SSD MSATA is better. Small and helpful

SSD drives: An overview of the best models of hard drives and the rating of their features will be interesting to everyone who is interested in the long-term storage issues of their data, and for some reason does not particularly trust online storage facilities.

The technologies for the production of information drives are not on the spot, and now, to buy a hard disk for your computer or laptop you need to understand how not to miss the choice; In addition, SSD drives are still notice.

We will tell you what technologies are producers of modern solid discs, whose popularity, compared to HDD growing day by day. Before you choose specific models options, it is worth finding out what benefits are SSD, and than guided by their choice.

Pros and consumer

The main advantages of SSD:

• high speed reading and writing data, 2-3 times higher than even the latest HDD models;
• sustainable information transfer. In HDD, the speed of data movement varies depending on its volume and location on the disk;
• quick data access, at the level of 0.1 ms;
• high reliability of use due to the lack of moving parts and minimal heating;
• slight energy consumption (10 times less than in conventional discs);
• low weight than which SSD is optimal option For netbooks and laptops.

Among the disadvantages of equipment, a high cost and a relatively small capacity can be noted, although the ssd sizes (and physical parameters and the amount of stored information) are already practically comparable with standard hard drives.

The minus you can call the file system installed on the hardwood drives: it requires care and optimization, and the data removed from the SDD is extremely difficult to restore, almost impossible.

Another minus lies in the fact that voltage drops in the power grid can lead to the combustion of not only the disk controller, but also to failure of the entire disk. HDD is also subject to this, but to a lesser extent. In any case, it is necessary to use UPS and voltage stabilizers to prevent this kind of trouble.

Features of choice

Before buying a drive, pay attention to the following features.

The most important characteristic is sSD volume -it depends on the needs and financial capabilities of the user.

The price of 1 GB SSD memory varies from 100-200 rubles. For small sizes of the drive up to 20-30 rubles. For mid-level options.

Tip: Experts recommend to fill out disc sections for no more than 75%. So, if the disk is intended only for system information and operating system, fairly completed 60 GB. For storage of often rewritable data, models are suitable for 256-512 GB - they are relatively inexpensive.

Another important factor when choosing - tire frequencywhich will depend on the speed of reading and writing data.

The most common option is the format SATA2.transmitting up to 3000 Mbps of information per second. SATA3. Twice more productive, however, may not be supported by computers released for 3-4 years ago.

Other nuances that should be taken into account by the Buyer:

• form factor. For laptops usually choose options for 2.5 inches, for computers - 3.5 inches;
• iOPS indicator (number of input and output operations per second). For outdated models, its value does not exceed 50-100 thousand, for new discs - reaches 200,000;
• type of controller. The best and most reliable options are Marvell, Indilinx and Intel.

10 best SSD drives

Among the most famous manufacturers Sweet drives - brands of ADATA, AMD, CRUCIAL, INTEL, PLEXTOR and WESTERN DIGITAL.

Well-known HDD manufacturers, Kingston flash cards, SAMSUNG, SANDISK, TOSHIBA and TRANSCEND, distinguished themselves in the production of SSD discs.

Considering various models SSD should be taken into account that the optimal value for the price, volume and quality today has drives for 500 GB (512, to speak more precisely).

Their size is enough to store the same volumes as on ordinary hard disksAnd the price is 2-4 times more. Disk of a smaller volume may not be enough, and buy more expensive options for several terrabytes (with a specific gigabyte price above 30 rubles.) It makes no sense yet.

1. High resource

Through the use of a reliable controller, the ADATA Premier SP550 drive serves as 2-3 times longer compared to most analogues for the same price. At the same time, it does not differ in high speed, but allows you to overwrite up to 1/3 of all data daily. The speed when the cache is overflow (4.5 GB) may fall to 70-90 MB / s, although to perform most of the tasks of moving such a data volume and is not required.

Technical specifications:

• 480 GB;
• maximum read speed - 560 MB / s;
• technology 16-nm;
• controller: Four-channel Silicon Motion SM2256.

1. The most profitable

AMD is not a direct manufacturer of solid drives, but offers several interesting options. One of them is AMD Radeon. R3 480, which can be used about 8,500 rubles. With an amount of 480 GB, this makes the specific value of 1 GB of smaller 18 rubles - there are practically no such proposals on the market.

Main characteristics:

• 480 GB;
• controller Type: SM2256;
• reading / write speed: 520/470 MB / s.

