(Storage) SSD Discussion Thread

[blacklotus]

Oh haha the cat is from The Emperor's New Groove movie. Yeah damn cute... Look so cuddly and innocent but actually is the antagonist in the film (an old ugly bony woman)

Thanks. A Disney production, I see. No wonder they can capture the expression so well. Cute, cuddly and yet one can tell straight away the cat is evil at the same time.

BoT, I will probably grab the cheaper 40GB version as my boot disks. Might wait awhile since this year is claimed to be the year of the SSD. Probably will see even more SSDs coming out from the standard HD manufacturers like Seagate, WD and Hitachi. This can only bring down the prices.

 

[persentio]

Thanks. A Disney production, I see. No wonder they can capture the expression so well. Cute, cuddly and yet one can tell straight away the cat is evil at the same time.

BoT, I will probably grab the cheaper 40GB version as my boot disks. Might wait awhile since this year is claimed to be the year of the SSD. Probably will see even more SSDs coming out from the standard HD manufacturers like Seagate, WD and Hitachi. This can only bring down the prices.

VR Zone got one guy selling off 2 Kingston SSD Now V series (Rebranded X-25M G2s). Essentially the same as the X25-V but Im not sure about TRIM support for those. Maybe you can go take a look.

 

[adrianlee]

Kingston Intros 30GB SSD Boot Drive

CES 2010 – Kingston has announced its SSDNow V Series 30GB Boot Drive, the latest addition to its V (Value) series of solid state drives (SSDs). The2.5-inch 30GB drive supports TRIM under Windows 7. The drive is designed for desktop users to be used in conjunction with an existing hard drive; the SSD is used for Windows and programs, while data (photos, music, and so on) stays on the hard drive.

The drive will be available standalone or with a bundle including cloning software, a 2.5- to 3.5-inch mounting bracket, and SATA data and power cable extenders. The 30GB SSD has maximum sequential read/write speeds of 180/50 MB/s, respectively, and has a 500,000 hour MTBF.

The SSDNow V Series 30GB boot SSD will retail for $109.99 but will have promotional launch pricing of $79.99 after rebates when it launches in February. The desktop bundle will retail for $124.99; a twin pack of SSDs will also be offered but pricing/availability information is not available.

http://www.storagereview.com/kingston_intros_30gb_ssd_boot_drive

 

[adrianlee]

Intel details SSD plans for 2010

We met with Intel at CES last week to discuss the company's plans for new solid-state drives in 2010. After a year that saw the X25 series make Intel the market leader in retail and e-tail, the chip giant is planning to lower prices with an eye towards moving greater SSD volumes in the mainstream market. A new generation of drives based on die-shrunk flash memory will apparently enable the next wave of discounts. Intel says its forthcoming batch of client and enterprise SSDs will use flash memory built on a 2x-nano process, although it wasn't more specific about the fabrication tech.

While it didn't reveal when those new drives will arrive, we can apparently expect higher capacities than are available with Intel's existing X25-series SSDs. Support for the 6Gbps Serial ATA standard isn't on the menu until 2011, though. That's when Intel will have core-logic chipsets designed to take advantage of the higher transfer rates enabled by the new SATA spec.

Without a faster host interface, new Intel SSDs won't be pushing more than 300MB/s. Intel did, however, say that it was concentrating on improving sequential write speeds to saturate the existing 3Gbps pipe. Sequential write performance has been a relative weak point for the last two generations of X25-M drives.

Since it's focusing on mainstream adoption this year, Intel is also looking at making disk cloning easier for those who buy its drives. We've already seen Kingston bundle offer an easy upgrade kit that includes disk-cloning software, and I wouldn't be surprised if Intel comes up with a similar retail kit of its own....

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/18272

 

[Rogue]

Support for the 6Gbps Serial ATA standard isn't on the menu until 2011 ...

Was expecting to see at least 400MB/s this year. Guess Intel's trying to slow down innovation once again to stretch their profit for another year, lol.

 

[Tech_savy]

Your Tech show link is good. Thanks dude

 

[blacklotus]

Thanks Adrianlee for the info.

Guess I can wait another year. No rush for me now. Still using old 3 and 9 year old PC running winXP. Just need more space. So I guess the old tech HDs will suffice for now until I upgrade my PC next year. (I only upgrade my PC once every 5 years, excluding the HDs, which I buy about 1TB/month. )

 

[raysusan]

Thanks Adrianlee for the info.

