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256GB SSD for Macbook Air from Photofast

E

exFictitiouZ

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 3, 2009
42
20
It's been quite some time after its release, but anyway I just want to come up with some good news for Rev A Macbook Air owners

Photofast has just introduced its fourth version of 1.8" PATA ZIF 40pin SSD with maximum storage of 256GB

Its advertised Read/Write speeds are 135/90 MB/s, which I know is slower that those of Runcore's (A review of a pre-release unit can be found here, and the result was 91/73 MB/s. Keep in mind that it's a pre-release unit and the reviewer states that the actual unit would perform faster.)

However, after I saw a lot of people in Scottsdale's thread on Runcore's SSD saying that they'd like to wait until the 256GB model shows up, I think maybe this is something noteworthy, especially for impatient ones out there :D

PS. I myself have the second version of Photofast SSD installed in my MBA Rev A and it gives me a lot of beachballs in almost anything I do. Judging from the benchmarks in the link above, I think this one would be an improvement/ :)
 
L

LinMac

macrumors 65816
Oct 28, 2007
1,197
13
The purpose of an SSD is to increase the speed of the computer. I can understand the benefits of a larger drive, but at this point SSDs are primarily for speed while platter disks are for space.

Choose. :)

RunCore drives for the Macbook Air are unmatched in terms of speed. Photofast drives don't even come close.

There are a few caveats to that though:

1) RunCore needs to implement garbage collection to maintain the performance. Without it you're left to format your drive every 12 - 24 months to maintain performance.

Notes: TRIM doesn't work on OS X now and wiper.exe is Windows only.

2) RunCore is still sorting out their support situation though it is remarkably better than it was.

3) Their SSDs aren't sold through Amazon, Newegg, or other mainstream retail websites that most people will be immediately familiar with. They are only available at smaller retailers such as MyDigitalDiscount.com which isn't necessarily a problem, but is worth mentioning.

Note: I purchased my RunCore SSD from MyDigitalDiscount.com and had no problems at all. I like their service and would purchase from them again.
 
N

nando4

macrumors regular
Mar 21, 2009
111
0
LinMac said:
1) RunCore needs to implement garbage collection to maintain the performance. Without it you're left to format your drive every 12 - 24 months to maintain performance.

Notes: TRIM doesn't work on OS X now and wiper.exe is Windows only.
Click to expand...

Tony Trim is an effective way of doing a garbage collection if there is no firmware or wiper.exe or other utility. The idea is to consolidate free space followed by a utility that can fill the free space with nulls (FF).

So all that is needed is a OSX equivalent of Perfect DIsk and AS Cleaner.
 
L

LinMac

macrumors 65816
Oct 28, 2007
1,197
13
Can someone confirm the settings necessary to perform this operation in OS X?

I've looked at iDefrag and other programs, but the authors specifically state the software should not be used on SSDs.
 
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