SSDs. These drives are fitted in special tray rather than a standard slot like a SIM card in a smart phone. The tray is ejected via a pin and users can swap drives without the use of tools.
The design is a mixture of portability and flexibility of small portable storage with increased durability. The Mini SSDs are rated IP68 dust and waterproof and they protect against drops of up to three meters.
Performance That Defies Its Size
The Mini SSD offers a high level of performance in spite of its tiny size. It also handles a PCIe 4.0 x2 interface and has the NVMe 1.4 protocol to get high data transfer rates. Biwin lists the drives as reaching up to 3,700 MB/s sequential read and 3,400 MB/s sequential write. These are around three times faster than the fastest microSD cards one can find.
The drives are built using 3D TLC NAND and will be available in many capacities e.g. 512 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB. This is a combination of speed and capacity which makes the format an attractive option on a device where space is limited.
The Future of Portable Device Storage
Mini SSD standard is offered as a perfect solution to a new generation of more compact electronics. It occupies the niche between the small-but-slow microSD cards and fast-but-larger M.2 SSDs. The first devices to utilize this novel technology are probably to be GPD Win 5 handheld gaming device and OneXPlayer Super X tablet.
It is also rugged and waterproof making it appropriate in durable laptops, tablets, and other portable systems applied in harsh conditions. Although Biwin has not released retail prices which are yet to be announced, the fact that device manufacturers have adopted the drives is an indication that the new drives will soon be available. The wider adoption of the Mini SSD will rely on the number of manufacturers who might want to use the new standard in their products.