SSD choice: Supertalent SX good?

I'm trying to choose a SSD for my Acer 1810TZ.

Intel SSD costs 225 euros at the moment, that's too much in my opinion.

Super Talent MasterDrive SX 64GB costs 146 euro, that's more like it.

Crucial M225 64GB is 175 euro, I could stretch it to that.

I know Indilinx is the better controller but Samsung may be good enough for my needs. I don't do anything very demanding.

Any other good options available in Europe?

 

Phil, just keep free space 50% or more of the drive and it shouldn't matter which drive you get (if, you're not 'doing anything very demanding').

With that simple approach (keep as much free space as possible), you should be fine with anything that doesn't have a JMicron controller in it.

Good luck!

 

SAY NO TO SUPERTALENT PRODUCT.
they dont offer any customer service for Samsung controller based SSD.
My friend got 4 Supertalent SX to form RAID0, and it really a pain in the .

 

I agree don't choose supertalent I did and I regret it. So far in less than 2 years I have gone through 2 RMA's. Perhaps OCZ are a better budget choice. If you must go supertalent make sure it isn't a Jmicron driven one!

 

OCZ Vertex are the best you can get, besides the intel's.

And from what I've read, the NEW Jmicron's are good, they use dual jmicrons with a seperate cache.

 

you might check lowest rating user comments for each brand from newegg.com, amazon, etc. i saw OCZ vertex seems to have a higher failure rate from newegg site:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...eoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&Page=1&Keywords=

 

from corsair's support forum, Indilinx Barefoot controller based Corsair X series has higher failure rate from users' posts. just like indilinx based ocz vertex has higher failure rate. i doubt indilinx controller's reliability...

 

IMO:
OCZ or Intel is ur only choice so far.
I have owned different SSDs, only OCZ and Intel are my top pick.
Also, You can buy Solidata SSD, my friends company.
hahah, this is not ads

 

The MasterDrive SX is an Indilinx-based drive. It should work just as well as any other Indilinx drive, though ST may be behind with their firmware updates.

http://www.ccereviews.com/reviews/super-talent-masterdrive-sx-sam28gm25s-128gb-ssd/5/

 

Can anyone report anything on Kingston's SSDNow V series? Specifically, the 128 Gb? All reviews note that it doesn't have the ill-famed JMicron stuttering issue in regular use, but I saw one forum posting that stated that running a bunch of VM's caused stuttering.

I'm not really concerned that I'll have the stuttering problem (unless I get lemon or something), but the part that worries is the low 4 K write speed -- which matters for everyday use. Then also, it doesn't have the TRIM support yet, and not sign that it'll ever have it.

So anyone has checked out the Kingston 128 Gb v-series or have compared its "feel" against an Indilinx or Intel controller powered drive? Its probably the lowest priced 128 Gb SSD in the market!

 

SX is samsung controller,
GX is Indilinx controller.

 

Oops, you're right. SX is a PB22-J clone.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'm now choosing between the 40GB Kingston with Intel controller vs. the WD5000BEVT.

They're the same price. Kingston will obviously give me better performance but I'll need to connect external USB storage often.

Any thoughts?

I'm thinking for my usage (web, watching video, music) the SSD does not have enough impact on performance and I might be better off with a traditional HDD.

 

My only thoughts on this is that 40GB even with light usage will quickly get used and the drive will be much worse than a roomy and relatively speedy (if you partition) drive that will save you much more time overall than the 40GB SSD will by you not copying music/video/data on/off continuously.

I really believe SSD's have not hit their stride yet - hoping 2010 will see their promise become reality.

 

Yeah that's a good point.

I'm opting for WD as the Hitachi 7K500 is not available here yet.

 

The Scorpio Blue 500GB BEVT was very good to me for the last few months.

See if this helps in optimizing your partitions:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5617217#post5617217

 

Thanks but that is a very long post. Can you tell me how large my C partition should be ideally speaking on a 500GB drive?

 

Phil,

As a general guideline that I use, and as long as you have only filled it to a maximum of 60% the first - 20% of almost any drive is the sweet spot for 'performance'.

To put a GB figure to it; 100GB is close enough for a 500GB (465GB actual) HD - 93GB if you're picky, like I am.

 

So interesting, Phil.
After 6 or 7 months, I too (finally) made a decision to buy a lightly-used 1810TX, based on a special pricing opportunity. It arrived at a friend's house in Boston yesterday. He is shipping it express to Taipei. (Acer sells only the 1410 Intel 743 in Taiwan).

