SSD bootup drive

[leftPCbehind209]

Will be purchasing a 6-core MP in coming week and would like to buy a SSD for boot drive.

Is this a good drive?
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=CTFDDAC28G&title=Crucial-2-5-inch-128GB-RealSSD-C300-SATA3-Solid-State-Drive-MLC&c=CJ

It is currently another $30 off to make it $239.

How does this compare with stuff from OWC?

 

[nanofrog]

Will be purchasing a 6-core MP in coming week and would like to buy a SSD for boot drive.

Is this a good drive?
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=CTFDDAC28G&title=Crucial-2-5-inch-128GB-RealSSD-C300-SATA3-Solid-State-Drive-MLC&c=CJ

It is currently another $30 off to make it $239.

How does this compare with stuff from OWC?

Well IMO, as they both use SandForce controller chips (firmware = garbage collection), and OWC's 120GB model is $320USD, then YES. Get it before the deal expires.

 

[VirtualRain]

Well IMO, as they both use SandForce controller chips (firmware = garbage collection), and OWC's 120GB model is $320USD, then YES. Get it before the deal expires.

Actually I think the C300 uses a new Marvell controller, but it is better than their first gen. However, Anand recommends against using these drives in systems like the Mac that lack TRIM since their robustness under heavy use is not as good as Sandforce.

From the specs on that link the OP provided:

Specifications
Mfr Part Number: CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1
Capacity: 128 GB
Form Factor: 2.5 inch
Interface: SATA3
NAND Flash: MLC
Controller: Marvell

What AnandTech has to say...

The C300 is clearly a drive made for Windows 7. With no TRIM utility, poor 512-byte aligned performance and clear degradation over time with heavy random writes, the C300 is best used with Windows 7 and its native TRIM support. Luckily for Crucial, there are a lot of Windows 7 users out there. Update: Version 2.6.33 of the Linux kernel supports TRIM as well. Presumably the C300 would do just as well under Linux so long as there's TRIM support.

I often get questions from Mac users asking what the best SSD is for OS X. Since Apple still won’t support TRIM you need a very resilient drive under OS X. That path leads you to SandForce. Pick up a Corsair Force, OCZ Vertex 2, G.Skill Phoenix or whatever SF drive tickles your fancy if you want the best of the best in your Mac.

 

[Ryan P]

If you use a SSD solely as Windows 7 Boot Camp drive would TRIM be employed?

 

[Username652719]

The new RealSSD C300 drives have a SandForce controller.

 

[Ryan P]

The new RealSSD C300 drives have a SandForce controller.

Link? Can't find any info on this.

 

[nanofrog]

Actually I think the C300 uses a new Marvell controller...

I'll have to dig further into this drive then, as SandForce based drives are a better choice IMO due to the garbage collection since OS X doesn't provide TRIM support. Once TRIM shows up in OS X, this may change (users can go for whatever balance of price/performance they want).

 

[Giuly]

It's Marvell.

However, these drives don't make sense on SATA 3GBit/s-links, as they won't reach more than 270MB/s read and are much slower than the SandForce drives when writing - better get a SandForce-1200 based drive.

 

[nanofrog]

It's Marvell.

However, these drives don't make sense on SATA 3GBit/s-links, as they won't reach more than 270MB/s read and are much slower than the SandForce drives when writing - better get a SandForce-1200 based drive.

Thanks for the confirmation.