Intel X25-M G2 Solid State Drives

Nate Silvers · 17 Aug 2009 at 03:52

(pulled from another forum)

If you are waiting for prices to go down to HDD prices, it NEVER will. The modern day NAND cell cannot scale down in size to match the prices of HDDs of several years ago let along where they will be in several years. I've done the math, I work at Micron so I see numbers/wafer costs, and we will run into Lithography limits well before we get anywhere close to today's HDD $/Gb. Some might say, MLC/3LC/4LC/etc but ECC and the read/write performance hit will not make it feasible let alone the very much reduced cycling.

For SSDs of some sort to compete with HDDs, SSDs will need to store data in some other technology than todays floating gate transistor stack. Maybe some sort of technology storing the state on the rotation of the spinning election, only then will silicon SSDs be able to get down to the mainstream costs of HDDs.
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clv101 · 17 Aug 2009 at 08:53

There's no need for SSD to approach regular hard drive $/Gb, no need at all. Most data storage just isn't very speed critical. Use SSD for low volume, speed critical stuff and use cheap magnetic media for high volume storage.

Talrinys · 17 Aug 2009 at 09:29

Nate Silvers said:
(pulled from another forum)

If you are waiting for prices to go down to HDD prices, it NEVER will. The modern day NAND cell cannot scale down in size to match the prices of HDDs of several years ago let along where they will be in several years. I've done the math, I work at Micron so I see numbers/wafer costs, and we will run into Lithography limits well before we get anywhere close to today's HDD $/Gb. Some might say, MLC/3LC/4LC/etc but ECC and the read/write performance hit will not make it feasible let alone the very much reduced cycling.

For SSDs of some sort to compete with HDDs, SSDs will need to store data in some other technology than todays floating gate transistor stack. Maybe some sort of technology storing the state on the rotation of the spinning election, only then will silicon SSDs be able to get down to the mainstream costs of HDDs.
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Never mind the fact that this is helping one of the oldest and most annoying bottlenecks in computers.

Durzel · 17 Aug 2009 at 10:40

So, any update on the ETA for the 160GB version of this drive?

goodl · 17 Aug 2009 at 11:18

Durzel said:
So, any update on the ETA for the 160GB version of this drive?

Well it shouldnt be long, I picked one up in the first wave of arrivals

explicit4u · 17 Aug 2009 at 11:22

Nate Silvers said:
From what source?

here

Intel used the fix on all the SSD's they had, they should be shipping to suppliers now.

MR.B · 18 Aug 2009 at 08:32

If anyone wants faster than SSD speed and has a ton of RAM, then you can put it to good use by using RamDisk or RamDisk Plus (dont know if i can link to them on here). It's software that creates a drive out of spare system RAM.

Was just messing about with it, created a 6GB RAM drive, and as RAM is faster than any SSD, it unsurprisingly beats my RAID-0 X25-M G2's in benchmarks and game loading - although not by as much as i was expecting (these Intel SSD's are fast!).

The data saved in the RAM drive can be saved to hard drive on shutdown (optional) as RAM loses any data when power is cut to it. Then on system startup the data is loaded back onto the RAM drive.

Obviously you wont be able to have a large drive made. But if a user needs a super fast drive for software/game then it's a option.
BTW it's not free software, unless yee says arrrrrr a lot and sails a ship with a crossbones flag.

reygjabla · 18 Aug 2009 at 09:06

MR.B said:
,,,,,,,,,unless yee says arrrrrr a lot and sails a ship with a crossbones flag.

Looks like a link to the unknown to me

snakefood · 5 Oct 2009 at 12:32

Just a quick thought...If I was to get one of the 80G intel drives...what converter should I get to fit in a standard bay?

Are any better than others?

Bob Wya Jnr · 5 Oct 2009 at 14:55

snakefood said:
Just a quick thought...If I was to get one of the 80G intel drives...what converter should I get to fit in a standard bay?

Are any better than others?

After much searching I found this product from the US:
http://www.addonics.com/products/raid_system/ae4rcs25nsa.asp
4x hotswap 2.5" HDs/SSDs (SAS/SATA - can be mixed) in 1x 5.25" drive bay.

