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

wow，i was thinking about add a minipcie SSD too...

 

This topic has come up several times before. No notebook will read a miniPCIe SSD since it doesn't have any connection to the I/O controller. Only a few netbooks have an I/O controller connected to the pins of the miniPCIe. Samsung is said to be releasing (or have released?) a miniPCIe SSD w/ built in I/O controller for usage in any notebook or netbook but I have yet to see this product in real life...

 

Went ahead and bought a Filemate Solidgo 24GB SSD

Apparently is actually uses the Expresscard bus and NOT the USB bus

I will report back when it arrives

 

I'm confused. What is the benefit of the Solidgo SSD? It looks like it is far more expensive than an Intel or OCZ (it's $110 for only 24GB) and is far slower (2MB/s 4k writes).

 

T61Dumb,

You're right, unless Simpler=Better simply wants a (small) amount of fast storage (or is interested as using it for a pseudo RAM disk or eBoostr cache).

The Intel 40GB Value SSD is a much better buy at $85 - if you have an extra sata port and/or hard drive bay to plug it into.

 

@davepermen LOL

I didn't say I would actually buy one (at least not until I've played with the Intel G2 myself)!

@ronan_zj,

Thanks, I may still try it just to report back here.

davepermen,

to be truthful, my VRaptor based desktop has even more 'snappiness' than the Dell/Samsung SSD notebook offers.

The spec's; both 8GB RAM, notebook 2.53Ghz Quad Core Extreme CPU, desktop CPU is the Q9450 at 2.66Ghz. So, is the 0.13Ghz advantage of my desktop the main contributor of my more 'snappy' O/S experience or is it the 'inferior' hardware of the Samsung SSD that is really holding the notebook back on the 'snappy' factor.

To be sure though; in 'throughput' the Samsung SSD trounces the VRaptor - no if, ands or buts. But... it still 'feels' slower when you're just exploring the computer and not doing any real work!

('exploring the computer' = i.e. how fast windows open, how fast the right-click/manage on 'Computer' brings up the Computer Management console, how fast Disk Management 'connects to virtual disk service' and also 'loading disk configuration information' - as a matter of fact, my VAIO/Scorpio Blue connects and loads the disk service/configuration information faster than the Samsung does - and the VAIO is only 8GB/2.26Ghz Core 2 Duo CPU - hmmm... davepermen strikes again!).

(note: I am currently running my VAIO without eBoostr).

 

This coming Wednesday Morning, there's a NewEgg Shell Shocker on a SSD drive...

Will someone be kind enough to buy one for me as I will be at work with no internet access? I'm sure if its like the Intel G2 Fiasco the last time with the Shell Shocker, this thing will be gone in minutes.







*while supplies last, no rainchecks

 

Just go late lol.

 

These like to die. I've had two and they both burned up after 3 weeks.

 

AHAHAHAHAAHAAHAHA. Oh god that's awesome.

 

It will be the Kingston 64GB SSD. Price will be $99 after rebate. Let's see how close I am.

 

Oh nice. So it'll be an adequate waste of money.

 

US ECON really sucks now, so NO MORE THANKSGIVING !!!!!

 

I just installed my new X25-M 80GB SSD , but I can't get drivers or tools because Intel pulled the last version since it was killing drives?!?!?!

What do I do now ? Is there still older (safe) versions available?

I'm not feeling the blazing fast speeds I dropped $260 for

 

Better lower performanced than a bricked drive...

 

Did you read my post on my client's M6400 with Samsung SSD?

It may help you too.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5499394&postcount=346

 

and one day, i see some new intel presentation live over the web, and they say, see, ssds are better, they 'do a dave'.

or someting similar.. 'this is well known as the davepermen effect'..

??

 

dell site has a newer version of intel matrix storage driver (8.9.2.1002) than intel site(8.9.0.1023): ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/SATA/Intel_Matrix-Storage-Manager_A01_R235902.exe

 

I tried installing that one. and I got

This computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software.
Setup will exit.

Well, I got the same error with the one from Intel website.
Any fix for that?

 

Awesome

I'll try and make a heatsink that fills the rest of the expresscard slot and will hopefully keep the drive alive. I wonder if it's too late for an extended warranty?

