The SSD Review The Worlds Dedicated SSD Education and Review Resource | 
BENCHMARK PROTOCOL AND THE TEST BENCH
This is our new Intel Z77 Test Bench. A quick click on the photo will give you a better look.
In testing, our main objective is to obtain results as pure and as accurate as possible and we want to ensure that no anomalies slip through. Simply put, we want to provide you with the absolute best results the tested hardware can provide. Repetition in testing is standard and, if necessary, we may conduct specific tests in Windows 7 safe mode to ensure the OS has little to no influence on the end result.
In order to validate and confirm our findings, testing is supported by industry accepted benchmark programs. All results are displayed through capture of the actual benchmark for better understanding of the testing process by the reader.
We would like to thank Intel, Corsair, Patriot, OCZ, and Be Quiet, for sponsoring components of our Test Bench.
SSD COMPRESSION AND TESTING FLUCTUATIONS
All SSDs are not created equal and many new SSD enthusiasts realize that when they test their new drive to confirm specifications and ensure all is in order. LSI SandForce controlled SSDs, as in the MyDigitalSSD Smart Series 256GB mSATA SSD we are testing today, use compression techniques in storage whereas many others do not.
This creates a bit of confusion when enthusiasts test the drive with random data through benchmarking programs such as AS SSD and Crystal DiskMark. The results seem to be lower than the listed specifications.
BENCHMARK SOFTWARE
The software we will be using for todays analysis is typical of many of our reviews and consist of ATTO Disk Benchmark, Crystal DiskMark, AS SSD, Anvil Storage Utilities, and PCMark Vantage. We rely on these as they each have a way of supporting one another yet, at the same time, adding a new performance benchmark to the total picture. Much of the software is free and can be downloaded simply by clicking on the linked title.
Seen here for a bit of a size comparison is the SMART mSATA seated on MyDigitalSSDs new BP3 512GB notebook SSD printed circuit board (PCB).
will this 256gb drive work for upgrading the Samsung series 9b 2012 13 inch model?
Of course it will…
When will we see the BP3 review?
By days end… just doing up the final report now!
“Up until recently, ATTO was the only benchmark created specifically for SSD testing and it uses incompressible data.” I think you mean AS SSD
OOops! Tx!
from a press release today, the actual ADATA XPG SX300 SSD (256GB) is being sold for MSRP $299 so I’m hoping there’s a $20 coupon or something coming from MyDigSSD…
I dunno if links are allowed or not, but the press release for the other one (or I guess the same one) with the $299.99 price is here:
https://www.guru3d.com/news/adata-xpg-sx300-and-premier-pro-sp300-msata-ssds/
great website! ill admit im a bit of a noob when it comes to SSDs. ive recently purchased a lenovo y580 and im looking at possibly upgrading the HD since it is definitely the bottleneck of the system (1tb 5400rpm).
maybe you could clarify a few things for me, is there a large gap in performance between a msata and sata ssd drive? im considering buying the 64gb version of the mydigitalssd smart series based on your reviews (mostly for the OS and because I can still use the capacity of the 1tb HDD that came along with the y580). would the 64gb version perform similarly to the 256gb version you reviewed? does this sound like my best move or am i better off buying a regular ssd?
The question you ask is key in knowledge of SSDs and, for the most part, it’s answer can change drastically depending on the tasks you have in mind for its use.
Simply, unless you have a specific task in mind that will put excessive stress on the SSD, there is nobody that can tell the difference from one SSD to another regardless of size or form factor and that is because most of the ‘typical’ performance upgrade comes from an SSDs disk access time, all being somewhere in the area of 0.01-0.02ms typically.
The key question with that laptop will be whether the mSATA can be used independent of a caching solution or will always be a cached SSD.
thanks for your reply! okay, would i benefit more from
1)using a 64gb msata as fully cached ssd.
2)using a 128gb msata as a boot drive/main apps and the HDD as a storage drive for things such as music, videos, and random games
i am also just considering replacing my hdd with a regular 2.5 ssd but lack of capacity has me concerned.
My personal choice would be the larger as a boot drive for OS and apps with secondary storage of the rest.
no coupon! its overpriced as usually by mydigss
FYI, the main reason we were able to release it 1st is because I have been spending the last 3 months convincing them to build it. 🙂
I’ve noticed that you can buy the “ADATA XPG SX300 ASX300S3-256GM-C mSATA 256GB ” for $249 at Newegg.com. While there may be some similarities between this product and the one that MyDigitalSSD is offering in this review, I expect there are probably some key differences (firmware, warranty, etc) as well that account for the $70 difference in price. As I’m new to the msata SSD scene, can someone help me understand what the differences might be in simple terms?
The only difference will most likely be the warranty as ADATA has already stated that this will be a five year warranty.
hey guys. What type of configuration can you this SSD with a primary boot drive? I am asking because I am interested in purchasing a new Alienware M18x. When I am configuring my drive options there’s a 500GB 7,200 RPM + 32GB Super Cache mSATA SSD. I was thinking of swapping the 32gb to a higher gb mSATA SSD. Would a RAID 0 2 x 500GB 7,200 RPM (1TB) be faster than a 500GB 7,200 RPM + 32GB Cache mSATA? I am doing intense editing of HD files + long renders. I would like to understand the logic of this hybrid solutions vs. the more practical but pricier solutions. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Any news on when these might be available again. Everywhere I can find them listed for sale they say they are back-ordered 🙁
They are on and off again at Amazon and, yes, they are a very hot item.
I wanted to purchase this ssd for my asus ep121 slate but currently unavailible. I noticed your adata sx300 comparison, found the adata but the part number is as
asx300s3-256gm-c with the c on the end not the b will this work? i am assuming the b was for beta and c for consumer if i am guessing right
Yes it will work just fine. Enjoy!
Hi sandor! Did you upgrade your EP121 with a 256GB-SSD? Could you please share your experience?
I would like to upgrade my Slate, too. But can’t find any helpful information about working SSD’s in the Slate.
Hi, I noticed the power consumption on the mydigital smart series drives is much larger (3W) than the BP3 series (<0.9W), does this have a huge impact on laptop battery life? Also, does the 5.02 firmware have the same TRIM problems as the other brands that use the same sandorce firmware? Thanks
Any luck on identification of the memory modules? Are these the same used as ADATA?