Engadget - Comments for Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Lance S — Oct 26th 2009 4:09PM

BLAME IT ON THE RAIN.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII (BarCODE) — Oct 28th 2009 3:29AM

Exactly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwrL9MV6jSk

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Ricardo — Oct 26th 2009 4:14PM

Lol to see the word 'gratis' it's dutch for free :d
So I'm an Belgian reader of your engadget site.
Hope to see them in the new MBP's

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

v3xx — Oct 26th 2009 4:38PM

it's the same thing in german, french, dutch, and spanish.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Wokis — Oct 26th 2009 4:39PM

It means free in many languages. In fact, that what it means in english too.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

dennis — Oct 26th 2009 5:36PM

That's because it's Latin.

"Is that Latin?" - Rushmore

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

evplasmaman — Oct 26th 2009 4:30PM

I orderd one of these about 6 weeks ago and it shipped today... what are the odds they release a patch on the same day...

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

robopony — Oct 26th 2009 5:24PM

Where'd you order it from? I'm having a hard time finding one anywhere!

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

nicholaelaw — Oct 27th 2009 12:22AM

Just bought mine today. NCIX rocks!

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Schmuck — Oct 26th 2009 4:17PM

Now I just have to decide if its worth it for the 160Gig over the 80. Think it might be.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Burke Hamblin — Oct 26th 2009 4:18PM

Awesome. Now let's get the Intel G2 SSD supply and prices into the realm of reality (most places still charging upwards of $600+ for the $449 160 GB variant)

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

huh — Oct 26th 2009 4:23PM

Any news on when Samsung is going to come through with their essential upgrades? Performance drops dramatically on these devices when writing to a location that's already been written to.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Schmuck — Oct 26th 2009 4:31PM

These are running TRIM so I do believe that you are mistaken. These should have more consistent performance over their life.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Dan — Oct 26th 2009 10:25PM

@Huh: you need to get your facts straight.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

joamon — Oct 26th 2009 4:26PM

I have only one question: if and when will this be available for my 1st gen 50nm drive? I know early adopters are likely to get punished, but this is intel, so I'm expecting at least TRIM support for my trusty 50nm X25-M to come soon thereafter

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Timb — Oct 26th 2009 5:06PM

It's not coming.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Dan — Oct 26th 2009 10:26PM

Buy a gen 2, clone it, and sell the Gen 1. You won't lose much money if you get the Gen 2 on sale. Gen 1's still regularly sell for $200+ on eBay.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

drfelip — Oct 26th 2009 4:24PM

A good article about its performance:
http://anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3667

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Ryan — Oct 26th 2009 4:51PM

Another good article here:

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=805

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

tim — Oct 26th 2009 4:30PM

This is great and all, but these drives are not in stock anywhere on the planet. I have cash in hand, Intel!!!

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

bamboo — Oct 26th 2009 4:54PM

Same here man. I have been checking Newegg/Amazon/Zipzoomfly everyday waiting for the prices to come down to where they are supposed to be and there be some stock.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

rightbleeding — Oct 27th 2009 12:13AM

I got mine from mwave a few days ago for $248 shipped with a $10 off coupon code. However, there was no drive case or anything and I didn't see a cash option.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Matt — Oct 26th 2009 4:39PM

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Matt — Oct 26th 2009 4:40PM

*sigh* forgot that Engadget blocks random signs.

Repeat: I less than three SSDs

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

N900 — Oct 26th 2009 5:02PM

Are you talking about the "less than" symbol? I can't use it here either. Pretty sneaky, sis!

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

ebob9 — Oct 26th 2009 5:16PM

Does < work?

How about < ?

Maybe escaping it with a \< ?

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

ebob9 — Oct 26th 2009 5:17PM

So then" I <3 SSDs

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Marc — Oct 26th 2009 4:45PM

sooooo glad I got in on the deal at newegg a couple weeks ago where you could get the 80gb + case for 230 after mail in rebate.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Indyaner — Oct 26th 2009 5:26PM

Is the firmware/speed-up-by-40% for the 80GB Version too?

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Dan — Oct 26th 2009 10:27PM

no. and the "40%" speedup is only on certain types of sequential writes.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

matguard — Oct 26th 2009 6:17PM

It is looking like the toolbox is Windows only yes? I only found an .msi installer. Has anyone had luck running in VMware, or would it be best to pop the drive out and use it externally on a windows machine to run the toolbox?

