Solid State Drives

Hey guys. I own an ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC and it comes with Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500.00 GB 7,200 RPM hard drive. I am seriously thinking about upgrading to a Solid State Drive to improve the performance of my laptop. The drive that most interests me is the ADATA S599 2.5" SATA II Solid State Drive in the 128.00 GB capacity. Here is more information:

http://www.adata.com.tw/index.php?action=product_feature&cid=3&piid=33

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UEQW6E/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

As you can see for yourself on the ADATA web page that I provided, it comes with a SandForce SF-1222 processor and Windows 7 TRIM support and a 3 year manufacturer's warranty along with more than 51,000 IOPS.

I would like to get more opinions about it. This time, my budget for a SSD drive is limited to $420.00 USD and I need a minimum of 120.00 GB storage capacity.

I am also very interested in the Intel X25-M 160.00 GB SATA II Solid State Drive:

http://download.intel.com/design/flash/nand/mainstream/322208.pdf

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167032

Intel is offering up to a $90.00 USD mail-in rebate for this specific product which is valid for purchases from NewEgg or NewEgg Business between the dates of 12/19/2010 to 01/01/2011. Basically, the lowered price will be $299.99 USD for an Intel X-25M 160.00 GB SSD.

What do you think? Do you have other recommendations that I should consider?

Thank you.

ShinyFalcon and Bangraman:

Thank you for your replies. Though it is much more expensive, I choose to go with the Intel X-25M 160.00 GB Solid State Drive for $417.29 USD at NewEgg. There is a $90.00 USD manufacturer's mail-in rebate that I need to act quickly to redeem it. Reliability is of the utmost importance for me as this new SSD will store all of my software applications from MSDN, NJIT, and Microsoft Dreamspark along with my coursework and homework assignments until I graduate with my degree from NJIT.

Why do you say that Intel is more reliable than ADATA?

ShinyFalcon:

Thank you for referencing that thread on the Anandtech forums.

I am definitely going with the Intel X-25M 160.00 GB SSD from NewEgg. I will make the purchase this Wednesday after my paycheck clears my bank account.

I really had no idea that the ADATA S599 had so many problems.

This is why I post threads about stuff that I do not know before I decide to buy something or do something.

ShinyFalcon:

I read that the Intel X-25M Solid State Drives do not require the user to delete the data on the disk when performing a firmware upgrade. This is excellent. I visited the Intel website to look for more information. Intel provides Data Migration Software and their Intel Solid State Drive Toolbox. I also downloaded the Intel SATA Solid State Drive Firmware Update Tool. Finally, I downloaded the guides in Adobe .PDF file format.

I placed my order from NewEgg for my Intel X-25M 160.00 GB Solid State Drive today. I opted for the $2.99 surcharge for same day shipping. NewEgg confirmed receipt of my payment and they sent me a UPS tracking number. It left their Edison, New Jersey warehouse at 16:01 Romeo today. I should be able to track my package after 11:30 PM EST tonight. I selected UPS 3 Day Guaranteed shipping for free so I should expect to receive it by this Thursday.

I have a Smart Computing magazine that has a feature on how to upgrade notebook PCs including RAM and hard drives. I have all of the hardware and software to perform the data migration, firmware update, and replacement of both my hard drives. This should be a relatively painless procedure based upon my careful research, but it will be the first time that I have upgraded to a Solid State Drive.

Intel claims that their drive will improve performance by up to 56.00 percent. I keep reading articles by owners of the exact same drive that they can cold boot into Microsoft Windows 7 in under 20 seconds and they can shut down their PCs in less than 15 seconds. These same owners also write that installing big software applications such as Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 happens in 1:07 minutes and seconds. That is a full installation of all the features onto their Intel SSDs. I run Symantec Norton 360 version 4, Super Anti-Spyware Professional, and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. These three software applications take an inordinate amount of time to load up during a cold boot on my Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500.00 GB 7,200 RPM hard drive, but I dare not run my computer without these essential security tools.

