Crucial M4 / Micron C400 SSD Series Thread

Intel X25-m has very good random read and random write performance. It shows in my real world benchmarks.

It's not the slowest SSD you can buy, by far not.

Stay tuned for more SSD reviews, they will be added to the current setup.

 

There can be no "debate about how any (modern-ish) SSD is faster than the fastest HDD"

Just because tech is old, does not mean it's bad. I also considered buying the X25M 160GB, but the seq write performance is not so great, and it doesn't do so well with multitasking, and it was (along with the 320 and 510) 30-40% more expensive than the M4. Also the 320/510 did not seem to have as good a random read/write performance as the X25m, and 320 performance was limited to SATA II.

 

Nice review Phil. Looks like M4 is a good upgrade over the X25-M. The same 4K speed reflect on the same performance on the smaller applications and tasks for the X25-M and M4, and the awesome speed from the M4 of 512Ks and sequential mirrors on the bigger applications.

 

Yes, Phil, 12-13 seconds is great, but it doesn't reflect the real world boot up time. The mouse cursor becomes idle 25 seconds after I push the power button. So in real my bootup time is 25 seconds. How much was your real bootup time with your m4?

 

It is a real-world boot test comparison. Anything loaded after that is down to individual systems and what processes/apps they load etc. Around 20-30 seconds for a boot including internet access etc is great IMHO. I'm currently on SATA I with an M4 and get around 20-25 seconds for a real boot, but knock out the internet access with bootTimer and I'm down to 14.

 

If you measure from pressing the power button it will include BIOS post time.

Boottimer measures how long it takes to load Windows from after the BIOS post time, which was ± 10 seconds on my laptop.

I did not measure my BIOS post time.

 

My Crucial M4 128GB should be here in the next few days for my Alienware M14x and I have been reading the threads about installation and what not. I will be following Titan God's instructions for dual hard drive installation so the actual physical install I have taken care of, however I still have some questions on installing Windows and the bios fix, etc...

1. What should I do to prepare to install the SSD (I have a windows backup already)?
2. How do I specifically install windows onto the SSD
3. Searched the M4 forum on the bios fix, but didn't find anything specific, what specifically do I have to do in order for the SSD to be compatible, not freeze, etc??

Thanks

 

You have to do the M4 LPM fix, most likely. Basically, don't install intel RST drivers and read this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/solid-state-drives-ssds-flash-storage/578915-crucial-m4-micron-c400-ssd-series-thread.html

Or if you're too lazy

http://forum.notebookreview.com/7545921-post120.html

Mr. Mysterious

 

The first thing is you should check if your drive's firmware is 0002. If it is 0001, then download the update to apply to 0002 from here:
Crucial.com Product Downloads - Firmware Updates

The 0002 firmware is supposed to fix the LPM stuttering. Make sure to download the update for the M4, not C300.

 

thanks for the quick responses!

 

Sure, np dude.

Let us know how it goes, all right? If you want better responses, it would help to post in that thread I linked.

Mr. Mysterious

 

alright thanks I will post here if I need any more help

 

So can anyone confirm that the new firmware fixes the LPM issue?

 

It appears to have worked for me. I updated the firmware yesterday and removed the registry entry I added. I have had no stuttering or stalling since.

 

Even then, considering my history with this drive, I'm not doing anything now that I've had it working properly, lol.

Are there any issues for people who both have had the 002 firmware installed AND the registry fix on their machines?

If I were to guess the answer, I'd say probably not.

Mr. Mysterious

 

And I will have Crucial M4 256GB tommorow I hope. My first SSD I will post my results from my PM55 chipset, I have only SATA 2 but I dont care about the fastest sequential speeds.

 

Finaly got my M4 running smoothly in my X220 i7. Had to update the firmware to 0002 to get rid of the BSOD problem I was having. Registry hack didn't get the job done.

Here are some results in crystaldiskmark clean windows 7 install:

 

I had no issues running the registry fix alongside the 002 firmware but this was only for a short time until I deleted the registry fix to take advantage of LPM. It should'nt have any adverse affect but you wont be able to take advantage of LPM until the registry fix has been removed.

 

How do I remove the registry fix after updating the firmware?

 

Hey guys,

So I just have a quick question. I bought a 128GB M4 and want to perform a clean windows 7 install on it for my computer that is arriving tomorrow. Do I have to format and partition the SSD before hand, or can I just put the raw SSD in the hard drive bay and install Windows 7 from there?

I plan on having the main windows 7 partition, and a partition for games/applications.

 

Windows 7 install will format the drive for you. I don't recommend creating separate partitions at all. I've seen too many strange effects on performance. I always make one partition on SSDs.

 

I just let Windows 7 do it's stuff with my M4 128GB, as I didn't want to risk messing anything up with my first SSD.

The only thing I was wondering is, if I had to re-install W7, it's not as easy as having a separate windows partition where it can be wiped, before install, leaving your data and software apps ready to install from a separate partition.

Anyone any thoughts on this? (Obviously, you can re-install from an external drive, but it wouldn't be as quick, though I guess it will force a better backup regime)

 

To remove the registry fix open Regedit.exe and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\iaStor\Parameters

In the 'Parameters' folder you will find a folder named 'Port0'. Right click on this folder and select Delete. This will remove the registry fix provided at the beginning of this thread.

