Intel X25-M G2 Solid State Drives

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I'm surprised I haven't seen this mentioned here yet. According to The Inquirer Intel will be launching new SSDs on Tuesday 21st.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1433725/intel-ssds-launch-tuesday

I expect it will be a while before they are available in stock in the UK but I'm still excited that we may finally see prices that are a bit more affordable for Intel. It will be interesting to see if the new drives will support the TRIM command.

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Intel X25-M G2 Solid State Drives Now In Stock At Overclockers:

Despite the announcements below, Overclockers have got these drives in stock:

*****Intel 34nm SSD In Stock*****

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Intel X25-M G2 Solid State Drive Reviews:

Intel X25-M 'G2' 34nm 160GB SSD Review - PC Perspective

Intel X25-M G2: Dissected and Performance Preview - Anandtech

Intel's second-generation X25-M solid-state drive - More than just a 34nm die shrink - The Tech Report

Intel X25-M 160GB 34nm MLC G2 SSD Benchmark Review - LegitReviews

Intel 34nm X25-M Gen 2 SSD Performance Review - HotHardware

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Intel X25-M G2 Solid State Drive Pricing:

Hankering for an SSD that's as big as your traditional HDD? So is Intel, or so we hear. In fact, we've been hearing whispers that a capacious 320GB solid state drive was in the works since January, and now those whispers have been upgraded to library-like voices. According to the generally reliable Golum, Intel's so-called Postville SSD family is well on its way to reality, and with them should come much needed price drops. The new series should top out at 320GB, with an 80GB and 160GB version falling underneath. Word on the street has it that both of the smaller two will be around $100 cheaper than the same-sized X25-M drives, though there's been no leaks on the 320GB model's MSRP. Still, Intel has a golden opportunity here if it'll just get these things to market -- a cheap(er) SSD with a brand name like Intel could blow the solid state market wide open.

Intel's 34nm-based 320GB solid state drive creeps closer to reality

The smaller flash die results in lower prices, the 80GB model will sell for $225 while the 160GB version should sell for $440.

Intel's 34nm SSD Preview: Cheaper and Faster?

The prices are in dollars but it should translate into about £180 for the Intel X25-M G2 80GB model and around £340 for the 160GB model.

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Intel announcement regarding a problem with the current Intel X25-M G2 Solid State Drive firmware:

***Public Service Announcement***

Intel has informed me of a bug in the X25-M G2 shipping firmware (02G2). This bug is specific to setting a hard drive password in your BIOS. If you have set a BIOS HDD password, then subsequently change or disable that password, the SSD may become inoperable. Intel is correcting the issue in firmware and will be posting a fix shortly. In summary:

* DO NOT set a BIOS HDD password on an X25-M G2.
* If you already have, DO NOT CHANGE OR DISABLE the BIOS HDD password.

It will be safe to do either of the above once the X25-M G2 is flashed to a newer firmware to be released by Intel shortly. Firmware, when available, can be reached by this not-yet-live link.

***End Public Service Announcement***

Intel X25-M 'G2' 34nm 160GB SSD Review

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Intel X25-M G2 Solid State Drives pulled back:

Due to the above announcement, Intel have pulled the Intel X25-M G2 Solid State Drives so they won't be available for around two weeks:

Online retail outlets including Newegg have pulled Intel's brand-spanking-new 34nm X25-M G2 "Postville" SSDs from their websites just days after becoming publicly available, according to a blog from OEM system builder Puget Systems. The company said that removal of the SSDs stem from a firmware defect discovered in the first batch shipped last week.

Unfortunately, consumers who already purchased the new 34nm SSDs may experience data corruption when adding, deleting, or modifying the drive's password in the system BIOS. "Initially we were told this might require a complete reworking of the drives, and that those we had gotten in were effectively unusable, but Intel was able to work out a firmware fix for the problem," the said Puget's William George. "That won’t be available immediately, but should be showing up in about two weeks."

Currently Intel has halted shipments of the Postville SSDs until the problem is resolved. However, for consumers who have already purchased the drive with no plans to use a BIOS password on the drive, there ultimately should be no problems. Still, Intel advises consumers not to alter, delete, or create BIOS passwords until the drive is flashed with the update firmware.

"It made sense to pause shipments and implement the changes ourselves and via customers versus asking consumers to do so," Intel told Tom's in an email earlier today. "Keep in mind the fix has been identified and validation is undergoing completion this week."

The firmware can be downloaded here when it eventually goes live.

Intel Halts Shipments of 34nm SSDs

 

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Anandtech have done a performance review: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3607

 

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My current laptop (Macbook Alu) has 200GB and I find that plenty. Downsizing to 160GB shouldn't be too much of a squeeze. 80GB is really just too small though.

 

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Yes that's correct. Intel have decided to halt shipping the drives and update the firmware on each themselves.

Rather frustrating as it's just related to the BIOS password. I'm hoping we won't have to wait too long now.

 

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Worth updating the firmware? Is this just a fix for the BIOS password problem or is there anything else included?