I bought this for my 160Gb G2 drive... Has plently of room for expansion and allows (hot)swapping in of regular laptop 2.5 HDs - e.g. to install your OS and mirror off/cold backup storage/etc. Sweet!!

Bob

djcj · 5 Oct 2009 at 15:55

Does anyone know the difference between the following drives?

SSDSA2MH080G2C1
SSDSA2MH080G201
SSDSA2MH080G2R5

Zarf · 5 Oct 2009 at 17:03

snakefood said:
Just a quick thought...If I was to get one of the 80G intel drives...what converter should I get to fit in a standard bay?

Are any better than others?

davem1979 · 5 Oct 2009 at 22:54

80gb vs. 160gb

I am looking to buy the Intel X25M, and I'm wondering if I should go for the 160gb, or two 80gb X25M's. I'm used to traditional hard drives where having an OS/Apps drive and a separate data drive is wise, but I've heard this logic doesn't apply for SSD's...

My initial thought is a two drive approach with one drive with OS/Apps/pagefile and the other with VM's and temporary RAW photos/files.

Is there anything to gain having two drives (aside from a potential RAID 0)? or Should I just simplify and put everything on one big drive and not worry, cause it'll be plenty fast....

Many Thanks,
David

rjk · 5 Oct 2009 at 23:38

depends what you need the speed for

splitting the two 80gb drives would be a waste imo

i would go RAID0 every day of the week, just have it in one big lot

install windows 7 and image it across and you are good to go

welcome to the forums by the way, enjoy your stay

NickK · 6 Oct 2009 at 01:16

I have a friend who is using an Intel X25M 80GB with Windows 7 Ultimate (he works for MS) and it is instantaneous for MMORPGs, Office etc.
He uses an simple MS HomeServer HP NAS box thing with gigabit ethernet for storing the majority of stuff (even has his home documents folder on the NAS box rather than local drive).

I have a 120GB Vertex in my MBP. There's only one drive bay so it had to be that size but I've learnt to prioritise my stuff but I can see why 80GB may be a bit small.. I just offload my stuff to an external Firewire drive to free up space.

hegemon · 6 Oct 2009 at 07:39

djcj said:
Does anyone know the difference between the following drives?

SSDSA2MH080G2C1
SSDSA2MH080G201
SSDSA2MH080G2R5

Taken from intel document: http://download.intel.com/design/flash/nand/mainstream/mainstream-sata-ssd-datasheet.pdf

Essentially the last two characters are irrelevent to us as consumers.

RSR · 6 Oct 2009 at 09:20

Does any one have a ETA on stock? As i am planning to order my new PC for around the same time W7 is released.

brad_whitwell · 6 Oct 2009 at 14:55

Good question.... I've not seen anything on these forums as to an ETA. These things are rare than chickens teeth atm

snakefood · 6 Oct 2009 at 19:41

Bob Wya Jnr said:
After much searching I found this product from the US:
http://www.addonics.com/products/raid_system/ae4rcs25nsa.asp
4x hotswap 2.5" HDs/SSDs (SAS/SATA - can be mixed) in 1x 5.25" drive bay.

I bought this for my 160Gb G2 drive... Has plently of room for expansion and allows (hot)swapping in of regular laptop 2.5 HDs - e.g. to install your OS and mirror off/cold backup storage/etc. Sweet!!

Bob

that does look like an uber-nic enclosure...but i'd never be running any more than one 2.5" drive.... I'm never gonna be able to splash out an buy 2, and 3.5" 7200 disks are much cheaper / easier to get.

suggestions for a nice cnverter please..?

jbloggs · 6 Oct 2009 at 19:57

SSDSA2MH080G2R5 - "Retail" package (comes in an Intel box), comes with kit to fit 2.5" SSD into 3.5" bay, and a sticker.

SSDSA2MH080G2C1 - "OEM" - this provides you with the SSD by itself.

SSDSA2MH080G201 - Not sure what this one is...