And I too been pouring over less-expensive SSD options.
The Kingston SSDNow V-Series SNV125-S2B N/64GB is reasonably priced.
Its the SSD drive plus notebook installation kit which includes an external USB housing for your leftover 250 or 320 hard drive.
Had you considered that all your rarely used gigabytes there can be stored externally? So you would have both the 60GB SSD, plus the 320HD for those sounds and videos.

BTW, the Kingston SSD SNV125-S2BN/64GB is now $119 after rebate at JR.com. There have been a few SSD bargains on eBay as well.
Don't know about UK though.

 

I've heard about that SSD but the controller is not so good, if I remember correctly.

In my situation it would be quite inconvenient to always connect external storage and move files. I do a lot of downloading.

And none of the applications I use are really dependent on hard drive speed, except hibernating and waking up the system.

 

not really true, both.

 

You could get a wireless N+ router with USB storage port. It'll let you add the external WD to your network. OCZ is a good choice for SSD. A new 128 Gb was $270. ScorpioBlue is the most reliable drive ... first choice when it comes to storage.

 

So 40GB is sufficient for a normal Windows 7 installation?

 

I mean, as long as you make an effort to keep the size down, it shouldn't be that hard. I've got my Win 7 install on an older 64GB Samsung RBX MLC, and it's currently at... 15GB. Just my Windows and Programs folders are, cumulatively, "just" 8GB. But of course, I've got pagefile and hibernation turned off.

 

Any folks have hand-on experience using a wireless router-based USB hard drive?
My D-Link DIR-655 is USB storage capable.
But it needs to be flashed and the hard drive needs proprietary D-Link software installed. I don't want to screw up my network by trying it.

Seems like OCZ has decent online support.
Take a quick look at their well attended OCZ Forum.
All that tech talk is nice, but does highlight the current status of SSD technology.

 

The thing is... office and daily tasks are exactly what SSD's boost. Day to day performance, opening a program, opening windows explorer, etc. That's where you'll feel the disk really zip.

 

http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1033945914&postcount=12

 

I just went for the Kingston 128 gb V-series "value" SSD, primarily for the fear of having the stock HDD crash because of movement but the speed-boost is certainly nice. I was willing to spend as little as possible for it (but needed at least 100 Gb) and the 3 year warranty + Kingston's reputation made me fall for it.

 

I've bought a couple of SSD drives with a Samsung controller of ebay. The last one i bought was for my TT and it cost me £160 so it was not cheap. Intel G1 drives go for cheaper on ebay. I bought the drive how it is, firmware if i'm that bothered by it i can try it get it from a vendor. I don't though have any customer support as such.

My drive though performs very well for what i want it to do and i know this drive is reliable, performs excellently for my needs and consumes very low amounts of power.

I would probably get the Supertalent one, especially over any mechanical drive at least.

 

I leave Firefox open all the time, I don't use office programs. My computer opens in 0.5 seconds.

The only boost I really see happening is hibernating my system.

 

as you know, i'm a non-tweaker. i have disabled system restore, as i have winhomeserver for that. i have installed big programs like visual studio to develop, ableton live to create and play music, itunes incl my music library, office 2010, and more, and i'm at 31.2gb used.


so yes, depending on usage, 40gb could be sufficient.

oh, one thing: 32bit. i chose it for compatibility, but it uses less space on disk, too.

 

a) you will change your habits. now that all opens and closes so fast you won't have to have it open anymore. i nowadays have everything closed that i don't use. this was different.

b) i'm unsure how fast the 40gb intel ssd is when going to hibernation. as it only has a write speed of 40MB/s, i dunno. loading from hibernation should be very fast, though.

 

i still suggest paying for an 80gb gen2 ssd, btw. more money spent, but money well spent.

 

The Intel is too expensive imo. Price is 220 euros at the moment. My Acer 1810Tz cost me 365.

I'll grab the 64GB Kingston and see if I like it. Does that use the same Intel controller as the 40GB?

Edit: seems like not. I'll get the 40GB.

Edit 2: ordered. I'll start deleting some programs

 

220€? ?

more like 180€ here in switzerland..

i just noticed you're from the netherlands, so you got massive rep+ from me had some great memories from overthere

 

good luck with the 40gb intel btw none available here, else i could report how well it works in my media center.. i ordered an 80gb one now.. maybe if it doesn't work for you, we'll switch, or something like that

 

Well the Intel 80GB does start at 180 euro, but the only shops who have it in stock ask 220.

http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/243735/intel-x25-m-postville-ssdsa2mh080g2c1-80gb.html

Any European shops have them in stock for 180?

edit: friend of mine is going to US for christmas. If I decide SSD is worth the money I'll let him bring an Intel.

 

yeah, out of stock is quite an issue right now.. but i still (hope i) got it somewhere here for 185€.. but first i have to wait if they deliver