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

one question about partition alignment
on my sammy slc, i have 2 partitions, c: for system files in size of 20g, and the rest is d: for data&stuff
previously I had xp installed, and, if I wanna install w7, the one which will align partition itself, what I need to do to achieve that...
do I need delete all of my partitions from the drive, and create them again, do I need to delete only c: and create it again, or simple format of c: partition will do just fine ?

thanx

 

well, guys, think dave is right, I meen, the only place where those "ssd optimization stuff" is mentioned is ocz forum, and it is meant to stop their drives from stutter, to take a load of them

first time I installed an OS on my ssd, I ran some tests before and after tweaks, and the speeds are all the same, except, laptop were for a 2 or 3 seconds faster on boot before a tweaks, so, except defrag disable in scheduler, no other tweaking is needed
I have disabled system restore on all my machines, so, I'll do same for my ssd

 

I would suggest deleting the partition and installing in freespace. espencially as w7 creates 2 partitions, one hidden, if on free space. I never do anything else but clean installations anyways and with vista and win7 you don't need to care about partition alignment. not that you have to anyways on the samsungs (or intels or mtrons or anything non-ocz style).

 

so, in my case, deleting and recreating system partition only, and leaving stuff&data as it is would be enough ?

thanx

 

should be, yes.

 

4 would be nice but overkill for me and a lot more $$$.

Nice pics. Also glad to hear the ICH9 should be fine as that is what I have.

Any advice on what stripe size to use?

I hope I can get Vista to boot from my new RAID drive without having to reinstall it. I don't know how the driver deal is going to work.

 

Use big stripe size (I used 128K) and formated them with 4x4K (=16K cluster for NTFS). If I had 2 samsung babes in raid0 I would try the 128K stripe and 8K (2x4K) cluster NTFS.

Your system with 2 Sammy babes will be so fast that you will get a lot of those :

 

don't talk about that. i do have to use busses and trains currently because of those..

 

Could someone explain (or direct me to a post that explains to) how a SSD should be set up for first time users? I know about making sure to install in AHCI mode and disabling Hibernation/Standby. I plan on dual booting XP/Vista if that makes a difference.

 

Excuse my ignorance, but what is AHCI?

 

Thanks. I am trying to clone a system so I don't think I can change the cluster size.

So it will be faster than my single VelociRaptor?

 

Should definitely be.

 

Yeap that is right, except you have the \bootmgr file and \boot folder in another partition that has 4K cluster (as Microsoft says so) so your Vista partition can be whatever cluster size you want.
http://forums.storagereview.net/index.php?showtopic=27338 happy reading

Is day brighter than night ?

 

Mmmmh. I am really torn now.

Which SSD do you think is better?
The Samsung SLC SSD (64GB) or the intel x-25m (80GB)?


Samsung Pros:
- almost $200 cheaper than the intel
- SLC vs MLC
- no long term performance degradation

Intel Pros:
- faster
- 16GB more space

Considering that I am limited to SATA-1 speeds, would I even notice the speed difference?

 

If I were you I'd get the SLC drive because it's SLC and it's $200 cheaper and you're limited to SATA-1 anyway.

 

I might make the jump to a SSD in the next couple of months, but I can't figure out if my laptop supports SATA 2 or not (see link in sig for specs). Inside I've got GM45 + ICH9-M, do these support SATA 2? Even if they do, how would I check if my laptop is capping my speeds to SATA 1 levels?

 

I second the Samsung SLC drive. GM45 should support SATA/300 speeds.

 

Possible performance degradation on the Vertex similar to the Intel? http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52526

laserbullet: all mobile ICHx variants above 7 support SATA2, so you should be fine.

 

True. But some OEMs (e.g. Lenovo) cripple/limit the SATA speed to SATA-1 or slower. I couldn't find anything about MSI doing it but you might want to check with MSI or other MSI owners, laserbullet?

 

Lenoto Thinkpad X61,T61, macbook with ICh8, all have SATA150...no 3.0Gb/s

 

Yeah, I seriously think it's just that series of Lenovo/ThinkPad machines. I haven't heard of any other SATA1 or SATA2 capable machines having their bandwidth limited to something below the SATA1 or SATA2 spec.

 

I got my 1.8" micro-sata 128gb mlc samsung ssd.

now i just need to recieve the notebook where i can plug it in.

it doesn't have a case btw. quite cool

 

My 64gb sammy still says "Shipment information sent to FedEx. Please check back later for shipment status or subscribe for e-mail notification." but the ETA sill says the 11th so who knows...

 

Doubt you'll get it on the 11th:

 

Yeah i've had your comment in the back of my head the whole time...

But hey, i don't really care when it gets here (within reason) that price is an absolute steal! can't wait to try it out and convince myself i need a second one for RAID0

 

When did you order it?

 

3/5/2009 around 5:30pm eastern time.

Just like Ashura said, I got the tracking number right away but it has said the msg above since then...

 

So i really haven't heard too much bout the vertex since it's been out. Is this like a bad movie they promo the hell out of and once it's released it is forgotten?

