SSD: 1.8" SATA2 Boot Drive

Hey guys,

My hard drive is failing, so I'm on the market for a replacement. Since my HP 2530p can accommodate two hard drives, a 2.5" and 1.8", I'm hoping to adopt a SSD and HDD setup, where I use the SSD as a boot drive.

What 1.8" SATA SSD would best fit my needs? 30-40GB should be plenty for triple booting Ubuntu/WinXP/Win7, though of course more is appreciated as long as it's cheap.

Options I've looked at:

$230 Intel X18-M G2 80GB: Best performance and capacity, but too pricey
$125-$225 Various Samsung SSDs 32GB-128GB: Low Price, decent performance. I can't distinguish between the different generations, are there some I should avoid?

Thanks for the help guys.

 

Go for the Intel X18-M 80GB G2!

 

That doesn't help all that much. The X18-M has the best performance, but it's roughly double what I'd like to spend. I'm looking for cheaper but still viable alternatives.

 

If you're limiting yourself to 1.8" SSDs, I'd second the X18-M 80GB. If you can't stomach the price of the G2, you can generally save a couple tens of dollars going to the G1. There just isn't anything cheaper than doesn't suck.

You can get Indilinx-based RunCore drives in your form factor, but they start at $120 for 16GB and go to $160 for 32GB; it's quite frankly a terrible value compared to the X18-M.

You can get Samsung PB22-J derivatives in your form factor, but they don't make a 32GB 1.8" SATA device, and the 64GB drive starts higher than the 80GB X18-M. I'm guessing the Samsung prices you quoted were for 2.5" devices?

There are also older 1.8" SATA JMicron derivatives... but you just want to stay away from those, no matter how cheap they might be.

 

Thanks. I'd really like the SSD to have TRIM support, so I should avoid the g1 Intel along with non-PB22 Samsungs. How can I tell if a Samsung SSD is a PB22-J derivative? At which generation is the cutoff?

 

Newegg was doing the Dane-Elect 1.8" X18M G1 a month back for as low as US$150. Same offer might appear again?? If not, there's two on ebay for US$178 here. No trim, but can do a Tony Trim every once in a while to refresh write performance. The Intel SSD's 4kb multithreaded reads using AHCI's NCQ are much faster than Samsung or Indilinx units.

 

I've got a G2 Samsung 1.8 drive well i've got two of them now.
I'm very pleased with my drives. Power consumption is top of the field and the performance is more than enough for my needs.
If you're more of a power user you might to look for an Intel drive.

If you want to look at the 1.8 Samsung drives according to this thread look for ones that have this firmware.

VBM19C1Q = TRIM enabled
VBM24D1Q = TRIM enabled
VBM9LD1Q = TRIM enabled

The newer ones also seem to have DXP in the part number compared to the G2 ones that never had TRIM/GC that had MXP in the part number.

 

Well, I decided to pop back in here and update my findings. I've stuck with just a HDD, but now that the OCZ Onyx is out, I may go with that. $100 for 32GB of Indilinx Amigos goodness isn't all that bad.

If I had more to spend, I'd go with the Vertex 2 Extended Series with Sandforce SF-1500 at $200 for 60GB.

 

Just for the record: Vertex 2 uses SF-1200 controller, Vertex Limited Edition uses SF-1500 controller.

 

Oopsies, my mistake. Got it mixed up with the Pro version.

 

i recommend intel for reliability although cost is higher..

 

...and the performance lower.

 

Ahaha, how quickly the times change.

With Sandforce available at $200 for 60GB, there's not that much reason for me to stick to Intel. Now, if only Crucial would make available their C300 in the 1.8" form factor; I can't seem to find it anywhere. I've emailed Crucial to determine for sure whether or not the product will get released anytime soon.

 

Before you go buy C300 make sure you read Brian's comments in this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...0848-best-performing-100-200gb-ssd-400-a.html

 

Yeah, I've read that and learned that it's finicky. Even so, I could hang onto the drive until SATA 3 comes along, then do a SSD reshuffle.

This is the thing: good 1.8" drives are so far and few in between. Beggars can't be choosers, so the c300 is more forced upon me than anything else. The Vertex 2 is pricier by quite a bit, while the Onyx is a tad low capacity/slow.

 

i don't get ur point phill but a little thread highjack... in 2.5 inch would a 128GB C300 be better than a 160GB Intel ? Also will there be any limitation on the speed etc...

 

Brian from Storagereview has been saying that the C300 needs the right controller to perform well. When it's connected to a SATA 2 laptop controller the Force 120GB performs better, if I understand it correctly.

I hope the C300 review will be published soon on SR.

I think performance wise there isn't that much between C300 and Force 120. Both are generally faster than intel G2.

Unfortunately 90% of the reviews online are done on desktops, not laptops.