1. Optimal Solution for Gaming Computer

The model range of CRUCIAL is large enough to find different variants of different volumes and performance. One of the most last models The volume of about half the terabyte is Crucial MX300 525. It can be the best solution for the computer used in the working goals. First of all, thanks to good speed and affordable price (about 10 thousand rubles), secondly, due to the use of a significant amount of volume - 576 GB instead of the stated 525.

Device parameters:

• capacity: 525 (576) GB;
• speed \u200b\u200b(read / write): 530/510 GB;
• controller: Marvell 88SS1074.

1. The most reliable

The speed of recording and reading offered by most modern drives, not less than 500 MB / s. The maximum value for the flagship model Intel 730 Series 480 is 550 MB / s. The device is characterized by high reliability and completed reliable protection From power interruptions. Such a drive will withstand a large load compared to other 500-gigabyte options.

Main characteristics:

• maximum speed: 550 MB / s;
• controller: Server PC29AS21CA0;
• capacity: 480 (544) GB.

1. High ability to overwrite

The feature of the Kingston SSDNOW UV400 device is the Marvell 88SS1074 controller and a decent cache size, when the overflow of which is also preserved a good speed (more than 110 MB / s). To create a disk, 15-nm TLC NAND technology was used.

The service life of SSD is extended by the possibility of daily overwriting more than 1/3 of the information, and the price does not exceed 15,000 rubles.

Drive parameters:

• speed: up to 550 MB / s;
• controller: Four-channel Marvell 88SS1074;
• cash: 8 GB.

1. Long warranty

For the Plextor M6 Pro 512 model, created using a relatively outdated Marvell 88SS9187 controller, one of the advantages is about 100 thousand IOPS. The second is Truespeed technology, increasing the resource and disk speed.

Last year, this drive was among the most expensive, and now, at a price of 17,000 rubles, it is a device quite affordable for many consumers. The manufacturer offers 5 years warranty on the device - with standard 2-3.

SSD characteristics:

• speed: up to 557 MB / s;
• controller: Marvell 88SS9187;
• technology: 19 nm.

1. Fastest and easy

At price sAMSUNG drive 950 Pro PCIE SSD more than 20 thousand rubles its reading speed in 600-2500 MB / s completely justifies expenses due to high speed and lightness.

Memory has a 48-layer structure and high reliability. Manufacturer guarantees 5 years sSD works With daily overwriting at 80-100 GB.

Drive parameters:

• controller: Samsung UBX;
• volume: 512 GB;
• mass: 10 g;
• maximum speed: for the SATA III interface - up to 600 MB, for PCIE - up to 2500 MB / s.

1. The longest

The SANDISK SDSSDEX2-480G-G25 device has a sufficiently high cost, at the level of 25,000 rubles. At the same time, its reading / write speed is 850 MB / s, and the stroke resistance reaches 800g. High strength is provided by a special case from the EXTREME 900 Portable series, thanks to which this external SSD disk is easy to transport and, unlike most other models, can be dropped. It weighs, however, as many as 210 g, and in length exceeds 13 cm.

Specifications:

• volume: 512 GB;
• read / write speed: 850/850 MB / s;
• interface: USB 3.1.

1. Saved information

Considering the TOSHIBA OCZ VT180 480 model, you can stay on this advantage as the possibility of correct completion of the work even in case of unforeseen power outage.

As a result, the data are preserved more than when using many other options. And an additional advantage when buying a drive is its price - from 10 thousand rubles.

Device parameters:

Fig.11. Compact and affordable transcend SSD370 512

Prevention of faults

In order to solid disc He served long enough, it is worth periodically checking it for errors.

There are applications that help determine which part of the SSD resource is already spent - these discs have a certain number of recording cycles and overwriting, after which they may fail.

Crystaldiskinfo.

CrystalDiskInfo program, which can also be in the idea of \u200b\u200bthe Portable version, allows you to diagnose the equipment and identify errors. To work with it, it is enough to start the application itself, which will check the disk on errors.

Yellow color under the inscription Health Status talks about the problems with the disc - most likely the drive will have to change soon. Blue - that SSD works fine.

SSD Life.

The SSD Life application with a Russian-speaking interface will show specific information on how many hours of work your disk remains.

