Intel X25-M G2 Solid State Drives

Burned_Alive said:
Have been looking at the 80gb X-25M, but is there any reason not to just get the X-18M and a 2.5" bay adaptor? They appear to be identical performance wise, but the X-18 is ~£60 cheaper
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the only X18-M disk I can see at that price (from a quick google) has a G1 model number - i.e. is the older model. The G2 models all seem more expensive than the X25-M. Performance-wise the G1 and G2 models are pretty close, however the G2 models don't lose their performance over time as much as the G1 and will eventually (once Intel have ironed out the firmware bugs) have support for TRIM whereas Intel haven't committed to providing TRIM support on the G1s.

Matthew
 
Noli said:
Thanks mdovey - that really helps, especially the link to the pics. From that and what you wrote, I can see that I can safely get a 01 and 3.5" mounting bracket and be done with it. Though if the R5 comes with a bracket anyway and is within a couple of £s then that's the way forward. Presumably that black plastic rim is to make it a snug fit for notebooks so I guess it would be handy if one day (after upgrading) I decide to move the SSD down to a notebook I or family might have...
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I have seen at least one site at one point quoting a cheaper price for the R5 than the C1. If you do need a 3.5 mounting bracket and screws, I'd recommend going for the R5, as in general the R5 price will almost certainly be less than getting a C1 and bracket seperately (especially if you end up buying the bracket and disk from different suppliers, and incur P&P on both), and in any case at best we'd only be talking about saving a few pounds.

If you already have a bracket/screws, I'd recommend going for the C1 - not so much to save money, but to avoid having an unused bracket cluttering the place up!

I'd personally avoid the 01 - whereas if you bought the C1 and later realised you needed a 3.5 bracket there are plenty of places you can buy an equivalent bracket for just over £5, however, if you bought the 01 and realised you needed that plastic spacer, it may be much harder to find such a spacer (although I suppose you can risk a piece of thick card). In any case, the price different between the 01 and the C1 is unlikely to be more than a couple of pounds.

All that said, in practice, at the moment due to the short supply, you may just wish to go with whatever is actually in stock if you are in a rush!

Matthew
 
ooo luck what i got!!!

bought the drive from ocuk, read many reviews and it was a no brainer for me-found this thread helpfull so i'm gonna post a couple of pics and give me views!!

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well what can i say the drive is awesome fast, write times are not to bad

im very happy with how responsive it has made my pc bootup times are very quick (15secs to usable)

mounting this drive with duoble sidded sticky foam pads rather than normal way due to the fact i would have to buy bay converters and my tripple rad in the front makes it awkward but the drive istelf ways nothing!

overall its a top notch ssd-gonna buy another for raid0
 
thanks again mdovey - definitely v keen to get an R5 now! :cool: Just need to wait till they sort out the firmware and they come back in stock... :(
 
mdovey said:
the only X18-M disk I can see at that price (from a quick google) has a G1 model number - i.e. is the older model. The G2 models all seem more expensive than the X25-M. Performance-wise the G1 and G2 models are pretty close, however the G2 models don't lose their performance over time as much as the G1 and will eventually (once Intel have ironed out the firmware bugs) have support for TRIM whereas Intel haven't committed to providing TRIM support on the G1s.

Matthew
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Thanks for that. Thought there had to be something I was missing! :)
 
D3lirious said:
Does anyone have the recently withdrawn Intel firmware (TRIM version) still saved? Is it small enough to email? If so, email in trust
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Hi

I've dropped you a note via trust.

I have a copy available (it's worked fine for me). It seems to be not an issue with the firmware but with the install routine, from what I've seen.

HTH
 
I suspect that we may not hear anything new about the 320GB X25-M until after Intel has sorted out the current X25's firmware issues.

Matthew
 
Well, if you haven't downloaded a firmware update from Intel, you'll have little choice since Intel has pulled the firmware updates from its site at the moment.

