Today Mushkin announced a 480gb version of their Atlas mSATA SSD. This makes the tiny mSATA the first in the world to break the 256gb barrier in this form factor.

Specifications provided by Mushkin:

SandForce SF-2281 SSD processor with unthrottled IOPS

SATA III (6Gb/s) interface

Supports ATA APM, Security Set, NCQ

TRIM support (OS/driver support required)

S.M.A.R.T. support

Built-in BCH ECC (Up to 55 bits correctable per 512 byte sector)

High speed MLC NAND

MO-300 (mSATA) form factor (50.80 x 29.85 x 4.85mm)

Mini PCIe Interface

User-upgradeable firmware

RoHS, FCC, CE

3-year limited warranty

Mushkin Product Director Brian Flood says, “Keeping z-height as low as possible and managing to fit eight NAND flash chips and a controller on a mSATA PCB was no easy feat.”

The MSRP is $499, but if you have an Ultrabook, laptop or small form-factor PC with a slot for mSATA, this is an extremely space-efficient way to get a high-capacity SSD into your system.

Release date is January 2013, with no specific date provided yet.