Sandisk P4 iSSD information

Hi,
Went back a month and did not see a thread with technical data so I'll start a new one. Some of our laptops include these drives either for express cache or as a quick wake from sleep. For those with HDD's this is the best use for them but for some of us wanting a true SSD we have to make some other use of this drive. I hope to make it a bit easier to make an informed decision.

The drives per SanDisk are MLC nand and not SLC as used in the Segate XT Momentus drives. What this means is that just like a normal consumer grade SSD internal utilites are being run to keep the nand clear. This includes Trim markings by the OS, wear leveling by the device etc. This is all done on a SATA II capable interface for the device but it seems, at least with the 8GB version, benchmark are as on SATA I. On the gamer version I can see 130-140 MB/s reads and 0.4 ms access. Not blindingly fast but way faster than a HDD.

Some here upgrading to a SSD's look then to place the iSSD as a page file. This is can be a bad idea knowing the above. MLC drives can wear out fast with high I/O. Making it even worse if you use the entire drive as a page file then trim may never mark a block as the driver may never see blocks erased and then set accordingly. Any Garbage collection could have the same issue. IMHO If you insist on the drive for page usage the best settings would be to limit it as just 33-25% of the drive and use it for nothing else. This would allow the movement of the entire file to new blocks through fragmentation or internal maintenance/provisioning.

Personally I use an install folder to uncompress zip's to etc, and then erase once done. I plan to use the iSSD drive for this once my SSD makes its way onto the system.

Edit I was beat to the punch somewhat here................
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...e-i-want-my-expresscache-back-edition-15.html

 

As I wrote in the ExpressCache thread, excellent information. Good job -- although I wished the facts were different (ie that the iSSD were better).

 

Yeah, it would have been nice to have SLC. TBH I thought the drive would be slower for streaming files just fast access. Windows own Ready boost did about the same thing but with slower USB drives.

Another use of the iSSD might be for Linux users. it would make for a handy little drive for one of the Disto's that are out there. I amm sure there have to be quite a few uses for the little drive............

 

Yes, I remember a few users here installed Linux on the iSSD, it's perfect for that - except you have to boot on the HDD/SSD. I wouldn't even rule out that you could fit a tiny Windows 7 install on it - but it would take some work

 

What about moving Windows and User TEMP folders as well as IE/Firefox Temporary Files to iSSD?
Is that a good idea?

 

I'm not familiar with FireFox but I would stay away from IE being there. IE generates loads of temp files making the folder a high IO situation. You don't mind tons of reads but tons of writesw could be an issue.............

 

I don't think TEMP folders are a good idea: even if it did speed up some tasks, it will cause a lot of writing to the iSSD, which can wear it down. Ideally you want static files that are read frequently.