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

OCZ Vertex review by Laptopmag: http://www.laptopmag.com/review/storage/ocz-vertex.aspx

Beating the Intel in several tests.

 

Cool. Looks like Intel, OCZ and Samsung are all pretty good. Prices are still up there but capacity and speed are getting great.

 

so, no difference in lifespan right? somewhere i read it says the 1.8" has fewer flash chips so it'll actually wear off faster...

 

no, i don't think there is a real difference besides the obvious ones

 

See, if the Vertex can keep getting firmware upgrades to improve performance and stability, why don't intel do the same for their x25-M?
I don't get it...

 

Intel recently released a firmware update to fix performance degradation issues...

 

So... I'm close to pulling the trigger on the X25-M 80GB. It's 290 Euro compared to 250 Euro for a Vertex 60GB.

20 GB more is nice, 40 Euro more don't really hurt, and on the whole the Intel drives just seem like a more... mature products. I still have a few questions, though.

1. See the post from lemonspeaker above me. Vertex gets performance boosts over firmware updates. I think I can expect the same from Intel?

2. The Vertex needs to be alligned to get maximum performance. Do I have to do that for an Intel drive as well? If yes, where can I find a guide?

Thanks in advance!

 

what do you mean by align? align as in aligned in your system? as in physically aligned under your computer hood??

 

See here. There are performance issues if you don't align the partitions.

 

There will be no difference in lifespan. It probably has the same amount of flash chips, they're just crammed onto the PCB with little room to spare.

 

i didnt align my x25m on vista and it works normal!

 

vista does correct alignment BY DEFAULT.

it is only an issue for xp users.

and none of the good ssd's really NEED alignment, they work well with unaligned partitions. thats why they only noticed it with the ocz core series. mtrons and samsungs, much older than the ocz, never had issues even in unaligned cases (but would still gain from aligning, too. mostly any ssd does (no clue if some ssd's can detect an unaligned partition and "shift" themselfes to fix it?).

anyways, if you use vista or win7, don't think, just install. if you use xp, think about manual aligning, or going to vista / win7. having such an outdated os on such new hw is .. not the cool thing. showing a fast vista to friends, now THAT's impressive (at least for all the "vista sucks, it's so slow" it always works wonders to show a vista on an ssd ).

but seriously, on good ssd's, just don't bother.

 

No, they aren't rare at all and neither are they costly. I intend to use this with my 1.8" 64GB Samsung SLC. Of course, this particular vendor charges almost as much for shipping, I knew I should have gotten two!

Edit: Note however, I don't have this yet, and it looks like this is not meant for laptops (the note in the description is new and wasn't there when I got mine).

We will see.

 

bring it back

 

What about aligning and multi-boot? I'd like to install XP (or maybe Vista64, since I finally found a working VPN client...) and Ubuntu side by side.

If the first OS is aligned correctly, the second one just slides into place, right?

So Vista64 and Ubuntu64 9.04 should work like a breeze...

 

thanks guys, very useful. i also read around... no point using 1.8" in laptop since u need to buy a SATA-SATA connector... and the only one i found online weighs over a 100g, which totally defeats the purpose of using 1.8" over 2.5" (at least my purpose, since i want to keep weight to a minimum).



the current cheapest non-auction price for intel 160gb is $629.99 (newegg). Anyone knows where else can i find good deals?

cheers

 

My adapter is still back home in the States, but in case you want cheaper shipping, here's another option for the same unit. I should get it back here so I can test it out. Both my SSD and this thingy have been sitting there for a month. It is risky though, or so it seems. What seems to work is IBM/Lenovo CRU 42W8019. Oh well...if it doesn't work, at least everyone on the IntraWeb will know!

 

most adapters don't convert from 5 to 3.3V, so while they "fit", the hdd won't boot at all.

i have one such here for my original 1.8" hdd that was in the notebook, to further use that hdd. no chance. stupid crap

 

Vertex drives don't need alignment, a lot of that info is leftovers from the Solid and Core lines.

 

Did you read the description, dave?

It is actually the opposite of what you were saying with this particular model. Voltage is probably not the issue with this one, it's probably the size. I don't think it will fit, but I should find out in a week or two.

 

Wow that place that sells that 1.8 to 2.5 adapter sells some crazy awesome stuff. I especially like the defendisk ultimate hard drive destroyer box, uses a degaussing magnet with an arm and fire switch setup to nuke everything on a hard drive.

 

guys, what is the difference between 7mm and 9.5mm thick ssd from intel?

what is the default thickness used for most 2.5" bay? 7mm or 9.5mm? Need to add in anything to support the thinner 7mm?

 

I just said MOST. I haven't said YOURS (which is hella expensive to get here in switzerland compared to all the other in the section "MOST" but those don't work, sadly, that easy. i could try to plug it somehow on an onboard usb connection, as they are 3.3V?)

 

Maybe one has casing, one hasn't? 9.5mm should be the default. Then again, it's way too early in the morning to really know yet..

 

bring it back

 

because intel arent 'lets rush to market and let our users be the beta testers' kind of company, so their firmware is more mature to start with. and they have the better performance so they dont need to 'catch up'. and they dont want to nullify the better x25-e by making the M better, so they probably wont increase speed much even if they could.

 

lol... i bet it is wee hours in the states now. can anyone who has the x200s verify my question whether the hdd bay is 9.5mm thick and not 7mm?

then again, it requires either the person to already know the machine inside out, or to have to open it up and measure...