Makes this program referring to the controller that saves all the information in memory. However, even after SSD LIFE showed that the drive's resource has been exhausted almost a third, you should not worry. First, it is not necessary that after 3000 entries disk necessarily fail. Secondly, on average, one "cycle" is considered a day of work. And for a period of more than 8 years (with 100% of the resource that the application shows for the new SSD), the user usually changes the drive, regardless of their type.

Testing technique

IOMETER 1.1.0 RC1

1. Sequential read / write data blocks from 512 bytes to 2 MB and a depth of queue queues 4 (typical depth for desktop tasks). The test of the test with blocks of each size continues for 30 s. The result is a graph of the dependence of the data transfer rate on the size of the block.
2. Arbitrary read / write data throughout the disk blocks from 512 bytes to 2 MB and the depth of queue queues 4. The test sample with the blocks of each size continues for 30 seconds. The blocks of blocks are aligned relative to the line with a step of 4 KB. Since SSD drives read and record information in the form of so-called pages of 4 KB or multiple size, the load alignment eliminates the situation when the logic block takes the odd number of pages, and the recording speed is reduced.
3. Response time. An arbitrary read / write data on the entire volume of the disk blocks 512 bytes and the depth of the query queue 4. Since the test goes for 10 minutes, the disk buffer is filled, which makes it possible to evaluate the well-being response time of the drive. Data blocks are also aligned with respect to 4 kilobyte markup.
4. Sequential access speed Depending on the queue queue length. The speed of reading and writing blocks of 64 KB is measured at a queue length from 1 to 8 in step 2 and from 8 to 32 in step 4.
5. Multi-threaded load. The disk simultaneously operates from one to four copies of a workload utility (workers, in the terminology of IOMETER). Each worker serves as a sequential read / record of blocks of 64 KB with a depth of queue queue 1. WorkERs have access to non-returnable address spaces with a volume of 16 GB, which are located in the volume of the disk close to each other, starting from the zero sector. The total performance of all workers is measured.

After each test, which includes recording a significant amount of data, the disk is cleaned using Secure Erase. Long-term entry tests are separated into several parts, mixed with cleaning so that the first test samples that fill the disk did not affect the subsequent speed.

⇡ PCMark 7.

Synthetic test that emulates the load of real applications and various PC resource use patterns. Benchmark is installed on the main storage drive. On the test drive, a single section is created in the NTFS file system for the entire available volume, and the Secondary Storage test is performed in PCMark 7. As the test results, both the final score and the rate of execution of individual subtests are taken into account.

⇡ The dependence of productivity from free volume

To check how much the SSD write speed drops as it is filling, we gradually clog it with random data at a block level and carry out the tests of arbitrary records of 4 kB blocks with a depth of the query queue 4. The trim command is sent to the disk (using the utility DiskPart creates and format the partition to the entire volume of the disk) and the recording speed is once again measured.

For SSD performing the compression of the recorded data, the recording speed tests are carried out both on duplicate data and randomized.

⇡ Test stand

As a test platform, a computer with MSI 890GXM-G65 motherboard is used, aMD processor Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition and 4 GB of RAM DDR3 1600 MHz. The disc is connected to the controller built into the motherboard chipset and works in aHCI mode. Operating system - Windows 7 Ultimate X64.

MINERVA AD963FD9 adapter was used to connect MSATA format disks.

The volume and data transfer rate in benchmarks are indicated in binary units (1 KB \u003d 1024 bytes).

⇡ Performance, iOMETER

Sequential reading

In this test, the performance of all our experimental is practically at the same level.

Sequential recording

In the next test, only one MSATA drive was able to stay in the leaders - Kingston SSDNOW MS200. Together with him, good results showed only Kingston Hyperx 3K. However, it should be noted that when writing data, poorly permanent compression, this test would not be so favorable to drives on the Sandforce platform, which are both of these devices.

The remaining MSATA SSD has shown far from the best results. So, in CRUCIAL M4, the consistent recording speed is practically not growing after increasing the size of the block to 16 KB. Almost the same can be said about SSD Transcend. However, there is nothing terrible here - the stated consistent record speed coincides with the one we got. Plextor M5M has shown much more interesting - this solid-state drive is growing almost as slowly as Plextor M5 Pro. Probably, here is the case in the same MARVELL 88SS9187-BLD2 controllers. However, it is already good that the MSATA form factor is not so much different from his full-length relative.

