TeamGroup’s sub-brand T-Force has announced a new entry-level 2.5in SATA SSD with capacities reaching 2TB.
Named Vulcan Z, the latest addition to TeamGroup’s dizzying line-up is based on 3D TLC memory and most likely in a DRAM-less format, using TLC chips in SLC mode for caching. An economic way to achieve solid performance at a low price, which is not bad per se, but limited in how much space is allocated to the job.
Although the model of controller isn’t specified, it shouldn’t be a concern as this drive will be bottlenecked by the SATA interface bandwidth way before. What we do have confirmed is the presence of an error correction mechanism (ECC), with support for TRIM commands and SMART monitoring technology.
Four capacities are available, 240GB, 480GB, 1TB and 2TB, achieving up to 520MB/s, 540MB/s, 550MB/s and 550MB/s read speeds respectively, alongside 450MB/s, 470MB/s, 500MB/s and 500MB/s in write. The two highest-capacity drives clearly saturate the SATA III 6Gb/s link.
Obviously, with these performance numbers, the Vulcan Z is not meant to fight against M.2 NVMe SSDs, but rather replace an old HDD with faster storage, or simply to upgrade one’s current computer capacity.
Regarding durability, T-Force rates them at 200TBW, 400TBW, 800TBW and 1,600TBW respectively with a 1,000,000 hours MTBF (mean time between failures). Enough for more than four years of writing 1TB per day using the 2TB model.
The T-Force Vulcan Z 240GB, 480GB, and 1TB SSDs are planned for mid-May 2022, priced at $28.99, $45.99, and $81.99, respectively, while the 2TB model is scheduled to release sometime in Q3 2022, probably around the $160 mark. All drives come with a three-year limited warranty.
