Kingston makes the SSD upgrade easier with SSDNow V bundles

Good show, Kingston. Rather than just getting into the SSD game to follow everyone else around, you've decided to spin things a little differently -- and yeah, we dig it. Here at Computex, the company has just introduced its SSDNow V series bundles, which aim directly at mainstream consumers who need a helping hand in making the leap from HDD to SSD. Said kits arrive in 128GB and 64GB capacities, but we get the impression that these two are just the beginning. Essentially, Kingston provides cloning software, step-by-step instructions for HDD removal / SSD install instructions, mounting brackets and even a 2.5-inch USB SATA external enclosure for those picking up the laptop bundle. Prices range from $149 to $263, and so far as we can tell, these should be sliding out to retailers shortly.

[jewishmafio @ Jun 3rd 2009 9:14PM]

This will be a good development in the market and will work out really nicely for laptop users because they can just take their old HDD and put that in the USB enclosure and use it as an external backup drive.

[whowhatme @ Jun 3rd 2009 9:29PM]

The cloning software would have come in handy when I had my OCZ Core II. Yeah. When I couldn't install an OS the real way because of that shitty JMicron controller. damn =(

[kal326 @ Jun 3rd 2009 10:12PM]

100MB read/80 write.....nothing to see here folks.

Get a 500GB 7200rpm or even a 5400rpm and it will hit these numbers, cost up to half as much, and store almost 4x as much. Spinning platters FTW!

[jcpb @ Jun 3rd 2009 10:46PM]

The VelociRaptor is the fastest consumer hard drive available. Your 500GB 7200rpm hard drive is like bringing a knife... to a gun fight.

But even the VelociRaptor is slower than a single Intel X25-M.

http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=3531

[gimpbully @ Jun 3rd 2009 11:43PM]

While we're comparing numbers:
180 IOPS vs 8000+
(best SAS out there vs the best SSD out there)

There certainly reasons for using SSDs, even in desktops.

[kal326 @ Jun 4th 2009 11:21AM]

@jcpb
This look like they are geared towards laptops given the consumer use and 2.5" form factor, a velociraptor isn't really going to fit the bill there.

@gimpbully
While true, these drives are far from the 'best' SSDs out there.

[jcpb @ Jun 4th 2009 7:36PM]

@kal326

Actually, the actual VelociRaptor has similar dimensions as a regular 2.5" laptop drive, it's its thickness that makes it incompatible with most laptops. The big block surrounding the drive itself is a heatsink. Take the block out and you have something that is faster than any laptop hard drive on the market.

[Jake @ Jun 3rd 2009 11:54PM]

Degradation is a deal breaker

-JT
[e-mail]

[Kiv @ Jun 4th 2009 12:13AM]

Too bleeding edge for me, I am concerned about the degradation problems I am hearing as well.

I'll probably snag a pair of SSD's for a Raid 0 boot drive in like a year or two when everything is bulletproof, faster, and cheaper.

[ash @ Jun 4th 2009 3:34AM]

Count me in on the waiting game. I'm so envious of the speeds... *sigh*

[wde @ Jun 4th 2009 12:28AM]

As you note, the one major flaw with solid state storage as a disk drive replacement is that flash wears out. What they really need to do with SSD's is build the unit so it appears as one drive with two volumes, and put all the page file and related swap stuff and other things that might see heavier rewrites on the volume that uses the memory below, and leave all the stuff that is slower to see changes on the purely flash volume:

http://www.eetimes.com/rss/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217701697&cid=RSSfeed_eetimes_newsRSS

Doing what I suggest would fix wearout, one of my two main gripes about SSD's and why I will be a slow adopter until something like this is done. (The other, of course, is cost, which the above might make worse. ;-) )

[zag @ Jun 4th 2009 9:45AM]

Not sure what proof you have of this "degradation", I've been using one of the very first Samsung SSD drives for a couple of years now and its been flawless.

[rederikus @ Jul 27th 2009 2:05PM]

Errrr. I only paid $250 at Best Buy for my entire HP 1035 (32Mb ssD). Now they want me to pay nearly the same again for a new ssd that may or may not fit HP's non-standard connectors and form factor. Oh well.