Wellness response time

In this test, almost all drives showed normal results. The exception is only a MSATA-drive CRUCIAL M4, the established response time of which at the record was almost half a second. However, it is not a fact that such a strange feature will somehow manifest itself in real applications or even in the subsequent iOMter benchmarks.

Arbitrary reading

In this test, all the drives tested are shown similar results. No one came out of the common crowd, and the speed scatter was not too big.

Arbitrary recording

And here it becomes clear why the Crucial M4 drive has received such a long response time when recording. The fact is that this drive does not work well with the recording of small blocks - that is, there are less than 4 KB blocks. Recall that in the test for the established response time, we used blocks of 512 bytes.

By the way, if we talk about sectors of the size of 4 KB, then when recording such velocity sectors, all of our drives were almost the same, except that Kingston Hyperx 3K showed the best results, ahead, thus, its analogue of MSATA format.

Reading with different lengths of command queue

Here we see almost the same results again. Is that the reading speed of Plextor M5 Pro grows slightly slower than that of the rest, so when reading with the queue in four teams, which is characteristic of consumer load, the potential of its performance is not fully disclosed.

Recording at different lengths of the command queue

But with the entry, everything is not so smooth. So, Crucial M4 we again see the worst results at maximum performance, but to work at full speed, it is enough for a length of even two teams.

Another MSATA, Plextor M5M shows a gradual increase in the speed of arbitrary recording while increasing the queue. Approximately the Plextor M5 Pro behaves. To achieve maximum performance, both devices require no less than 20-24 teams! With characteristic of the desktop four commands, the speed of reading turns out to be about 50 MB / s less peak.

The remaining drives are fine. Both Kingston drives showed almost the same results, reaching a peak on four teams, and Transcend TS128GMSA740 did not lag behind them.

Multi-threaded reading

Again the read test and again nothing interesting. The results of most of our experimental are practically identical: when reading in two streams, the speed jerk occurs, and then it increases slightly when adding the third and fourth streams.

Multi-threaded recording

Again the test test and again at Crucial M4 the worst result in absolute indicators, and it sluggally reacts to additional streams. However, he has two fellow misfortunes - this is Transcend TS128GMSA740 and Plextor M5M. But if the record speed in Transcend even falls with multi-threaded contact, then Plextor is at least growing.

As for the last MSATA SSD, Kingston SSDNOW MS200, its results were at the same level as Kingston Hyperx 3K.

⇡ PCMark 7.

PCMark 7 tests have never been complex, and almost all solid-state drives show here similar results. Our case is no exception.

If you judge the Finnish benchmark, MSATA drives are not much behind our "older brothers", and the Plextor M5M disk even managed to overtake Kingston Hyperx 3k.

If you look at each subtest PCMark 7 separately, it becomes clear that in subtests to "add music", Windows Defender and Windows Media Center, all drives showed almost the same results.

But in the tests for importing pictures and launching applications, the gaps between our experimental are especially noticeable.

Performance dependence on free volume

In the last test, we got very curious results. So, Kingston Ssdnow MS200 recorded the smallest drop in speed when the free volume is reduced - let's say thanks to the data compression that the Sandforce controller performs on the summer. The performance of SSD when recording poorly compressible data, no doubt, more sensitively reacts to the amount of free space.

As for the outsiders, only one SSD came to this list - this is transcend TS128GMSA740. Judging by the results we obtained, its speed not only falls faster than others, but not restored after the Trim command. Approximately this result could be found in some solid-state drives at a time when supporting this team was not yet ubiquitous.

The remaining test participants predictably fall down when the 8 GB of free space is reached, but obediently return to the initial level of performance after receiving the Trim command.

⇡ Conclusions

If modern full-size SSDs can be chosen according to the "Design" principle, then C MSATA has not yet passed. When choosing a drive, it is better to familiarize yourself with his technical characteristics. Particular attention should be paid to the parameters of the serial record, and if there are no financial constraints, then it is better to choose the MSATA SSD that the random reading rates and record will not differ very much.

If you make a sample on those drives that we have tested, then recommend to buy only Kingston Ssdnow MS200, if, of course, 120 GB will be enough for you. Unfortunately, 120 GB is a limit for SSDNOW MS200.

The second place receives the MSATA Plextor M5M 256 GB drive (PX-256M5M). Unfortunately, in some tests, this disk showed far from the best results, but if you need to choose MSATA SSD, the volume of which exceeds 120 GB, then it is worth seeking it.

