Crucial CT128M225 128GB MLC SSD

Product: 128GB Crucial M225 2.5" Solid-State Drive
Provided By: Crucial
Price: $329 at Crucial.com

Introduction:

Solid-State Drives have been around for quite a while and like all new technologies, it was very expensive at launch.  SSD's are still much more expensive per Gigabyte than their traditional spinning counterparts, but the price gap is narrowing as the performance difference widens.  As the theory goes, Solid-State Drives offer huge performance gains in seek times and random reads and writes as the data can be accessed without spinning a platter and moving the heads to the correct position.  That being said, earlier SSDs suffered from some controller issues and even today a used SSD has significantly poorer performance than a new SSD.  Things are changing though and as the technology matures, great improvements are being made - both in the controllers and how the operating system interacts with this new device.

Today we are taking a look at the 128GB version of Crucial's M225 line of MLC drives.  This drive promises 250MB/sec read and 190MB/sec write speeds over a SATA 3.0 connection.  These drives are getting faster and cheaper as the new SATA 6.0Gb/sec standard reaches maturity.  In the meantime, let's see what Crucial is offering.

Crucial SSD Box

Back Of Box

When Crucial contacted me regarding this review sample, they wanted to make it clear that the packaging was not "final".  I received a package that had some cracks on the cardboard and they were getting a new cardboard run to fix the cracked "paint" on the package.  Other than that, this is the small retail box that you should receive when you order one of these drives.

First Look:

When you order a hard drive, there really isn't much of a "bundle".  The same is true with a SSD from Crucial.  The drive sits in a anti-static bag in addition to the small paper manual that covers installation.

Bundle

As cool as SSDs are, it's almost anti-climactic to see one for the first time - or for the 100th time.  The internal hardware on this Crucial drive is covered by a thin tin casing that can be removed with a very small Torx screwdriver.  Other than the connectors on the end of this unit there is really nothing to see on the outside.

128GB Profile

Bottom Of SSD

Connectors

On the next page well take a look at the features and specs, then pull the drive apart and take a peak inside.