My only concern is adjusting to 160.00 GB of data storage capacity. New Jersey Institute of Technology recommends 160.00 GB of storage for both undergraduate and graduate students pursuing a degree program so I should be okay if I am careful. My academic and work requirements are becoming more strenuous as I am nearing the start of my Masters of Science in IT Administration & Security degree program and both the professors and staff members are asking me to do more work to help them upgrade their legacy computers to Microsoft Windows 7 Professional and all of their required software applications. While I am limited to working up to 20.00 hours per week, I have done 32.00 hour weeks just to meet the demands for the entire College of Computing Sciences department as I am their only Help Desk & Support Technician. For example, I do not need VMWare Workstation 7.1 for personal usage, but I do need it for work with both of my professors that do use it for their academic work. So, I now need a valid license key from NJIT. VMWare takes up to 3.2 GB of data. That is before creating a virtual machine. Ubuntu 10.10 64 bit takes up 20.00 GB of data for its Virtual Machine on VMWare Workstation 7.1. Oracle VM VirtualBox takes up 8.00 GB of data for the Linux Mint 10 "Julia" Virtual Machine. I can afford to get rid of Linux Mint, but I need Ubuntu to work with one professor who runs a licensed copy of VMWare. I still need to perform the data migration from his Dell Optiplex to his Dell Precision next week when I return to work on all of his Virtual Machines. Then, I need to connect a legacy Hewlett Packard 1100a monochrome laser printer to his Dell Precision T3500 workstation which uses a IEEE-1284 bi-directional cable and it still needs to be connected to his Dell Optiplex desktop PC so he can continue to print his research papers. Neither of his Dells are connected to each other through the local area network in his office so I need to complete that task. The only problem is that he uses Scientific Linux Release 5.5 on his Precision and Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 on his Optiplex so I will need to get them connected to each other. Then, I will have to replicate the same procedures to connect each of his Virtual Machines to his Windows XP operating system so that I can perform the data migration and establish connectivity to share his HP 1100a laser printer.

I constantly think about my job even when I am on winter recess from work. It is stressful because I do not want to screw up at my job. This is a stepping stone to better positions in the computer industry in the near future. The dean of the CCS department fired the previous technician for making too many mistakes on the job.

I got a problem that I need a solution. I received both my Etymotic Research EtyBlu2 Bluetooth headset and my Intel X25-M SATA II 160.00 GB Solid State Drive today. I used Easeus Disk Copy (http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/) to copy the 16.6 GB and 116.5 GB partitions from my Seagate Momentus 7200.4 SATA II 500 GB 7,200 RPM conventional hard drive to the Intel SSD twice today. When I replaced the Seagate for the Intel SSD in my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC, I see the ASUS logo when I power on my laptop. However, I just see a blank screen with a blinking cursor located on the top left hand corner of the screen and my computer is unresponsive. It will not boot into Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. It does boot into the Splashtop operating system which is part of the ASUS ExpressGate feature and I am able to use the Mozilla web browser and surf the Internet.

Intel includes the Intel Data Migration Software which is Acronis TrueImage. It does not work. I tried to do both an automatic and manual drive clone, but Acronis is telling me that since my Seagate Momentus 7200.4 hard drive is bigger than the Intel X25-M SSD, I cannot proceed with the drive clone.

What should I do to resolve this problem?

For what it may be worth, I need to press the ESC key repeatedly to select the boot drive on my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC after performing the drive replacement earlier this afternoon. So, my Seagate Momentus 7200.4 conventional hard drive works fine as it did before.

The Intel X25-M Solid State Drive works too. I cloned two partitions onto it twice today. It will not boot into Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit as of yet.

I will try to Google the problem, but I thought to update my thread with a plea for help to resolve this problem or solicit ideas on troubleshooting.

Thank you.

Stevenswall:

I figured out the problem. EASEUS Disk Clone version 2.3 and 2.4 will allow you to make an exact 1:1 ratio copy of data from one hard drive to another hard drive or to select individual partitions for cloning. However, EASEUS does not copy the 4 kilobyte boot record that is needed to boot into Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit on my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC.

I also figured out the solution to my problem. I will need to purchase Acronis True Image Home 2011 and Acronis True Image Home 2011 Plus Pack for a combined total of $80.00 USD this weekend. Acronis is one of the few software applications that will allow me to make a disk clone of my recovery and C: drive partitions on my Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500.00 GB 7,200 RPM conventional hard drive onto my new Intel X25-M 160.00 GB Solid State Drive and it will allow me to boot into Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit after I replace the hard drives in the bay located underneath my notebook PC.

You get what you pay for in this world.

I do not want to start a flame war, but I am becoming of the opinion that free, open source software applications just do not compete compared to their commercial equivalents.

By using EASEUS Disk Clone version 2.3, I wound up wasting hours of my time and I made a few mistakes of my own that wound up corrupting the data on both my Seagate and Intel hard drives last night. Now, I must replace the Seagate Momentus 7200.4 hard drive back into my ASUS N61JV-X2 and start the process of recovering my computer to its original factory default settings and I must re-install all of my software applications and personal data files from my Mozy backups. I estimate it will take me at least six hours of work this morning to get myself back up and running to where I left off yesterday.

I will never use EASEUS Disk Clone again.

In the future, I will resort to finding the commercial solution to my computing problems instead of wasting time and losing data by going for free programs that are not proven to work.

I learned my lesson the hard way.

I still have a few more days left before I need to redeem my $90.00 USD mail-in rebate to Intel for my X25-M 160.00 GB Solid State Drive. I plan to purchase Acronis this weekend and I will perform the disk cloning process using it early next week. When all goes successful, then I will retain the data on my Seagate Momentus 7200.4 hard drive for emergencies.

This will work. I will contact Acronis by telephone today to ensure that my questions are answered prior to making the purchase this weekend.

Thank you.

