mSATA: Intel 310 80GB or MyDigitalSSD 128GB or Renice 120GB?

comparing read/write speeds seems MyDigitalSSD wins by 270/200 over Renice's 260/200 while intel stays at 200/70

so as last minute decision, what do you recommend? i use ubuntu and want real fast access for my new W520 to be

thanks

 

Access times are about the same for all three. The Intel has the best random read and write speeds, I believe. There is a comparison between all three floating around. In the end, IMO, it depends on the cost per GB between the drives, performance isn't drastically different. That being said, in terms of reliability, I'd pick Intel or Samsung until we see more data points for the controller in the MyDigitalSSD and would stay away from Renice (Sandforce).

 

Right now, you'd be hard pressed to find a place that actually has the Intel 310 80 GB or the msata Samsung in stock. I don't even think the Samsung is sold by itself to the public at all.

 

seems i'll drop the idea of having the mSata idea and go for 240GB Solid State SSD OCZ Vertex 3 SATA III as main disk, what do you think?

 

I think of getting an mSATA and a full on SSD somewhat differently. When I think of getting an mSATA, I'm looking for a small SSD that's practically weightless, serves as a boot drive & holds a few applications, and lets me use my main primary drive caddy for an HDD so I don't have to sacrifice storage space. Whereas with a 2.5" SSD, I go in knowing I'm sacrificing storage space and paying a premium for performance.

If you're okay with the disadvantages of an SSD, go for it. Since it doesn't look like there will be anymore Intel 310 80 GBs any time soon, I'm also considering get an SSD or a Seagate Momentus XT. Tough call.

About the Vertex 3, I've heard OCZ has the most problems with their SSDs over other companies. For me, it's of utmost importance that I don't lose my data. There's no point in having a blazing fast SSD, if I'm worried about losing my data. Right now, Intel SSDs and the Crucial M4 seem to be reliable drives with a nod going towards the M4 for its reduced price and similar performance. The Samsung 470 is supposed to be another good SSD.

 

yeah i know about comparing that i don't need more than 240GB i was looking at that and sparing my my PCIe for 3G in future if any

some where complaining about the Crucial M4 over the OCZ, I'm not confused :/

 

There are actually quite a few Intel 310 80GB available in Canada but I'm waiting around to see if I can find a Samsung P810 64GB for $120 as Tom's Hardware suggested:

Summary: Cost, Cost/GB, And Performance : Hands-On: A Second mSATA-Based SSD Emerges

I'm too cheap to spend $200 for the Intel 310 80GB, I'd rather spend $120 on a Samsung P810 64GB offering.

The only thing is when will we see the Samsung P810 64GB on the market, what's Samsung's warranty and is Tom's Hardware right about the price being $120.

 

+1 for the Samsung controller. Very fast and reliable.

 

+1. The Samsung P810 is the fastest mSATA SSD on the market until the SF2281 based drives are readily available. See comparison: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...sata-1-8-sata-ssds-available.html#post6978065. The SF1222-based Renice X3 is second with the Intel 310 slightly slower at third place. The MyDigitalSSD is the slowest from this bunch but is also the cheapest. Any of them a significant performance upgrade over a magnetic HDD.

 

Yeah speeds are good and reliability is way above Sandforce controllers, going by the Newegg reviews.

 

whats the difference between mSATA and microSATA ? both fits into the small WWAN/3G port on the thinkpads ?

 

microSATA (uSATA) refers to 1.8" SATA drives. This is much larger than a mSATA drive.

miniSATA (mSATA) refers to SATA drives in the mPCIe form factor for newest notebooks.

mPCIe SATA refers to SATA drives in the mPCIe form factor for netbook use.

There is a slight pinout difference between the mSATA and mPCIe SATA drives.

 

The thing with the Samsung mSATA, there's no telling if it will be released to the public. If it is, great. However, I wouldn't count on that just yet.

It annoys the heck out of me that both Canada and the UK have plenty of Intel 310 80 GB in stock.

 

you sure? i think i found it for sale on some sites while i'm looking around!
[EDIT] here is one http://cgi.ebay.com/Samsung-MINI-SS...ultDomain_0&hash=item27bc9c1c5c#ht_500wt_1156

im just confused more which one of the above fits into the W520 ? the mSATA right ? (a.k.a mPCIe SATA ?)

 

Huh. I don't believe Samsung has released them to the public. The only current way I know of getting them is through Samsung's laptops which have them built in. Maybe he snagged one of Samsung's laptops?

 

I have a 64GB Mydigital SSD in my 470... only had it installed on my Y470 for 2 days now... but the boot times are huge compared to the 750GB it came with... and it was almost half the price of the Intel 80GB.

So far I'm loving the mSATA upgrade

 

oh i see! i've asked him, though the picture shows without a box so most likely he snagged it out of a laptop


btw these mSATA disks are as fast as the normal SSDs when installed on the W520 ? or it will be 3Gbps compared to normal new SATA III 6Gbps ?

 

seems RunCore 120GB is the fastest mSATA disk available these days, how is it ?

 

The Intel 310 80 GB mSata drive is amazingly fast. Not quite as fast as the Intel X25 in my X220 but very close.

 

Well it is the fastest, yet that's not what I'd be concerned about. I'm more interested in reliability which for the RunCore is an unknown right now. Can it perform great? Sure. Will it last for months or years; no one knows.

I'm not going to spend $360 on any drive that can't last for years. At that price point, I'd be more inclined to get a well-known, reliable, 2.5" SSD.