Guess I can wait another year. No rush for me now. Still using old 3 and 9 year old PC running winXP. Just need more space. So I guess the old tech HDs will suffice for now until I upgrade my PC next year. (I only upgrade my PC once every 5 years, excluding the HDs, which I buy about 1TB/month. )

in fact in 2 years time SDD will be worth the investment
that is why i just got myself a Vraptor recently

 

[PC]

In 2 years time, my ssd will be fully utilized. I enjoy every single day using a ssd, a great performance leap over hdd, experience which I've never had before since I started DIY more than 10 years ago. Real world performance rather than numbers, no need to do anything to notice the excellent seek time, from the time I press the 'on' button, even when surfing net or doing photoshop work.

I know during this 2 years, my data is safe because it won't develop bad sector for no reason. It will depreciate in value, as well as ALL of my other components. I don't want to have a bottleneck in my system, remove it once and for all.

And also, I enjoy vibration free and noise free 'hdd'.

2 years of enjoyment for $380, it's well worth the price.

 

[persentio]

I know during this 2 years, my data is safe because it won't develop bad sector for no reason.

Actually hor, for some (or no) reason my Intel X25-M just developed bad sector (or dunno what happen to it... Failed Data Integrity Scan from the Intel SSD Toolbox) and I have to RMA...

2 years of enjoyment for $380, it's well worth the price.

So short nia arh? I hope my replacement can last like at least 5 years.

 

[PC]

Didn't know SSD can have bad sector. So far all flash memory I've used only 1 sdram got problem.

2 years is the time most say SSD will be 'cheap' and so will get it that time. So I use 2 years as a reference. Once with a ssd, never will look back, of course don't say those using jmicron chipset.

There's no better upgrade than a ssd. Don't understand when people get mid-high range system but use a hdd because ssd not worth, leave the bottleneck there. Can spend 500++ for a graphics card which depreciates like mad but can't spend $300+ for a ssd. Give it 5 or 10 years, I doubt hdd can match up to current ssd 0.1ms seek time. SSD can be cheaper, same goes to hdd, difference is always there.

I said this in vr-zone also, similar thread...

 

[PC]

Just an update for people waiting for ssd price to drop.

Ram prices are on the rise once again. Keep raising since last year. Flash memory are NOT going to be cheaper in the near future. New technology yes but raw material prices are getting higher. See the price of Intel G1, G2, Vertex. They are extremely stable compared to other components. Our memory modules are getting more and more expensive.

With good firmware support for TRIM/GC, I can't find any faults with a ssd, it's mature enough for me. Anyway if compare price per gb with a thumbdrive, price is still reasonable. A sandisk contour extreme 8gb cost around $45 while intel 80gb cost around $380. Transfer speed of thumbdrive is far far away from a ssd. I use thumbdrive not hdd because both are flash memory, not going to use ssd for storage purposes.

Comments are welcomed, above is just my opinion for myself to getting a intel ssd now, rather than wait.

 

[adrianlee]

OCZ Vertex 2 Pro SSD Review
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=856&type=expert&pid=1

 

[adrianlee]

RAID 0 Stripe Sizes Compared with SSDs: OCZ Vertex Drives Tested
We all know that two is better than one, we have dual core CPUs, dual GPU video cards, and if you really want to get the most out of your storage, a set of SSDs in RAID will boost your performance noticeably. We tested 6 different RAID stripe sizes and 3 different RAID configs in 4 different storage benchmarks, some synthetic, others real world operations. More than 1200 benchmarks results summed in a few charts.

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=976

 

[ivancen]

i love the faster bootup time of my vertex but after following the typical advice of disabling prefetch etc etc, the performance became noticably worse. sometimes explore the ssd drive will have lag. n my control panel sometimes take eons to load up compared to hdd. but well, i suppose at least i'm ensuring my ssd last longer.

 

[persentio]

i love the faster bootup time of my vertex but after following the typical advice of disabling prefetch etc etc, the performance became noticably worse. sometimes explore the ssd drive will have lag. n my control panel sometimes take eons to load up compared to hdd. but well, i suppose at least i'm ensuring my ssd last longer.

Your drive on their latest firmware and TRIM enabled? Something is probably wrong with your Vertex if your Reads are sufferring or if you getting the stutters.. I got nothing of the sort with my Intel X25-M so far even though recently dunno why develop bad sector for no reason.. Maybe you should try a secure erase and then clone back ur OS.

 

[mizumi]

@ivancen: You're using XP or Win7? Did you align your SSD before installing OS?

 

[alvino77]

@ivancen: You're using XP or Win7? Did you align your SSD before installing OS?

win7 don't need aligning of OS right?

 

[mizumi]

@alvino77: IIRC, you don't need to.

 

[alvino77]

@alvino77: IIRC, you don't need to.

thanks for your info