SSD Thread (Benchmarks, Brands, News, and Advice)

and truthfully inform their customers, not trying to hide it.

 

I think this thread will be have more members and post.. this is great thread. Thanks for it.. Helpful thread means will gonna have more members .

 

Intel New 34nm SSD have 450/300MB/s R/W

 

Hm. No real price drop, but a nice boost in capacity (for Intel drives, anyway). And, of course, some very nice boosts in R/W speeds.

 

if it's true, sounds like nice drives.

 

Same old price is due to they use old 34nm chips. my guess is they are just trying to do a trial run with new 510 series. They might trying to find out firmware issues, so they can fine tune the 22nm chips. I'm not expecting huge availability.

 

Intel has a ITGC.

I work with two G2 160Gb in RAID0

When they get dirty, I TRIM them manually (once every six months or so), and I do indeed need to unRAID them to do so.

Else, it's OK.

 

Crucials C400 gonna be cheaper at same speed/little bit faster - exactly the same situation as between Intels G2 and C300.

 

i have my mind confused about the boot process :

all optimisation guides state that SSD should boot in AHCI mode, but when will appear new firmwares, how i have to boot it for update? in IDE mode or AHCI ? what is the right metod?

 

it looks like I dont need intel 510 at all coz my laptop is sataII, and the price is same as others 250G SSDs.

 

Hello,

I need an advice which one of the following PATA 2.5 SSDs to choose
for my Thinkpad T43 laptop:

RunCore Pro IV 2.5'' PATA SSD (with Indilinx bf controller)
RunCore Pro IV 2.5'' PATA SSD - RunCore SSD

vs

KingSpec 2.5" PATA (MLC Flash) (with SM2235 controller)
SSD,Solid State Disk,KingSpec SSD,Solid Hard Drives

More or less they have very similar tech. specifications like speed/rates, both are MLC, and are priced very close.

But i cannot decide because of lack of info for the SM2235 controller which has the Kingspec drive. What i've found is only that is 4-channel one. Dunno if it has TRIM support for example, didn't find any fw updates, or bugs.

What stops me to go directly for the RunCore is that is harder to find it on one hand and on the other, i read some controversial forum posts regarding strange bugs.

Could you be so kind to give an advice? Thanks in advance.

Regards.

 

i think PATA SSD is more expensive than SATA SSD, am I right?

 

Yes, i think you are right. My laptop (t43 thinkpad) is with PATA, but actually this is an integrated bridge to native SATA, and i've read on the net, that some hardware hackers were able to remove the "PATA part" and install SATA connector, coz there is physically support for it. Unfortunatelly i don't have such skills, nor equipment.

One more question that I forgot to ask in my previous post is reg. MLC vs SLC. Normally i've read about the advantages of SLC, mainly much longer life of the cells and also much better speeds. But then in the particular models of KingSpec(PATA ones.. ), like:

MLC KingSpec PATA SSD specifications

and

SLC KingSpec PATA SSD specifications

we can see that write endurance/data retention are exactly the same!?, then speeds of the MLC are even better.

Both drivers are with same controller SM2235.

There is for sure a reason, but what it is ? I mean why would KingSpec bother to offer SLC for these models, when their characteristics look worse then the MLC.

 

I would suggest u save to money for a new laptop.

 

When do you all suppose we'll start seeing ~$250 SSD, 256gig? By the end of the year? I would like to get an ssd for my envy 14 at some point.

 

It varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Check each company's documentation. All will have a flash guide somewhere in their support section or forum.

 

at least a year...probably 2

 

If you check around eBay, these forums, craigslist, etc, you can find some OEM first gen 256GB Samsung drives for ~$300.

 

Thanks for the reply. That's a bit disappointing. I do a fair bit of gaming on my laptop, and I have a tendency to not finish games. As a result, I rarely uninstall games. Obviously, this adds up quickly. At 320gig, I'm at 98% capacity. I don't think I can manage with a 128gb SSD, so it looks like I'm going to have to wait a year or so.

I'll take a look. But in the past, I've haven't had much success buying tech used. So I'm hesitant to try again. Maybe But I'll take a look! Thanks for the suggestions!