XP

 

you should find that in the specs. or look at ordinary 2.5" hdd specs how big they are? i'd BET they're 9.5" (and the real thick ones 11.5")

 

Isn't the Sandisk G3 supposed to be out any day now? I forget what the last release date was speculated. I remember mid '09... I havn't heard anything bout the summit recently either. wouldn't mind seeing what the prices of for 64 and 128gb models for each will be. I remember sandisk saying something like $150-$175 for the 64gb G3.

 

That would be great to know if there are more affordable choices besides Intel, Samsung, OCZ and the rebadges

 

Wow. I just read in other branch W7 boottime on some SSD =10-20 sec. Is there a list somewhere of laptops, coming out in next few months with SSD?

 

other than maybe Dell and Apple you'd probably be better off buying a laptop with the cheapest HDD and upgrading it yourself rather than pay the upgrade fee for the SSD

 

Toshiba is also supposed to be releasing their SSD in Q2 (but Toshiba is notorious for being pretty late). Toshiba THNS256GG8BB 256GB MLC SSD w/ 240/200 sequential R/W is supposed to be release at $399 USD.

 

That's insanely cheap... which makes me wonder what is going to be wrong with it?

If nothing that's a great deal and will drive prices down for everything else almost overnight

 

Yeah after looking at qosmio's and other toshiba notebooks i don't think i'll be getting their SSD but i hope i'm wrong

Anyone saw this information here and similar stuff on other sites. It's all from back in January though

If this holds true i think i may see a 120gb G3 in my future if the SSD market doesn't change much by the time these things get release

 

End of 2009 might be an exciting time for SSDs.

 

Uhh...okay!...there are SSDs out there now that has similar speeds.

The price seems decent though!..esp. the 60 and 120GB versions.

 

...AND a woman-owned minority business, to boot. Need we ask for more!

p.s. Toshiba SSD = yawn

 

Link to the store please

 

Yeah, my experiences tell me not to waste my money on Toshiba either. Their stuff seems pretty nice initially, but they've always died rather quickly.

 

Only laptops that have ever bricked on me were Toshiba.

 

Anybody happen to know what controller this 1.8" SSD packs?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141522

Also, looks like Super Talent also has been releasing firmware updates for their UltraDrives:
http://www.supertalent.com/support/driver_download.php

 

I finally started using my corsair 128gb ssd, had it for a month without using it (was waiting for my new laptop).

The boot time is kinda of disappointing. Right after installing vista, the boot screen was only like 3-5 seconds. After installing all the drivers and updates, its much longer.

However, as soon as the boot screen goes away and the vista orb appears, it's lighting fast. I haven't tried gaming on it yet, but so far i am happy with it.

 

I wish I could help you but I didn't find any information when I dug around for a while. :/

I am also interested in hearing more about these drives. When (if?) I get my Vaio Z to replace my M1530, it'll come with the cheapest hard drive option (160 GB, 5400) and I would love to replace it. I do have a 500 GB Hitachi 5400 RPM drive that I'll drop in until the prices of SSDs come down. I have been torn between planning to get a 2.5" SSD vs two 1.8" SSDs (for the RAID0 benefit). At this point I would definitely consider starting with a single 1.8" drive just to allow for future expansion (even if it never happens). The problem being that the selection of 1.8 drives seems to be lacking in quantity.

Does the future look bright for the 1.8" form factor?

 

the 1.8" form factor definitely isn't going away, and Samsung is supporting it this generation. You can get 256GB 1.8" Samsung drives in the following link, unfortunately they're not cheap =(
http://www.memory4less.com/m4l_itemdetail.asp?partno=MMDPE56G8DXP-0VB00&itemid=1442178602

FYI, I've come to learn that the TT uses "slim" 1.8" drives, and I imagine the Z with dual SSDs does as well. These seem to be similar to regular 1.8" drives, but with no casing. I was looking at a dissected TT and saw the SSDs in it had no casing. Head to Samsung's website and click "see pictures in the upper right:
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/products/flash/ssd/2008/product/overview.html

I haven't seen a "slim" 256GB version available, but according to Samsung's site they exist

 

these slim drives are intresting. Its small enough you could fit 2 in a single notebook hard drive bay.

Neat

 

Thanks a lot, laserbullet. That is interesting that they don't have any casing. I'll have to keep that in mind when the time comes to upgrade. It'll be quite a while so there's plenty of time for the technology to improve and prices to go down. If the 1.8" slim drives are still grossly expensive at that time, I suppose a single 2.5" drive would be a fine alternative; just not as future-proof in the sense that I couldn't get it to work in a RAID 0 configuration.

 

Sorry, I have not been watching the thread. The link is up there in one of my posts but here it is again:

http://www.forensicpc.com/proddetail.asp?prod=TDA3-1

Uhh, you could do that but you would need two connectors. Last time I checked, the rule was one connector per bay

 

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13439&Itemid=36

"Unlike Turbo Memory which used fairly slow flash memory, the Braidwood modules will get the same kind of flash memory you find in Intel's SSD drives."

"Our source told us that if you're running a RAID 0 configuration and add a Braidwood module to the mix, you should get performance that isn't far off that of an SSD drive, although we presume this will be a consumer level MLC SSD and not some of the faster, more expensive SLC SSD's."

 

and they weight much less than the one with box around. my samsung 1.8" 128gb version is such, and it looks great.

like... that