Intel’s 34nm X25-M G2 drives might not’ve had the most peaceful of existences so far, but you can’t fault the company’s efforts to fix whatever maladies have popped up. The latest firmware update from Santa Clara brings back the lauded Trim support, but this time leaves the drive-killing antics behind. User experiences so far have been positive, though unsurprisingly a couple of people have questioned whether Trim is in fact enabled on their drives — clearly, the difference between fast and really, really fast is not as distinguishable as we like to think. The source link will provide you with the latest firmware update tool and the precious new code — if you dare risk it.
[Thanks, Alex]
Intel SSD firmware 02HD brings back Trim support, sans bugs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It's been a long time coming, hasn't it? OCZ Technology's
Colossus is the outfit's first in the desktop SSD space, and with capacities scaling as high at 1TB, it's certainly tempting for performance junkies who just can't pry themselves away from their tower. The benchmark-minded kids over at
PC Perspective were able to get a drive in with final firmware a few weeks back, and they've pushed out a full review just prior to these things
hitting retail en masse. Needless to say, all the numbers in the world won't make this any cheaper, but for those willing to spend at least $3.24 per gigabyte on internal storage, there's hardly a better option out right now. Reviewers found that read and write speeds seriously pushed the SATA 3Gb/sec limit, and the latter were "faster than on any SATA device tested to date." Sadly, the lack of TRIM support and the inability for end-users to upgrade the firmware put somewhat of a damper on things, but if neither one of those tidbits bother you, pulling the trigger just might be the right thing to do.
OCZ's Colossus desktop SSD gets reviewed: oh yeah, it's fast originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Well, that was a short honeymoon -- Intel's now pulled its
SSD Toolbox and associated TRIM firmware update amid reports that it was bricking drives under Windows 7. We haven't heard more than anecdotal evidence about this, but we'd definitely pick having a functional drive over the promised 40 percent speed boost from the code, so you should probably hold off if you've downloaded but haven't updated yet. We're looking into things, we'll let you know -- but man, the X-25M just
hasn't had an easy life, has it?
Update: Intel just gave us its official statement on the matter:
Yes, we have been contacted by users with issues with the firmware upgrade for our 34nm SSDs and we are investigating. We take all sightings and issues seriously and are working toward resolution. We have temporarily taken down the firmware link while we investigate.
[Thanks, Joseph and Ty]
Read - Former SSD Toolbox download page
Read - Intel support forum page
Filed under: Storage
Intel pulls SSD Toolbox for killing drives under Windows 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We won't say that we love products leaving the oven before they're completely done, but we
do adore gratis firmware updates that better a product even after you've purchased it. That being said, we're actually stoked that Intel has decided to out its
second major firmware update for the
second-gen 34nm X25-M SSD, and unlike the first, this one has the potential to put smiles on lots and lots (as opposed to a few) faces. The newfangled SSD Toolbox includes an SSD Optimizer for the aforementioned device, which promises to help users "more effectively monitor and manage the SSD's health." It also offers a performance boost to sequential write speeds by delivering up to 100MB/sec on the 160GB model, which represents a rather substantial 40 percent uptick over the existing firmware. The best news of all? Intel's doing more than just blowing hot air, as the benchmarking gurus over at
Hot Hardware found out. Hit the read link for their eye-opening analysis.
Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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