As for the remaining two participants, CRUCIAL M4 256 GB (CT256M4SSD3) and Transcend 128 GB (TS128GMSA740), then the first disk showed, perhaps the worst results (which, by the way, coincided with the stated characteristics) and the second disk had problems using Trim commands. However, that comparative testingSo, someone must lose.

In general, if you judge the results we obtained, the performance of MSATA drives can be at the level of ordinary, 2.5-inch SSD. That's just on the market of such drives, there are still quite small, and motherboards with appropriate connectors - and less. Therefore, unfortunately, for the ultrabook upgrade in the form of a MSATA drive now will have to lay out from four to eight thousand rubles. Depending on the volume of the drive, of course.

It is the opinion that one of the most significant disadvantages of solid-state drives are their ultimate and more relatively low reliability. Indeed, due to the limitedness of the flash memory resource, which is determined by the gradual degradation of its semiconductor structure, any SSD sooner or later loses its ability to storing information. The question of when it can occur, for many users remains key, so many buyers when choosing drives are guided not so much by their speed, as indicators of reliability. Oils in the fire of doubts poured the manufacturers themselves, which from marketing considerations in conditions of warranty to their consumer products negotiate relatively low volumes of the permitted record.

Nevertheless, in practice, mass solid storage devices demonstrate more than enough reliability in order for them to trust the storage of user data. Experiment that showed the absence real reasons For experiences for the limb of their resource, some time ago, TechReport was held. They were performed a test, which showed that, despite all doubts, the endurance of SSD has already grew so much that it can not be thought about it at all. As part of the experiment, it was practically confirmed that most of the consumer drive models before their refusal are able to postpone the record of about 1 PBB information, and especially successful models, like Samsung 840 Pro, remain alive, digestion and 2 PBB data. Such record volumes are practically unattainable in a conventional personal computer, therefore the life of the solid-state drive is simply not to come to an end before it fully obsolete and will be replaced by a new model.

However, to convince skeptics this test could not. The fact is that it was held in 2013-2014, when there were solid-state drives built on the basis of a planar MLC NAND, which is manufactured using 25-nm technical process. Such memory before its degradation is capable of transferring about 3000-5000 cycles of programming-erasing, and now there are already very different technologies in the go. Today, the Mass models of SSD came flash memory with a three-bit cell, and modern planar technicrafts use a resolution of 15-16 nm. Parallel distribution acquires flash memory with a fundamentally new three-dimensional structure. Any of these factors are capable of changing the situation with reliability, and in the amount of modern flash memory promises only a resource in 500-1500 cycles of rewriting. Does the drives and drives deteriorate together with memory and do you need to experience again for their reliability?

Most probably not. The fact is that along with a change in semiconductor technologies, there is a continuous improvement of controllers that control flash memory. They are introduced more advanced algorithms that must compensate for the changes occurring in Nand. And, as manufacturers promise, actual SSD models at least not less reliable than their predecessors. But the objective soil for doubt still remains. Indeed, on the psychological level, drives based on the old 25-nm MLC NAND with 3000 cycles of rewriting look much more modern models SSD with 15/16-nm TLC NAND, which, other things being equal, can guarantee only 500 rewriting cycles. Not too encouraging and gaining the popularity of TLC 3D NAND, which is though produced by larger technological standards, but at the same time exposed to a stronger mutual influence of cells.

Considering all this, we decided to conduct your own experiment, which would allow to determine what endurance can guarantee today today models of drives based on the most chassis currently types of flash memory.

Controllers decide

Life limit of drives built on flash memory has long been surprising for a long time. All have long been accustomed to the fact that one of the characteristics of the Nand-memory is the guaranteed number of overwriting cycles, after which the cells can begin to distort the information or simply refuse. This is explained by this principle of work of such a memory, which is based on the seizure of electrons and storing the charge inside the floating shutter. The change in the states of the cells occurs due to the application to the floating shutter of relatively high voltages, making electrons overcome the thin layer of the dielectric in one or the other side and are delayed in the cell.

Semiconductor Nand Cell Structure

However, such a movement of electrons is akin to break - it gradually flashes insulating material, and ultimately it leads to a violation of the entire semiconductor structure. In addition, there is a second problem, which enhates a gradual deterioration of cell characteristics, - in the occurrence of tunneling, the electrons can be stuck in the dielectric layer, preventing the correct decamation of the charge stored in a floating gate. All this means that the moment when the flush memory cells cease to work normally, inevitable. The new technological processes only aggravate the problem: a layer of dielectric with a decrease in production standards only becomes thinner, which reduces its resistance to negative influences.