Edit

Wow, things are much cheaper on ebay!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148360 $530
http://cgi.ebay.com/SAMSUNG-1-8-256...ltDomain_0&hash=item2c5a5105ca#ht_1178wt_1135 $350

The above should be suitable for an Envy, correct? Top seller, new condition, supports trim, 1.8". I suppose not having warranty is a major problem. Also, it says 128gig on the spec sheet, but in the title and picture it says 256gig. What's up with that!

 

Always PM to confirm specs. Also no warranty can be an issue. If it bricks then it's an expensive paperweight. I would visit Samsungs website though and inquire about warranty just to confirm.

 

Those are very different SSDs though. The Samsung is first generation, the Crucial is last gen and SATA III.

 

Thanks for the tip. I've only used ebay to by non-tech stuff in the past. I'll be sure to inquire about the warranty.

Ah, I see. Looks like I have a bit more research to do. They both had similar capacity / write seeds, so I assumed they were comparable SSDs. Thanks for the heads up.

 

I might be the first one to say go to where you can find the best deal, but used/ebay SSDs just scream bad news to me. Might not have a warranty, no easy exchange if it bricks, etc. If you need to save some green, at least wait for a good rebate from a major retailer you can trust.

This is my policy for pretty much all computer components outside of finding oddball repair stuff. I got an awesome deal on a spare replacement motherboard for my old Lenovo C100 one might for 0.01 (I had the one and only bid) and like 4 bucks shipping. Never had to use it but it was too cheap to pass up.

Anyways back on topic with SSDs.

What are all of your opinions on the new Intel 310 mSATA ssd? Some reviews and stats have started to crop up putting it close to the other Intel G2 SSDs, which is great for performance, but I am actually kind of worried when it comes to future upgrades. I know notebook manufacturers have wanted to go with interesting and integrated form-factors for a while now to save space, but if the only storage comes from a little mSATA card, you lose out on the hundreds of drives you can find on Amazon, Newegg, etc cheaply and from various manufacturers. Kind of like the 1.8" SATA drives right now, you can find them, but the selection is a fraction of 2.5" drives.

 

Isn't it just regular Intel G2 SSD, but in smaller package.

Just a reminder: Intel SSD 310 won't work in all mPCI-E slots (where You have WLAN or some other card). It has mPCI-E connector, but doesn't use PCI-E bus. It's just regular SATA bus and power over mPCI-E connector.

 

sorry for my noob question, i read also that the advanced SSD like the one of OCZ or Intel, have a garbage collector that works when you have pc powered up but logged off; does it starts automatically or it has to be installed/run in some way?

 

Anyone here who know or would like to guess when G3 SSDs from Intel and SSDs with SF-2000 controller will arrive?

 

Yup, same controller that was in the Intel x25m and x25m, same flash type, and appears to have same RAM too.

My only qualm is that this might start pushing unique storage formats to more notebooks. If its a boot drive only and they still have a 2.5" slot I'm fine with that... but I really dont like losing that upgrade path.

 

According to this... Intel Releasing SATA 6.0 Gbps SSDs Next Month?

It looks like Intel decided to launch a product based on the competition and forgo the originally intended "G3" to a later launch. So, this means they will be launching an SATA 6 BEFORE they launch an SATA 3.

WOW, looks like the mighty Intel is running scared as the competition announced faster drives before they launched their slower drive. How confusing is this?

I think they are losing loyal customers to the competition (Crucial/OCZ/Corsair because of this really pi** poor marketing.

510 Series??? G3??? Not only does launching faster then slower tech suck, but the naming convention SUCKS too. End rant. For now

 

well, if g3 will be much cheaper, then they will be the consumer drives, and those the enthusiast drives. which would make sense. the specs of the g3 are awesome for ordinary users, more is not really noticable, thus not needed. g3 should be about the cost, and storage size.

this one will be to mess with the other players in the market, not really for the typical customer.

still curious what the prices of the g3 will be. and maybe, just maybe, they changed the specs for them, too. who knows?