I bought the expensive drive because it's expresscard. My SATA0 and SATA1 have identical WD 500's in them. My plan is to use the expresscard SSD for a light copy of XP strictly for gaming.

The 5400rpm WD's are adequate for my day to day stuff.

 

You are obviously NOT involved in any form of drag racing where everything is sacrificed for speed. (Word on the street is to setup the engine to run a couple races between rebuilds)

j/k

j/k

 

vostro1400user;
Even though I just installed this Dell version last Saturday, I didn't even notice that it was newer than what I'm running on my VAIO (from Intel). Will have to keep a lookout for the new version. Thanks!

Thatoe;
If Intel Matrix Storage Manager doesn't install, then you shouldn't try to bypass it. Made only for specific Intel chipsets. If IMSM doesn't install on an Intel chipset, then find the chipset the notebook/desktop is using and install the appropriate chipset drivers to fully enable the features of the Intel boards.

Simpler=Better;
I don't think he meant literally 'burn up' (although I too have read they run warm/hot). I think it simply died after three weeks. A heat sink won't help. Sorry. Try to get the extended warranty, or maybe consider returning it?

 

Why not? Did you get a performance degraded G1 drive or something?

 

OCZ + SandForce...

http://www.tcmagazine.com/comments.php?shownews=30820&catid=6

 

Are You sure You'll be able to boot from Express Card?

 

I was dying to know. Macbook users can do it, and I can boot from external sources, so I'm hoping the machine registers it as another hard drive and lets me boot. If it won't boot/fails I will only be out the shipping cost, and I will knoe for sure that it works.

I think I will install Windows as soon as the drive comes in, take it's temperature, and then run a hard drive stress program for 48hrs. If it failed after 3 weeks of normal use it should fail after 48hrs of stressed use.

I'm assuming heat is the reason for failure-the reviews say the card gets warm. I'll cut a chunk of copper out to fit alongside the card.

 

Awesome...got my OCZ Agility today...and it is DOA.

I've contacted OCZ and hoping to get an answer about this, but it seems like there are a lot of complaints about drives not working over on their forum.

Not very encouraging.

 

UPS just dropped off a present for my Acer 1410 (SU2300)!





Surgery tonight! Kingston branded X-25M 80GB G2 arrives tomorrow...

Cheers,
Kermee

 

@ Greg Ross: bad luck!

@ Kermee: enjoy!

 

My OCZ Solid 256 GB died too. Windows detects it but it can't format it.

 

This is interesting...I'll be back in here later to post some updates.

Update: The drive is definitely dead. RMA'ing it, and considering how well OCZ's support staff helped me (as opposed to the retailer that I bought it from who has actually responded to my inquiries) I might be RMA'ing for a refund and taking my business elsewhere.

 

I'm surprised that nobody has been talking about the release of the Kingston 40GB SSD...I've seen it mentioned once or twice but nobody has said anything since it was released that I've noticed...

Anyway, it was supposed to be $85 after rebate according to Kingston, but newegg is gouging again at $129.99 - $20 MIR = $109.99

But you can buy it from Colamco for $100.05 including shipping which is still a nice price Especially considering what the 80GB drives are going for still...

At this price is certainly is an attractive option for a system drive on a desktop.

I wonder when Intel will release their own branded version of this drive and what it will retail for...

Who wants to bet that these drives will sell for $50 by boxing day?

 

Well, 40GB is a bit constrained to be fair. The Kingston drive does NOT get firmware updates at the same time as Intel, so there is no guarantee that it will support TRIM, etc, etc. Plus the available bandwidth is effectively cut in half compared to the 80GB Intel.

For $85, it might very well be attractive. But I have to wonder if a few too many corners were cut to get to this price point.

 

yeah, i'm a bit curious about lack of trim for 40gb. still it would be a perfect drive for corporate style systems (a.k.a. windows, office, maybe 1 or 2 other apps). but to get the finances for deploying such disks, trim should at least be there, to guarantee stable performance over years (if the users don't fill up the disk).

i think on the performance part, there isn't much loss actually. but that's just a guess.

still hope for an intel version

 

I just finished physically installing the Kingston 40GB SSD into an Acer 1410 and Ghosting back the drive.