However, it exists a direct dependence between the resource of the Flash memory cells and the life expectancy of modern SSD, it would not be quite true. The operation of the solid-state drive is not a rectilinear entry and reading in flush memory cells. The fact is that Nand memory has a rather complicated organization and special approaches are required to interact with it. Cells are combined into pages, and pages are in blocks. Data recording is possible only in clean pages, but in order to clean the page, you need to reset the entire block entirely. This means that the record, and even worse - change data, turns into a difficult multistage process that includes reading the page, its change and re-overwrite in a free space that must be predetermined. Moreover, the preparation of free space is a separate headache, requiring "garbage collection" - the formation and cleaning of blocks from those who have already been used, but become irrelevant pages.

Flash memory scheme of solid-state drive

As a result, real scores in flash memory may differ significantly from the volume of operations that is initiated by the user. For example, a change in even one byte may entail not only the record of the whole page, but even the need to overwrite several pages at once for the pre-release of a clean block.

The ratio between the score of the recording performed by the user and the actual load on the flash memory is called the recording gain. This coefficient is almost always higher than the unit, and in some cases - much. However, modern controllers due to the buffering of operations and other intelligent approaches learned to effectively reduce the gain of the record. Distribution received such useful to extend the lives of cell cells, like SLC-caching and leveling of wear. On the one hand, they translate a small part of the memory into a gentle SLC mode and use it to consolidate small scattered operations. On the other hand, they make a load on an array of memory more uniform, preventing unnecessary repeated overwrings of the same area. As a result, it may cause a completely different load into two different drives of the same number of user data from the point of view of the flash memory array - it all depends on the algorithms used by the controller and firmware in each case.

There is one more party: garbage collection technology and TRIM, which in order to improve performance are pre-prepared clean blocks of flash memory pages and therefore can carry data from place to place without any user participation, driven by the NAND massif optional and considerable contribution. . But the specific implementation of these technologies also largely depends on the controller, so the differences in how SSD manage the resource of its own flash memory can be significant here.

As a result, all this means that the practical reliability of two different drives with the same flash memory may differ very significantly only at the expense of various internal algorithms and optimizations. Therefore, speaking about the resource of modern SSD, it is necessary to understand that this parameter is determined not only and not so much endurance of memory cells as the controller is referred to how carefully with them.

SSD controllers work algorithms are constantly being improved. The developers are not only trying to optimize the volume of recording operations in flash memory, but also engage in the implementation of more efficient methods of digital signal processing and correction of read errors. In addition, some of them resort to the excretion on the SSD of an extensive backup area, due to which the load on the NAND cells additionally decreases. All this also affects the resource. Thus, in the hands of SSD manufacturers, there are mass of levers to influence what the outcome endurance will demonstrate their product, and the flash memory resource is only one of the parameters in this equation. That is why conducting the endurance tests of modern SSD and causes such interest: despite the widespread introduction of Nand-memory with relatively low endurance, current models do not necessarily have less reliability compared to their predecessors. Progress in controllers and using them methods of work is quite capable of compensating for the harness of modern flash memory. And it is this study of current consumer SSDs and interesting. Compared to SSD past generations, only one thing remains unchanged: the resource of solid-state drives in any case is finite. But as he changed in recent years - just should show our testing.

Testing technique

The essence of ssd endurance testing is very simple: you need to continuously overwrite the data in the drives, trying to establish the limit of their endurance. However, the simple linear record does not quite meet the test objects. In the previous section, we talked about the fact that modern drives have a whole bouquet of technologies aimed at reducing the gain gain, and in addition, they are differently implementing garbage collection and leveling procedures and react differently to the TRIM operating system command . That is why the most correct approach is to interact with SSD through a file system with an exemplary repetition of the profile of real operations. Only in this case can we get the result that conventional users Can be considered as a guideline.

Therefore, in our endurance test, we use formatted with file nTFS system The drives that are continuously and alternately create files of two types: Small - with a random size from 1 to 128 KB and large - with a random size of 128 KB to 10 MB. During the test, these files with random filling multiply until the drive remains more than 12 GB of free space, after this threshold, all created files are deleted, a small pause is made and the process is repeated again. In addition, on the test drives at the same time there is a third type of files - permanent. Such files with a total of 16 GB in the process of erasing-overwriting are not involved, but are used to check the correct performance of drives and stable readability of stored information: each SSD fill cycle We check the checksum of these files and process it with a reference, for a predetermined value.

