Excited about error management? More behind Seagate’s Pulsar SSD shipping announcement to distribution channel

About Seagate

With distribution channel shipments beginning today for Seagate Pulsar XT.2 and Pulsar.2 to follow later this month, it marks an exciting time for the company, but also for customers including system builders and VARs.

But as a system builder or VAR, you may ask, “Why would this necessarily be an exciting time for me?”

Well, besides the performance benefits that were demonstrated by the Storage Performance Council, showing Pulsar XT.2 is a blazing fast SSD, Seagate has done some unique things to the design to ensure that it’s going to be a class-leader all around as well.

Both Pulsar models have a design advantage with Seagate’s ability to manage and correct errors. It’s the “secret sauce” and it’s going to take SSD endurance and overall reliability to another level. Error management and correction are areas that SSDs and HDDs actually have in common, regardless of the technology. And because of this, Seagate has a lot of experience here managing this with its previous HDD designs.

You may ask, “What’s this about errors anyway? I want an error-free drive, not something that just manages errors.”

Well unfortunately it’s the physical nature of the media you write to, whether it’s on a hard disk platter or solid state – they have errors. And so a very large part of design development is in dealing with how a team will manage those errors. And Seagate is truly world-class in doing just that.

It’s one of the reasons why Seagate and Samsung worked together on the coming Pulsar.2 SSD, which is based on MLC technology. The Pulsar.2 leverages Samsung’s NAND design expertise while Seagate contributed its error management knowledge. And this, Seagate’s “secret sauce”, is what effectively solves the MLC write-endurance issues that other SSDs have.

So when we take all of these great designs and have them come from the company that also has the operational infrastructure to manufacture, deliver and support these new SSDs at a large scale… you’ve got the makings for an exciting time for Seagate and its customers.