SK.Hynix Gold S31 SSDs mark the company’s return to SATA SSDs. At STH, we have used many SK.Hynix M.2 data center SSDs over the years as they are a leading provider of M.2 22110 NVMe SSDs with power loss protection. The company is now selling SSDs under its own brand through the channel, instead of directly through large OEMs.
SK.Hynix Gold S31 SATA SSD Overview
The SK.Hynix Gold S31 SATA SSD has a very interesting naming convention. The S31 breaks down to SATA (S), III (3), and 1st generation (1.) In a world of long and complex SKUs on the company’s DRAM side, the simplicity here is welcome.
The drives come in 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB capacities in 2.5″ form factors using 3D NAND. The company said that we can expect PCIe-based NVMe drives coming soon.
It is a bit strange to see a SATA III drive get hype in 2019, given that this is a year we are seeing a massive transition to NVMe solutions. At the same time, there are still a lot of SATA III ports out there. Every major chipset vendor is still supporting the standard on their devices. For boot drives, SATA III is still an extremely popular interface as it provides more performance than hard drives and uses little power.
SK.Hynix Gold S31 SATA SSD Key Specs
Here are the key specs for the SK.Hynix Gold S31 SATA SSD series:
| Interface | SATA III |
| Product Type | Internal SSD |
| Form Factor | Standard 2.5” |
| SSD capacity | 1TB/500GB/250GB |
| NAND Flash | 3D NAND Flash |
| Controller | SK Hynix Controller |
| Sequential Read | up to 560MB/s |
| Sequential Write | up to 525MB/s |
| Warranty | 5 years |
Pricing and Availability
Prices range from $49.99 for 250GB to $123.99 for 1TB models. That puts the drives in the $0.12-0.20/GB range depending on capacity. SK.Hynix is selling the drives via Amazon.com and they are available now with a 5% off coupon.