The described test script is playing special program Anvil's Storage Utilities Version 1.1.0, monitoring the status of the drives is carried out using the CrystalDiskInfo utility version 7.0.2. Test system It is a computer with the Motherboard ASUS B150M Pro Gaming, the Core i5-6600 processor with a built-in graphic kernel Intel. HD Graphics 530 and 8 GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM. The SATA-interface drives are connected to the SATA 6 Gb / s controller embedded in the motherboard chipset, and operate in AHCI mode. Used driver Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) 14.8.0.1042.

The list of SSD models participating in our experiment has now included more than five dozen items:

1. (AgamIXS11-240GT-C, SVN139B firmware);
2. ADATA XPG SX950 (ASX950SS-240GM-C, Q0125A firmware);
3. ADATA ULTIMATE SU700 256 GB (ASU700SS-256GT-C, B170428A firmware);
4. (ASU800SS-256GT-C, firmware P0801A);
5. (ASU900SS-512GM-C, P1026A firmware);
6. CRUCIAL BX500 240 GB (CT240BX500SSD1, firmware M6CR013);
7. CRUCIAL MX300 275 GB (CT275MX300SSD1, firmware M0CR021);
8. (CT250MX500SSD1, firmware M3CR010);
9. GoodRam CX300 240 GB ( SSDPR-CX300-240, SBFM71.0 firmware);
10. (SSDPR-IridPro-240, SAFM22.3 firmware);
11. (SSDPED1D280GAX1, firmware E2010325);
12. (SSDSC2KW256G8, LHF002C firmware);

Test 10 SSD MSATA | SSD response on a miniature board

SSD installation idea with interface mSATA. The computer's motherboard is quite good, but only if the drive is as fast as the more common models of the format 2.5 ". And its cost per gigabyte should be at the same level. To pay extra for a slower disc just does not make sense, even if it A small SSD used exclusively for caching. More and more more SSD. Appears at a price of a price cheaper $ 1 / GB, so now it is quite easy to find a disc with a volume of at least 128 GB for a personal computer.

Dell XPS 13, ULTRABOOK

But under conditions, when an additional physical space is a luxury (and in some cases there is no at all), mSATA. It may be the only way to install a solid-state drive. Ultrabooks are a bright example. With a very limited space, you can consider the installation of one 2.5 drive, disk based on mSATA., or some combination of two. In such a compact form factor, the combination of quickly sees boot disk and a slower disk for storing user data, but for it will have to pay extra.

Connector mSATA. We first reviewed in the article "Intel SSD 310 80 GB: Little Notebooks Get Big Storage Flexibility (English)" almost two years ago. This physical interface is very similar to Mini-PCIE. However, mSATA. Uses typical SATA wiring. Fortunately, some of the boards currently have adapters required to install full-size MINI-PCIE cards or drives mSATA. In the same slot. In this regard, many face productivity problem: Some motherboards, for example, DH61AG Intel, support mSATA. With a data transfer rate of 3 Gbps, which slows down the drives intended for compounds 6 Gb / s.

Learning that the choice of SSD intended for use in slots mSATA., Pretty little, we decided to consider all possible options provided to us by ADATI, CRUCIAL, MUSHKIN and OCZ.

Test 10 SSD MSATA | Configuration and tests

Although the greatest benefit from compact SSD mSATA. They receive ultrabooks (and other thin and light form factors), as a test bench, they are not very suitable, because the drives in the testing process must be constantly installed and removed. Therefore, on our test desktop system, we use the MSATA-TO-SATA adapter. The loss of performance associated with such a configuration is not, since the adapter simply changes the physical interface, not the connection. In addition, this installation allows us to correctly compare discs based on mSATA. With more overall 2.5 "SSD.

