Mushkin Enhanced Reactor 2.5" 500GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDRE500GB

Pros: Is very fast, reading speeds are more important than writing speeds for me, but this is why this one is a little less expensive than most, it's only 460MB/s writing whereas the 550MB/s cost more as I said. Reading maxes out SATA III, so this is why I went for this one and it's been my main drive since July, so far a few glitches but still can't find the culprit of the glitches specifically, but sometimes my system won't recognize the drive and use it as the boot drive I get this message saying no partition found or drive, can't remember exactly, but after the 3 or so reset, then it goes back to normal. 386GB left for storage, plenty for my needs and will definitely keep buying this one for my future builds, as long as it keeps the price low.

Cons: None

Overall Review: Consider buying this one compare to other more expensive models, I have the 256 version as well along with the 512 and both are very reliable. Samsung are probably good but Mushkin has better customer service, can't put a price on that.

Pros: Exceptionally good value Micron 16nm MLC NAND Three year warranty

Cons: No hardware encryption Not the fastest SSD available No software toolbox

Overall Review: Finally ran out of space on my 500gb Samsung EVO 850 and while I love the speed of this SSD I was not able to stretch my budget to the 1Tb version. So I needed to find a reasonably speedy 1TB SSD that was within my current budget. After some research I found some options, the Mushkin Reactor being one. This is not a new drive, however it is built around Micron 16nm NAND MLC memory with a mature Silicon Motion controller. While I have not performed any specific tests on this SSD, it feels similar in speed to my Samsung 850 Evo. I am sure that synthetic tests may show that the Samsung is the faster drive, but for everyday applications and games I don’t notice a difference. MLC NAND should provide me with good reliability and the Silicon Motion controller is a mature controller with a good reputation. Initially I was put off by no hardware encryption or software toolbox, however on reflection I don’t use hardware encryption and I can find other software applications that provide the same functionality as a software toolbox, so no real loss there. My main reason for buying this drive was MLC NAND and price, I was able to take advantage of a Newegg special pricing and picked this drive up $30 cheaper than the cheapest TLC NAND drive. While there are faster drives available they are considerably more expensive and for everyday surfing and gaming a faster drive does not translate in to a worthwhile cost benefit (IMO). Recommended.

Pros: Was fine when it worked

Cons: The product died after 1 year of normal use, and Mushkin will force you to pay for shipping. I had to pay $30 shipping for a defective $90 SSD. Think about that before you buy this. If you receive a broken or dead item Mushkin will force you to pay 1/3 of the value of the item to get your RMA done, they won't pay your shipping or even upgrade you to a better model. Beware, Mushkin customer support is absolutely terrible. I highly recommend that you go for a better brand like Samsung.

Pros: It is MLC memory for the price of TLC

Cons: None

Overall Review: There are 3 types of SSD: SLC is Single Level Cell, and is the most expensive, best-performing, and longest-lasting. It stores one bit per cell. MLC is Multi-Level Cell, and is the middle ground for expense, performance, and longevity. It stores two bits per cell. TLC is Triple-Level Cell, and is the least expensive, worst performer, and has the shortest life expectancy. It stores three bits per cell.

Pros: Drive is fast. Coming from a platter setup using this SSD drive. I have windows 10 and my steam games on it. I would recommend this drive.

Cons: Not as fast as the more expensive ssd drives. You honestly won't notice much difference though.

Overall Review: Crytaldisk benchmark results Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 537.900 MB/s Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 444.705 MB/s Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 143.818 MB/s [ 35111.8 IOPS] Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 105.107 MB/s [ 25660.9 IOPS] Sequential Read (T= 1) : 417.342 MB/s Sequential Write (T= 1) : 443.601 MB/s Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 24.600 MB/s [ 6005.9 IOPS] Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 59.785 MB/s [ 14595.9 IOPS] Test : 1024 MiB [C: 36.3% (35.2/97.2 GiB)] (x3) [Interval=5 sec]

Pros: Good bang for the buck, given the size and performance. Packaging didn't require the Jaws of Life to open. Made in the USA.

Cons: Didn't hit the performance marks listed, however likely has to do with the speed of the rest of my system (CPU, RAM). That said, it wasn't far off (R 513.56mb/W 430.53mb). Plus I likely didn't bench under ideal conditions. Probably the biggest con...is it's not the 1TB drive. :)

Overall Review: Night and day difference from my old 72k HDD...if this doesn't brick within the next year...I'll likely never again have an HDD for my OS drive ever again. I highly suggest if one is looking to buy and SSD...they get at least 512gb or larger...my cousin has already gone through two drives from OCZ (128gb, 256gb) and is now looking to get ether a 512 like mine or the 1tb version. So save your self time & money and buy a bigger drive...and Mushkin is making it easy to do so with these prices.

Pros: 1. Advertised speed is legit. 2. Mushkin's customer support is the best in the business. 3. 2 of these in RAID 0 = 1120mb/s read and 848mb/s write in ATTO benchmark

Cons: None

Overall Review: Grab 2 and put them in RAID 0. If you have the Fractal Arc Midi case you can mount them to the back of the motherboard tray. My system: Mobo: MSI Gaming 5 z97 Cpu: i5 4690k Gpu: XFX DD R9 290 Ram: HyperX Fury (16gb) Psu: Rosewill Photon 1050 Ssd: 2x Mushkin Enhanced Reactor 512gb in RAID 0 Aio: Corsair H100i GTX Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (with window)

Pros: No issues after 3+ years. Heavy use as a Steam/game drive

Cons: None

Overall Review: I've owned 7 or 8 Mushkins over the past 6 or 7 years, and they all continue to work. From early SATA II 200ish gig ones, to now 1 and 2 TB ones. I've used them in laptops, desktops, and servers.. as main OS drives, as video editing drives, game drives, and other misc work. I even ran 3 of my older 200ish gig ones in a RAID 0 for quite some time to try and do insane fast game loading times, which worked great.. but then I ended up re-purposing them for other projects. All I'm getting at is, through various conditions and usage, with different models, I have never had one fail or have errors - they still all run strong.