A new smaller SATA interfaced called mSATA which is short for mini SATA has been introduced by the SATA-IO consortium and the new interface is set to be on display at IDF this week.

mSATA based SSD drives are set to replace the half size slim SATA SSDs that are found in some devices today, as well as the PCI Express based mini card SSDs that you find in some netbooks. The good news is that the SATA-IO consortium consists of heavy weight players in the industry and as such mSATA is set to become an industry wide standard.

In terms of size, most half size slim SATA SSDs measure 54x39x4mm (WxDxH) while the new mSATA SSDs measure 30×50.95×4.75mm (WxDxH) so it’s not a huge space saving, but the narrower design makes it easier to fit in smaller devices. Outside of size, mSATA also use less power at 3.3V compared to 5V for the half size slim SSDs.

Toshiba has already announced products based on the mSATA standard and is set to introduce a 30 and a 62GB SSD based on the standard. The reason for the odd sizes is that 2GB has been reserved in case memory cells fail in the SSD, as the data can then be moved to the reserved space on the drives. The new drives have a rated write speed of 70MB/s and a read speed of 180MB/s.

You can find out more about the mSATA specification here and the Toshiba SSDs here