Quick question regarding new Mushkin Atlas mSATA SSDs coming with Micron memory

Hey dudes,

Just a quick question; I searched but couldn't come up with a satisfactory answer.

Reports are, as I'm sure you're aware, that Mushkin has been silently shipping newer iterations of the Atlas mSATA drives with Micron memory instead of the superior Toshiba Toggle NAND. I'm just curious if this is the case for ALL of the Atlas mSATA drives now, or if perhaps some of them still include the Toshiba memory?

I have placed an order on Amazon for the 240 GB model and I want to be sure I am not stepping in a big pile of... er, trouble. Thank you for any insight!


UPDATE: Please see an official clarification on the matter, courtesy of Mushkin's Director of Product Development.

 

Deluxe (-DX) models should have the Toshiba/SanDisk toggle nands.
Regular models (-V) should have the async Micron chips.


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Thanks; hopefully this guy's review is a complete mistake then:

Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Atlas Series MKNSSDAT240GB-DX mSATA 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Ships with Micron memory NOT Toshiba memory (at least, mine did) - Toshiba is faster more reliable Toggle NAND Flash (and is what is in the product picture, AND every product review of the Atlas Deluxe). Micron is Asynchronous NAND Flash. Micron, for example, is what is used in the slower, higher failure rate (and cheaper) Crucial M4 SSD.

That's what had me concerned. He's a "Verified Owner" of this particular product ("MKNSSDAT240GB-DX", which is the Deluxe model), and he's reporting that they switched it to Micron memory. Maybe it's just a mistake. I will report back here if mine has Micron so that all will know.

I appreciate the response!

 

Every "Deluxe" Mushkin SSD I got used toshiba toggle NAND. That said, I call BS on that less reliable M4 statement. I know my "sample size" isn't representative in any way, but the only SSDs that ever gave up on me were Chronos Deluxe using 34nm toshiba toggle NAND and I have way more M4 drives that have all been performing flawlessly. The M4 has already proven itself to be very reliable. I'm not saying the Mushkin drives aren't, but be careful with "reliability" statements on the Internet. Here's some data to back up what I'm saying: Components returns rates (6) (page 7: SSDs) - BeHardware. Note that Mushkin isn't there, but Crucial is at least and their return rates are among the lowest. I have another source in French for October I think. I can link it if you want, Crucial took a small hit, but return rates are still quite low.

 

Nice link, thanks very much.

The two things that stand out are Intel's minor slip from top of the heap, and the staggering return rates of some of the OCZ SSD units.

It also makes me glad I went with M4 for my new laptop.

 

If you look at Tweak Towns information and photos of the soon to be released 480GB Muskin Atlas mSATA you'll see that the NAND memory is Micron.

Mushkin Atlas 480GB mSATA SSD Review - Mushkin Atlas 480GB mSATA SSD :: TweakTown USA Edition

 

Here's the most recent one: Components returns rates (7) (page 7: SSDs) - BeHardware Crucial took a hit, Intel regained it's place, OCZ is still having issues. I'm waiting for the next one, Crucial probably took a hit with people getting the 5000hr bug and also one of their FW updates that didn't go well for everyone. OCZ likely got better thanks to their newest SSDs. I'm hoping to see more manufacturers in the next one.

 

All,

So this morning, much to my surprise, I received a phone call from Brian Flood, Director of Product Development at Mushkin. He contacted me in response to my thread here on Notebookreview to personally respond to my question and explain the situation to me. I promised him I would return with a summary of our conversation to set the record straight.

Mushkin is well aware of the existence of the Newegg review to which I linked, and as you'd imagine it's probably been a bit unsettling to the company to see that sort of response to an otherwise highly-regarded product they produce. But as it turns out, newer iterations of the Mushkin Atlas mSATA SSDs (all capacities I assume) will be shipping with Micron NAND. However, the Micron NAND that is in use is Synchronous, and it is designed to the same specifications as the Toshiba Toggle (Sync) NAND found in previous versions of the Atlas mSATA drives. The die size is identical and the PE (program/erase) rating is also the same.

The bottom line, according to Brian, is that the products are identical in spec for all intents and purposes. As expected, in order to keep costs competitive, different manufacturers are always considered for expensive components, and assuming that there is no reason to believe that quality or performance will be affected, such decisions are made when cost differences warrant.

I have not yet received my drive, but I suspect that this means I will indeed be getting Micron memory. After having spoken with Mushkin regarding the matter, however, I am not concerned about the reliability of the drive. I have been using Mushkin products for quite some time now (in fact my primary tech toolkit--in use constantly day to day--has for quite some time been located on three identical Mushkin Mulholland 32 GB USB Flash Drives), and I have every reason to believe that this drive will continue to live up to the standards of the rest of the company's products.

I hope this helps clarify matters and allays some of the fears surrounding this development. I have to say, it's pretty cool to receive word straight from the source and know that the company is so actively gauging public response to their products.

 

:thumbsup:

What a lot of "enthusiasts" don't understand is that a product is sold as a specification, not as a "we use these exact components" unless otherwise specified (which then makes it a specification).