I just got done with a chat session with a technician who works for Acronis. He confirmed to me that I can make a disk clone of my 116.70 GB C: partition on my Seagate Momentus 7200.4 hard drive onto my Intel X25-M SSD and the 4 Kb boot record will be preserved so that I can boot into Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit after making a successful disk clone.

I plan to continue re-installing all of my software applications and restoring my data backups onto my Seagate Momentus 7200.4 hard drive today. I will not encrypt any data to make the process of disk cloning run more smoothly without errors early next week.

I will buy Acronis True Image Home 2011 and Acronis True Image Home 2011 Plus Pack this weekend for about $80.00 USD. I will install and configure the software application to my needs early next week. Then, I will perform the disk clone at home using my Thermaltake BlacX hard drive dock using the eSATA port on my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC. Afterwards, I will verify the disk clone was successful without errors and power down my laptop, remove the Lithium Ion battery, unplug the computer from the AC wall socket, and replace the Seagate Momentus 7200.4 with the Intel X25-M SSD. Then, I know it will work and my laptop will be much much faster and more reliable.

For those of you that will need to do disk cloning, avoid EASEUS Disk Clone at all costs. It will not work with all versions of Microsoft Windows 7 because it will not allow you to boot into the operating system due to the fact that it does not copy the 4 Kb boot record onto the cloned disk if you do a partition clone.

I will let the community know how it goes with Acronis early next week. I expect it to work.

beamthegreat:

I respect your opinion. For me, it was worth buying my Intel X25-M 160 GB Solid State Drive because I run a lot of software applications concurrently. I am now getting involved in VMWare Workstation 7.1 running two 64 bit Virtual Machines, coding C++ software applications in Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2010, Microsoft Outlook Professional 2010, Word Professional 2010, not to mention my coursework and homework assignments at New Jersey Institute of Technology until I graduate with my Masters of Science in IT Administration & Security degree within the next two years. My work requires that I install and use more software applications some of which are not available through MSDN, NJIT, or Microsoft Dreamspark to help the professors do their academic research, publish papers in journals, and teach their courses. I get e-mail messages requesting my help at least three dozen times per week at work. At some time next year, they will promote me to another position which will be that of a systems administrator.

My Seagate Momentus 7200.4 conventional hard drive is having a harder time keeping up with my school and work. As a matter of fact, my laptop is getting slower because of my increased workload and the software applications that I need to keep running in the background to respond to the needs of the professors and staff at NJIT. This is why I decided to spend my money at get my Intel SSD.

Now, I have to spend another $80.00 USD to get Acronis True Image Home 2011 and Plus Pack 2011 to do a disk clone that will boot Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit this weekend. It is frustrating, but I knew that I was taking a risk in using EASEUS which turned out not to work for my needs and it corrupted my data.

As of this writing, solid state drives are coming down in prices for different storage capacities. It is not at the point whereby major computer manufacturers can afford to build them into their new computers on a mass market level, but there are a significant number of people adding SSDs to their computers especially laptops. I have a friend who has an ASUS notebook PC that is similar to mine except he has a Crucial RealSSD C300 SATA III 256 GB Solid State Drive. It is more expensive than my Intel X25-M 160 GB Solid State Drive. His ASUS notebook PC is much faster than mine and he runs similar software applications including Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010, Visio Professional 2010, Project Professional 2010, Microsoft Visual Studio Ultimate with MSDN 2010, Elipse, Python, and VMWare Workstation 7.1 along with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection. The Crucial RealSSD C300 is the highest performing solid state drive on the market that money can buy on the market. His laptop never slows down. It is always fast and it gets faster after he performs the SSD utilities. The only drawback about the Crucial RealSSD C300 is that the owner must delete all of the data when performing a firmware update unlike the Intel X25-M. Crucial has made available a numerous amount of firmware updates to address bugs in the past.

This is why I decided to go with the Intel X25-M SSD. I cannot afford to delete all of my data when performing a firmware update on my SSD while studying, taking classes, doing coursework and homework assignments, and working at New Jersey Institute of Technology even with my extensive number of data backups.

I am going to re-install the Intel Data Migration Software and the Intel SSD Toolkit today.

My Seagate Momentus 7200.4 hard drive has a maximum storage capacity of 500.00 GB. The first partition is dedicated to the recovery and Splashtop Express Gate operating system and it takes up about 16.6 GB. The second partition contains Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit and all of my software applications along with my personal data and it is about 116.5 GB. The third and final partition is just empty and it is the D: drive; it has about 332 GB of empty storage space leftover.

I am thinking about going into Microsoft Disk Management and making the first and third partitions inactive and offline if possible. Then, I will use the Intel Data Migration Software to make a disk clone onto my Intel SSD drive. After replacing the drives in my ASUS N61JV-X2, I will see if I can boot into Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit off of my Intel SSD.

I will let the community know if this is even possible.

Otherwise, I will have to wait until Sunday to buy Acronis True Image Home 2011 and the Plus Pack.

We shall see if this works.