Whilst, I'm sure that you may be able to find a copy if you look hard enough (or get someone on this forum to send you a copy), as there is a possibility that this may brick your drive, I would certainly recommend waiting until Intel has resolved the issue.

It should be safe to use the disk without the TRIM firmware as

a) the firmware update should not delete existing data on the disk (if it works correctly) - although a backup is always recommended
b) any performance degradation (which should be slight anyway) will be fixable later when the TRIM update is available again

Matthew
 
Hi all,

I'm looking to buy one of these for my new Studio 17 laptop. Which one do I need :confused: also will the firmware update require a floppy drive, usb boot or done in windows?

Cheers!!
 
It entirely depends on what you intend to put on it and how much you can afford.

If you are installing a lot of programs, or large programs such as games, or have a lot of data, then you may find the 80GB cramped, and would be better off with the 160GB. However, the 160GB is twice the price! Indeed you might find 160GB a squeeze if this is your only disk, and be better off waiting a few months for the 320GB version (but this will be twice the price of the 160GB again). Most owners of SSDs tend to use the SSD as the boot/application drive but also have a (large capacity) standard disk for data. This may not be applicable to a laptop however.

The 160GB is quicker in terms of write speeds than the 80GB (and it is likely the 320GB will be quicker than the 160GB), however, in practice this difference is not going to be that noticeable, and certainly not worth the extra cost alone. So if you really only need 80GB, it isn't worth buying the 160GB just for the additional performance.

So really, the decision is based on how much disk space you think you will need - presumedly this is to replace an existing non-SSD? If so how large is that disk and how full is it?

Matthew
 
mdovey said:
It entirely depends on what you intend to put on it and how much you can afford.

If you are installing a lot of programs, or large programs such as games, or have a lot of data, then you may find the 80GB cramped, and would be better off with the 160GB. However, the 160GB is twice the price! Indeed you might find 160GB a squeeze if this is your only disk, and be better off waiting a few months for the 320GB version (but this will be twice the price of the 160GB again). Most owners of SSDs tend to use the SSD as the boot/application drive but also have a (large capacity) standard disk for data. This may not be applicable to a laptop however.

The 160GB is quicker in terms of write speeds than the 80GB (and it is likely the 320GB will be quicker than the 160GB), however, in practice this difference is not going to be that noticeable, and certainly not worth the extra cost alone. So if you really only need 80GB, it isn't worth buying the 160GB just for the additional performance.

So really, the decision is based on how much disk space you think you will need - presumedly this is to replace an existing non-SSD? If so how large is that disk and how full is it?

Matthew
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oops, sorry Matthew,

I haven't made myself clear. I've already decided on the 80gb but didn't know which version C0, C1, R5 :confused: I'd need for installing in a dell studio 17 laptop.

The laptop is shipping with a 500gb hdd which I am moving to bay 2 for storage.
 
Burned_Alive said:
Have been looking at the 80gb X-25M, but is there any reason not to just get the X-18M and a 2.5" bay adaptor? They appear to be identical performance wise, but the X-18 is ~£60 cheaper
Click to expand...
As mentioned above, the X18-Ms are G1 drives - but given the firmware troubles with the G2s I'm not sure that's a negative! They're a terrific bargain at current prices, but a bit of a fiddle as the SATA/MicroSATA adaptor need to fit them to a desktop or laptop is a bit hard to find and unlike normal 2.5" SSDs they need a 3.3v supply, so the PSU's SATA power plugs must have 5 wires, not just 4, or the drive won't work.
 
glen8 said:
I'd need for installing in a dell studio 17 laptop.

The laptop is shipping with a 500gb hdd which I am moving to bay 2 for storage.
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Snap! I'm doing the same with the 40GB Kingston drive I have coming tomorrow, it's destined to be the boot drive on my Studio 17 with a 500GB 5400rpm drive in the second bay.

BTW, I hope you know that you need to buy a special Dell caddy and SATA plug to fit a drive in the Studio 17's second drive bay? Dell don't include the caddy unless you actually order the laptop with two drives installed.
 
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