Hard Drive Vs SSD – The space inbetween

Intel X25V 40GBNext on the test list is Intel’s last generation ‘value’ drive, the Intel X-25V 40GB. This drive was one of the very first SSD’s to make an SSD upgrade truly affordable to the majority of users. It cut down on performance and capacity in order to reach the overall goal of being low priced. It came with an RRP of under £100 which was basically unheard of for an SSD back in early 2010 when it was released. Being such a low capacity made it a perfect OS drive that would be coupled with a larger capacity storage drive.

The X-25V comes with advertised sequential read speeds of up to 170MB/s making it much faster than an average HDD. Its write speeds of up to 35MB/s are fairly low, but this isn’t a particularly important factor for an SSD that is going to be used as an OS drive. Intel state that this drive has up to 25,000 IOPS on the all important Random 4KB read specification which yet again proves this drive is definitely meant to be used as an OS drive. The drive is supported by Intel’s SSD toolbox which can help to keep the drive running at peak performance. Intel also offers a healthy 3 year warranty with the X25-V.

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The 2.5” SSD is made from a silver metal which is constant for the whole drive. A black border on the face adds to the looks, but it isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing SSD on the market. The model, capacity and serial number are all present on a sticker positioned on the top left hand corner, with the Intel logo in the bottom right hand corner.

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The underneath of the drive is made of the same silver metal. It is about as basic as basic comes and scratches very easily. We can clearly see how Intel cut down production costs.

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Again, the SATA connections are in the standard position for a 2.5” drive. This SSD also uses the SATA II interface.

Features

• High-Performance storage for netbooks, boot drives for desktops and embedded applications using 34nm NAND flash memory
• Leadership design with superior quality
• Intel® SSD Toolbox with Intel® SSD Optimizer
• Save money and do more

[TABLE=class: grid, width: 100%]
[TR]
[TD]Form Factor
[/TD]
[TD]2.5”[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Interface[/TD]
[TD]SATA 1.5GB/s and 3.0GB/s[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Capacity[/TD]
[TD]40GB[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Weight [/TD]
[TD]68 grams[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Operating Temperature
[/TD]
[TD]0°C to 70°C[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sequential read throughput
[/TD]
[TD]up to 170 MB/s[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sequential write throughput
[/TD]
[TD]up to 35 MB/s[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Random 4KB Reads
[/TD]
[TD]Up to 25,000 IOPS[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Random 4KB Writes
[/TD]
[TD]Up to 2,500 IOPS[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Power Specs
[/TD]
[TD]0.150W Active / 0.075W Idle[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]MTBF[/TD]
[TD]1,200,000 Hrs[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Warranty Length
[/TD]
[TD]3 years[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]