Test configuration
CPU.	Intel Core i5-2400 (Sandy Bridge), 32 Nm, 3.1 GHz, LGA 1155, 6 MB of General Cache L3, Turbo Boost. incl.
Motherboard	Gigabyte G1.Sniper M3.
Memory	Kingston Hyper-x 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1333 @ DDR3-1333, 1.5 V
System Disk	OCZ VERTEX 3 240 GB SATA 6 Gb / s
Video card	Palit GeForce GTX 460 1 GB
Tested drives	ADATA XPG SX300 64 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: - ADATA XPG SX300 128 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: - ADATA XPG SX300 256 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: - Crucial M4 MSATA 64 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: - Crucial M4 MSATA 128 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: - Crucial M4 MSATA 256 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: - Mushkin Atlas M4 MSATA 60 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: - Mushkin Atlas M4 MSATA 120 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: - Mushkin Atlas M4 MSATA 240 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: - OCZ NOCTI 120 GB GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: - Intel SSD 310 80 GB SATA 3 Gb / s, Firmware: - Intel SSD 320 300 GB SATA 3 Gb / s, Firmware: 1.92 Intel SSD 320 80 GB SATA 3 Gb / s, Firmware: 1.92 Intel SSD 330 180 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: 300i Intel SSD 330 120 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: 300i Samsung 830 256 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: CXMO Samsung 830 64 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: CXMO Crucial M4 256 GB SATA 6 Gb / C Firmware: 0309 Crucial M4 64 GB SATA 6 Gb / C Firmware: 0009 OCZ VERTEX 3 240 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: 2.15 OCZ VERTEX 3 120 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: 2.22 OCZ VERTEX 3 60 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: 2.15 Ocz Agility 3 240 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: 2.22 Ocz Agility 3 120 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: 2.22 OCZ Agility 3 60 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: 2.22 OCZ VERTEX 4 256 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: 1.5 OCZ Agility 4 256 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: 1.5 OCZ Agility 4 128 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: 1.5 OCZ VERTEX 4 64 GB SATA 6 Gb / s, Firmware: 1.5
Food	SEASONIC 760 W, 80 Plus Gold
By and Driver
Operating system	Windows 7 x64 Ultimate
DirectX	DirectX 11.
Driver	Graphics: NVIDIA 270.61 RST: 10.6.0.1002 Virtu: 1.1.101
Tests
IOMETER 1.1.0.	# WORKERS \u003d 1, 4 KB randomly lba \u003d 8 GB, changing the depth of the queue, sequentially 128 KB, Logical LBA Span
PCMark 7.	Storage Suite.
Tom "S Hardware Storage Bench V1.0	Trace database

Test 10 SSD MSATA | ADATA XPG SX300 MSATA SSD

Family ADATA XPG SX300. - these are relatives of the line of drives 2.5 "SX90, only with a connector mSATA.which we viewed in the article "Test 10 SSD capacity of 240 - 256 GB" . Both rules work on the second generation Sandforce controller, so it can be expected that the more compact version will provide the level of productivity of conventional models that we have been using for more than two years.

In fact, the XPG SX300 is slightly different from most standard SSDs with Sandforce chips. As in the case of the SX900, ADATA used the ability to complete the backup data area through updating the controller firmware from the manufacturer. In our SX900 review, we saw how reservation helps restore the speed of the drive when all cells are busy. Refusal to this function under certain conditions may adversely affect performance.

You will notice that the XPG SX300 (all three SSDs Volume 64, 128 and 256 GB) use four BGA memory chip, each of which is associated with the controller through two channels. So all three SSD mSATA. Use eight channels available on the channel controller. According to ADATA, the company uses 25-nanometer synchronous IMFT flash memory, which should provide high performance.

Why in the random reading dough 4 kb between three SSD such a big difference? With a low stage depth, which are most characteristic of ultrabooks or mid-level desktop systems, the indicators of these drives are pretty close. The model with a capacity of 256 GB goes forward only at eight and more teams. With a high depth of the queue, more capacious SSD better Use the interface between the SandForce controller and flash memory.

Record compressible information on the XPG SX300 (on the chart below with solid lines) does not leave space for alternation that improves performance. Sandforce Durawrite technology provides all three SSD similar results.

However, we know that the Sandforce architecture does not work very well with compressed data. Therefore, the models at 128 and 256 GB are demonstrated noticeably higher than the SSD capacity of 64 GB containing fewer nand memory blocks. Moreover, the test indicators of this triple are noticeably lower when drives have to work with incompressible data (on the graph is depicted by dotted line).

The speed of consistent reading is noticeably higher. All three drives provide an impressive bandwidth, reaching 500 MB / s with a queue in two commands.

The speed with a sequential recording of compressible data by blocks of 128 KB is also very high.