AFAIK, Kingston is planning to add auto TRIM support at a later date.

Source: Legit Reviews - 10/25/2009 - Kingston 40GB V Series Boot Drive SSD Review

"If you plan on running Windows 7, then TRIM will be a key feature to help keep the Kingston SSDNow V Series 40GB Boot Drive running at a continued high performance level. As we mentioned previously in the article, Kingston said that this feature is planned for down the road, so we can only take their word for that. Intel's TRIM supporting firmware just came out today, so hopefully Kingston's won't be too far behind."

Cheers,
Kermee

 

No specific time to wait,

 

Never buy a product based on what they plan to do. Base the purchase off of what it does now, because after you buy it the company is under no obligation to add those features for you.

Just look at the Intel G1 owners for a great idea of what could happen. Most spent around $600 on their SSDs, and Intel is not even going to give them TRIM support.

 

*Nod* Understood. TRIM isn't that big of a deal to me; I didn't purchase the Kingston 40GB SSD expecting to get it. Although it would be a nice bonus. I have it setup using the " Tony TRIM" method and it's working great on X-25M G2 RAID-0 stripes I have. -- Granted it's not automatic... but it works.

Cheers,
Kermee

 

Kingston 40GB SSD that was put into an Acer 1410 (SU2300) 11.6" notebook. -- This was a Ghost of the old Windows 7 installation on the stock 160GB WD Blue Scorpio drive which has had most of the tweaks for SSD done before imaging and cloning to the Kingston 40GB SSD. 17.4GB used out of 40GB. (Or 16.2GiB out of 37.2GiB).

Here are some results (4kB is still *impressive*):







Cheers,
Kermee

 

I am learning today that OCZ customer support is a total joke. They have *yet* to respond to my RMA request, nor my request for technical support in a last ditch attempt to fix the drive.

Good thing the retailer I purchased it from is willing to return it.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139081

Folks, there's your Newegg ShellShocker... Get it while you can!

$85 USD with Free Shipping after MIR of $20 USD...

Just picked up my second one since the rebate has a limit of TWO.

Cheers,
Kermee

 

That sucks. I was about to go OCZ when I was able to finally source some Intel G2's

Cheers,
Kermee

 

It is different. Intel did not promise TRIM on the G1 and Kingston is promising it on the 40GB X25-X.

 

:confused2:

I think that this is my next SSD, really good random writes and all reads are somewhere around like on my MasterDrive SX.

 

Just got my X25-M installed yesterday, along with a clean install of W7 Pro. Have yet to run any big programs on it yet so no "real world" benchmark feel. Maybe this weekend I'll put CAD on it and do some work.

Question I have though, neither BIOS or Device Manager is calling this new drive an SSD? The defragment option is still there and even the Intel Matrix Storage Manager calls it "Generic Hard Drive", though it does give the make, part number, and serial number in the description.

I have installed all the Intel chipset drivers available at Dell.

Am I missing something? W7 performance index rates the drive at a 7.9, am I getting all the performance I should be in this unrecognized state?

 

Oh man, I missed it!

They had it on the Canadian site too at an even better deal (for us) at $105 CDN including shipping.

Oh well, I'd rather get the Intel branded one anyway. Intel has specifically said that TRIM support is definitely on the roadmap for this product.

And I think the Intel one is coming soon. It is listed by many retailers as "coming soon" for around $120. I suspect that the retail price will be somewhat less than that - hopefully around $100 as the Kingston-branded drive.

I agree with Greg that 40GB is very small - but for some applications this just doesn't matter. I need to buy one of these for an aging system that runs a retail database at a family member's business. It will make the system feel like new, I think.

 

These numbers seem low next to the reviews I've seen, any idea what to look at in the setup for this X25-M?

 

OCZ teams up with SandForce on SSD technology

 

For what it's worth, Kingston was always on top of customer service and had topnotch options available for dealing with memory sticks. I don't know if this will transfer over to their SSD's now..

 

zipzoomfly.com has the OCZ Agility 60GB for $159 AR. Also there is a 2% Bing Cash Back for zipzoomfly