 

Well, I am hoping to be able to make some kind of sense out of this. I hate it when companies provide products that are not very differentiated. At LEAST with MLC and SLC we knew what the damn difference was. With all this hocus pocus it makes me VERY distrustful.

I again cannot believe that they have not given us more on the G3. Hell, the Iphone on Verizon was dissected, talked about for YEARS before launch.

I do not like that either. But Intel, COME ON GIVE US SOMETHING FOR GOD'S SAKE!

 

the products are not out yet, why do you expect them to tell you right now what their marketing plans for those products are?

they'll teach you the use of each when they're out and available.

it'll be mlc2bit for the fast one, mlc3bit for the g3 slower one from what i see so far.

they're products, they have specs. i don't get your hocus pocus stuff. it's just specs. if they fit you, buy. if not, don't.

 

I feel it is close enough to Feb that they should be pushing more information to us. I have lost track of where there might be some reliable info about these products. And NOT Anand's article of 3 months ago!

I can more easily find information about the Iphone 5 and the Ipad 2 and these are months away, not days away as the G3 is supposed to be. Plus I am just frustrated in general

 

it is just a drive, what else you want ?

 

As a loyal customer of Intel, I figure they owe me some decent information. That is all.

 

how many intel ssds have you bought so far? i have 5 by now. i guess they owe ME some decent information. not you.

who ever owes anyone information about unreleased products?

 

new firmware update for intel SSD: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3044&DwnldID=18363

 

This is some useful news.

+rep

PS.
Update went well, the ISO file contains one executable (and a readme.txt), I just copied it onto a bootable USB flash drive, booted the system from the flash drive, run the executable and voila! My X25-M G2 runs with 2CV102M3 firmware now.

 

So it's not a destructive flash then? All your original contents are intact?

 

Everything works perfectly. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to write this .

 

update worked fine (and non-destructive) here, too.

 

thanks but the changes mentioned in release notes doesn't warrant an upgrade for me, I would pass.

 

Oh yeah. Thank god i waited before i pulled the trigger on a new laptop. Only issue i can think of is that SATA 3.0 is not included on the new Sandy Bridge laptops. But new, faster and bigger SSD. Yes please

 

Hmmm, my Intel SSD won't update firmware.

I've tried both loading the ISO on a USB drive and extracted iso on DVD. It won't boot off the DVD. On the USB flash it says "remove disks or other media / press any key to restart". I remove the drive and it says:

"Check Cable Connection!
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel PXE ROM
Operating System Not Found"

edit: weird thing is the iso is a 3.7MB download. When I look at the ISO contents its only a 900KB .exe and 15KB readme.txt file. No where near 3.7MB. Yes I have selected to show system files.

 

You need to make a bootable usb drive (there are several guides), then mount the ISO file you downloaded with a program of your preference (ie daemon tools lite), once mounted copy only the .exe file to the bootable usb drive, enter your BIOS, change the booting sequence so you boot from the usb drive, once booted you will be on DOS, type the name of the program (if you don't remember the name type dir and press enter, it will show you the contents), it will scan for your SSD and it will proceed with the upgrade.


Note for Intel X25-E 32/64GB owners, there is no firmware upgrade for us, it still has the old 8850, no need to bother with this procedure.

 

I did that, and no go.

If you have links to creating a bootable usb I'd appreciate it though. I've been using the same usb drive for a long time and haven't done it in a while. Maybe there's something wrong with that.

 

here you go

http://thelostbrain.com/post/2008/0...S-with-access-to-full-flash-drive-space).aspx

 

Thanks. +1. The other HP flash utility I had kept saying it wouldn't work with Win 7. And I'm not sure why it wouldn't boot before, because I've used it in the past to get into dos. Anyhow, thanks.

Update done, quick and easy!

 

just doubleclick the iso and burn it as disk. that way, the boot code is on there, too.

 

I did that. But it didn't detect it as a bootable disc. I burned three coasters because nothing worked.

 

Would Intel 310 series SSD work in a standard mini-PCIe slot? Could I use it in my laptop (MSI GX740)? According to the product brief ( http://download.intel.com/design/flash/nand/324696.pdf), it "supports SATA signals over a PCI-Express (PCIe) mini-connector". What does this mean?