(Storage) SSD Discussion Thread

[KalTorak]

is there any freeware software available to check on SSD health status?

Try CrystalDiskInfo.

http://crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html

 

[westwest1]

Try CrystalDiskInfo.

http://crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html

thanks bro...

 

[adrianlee]

Intel's X25-V solid-state drive on its own and in RAID
A value-oriented SSD gets thrown to the wolves
The rise of solid-state drives has been one of the most exciting developments in PC hardware over the last few years. With essentially instantaneous seek times, SSDs can access data an order of magnitude quicker than even the most exotic high-RPM hard drives. With no moving parts, SSDs are impervious to mechanical failure, able to withstand shocks that would destroy traditional hard drives. Their silicon roots also make SSDs completely silent and quite power-efficient compared to their mechanized brethren. And the prospects for SSDs look even brighter when one considers the performance potential of what are essentially parallel arrays of flash memory chips.

Really, it's no wonder many of us are eyeing SSDs for our desktops and notebooks. In a high-performance PC, an SSD is perfect for an OS and applications drive, augmented by a larger pool of mechanical storage. Such a configuration offers excellent performance for the data you want to access quickly and loads of capacity for the rest. Those who opt for a low-power mechanical hard drive to serve as secondary storage will be treated to a virtually silent setup, as well.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/18875

 

[adrianlee]

The Impact of Spare Area on SandForce, More Capacity At No Performance Loss?
No, it’s not the new Indilinx JetStream controller - that’ll be in the second half of the year at the earliest. And it’s definitely not Intel’s 3rd generation X25-M, we won’t see that until Q4. The SSD I posted a teaser of last week is a modified version of OCZ’s Agility 2.

The modification? Instead of around 28% of the drive’s NAND set aside as spare area, this version of the Agility 2 has 13%. You get more capacity to store data, at the expense of potentially lower performance. How much lower? That’s exactly what I’ve spent the past several days trying to find out.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3690/...andforce-more-capacity-at-no-performance-loss

OCZ tweaks SandForce firmware, gains 20% storage capacity!
Last week we checked out some new products from OCZ, namely the Vertex 2 and Agility 2 SSD's. Both models use the SandForce 1200 controller. While this relatively new controller performs very well, it has always come at the cost of greater overprovisioning of the drive. This means that while other drives get 120GB out of 128GB of installed flash, SandForce controlled units only make 100GB of that same 128GB available for user data. Less usable capacity translates directly into a higher cost/GB, as the bulk of the cost of an SSD is the flash memory chips themselves. Recognizing that cost might weigh more heavily on the typical end user's mind, OCZ worked with SandForce to try and bring the overprovisioning down to a more 'consumer' level. The result is what we just received in our lab:

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=912

 

[adrianlee]

Intel X25-V SSD Review (40GB)
The 40GB X25-V is part of Intel’s new Value SSD line which aims to merge both performance and value for consumers who are starting to think about upgrading to a SSD, or want to use an SSD as a boot drive. Right now this new SSD has a retail price of $125, making it the cheapest Intel SSD, and half as much as the 80GB X25-M model. While advertised performance stats of 170MB/s read and 35MB/s write don’t exactly turn a lot of heads, should you consider picking one of these up? Read our review to find out.

http://www.storagereview.com/intel_x25v_ssd_review_40gb

 

[adrianlee]

SandForce showdown: Corsair's Force F200 and OCZ's Agility 2 and Vertex 2 SSDs
http://techreport.com/articles.x/18864/1

 

[adrianlee]

Intel X25-M SSDSA2M080G2XXX OEM - US$195 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-052010-Index-_-SolidStateDisk-_-20167016-L0A

 

[KalTorak]

Woah..price starts to drop already?

I'd expect for clearance prices from June onwards...since these Gen2s are set to be phased out in Q3.

 

[troublesome58]

Intel X25-M SSDSA2M080G2XXX OEM - US$195 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-052010-Index-_-SolidStateDisk-_-20167016-L0A

Hi Adrian,

Care to share how you managed to order from newegg? They want me to provide a billing address that corresponds to my shipping address (bonderlinx) and I obviously can't provide that. I've thought of using the borderlinx Concierge Service as well but I heard that they take days to place the order so the offer might have lapsed by then.

Also, what's the warranty procedure for OEM Intel products?

Cheers,
trouble

 

[KalTorak]

The Gen1 OEM were only 1yr.
Gen2 OEM are 3yrs, same as RETAIL version.
RMA procedure similar to Intel CPU. International warranty.
For Intel CPU you just need to call their hotline no. Not sure about their SSDs though...

Only way to buy stuff from Newegg is via a concierge service such as Borderlinx.
I read that it may take 2-3 working days to confirm the order?
In which case you have to order through borderlinx concierge immediately when you see the item(s) on offer/sale/promo!

 

[troublesome58]

Thanks. That helped a lot.

Sigh. If the concierge service takes so long, the offer would probably have lapsed by then since most newegg promotions last for less than a day.

