ntel's latest brace of solid state drives have been pulled from the market whilst a firmware bug gets fixed.
The generation 2 X25-M and X18-M, which are built on its 34nm process, were only introduced ten days ago.
The new SSDs represented a partial upgrade of the previous 50nm process line and were announced with faster performance and price cuts.
According to a Daily Tech report, the bug prevents access to any data on the drive. It is set off by users setting a password in the BIOS for the drive and then either changing or disabling it.
Existing customers should not even think about altering or disabling an existing BIOS password they have set up.
When Intel first introduced the MLC (multi-level cell) X25 and X18 SSD range last year a firmware bug was subsequently identified that slowed the drives down and Intel had to issue a fix for that. This second episode of firmware bug-ery will raise questions about Intel's testing procedures.
Meanwhile, Intel spokespeople have confirmed that there will be a 34nm version of the SLC (single level cell) X25-E product, E meaning extreme, the old 50nm process ranges high-speed model. Its speed is now eclipsed by the new X25-M, with M meaning mainstream, and the, presumably faster, 34nm X25-E will arrive next year. It will be accompanied by a higher capacity X25-M model, one with 320GB capacity.
Once the firmware bug has been fixed, the drives will go back on sale by etailers and, no doubt, a firmware upgrade will be made available to existing customers.
The generation 2 X25-M and X18-M, which are built on its 34nm process, were only introduced ten days ago.
The new SSDs represented a partial upgrade of the previous 50nm process line and were announced with faster performance and price cuts.
According to a Daily Tech report, the bug prevents access to any data on the drive. It is set off by users setting a password in the BIOS for the drive and then either changing or disabling it.
Existing customers should not even think about altering or disabling an existing BIOS password they have set up.
When Intel first introduced the MLC (multi-level cell) X25 and X18 SSD range last year a firmware bug was subsequently identified that slowed the drives down and Intel had to issue a fix for that. This second episode of firmware bug-ery will raise questions about Intel's testing procedures.
Meanwhile, Intel spokespeople have confirmed that there will be a 34nm version of the SLC (single level cell) X25-E product, E meaning extreme, the old 50nm process ranges high-speed model. Its speed is now eclipsed by the new X25-M, with M meaning mainstream, and the, presumably faster, 34nm X25-E will arrive next year. It will be accompanied by a higher capacity X25-M model, one with 320GB capacity.
Once the firmware bug has been fixed, the drives will go back on sale by etailers and, no doubt, a firmware upgrade will be made available to existing customers.
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