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Brand | G.SKILL |
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Series | FALCON |
Model | FM-25S2S-128GBF1 |
Device Type | Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) |
Form Factor | 2.5" |
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Capacity | 128GB |
Memory Components | MLC |
Interface | SATA II |
Sustained Sequential Read | 230MBps (max.) |
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Sustained Sequential Write | Up to 190MBps |
MTBF | +1,500,000 Hours |
Features | 64MB DRAM Cache |
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Max Shock Resistance | 1500G |
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Max Vibration Resistance | 20G |
Date First Available | April 27, 2009 |
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Pros: This drive is the fastest drive I own. I'm comparing that to 5 Samsung SLC drives I own, even the 4 in raid on a Highpoint 3510 hardware raid, as far as raw IO. Tested using HD tune pro on and intel ICH10r. Reads= 10041 IOs @ .10ms 4ksize and Random IO was 304 IOs @ 3.3ms and 152.054 mb/s. Writes are off the chart at 22346 IOs .04ms 4k size and random was an insane 385 IOs @2.6ms 192.708mb/s throughput in WRITE! This is just plane sick. For comparison, my 4x 32gb SLC raid setup only hits 3163 IOs at 4k, and Random is slightly better at 351 IOs at 2.8ms and 175.529mb/s. A single drive is almost as fast a 4x SLC drives in read and is faster in wites.
Cons: This drive did not work as well in a Lenovo t61. The ICH7 mobile chipset does not allow this drive to reach much potential. This is not the fault of the drive, but a Samsung SLC 64gb drive was just barely faster. No pausing was noted, but outlook 2k7 took longer to start, and was noticeable to take longer opening mail. Should be noted that the SLC drive is only 64gb and costs about 2x this drive. I would imagine any newer laptop with a better chipset will show the same numbers as my tests in a desktop. Still better than a 72k rpm drive!
Overall Review: I also want to state before the above numbers, I filled the drive with random data, so the tests you represent actual "used" condition (important for MLC drives). HD tune pro also showed the drive in the read test at 204mb/s average and the write was 185mb/s. FYI the drive label says Max 230 read and 190 write, so the average number is impressive. The all important minimum write never went below 150mb/s. This is the drive to buy. The firmware of my drive was 1370 as shipped.