We're looking at SSDs for a few reasons
There appear to be half a dozen different manufacturers of SSD controllers (Marvell, Intel, JMicron, Samsung, Indilinx, Toshiba, Sandforce).
Troublingly, some controllers or associated firmwares appear to be considerably less reliable than others (judging from consumer reviews on, e.g., NewEgg.com). E.g. the Indilinx and JMicron ones seem especially suspect. Sandforce-based drives also look a little sketchy depending on the vendor (perhaps they're making stupid firmware modifications?).
Controller Manufacturer |
SSDs |
---|---|
Marvell 88SS9174 |
Intel 510 series, Plextor M2, Crucial M4 |
Intel |
All Intel SSDs aside from the 510 series |
Samsung |
Apparently Samsung drives, only |
Toshiba |
Only consumer drive appears to be Kingston SNVP325 series (though also used by OEMS, e.g. Apple) |
Indilinx |
Tons of random consumer drives (e.g. OCZ) |
JMicron |
Tons of random consumer drives (e.g. Kingston, OCZ) |
Sandforce |
Lots of random consumer drives |
We looked at 4 drives with chips from Marvell, Intel, Samsung, and Toshiba:
SSD |
Sizes |
Controller (purported) |
Firmware |
Latest Firmware |
Part Numbers |
Link |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intel 320 Series |
80GB, 120GB |
Intel PC29AS21BA0 |
|
v1.7 (1/26/2011) |
SSDSA2CW080G3B5, SSDSA2CW120G3B5 |
|
Samsung 470 Series |
64GB, 128GB |
Samsung S3C29MAX01 |
AXM09B1Q |
AXM09B1Q (5/5/2011) |
MZ-5PA064, MZ-5PA128 |
|
Crucial M4 |
64GB, 128GB |
Marvell 88SS9174 |
|
002 |
CT064M4SSD2, CT128M4SSD2 |
|
Mushkin Calisto Deluxe |
60GB, 115GB |
Sandforce SF1200 |
|
3.6.1 |
MKNSSDCL60GB-DX, MKNSSDCL115GB-DX2 |