 

Runcore uses a SF1200 controller. Reviews for SF1200 SSDs on Newegg are the lowest of any modern controller.

Examples:
OCZ Vertex 2 120GB reviews
OCZ Agility 2 240GB reviews

Those are only OCZ SSDs but other brands show similar problems.

 

The 310 80 GB is in stock at Amazon:
Amazon.com: Intel Solid-State Drives 310 series - Solid state drive - 80 GB - internal - PCI Express Mini Card: Computer & Accessories

 

How to setup these drives?

 

i've ordered one just for the sake of not getting sold out on, but i'm feeling that the RunCore (although its ~$130 more to get it) but its speed seems close to triple of the intel?

any last minute decisions that might make me cancel the intel and order the runcore? or should i stay and i won't feel the difference?

thanks

 

beware of ordering from amazon. i went through 3 sellers before i finally got one. their reason was that amazon updates them on orders every 2 hours, leading to overselling

 

That's seems like poor practice on Amazon's part, but if they only had 15 in stock, how would the seller oversell unless they were selling that same stock somewhere else at the same time?

Is that allowed?

 

yea, the sellers are selling on their own website as well. it was really annoying me because im not based in the us, and amazon was the only one that seemed to not mind a foreign credit card and a different shipping address, i got one of my friends who was visiting the US to pick it up for me and bring it, so naturally i was worrying about whether i'd actually manage to get one in time before he left the US!!!

 

Hopefully that's not the case since it was at 14 units for over two hours.

 

I just ordered one and it went down to 13. Crossin my fingers!!

 

i ordered when it was 9 then got sold out, it seems back on availability now

do you know their phone number to call and inquire? because my order hasn't been marked shipped yet, tried to call 888-888-2087 listed at Amazon.com At a Glance: DataVision Computer Video but doesn't ring

 

They say on their store page that orders take 1-2 days to ship.

 

true, i contacted them yesterday asking since 1 day already passed, lets see if it get shipped today or tomorrow, i paid extra for getting it shipped to be delivered before the weekend hope it doesn't miss

thanks!

 

WOW!!!! I got mine today!

 

GREAT news Congrats.

i got this email too!

wippeee

 

It still says "Shipping Soon" :cry: The heat wave must be making me more impatient.

 

Intel 80GB mSATA in stock at Newegg! Just grabbed one.
EDIT: OOS now, nevermind.

 

They didn't e-mail me until a couple hours ago but when I looked at the fedex tracking system it said the package had already been shipped yesterday at 5pm!

 

Is this right from Renice X3: Write endurance: 80 years at 10GB write and erase per day?

That equals up roughly to a 290TB lifetime write cycle.

Intel 310: Host writes: 5 years at 20GB write and erase per day.

That roughly equals to 35TB lifetime write cycle.

 

Yeah, that looks about right: they're betting you'll die before the SSD will at that (low) rate.

See:
SSD Write Endurance 25nm Vs 34nm

 

I seriously do not understand the graphs however, I do know the tests were done over a period of days with software that continually writes to the SSD drives.

I know the Intel 310 very similar to the X25-V, so does this mean the 310 has more than 35TB write cycle quoted by Intel?

If so, then why is there so much fuss about SSD write cycles even if it's MLC?

 

It seems about every article reaches different conclusion about the maximum amount of writes possible.

Too bad there is little clarity about it.

I usually rely on the data provided by Kingston:

A Question Of Endurance : Q&A: Tom's Hardware And Kingston On SSD Technology

 

in the end, it's just some simple math. but people make a big fuzz about it because they a) are paranoid and b) can't buy an ssd because it cost money and they want a reason to diss ssd as not being useful, combine that then with a) and have a great point on how smart they are.

ssd writes are simply no issue except you do really strange things.

 

Yeah it should be simple math... what I find strange though is that most articles I saw reach different conclusions.

It might have to do with different assumptions about write amplification factors.

 

The graphs are easy to understand. The Intel 310 is in a different league than an X25-V. The Intel 310 40GB model has written over 217TiB so far.

See:
SSD Write Endurance 25nm Vs 34nm - Page 40


Intel won't over-estimate how much writes their products will do - it will under-estimate them. If/when they survive more - well, that just makes them look good.


Keep in mind though that it depends on what kind of writes you do to an SSD too. If doing mostly sequential writes: it will far surpass what the manufacturers say. If doing mostly Random 4K writes - it will be much, much closer to the official specs (if it even lasts that long).

The SF based drive they tested lasted less than a week (I think...) - it was writing at less than 6 MB/s when they gave up on it.

As I wrote a year or more ago: SF with LTWT drives are total failures as a 'performance' upgrade for heavy storage users like myself.

SF: Here is 'extreme' performance - but, we won't let you use it as you want.

 

Do you have a direct link to that post?

Would love to show it to some dutch friends of mine who still believe SF is the best thing since sliced bread

 

Isn't that for the Intel 320, not 310?

 

Of course, it's the 320. Oops!

Phil,

It starts a little before here and continues afterwards - but it's the first post I found with a MB/s graph for the SF based OCZ.

See:
SSD Write Endurance 25nm Vs 34nm - Page 11

 

from tiller's link

Duraclass, it is extremely fast with unbelieveable long life span, so long you write less than 100M/day, and don't worry we have taken care of the unlikely situation that you have forgotten the rule, we have put an automatic brake right there in our controller to guarantee it.

 

Yeah, what I've been saying for forever (in SSD time... ).

 

what about the Runcore T50 ?