Apacer CorePower: Your Valuable Data Deserves Top-Tier Protection

How Apacer CorePower works

When the SSD power supply (V_cc = 5 V) drops below a defined threshold, typically 4 V, a voltage supervisor notifies the SSD controller and switches to backup power. At this point, the SSD stops accepting data from the operating system and begins transferring all data from RAM cache to flash storage.

The backup power principle

The SSD’s circuitry is powered by a step-down switching voltage regulator, which draws a constant amount of power from the backup capacitors (P = V_s × I_s), where V_s is the supply voltage and I_s is the current drawn by the SSD. To store more energy in the capacitors and extend the amount of time the SSD can keep running during a power loss, a step-up switching regulator charges the capacitors to a voltage higher than the standard SSD operating voltage.

If the voltage across the capacitors is V, the discharge current can be expressed using equation (1), which can be rearranged into equation (2). By integrating both sides, we get equation (3), where V_max is the maximum charge voltage and V_min is the minimum voltage required for the SSD to continue operating.

For example, the maximum power draw of a 120 GB SSD from the SV25P-25 series is 245 mA at 5 V, which equals a power load of 1225 W. The SSD uses five 47 µF / 35 V tantalum capacitors, charged up to V_max = 27 V. Assuming V_min = 4 V, the backup time works out to approximately Δt ≅ 68 ms.

Apacer CorePower SSDs

Apacer offers CorePower SSDs with SLC, MLC, and TLC flash memory. At SOS electronic, we focus on TLC-based SSDs from the SV25P and SV24P series with SATA interfaces and the PV25P series with PCIe 4.0 [x4] interface. These models offer better performance and come with a 3-year warranty, compared to 2 years for MLC SSDs.

If you're looking for an alternative to SLC flash SSDs, we recommend the SH25P and PH25P TLC-based models with SLC-liteX firmware. They offer an excellent price/performance ratio, include the same 5-year warranty as standard SLC SSDs, and support up to 100 000 write cycles, well above the 60,000 cycles typically provided by conventional SLC drives.

CorePower SSD examples

In the examples below, the backup capacitor mounting points are marked in red on the PCB. Different Apacer SSDs use different types and quantities of capacitors. 

• The SV25P-250 PCB, for instance, supports up to 22 capacitors.
• The 120 GB version uses five 47 µF / 35 V capacitors. 
• The other models shown use 47 µF / 16 V variants.

Browse the full range of APACER SSDs in our SSD drives section. As an authorised APACER distributor, we not only supply components but also provide technical consultations directly with the manufacturer. Need samples for development? We've got you covered.