 

What's forgotten? What's a Vertex??



I still wait for the big anandtech ssd roundup..

 

Glad i went the route i did... i think...

 

The moment you recieve them, yep, you'll be glad

As I will be, waiting for the notebook to fit my ssd..

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96dWOEa4Djs&fmt=22

Silly, but it gave me a chuckle. It shows the specs used to create the machine at the end.

Edit: Samsung's site has been updated to included the new drives, it seems to indicate a 64GB version also existing:
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/products/flash/ssd/2008/product/pc.html

 

that video is GREAT!!!! I think I'm in love

 

Dave, your SSD will fit in MY E4200 just fine!

Edit: Wow--that's a helluva setup in the video. Unbelievable!

 

but you have one in there yet. it's the same i'd guess

 

I am not sure, if you can test it with HDTune and CrystalMark using a converter, that would verify it. I have been getting comparatively low scores with both:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4594447&postcount=360

 

I just bought my new Vertex 120Gb SSD here in Taipei. Yesterday I picked up a new Macbook Pro while in Hong-Kong. I got home only to find out I didn't have the proper tools to install the new SSD in my new Macbook Pro

Tomorrow morning I will head out to the local computer market here in Taipei to get some help with my install. Will either buy the proper tools required or have Apple help me out at the Apple shop in Taipei.

I just hope this new Vertex SSD works out nicely in my new Macbook Pro. Between these 2 items I have spent an arm and a leg The new Vertex is selling for 17,700 NT here in Taipei at the computer market and today's rates are about 35 to the USD

I pray that I don't fall as a victim that bought a new SSD with a shi* load of problems. Fingers crossed for tomorrow when it gets installed.

 

we pray with you. then again, with osx you shouldn't have much of a problem anyways. more interesting could get windows installations.

anyways, good luck.

 

I just got mine. It says "No information for the following shipments/FedEx Office orders has been received by our system yet." but I got two day shipping so I should have them on the 11th as well.

I messed with RAID a little, turning it on in the BIOS and then Vista blue-screened. I was able to put my system drive on the Gigabyte chip and boot Vista from there. I think it installed the needed RAID drivers when it booted. I put the system drive back on the Intel SATA connection and it seems to be working so I think I'm set.

 

Well, I just hope your Vertex does better than mine, my original results looked pretty much like the reviews, they don't anymore
This is after 4 days of installing & uninstalling OS + programs and doing some benchmarking.

 

=(

Looks like the Vertex firmware was rushed out the door.

 

Seems like drive degradation is much worse than with the X25-M... Spook perhaps you can try the HDErase option and report back within a few days whether or not the Vertex degrades again and just as fast/bad?

 

Yeah, don't know what the problem is, I'm not the only one either.
People on the OCZ forum of course rush to blame anything but the drive
Apparently our motherboards are all a pile of crap that can't handle the massive speed of the Vertex, never mind the fact that we all had proper performance for a while until it dropped off...

To be fair I did write a snotload of data to it since I didn't think it was as sensitive as the Intel, but I never filled it up past the 50% mark either.
I'll probably try the hdd erase thing tomorrow when I get back from work, and maybe go a bit easier on it this time

 

Don't go easier, then we won't be able to tell if it's running HDDErase once or your usage patterns that affect the second run of impressions.

 

Fair enough.
Btw does anybody have a step by step guide on how to use Iometer, I tried running two files that I got of the OCZ forum, one full test and one 4k random writes but the 4k results were so bad that I think I might be doing something wrong.

edit: I guess I should also point out that I'm using the Vertex on my desktop computer, just for clarity.

 

AMIGAWD!!! WIN!!! BATTLESHIP SAMSUNG!!!

I dunno how they set up their RAID configuration, but a theoretical RAID 0 with 24 of these drives (Samsung 256GB MLC, I presume) should get near 5GB/s. I'm guessing their controller is the bottleneck at this point

Battleship Mtron is so two years ago XD

What're you planning to get? There aren't too many laptops available right now in which you can fit a 1.8" SATA drive, are there?

That's why we should have waited until more reviews were out. Given issues with JMicron, and even Intel to an extent, I'd go so far as to say that you shouldn't buy an SSD until its been available en mass for five or six months. Only then will we know the "true" performance of said drives.

 

That is sage advice. If we follow this, we will see that Samsungs have proven themselves worthy over time, even if they are without stellar performance.

 

I'd still like to have one. no matter which drives it's based on. both mtron and samsung are the same for me: reliable and trustable.

now look at my sign and guess.. yes, the same one, new version: hp 2730p

that's why i do with mtrons and samsungs

 

I agree. there is way way way too much of this "WOW, great drive!" Oh, wait, nevermind, once I actually put DATA on it, it slowed right down." "But wait, here is a new drive, WOWOWOW. But wait, once it is written fully with DATA it slows right down. ETC ETC ETC.

Please give me a Samsung SLC 128GB newest controller for the same price as their venerable 64GB Sata II and I will pop right away for it! I suspect along with many many others

 

I second this