 

Thanks guys, plug in and go is what I like. I also guess one partition it is, as I know little on SSD's unlike Phil here.

 

Some people say partitioning is no problem though. I've seen a couple of real world examples that say otherwise.

 

So I have has a few freezes and stutterings with my new fresh install of windows 7 on my new laptop and I know the M4 has been having these issues. I downloaded the 02 firmware and burned the image to a CD, and booted from this CD.

The firmware update isn't going through because it says their is no drive detected (firmware is for the right drive and everything). How might I fix this and also how might I be able to check what firmware version my M4 is currently running? Thanks!

Stradevarius

 

Thanks a lot...

Maybe this thread could help you... Maybe...

 

Yeah I was looking though that thread earlier and it didn't help much, but i'm going to go through it again, so thanks for providing the link.

 

I recieved Crucial M4 256GB yesterday. I updated firmware, then installed Windows 7 and here are the results MAHCI and INTEL RST. Its on PM55 so Sata 2. I think 4k could be better.

EDIT: AS SSD scored 520 points

 

After following some guides and installing all the programs I use I am at 105GB left of 119GB, I would say pretty dam good. I will run a speed test or whatever but I am not familiar with it at all so don't know how

 

Here are my results, M14x Crucial M4 128GB, seems super low? I was running the browser with a youtube Mp3 playing..Mine is on the RIGHT.

 

Kawasaki, try running without anything running in the background. Make sure your BIOS is in AHCI.

You could try temporarily disabling intelppm in the registry, see what kind of effects that has.

 

So I fixed my 128GB M4 0002 firmware update issues I mentioned earlier. On my Sony SA it would boot from the CD image but would quickly scan and say there were no drives found. At first I though it was a driver issue I was having as I had just done a clean install on my SSD, but that wasn't it. After revisiting this thread Crucial M4 0002 Firmware Update feedback Thread - Crucial Community I noticed that MBP's were having a similar issue. The issue was later resolved in a modified firmware update, but it still didn't work for my Sony.

In the end I had to remove my M4 from my Sony and place it in my netbook, which in the bios enabled me to change the settings from AHCI mode to IDE mode, an option my Sony Bios didn't have. Upon doing this I booted up the CD image and had the firmware installed in seconds!

I have yet to see if those stuttering issues are still a problem, but I hope this post helps anyone else whose computer doesn't have the option to switch to IDE mode as indicated in the firmware update guide found here (as well as the 0002 firmware) Crucial.com Product Downloads - Firmware Updates

Stradevarius

 

It increased 4k +5% only. I prefer to have turbo boost working I have power save mode option in BIOS and I disabled it, I think its enough.

 

Bios is in AHCI, I will try tomorrow running it again with nothing but the program itself up. How did the guy with the m11x posted in my picture get such high scores?

 

Of course. That's why I said temporarily.

 

Stradevarius

Thanks for the feedback re the song SA. I should have mine in the next couple of days, am I right in think that the process for adding the m4 would be;
Get SA and make firmware CD
Clone existing hard drive to ssd
Put ssd into different laptop change settings in bios
Run firmware update
Add ssd to SA

Thanks

 

Did much better this time running MP3 in background through microsoft media player:

 

OCZ Vertex 3 120GB head to head with Crucial M4 128GB: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6161&review=ocz+vertex+3+120gb

@ Kawasaki, your 4K random write is completely off. Is this a clean install?

Can you post an AS-SSD screenshot?

Have you been changing write caching settings?

 

Something is seriously wrong there. 3MB/s in 4K write? lol! Have you done the LPM tweaks in the registry?

 

no just installed the new firmware, and yes clean install

EDIT: Just did registry tweak, restarting and running again

 

Yep that sounds about right. The only thing I did differently is a clean install of windows, but it makes no difference. Let me know how it goes!

 

results werent any different after tweak, even lower except 4k write was at 2.9...running windows media player mp3 again...whats going on?
I have seen another thread and guy was getting similar results and he was running original firmware and re installed windows with firmware and it was fixed, but i am running the 002 firmware and just installed windows so not sure what to do

 

I've asked you three questions. If you answer them I may be able to help you further.

 

@ Kawasaki, your 4K random write is completely off. Is this a clean install? YES

Can you post an AS-SSD screenshot?

Have you been changing write caching settings? I followed the SSD optimization guide from Tom's Hardware that you recently posted, so like indexing is off and Write-Cache Buffer Flushing, think thats it

Should I try this? http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...-series-4-5-965-chipsets-stamatisx-tweak.html

 

I would revert the changes that the Tomshardware guide suggested to write caching. Try toggling write caching settings and see if your 4K write comes back.

There's no need for chipset tweaks yet. First focus on getting 4K write performance back to normal.

 

cache was checked off for some reason...so its on now with write cache buffer flushing off...now i am running 44.51 write and 16.99 read...a lot better, are these normal benchmarks? I guess I am still confused how glacius on the 2nd page of this thread is running way higher benchmarks on his m11x with the same SSD?

 

Yes that's pretty much normal.

Chipset tweak may help cosmetically but I would not bother.

 

Ok, but still the one question, why is that Glacius has much higher benchmarks with the same SSD and a lower specced system M11x and I have the m14x?

 

Oh wait, your 4K write is more normal now but your seq. read is still very low. You should be getting ± 400 MB/sec.

It looks like it's running in SATA II mode. Maybe CrystalDiskInfo can tell.