 

[adrianlee]

OCZ Vertex 2 E Series 120GB Review
We worked with My Digital Discount and OCZ Technology to bring you the first review of the OCZ Vertex 2 E 120GB SandForce SSD. Over the last couple of days press releases have been hitting the tech news wire detailing the new extended capacity drives that are now being offered. Physically the drives are not changing as the same amount of flash on each drive will remain the same. The only real changes between a 100 and 120GB drive is the amount of flash kept in reserve, now 13% instead of 28%. Most other controllers up till now have used between 7 and 10% spare area, so the SandForce SF-1200 in extended capacity trim is still on the high side

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/32...solid_state_drive_exclusive_review/index.html

 

[adrianlee]

OCZ Technology Introduces 400GB and 480GB Capacities for Vertex 2 and Agility 2 SSDs

New Solutions Deliver Both High Performance and Capacity to Solid State Drive Clients

SAN JOSE, CA—May 24, 2010—OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) and memory modules for computing devices and systems, today introduced new high-capacity Vertex 2 and Agility 2 SATA II 2.5" Solid State Drives. The award-winning lines now include 400GB and 480GB models, making the Vertex 2 and Agility 2 an excellent SSD option for clients who don't want to be constrained by storage limitations.

"Solid State Drives have long delivered on exceptional performance and reliability but capacity has been a barrier to adoption for some clients," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of the OCZ Technology Group. "Building on our popular Agility 2 and Vertex 2 SSD lines our new high capacity models give customers up to 480GB of storage space allowing them to enjoy all the benefits of SSDs with plenty of room for even the largest applications and files, making this the ideal solution for customers that place a premium on speed, reliability and capacity."

With double the storage of the existing models, the 400GB and 480GB editions facilitate a more responsive PC experience while providing ample room for a multitude of applications and files. The new higher capacity Vertex 2 and Agility 2 not only deliver the faster boot up and shut downs, but offer extensive space for the latest operating systems, game titles, and programs for shorter load times and snappier performance compared to mechanical hard drives......

http://www.ocztechnology.com/aboutocz/press/2010/379

 

[adrianlee]

Sandforce SSD Firmware Version Confusion
I have been asked that question numerous times in recent weeks and to be honest it's a great question. Rumors are going around that OCZ Technologies has a special firmware revision that uncaps random 4K write performance on their Vertex 2 series. Other companies like Corsair offer Sandforce SF-1200 series controllers in their Force series and we didn't see the performance cap, but we did with Mushkin's Callisto series. To be honest the firmware situation with Sandforce drives is confusing so we went straight to Sandforce to try to get some answers.

I started off by asking Sandforce if that could send me a history and change log of their firmware versions that have been issued for their SF-1222 based drives.

The answer I got was this:

"We only publicly release information on mass production firmware versions. To date we have released MP1 on SF-1222. MP2 for SF-1222 and SF-1564/5 is just around the corner" - Sandforce Marketing

That didn't sit well with me as it is fairly well known that some Sandforce drives are being sold today with Release Candidate (RC) firmware versions. I shot back more questions to Sandforce saying how it is rather upsetting that I can't get a list of firmware versions that they have been developing for their customers and that this information should be released to consumers so they know exactly what they are buying.

"We don’t sell drives, we sell a solution that is a part of an SSD. We’ve been very clear to all of our customers in terms of our guidance for firmware usage (see slide below we give to customers). Some customers do their own qualification testing and make a determination when a particular version of firmware meets their products’ specifications and requirements. Occasionally that has been RC, however as you’ve probably experienced we’ve enabled our customers to have a robust field FW update capability so any issues customers run in to can generally be addressed. To date we don’t have a single field failure from our MP1 firmware (at least one that has been reported to us)." - Sandforce Marketing

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1312/1/

 

[westwest1]

Is this very bad?

On the left is my SSD, on the right is my HDD

[

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[adrianlee]

2010 Value SSD (~US$100) Roundup: Kingston and OCZ take on Intel
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3756/2010-value-ssd-100-roundup-kingston-and-ocz-take-on-intel

 

[adrianlee]

Kingston SSDNow V (SNV425-S2) Review
The Kingston SSDNow V Series drive (SNV425-S2) represents the manufacturer's entry-level consumer solid state drive. Built in three capacities (30, 64, and 128GB), the V Series drives are designed as an upgrade option for those seeking the performance of an SSD, but at a lower price point than the current crop of enthusiast- and enterprise-centric solid state drives.

http://www.storagereview.com/kingston_ssdnow_v_review_snv425s2

 

[adrianlee]

Sandforce SATA 6Gbps SSDs sampling in Q3
Word on the street (fo'real) is that SSD upstart Sandforce has brought forward sampling of its upcoming SATA 6Gbps SSD controller - dubbed Phoenix - from a previously mooted Q4 to Q3 - specifically September, according to our sources in Taipei at a popular SSD manufacturer.

Photofast has already leaked the specs of the SandForce Phoenix SSD controller, and it if can hit the claimed read/write of 520/520MB/s - almost maxing out the new interface in a single jump - it will annihilate the current speed record set by the only other SATA 6Gbps drive, Crucial's RealSSD C300.....

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2010/06/16/sandforce-sata-6gbps-ssd-sampling-in-q3/1

 

[persentio]

iBuyPower tries to destory an X-25M!

 

[adrianlee]

Corsair Force Series 120GB SandForce SF-1200 SSD Reviews
http://legitreviews.com/article/1338/1/
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=25099