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

bey — Oct 26th 2009 7:36PM

The toolbox only really has a page that reads the SMART status of the drive, and a page to run/set up a schedule to run the optimizer(which is basically a TRIM utility). I'm not sure of the TRIM status in linux, but if there's a utility that does that, you can make do just fine without the utility.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

deecept — Oct 26th 2009 7:23PM

Have any1 gotten this firmware update to work on W7 x64 yet? No go here :(

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

deecept — Oct 26th 2009 7:58PM

Edit: Trying to run the .iso to an USB stick, like you can do with OS iso's.. no autorun or anything it seems.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

bey — Oct 26th 2009 7:37PM

It worked fine for me. Just burn the ISO to a disc, reboot and set your SATA controller to IDE or Legacy mode in BIOS and boot from the disc. Hit 'y' a couple times and it should finish. Reboot, set your controller back to AHCI or RAID mode. Let Windows boot, install the utility, reboot(yes, there's a lot of rebooting). Now you should be able to run the utility and have it see your drive.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

deecept — Oct 26th 2009 8:01PM

Hmm
I get it to boot from the USB stick, and it seems to work fine until something of the likes of:
a:\command.com /P
Invalid command or syntax (or something like that)
And then asks me for the correct command.

Everything seems fine until this point.

Any ideas?

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Dan — Oct 26th 2009 10:28PM

Burn it to a CD and boot from the CD. you don't need to modify SATA settings. Leave it on AHCI.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Peter F — Oct 26th 2009 8:15PM

Exactly why I haven't bought them yet

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Dan — Oct 26th 2009 10:29PM

Exactly what was your point again? I don't see one.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Peter F — Oct 26th 2009 10:41PM

Cute. Let me explain it to you so you can understand. I've had to do a few rare firmware updates on my spinning hard disks over many years. None of them boasted performance boosts. It just proves to me that some of these products aren't mature, and time will tell. I am glad I did not buy one. Comprende?

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Dan — Oct 27th 2009 12:27AM

I happen to think they are quite mature. Enjoy your spinning disc of fail :)

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Peter F — Oct 27th 2009 7:14AM

Congrats on having an opinion, too. I will.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Shad3Wolf — Oct 26th 2009 8:50PM

Beware - This update bricked my drive. I have posted the below @ the Intel forums...hoping for some sort of resolution soon:

I am experiencing the same behavior as the OP. I ran the firmware update and it reported success. I rebooted, Windows7 installed some drivers, and requested to reboot, which I did. When I reboot, the computer will POST, but then I am presented with a screen that reads the following:

A disk read error has occurred. Press CTRL-ALT-DELETE to reboot.

This is an 80GB X25-M G2 on a Gateway laptop (P-6860FX). The drive had been running Windows 7 Professional x64 since last Friday without issue. When I disconnect the SSD, I am at least able to boot into my old Vista drive.

http://communities.intel.com/message/71375

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Peter F — Oct 26th 2009 10:35PM

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Peter F — Oct 26th 2009 10:42PM

Tried to reply to my own comment after a troll tried to have his way. Thx comment system.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

ihackintosh — Oct 27th 2009 12:46AM

This works for OSX,Firmware installed on late 2008 Macbook Pro Intel 160G2.
Burned ISO, boot from ISO updated in 2 minutes.
Writes are up to about 95MB/sec.

No optimizer for OSX because Intel® Solid-State Drive Toolbox only works for windows.

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Daemonios — Oct 27th 2009 3:39AM

Now, if only I could cram one of these into my aging IDE-interface laptop :(

Does anyone have any ideas? I have an empty express-card slot I'd be delighted to fill with an SSD, but nobody seems to make anything useful for that...

- daemonios -

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Carl — Oct 27th 2009 11:29AM

Same here. I have two 160GB drives. One flashed fine, the other one did exactly what you said. Booted fine, installed drivers, rebooted, bricked..

Comments on Intel's SSD Toolbox, firmware update promise boost in performance

Carl — Oct 27th 2009 11:31AM

That was supposed to be a reply to Shad3Wolf about bricking..