Actually one could fit 4TB into a standard 2.5" (or even 8GB when using 32 packages) but the problem is, as far as i can tell, no single controller can adress so much space.
Yeah but it's a chicken and egg thing I think. There seems to be a max price cap of about $600 for these SSD's, and so for 64gbit NAND that was ~512GB and 128Gbit NAND it is about 1TB. When they design a controller to exist during the lifetime of 256Gbit NAND there is a good chance that someone is actually going to make a 2TB drive because that much NAND would then fit inside that 'max price' so they will design the controller for that max amount. And in the same vein a contrller for the 128Gbit era would be 'OK' with a 1TB max.... if that makes sense, heh.
It's not that you can't address it (for ONFI NAND you can use the Volume Select command), but that you can't have more than about 8 chips on a channel because of capacitive loading.
Still, 256Gbit dies can can't help you much, if controller can't adress that much space. As i've said above, once could fit 4-8TB of flash, it's just isn't possible yet.
Crucial sucks balls at making performance drives.. They should leave that market to Sandforce and Samsung, and concentrate on beating Samsung in value SSD market...
I am pretty sure this would be a "budget" SSD because of the $110 price tag and the fact that TigerDirect would be selling it for as little as $100 if you get a coupon
This is explained in the article... But it is because it uses fewer large capacity NAND dies to hit the low prices. For fast writed with NAND you need lots of dies, which is why the bigger versions of this drive see better performance.
And competitors are using nasty tricks like turbowrite or compression to achive such write speeds. But actual nand inside those mainstream drives isn't capable of such speeds.
Space will be the same, they're just advertised differently. But the Crucial idles at much lower power than the Seagate, so I'd consider switching to save battery life.
Some serious question over here: is this drive a real competitor to the Sammys Evo or even Pro SSDs? I was planning on buying the 256Pro but the Crucial seems to perform better in a lot of tasks. I cannot really differentiate much but the price: 256Pro = 512MX100
So far Samsung has only been sampling 3D NAND SSDs to enterprise OEMs, although they have just started providing some to the PC OEMs with the new 32-layer NAND. The XP941 is still regular MLC but Samsung it's only available for OEMs.
I've installed over 100 M500's and have personally been using a C300 since 2010 in my daily driver laptop. Rock solid drives. Who cares if they're 10% "slower" than a Sandforce drive.
Great bargain for the price. I heard the 256GB drive is in fact a 320 GB drive with 20% overprovisioning...that would even be more a bargain. Performance decrades less than with all other brands that only have 7%. I also like the protection and encryption on the mx 100. Still have to chose between the samsung 840 evo 250gb and the mx100. Would chose the mx100 if had better writing performance...but now i have doubts...Gonna use it for audioproduction...so lots of reads and writes that would make the samsung evo 840 a better choice right....i have a Samsung 830 128GB now and i'm satisfied with it, never failed me, but need a bigger one. Should i stick with Samsung or get the MX 100?
Because Crucial is a direct seller as well as a wholesaler, they can set the MSRP much closer to wholesale/street pricing levels, so don't expect as large of a discount from MSRP to street as you would on retail brands.
This drive is not a steal, it's a massive rip off because it doesn't work reliably. There's a massive issue with it falling off intermittently but frequently. There's no fix for it yet. Check the Crucial forum: http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Crucial-SSDs/MX100-wil...
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extide - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Wow, 256Gbit dies! That would mean up to 2TB in a standard 2.5" SSD -- Crazy!hojnikb - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Actually one could fit 4TB into a standard 2.5" (or even 8GB when using 32 packages) but the problem is, as far as i can tell, no single controller can adress so much space.hojnikb - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
*TB obviously :)extide - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Yeah but it's a chicken and egg thing I think. There seems to be a max price cap of about $600 for these SSD's, and so for 64gbit NAND that was ~512GB and 128Gbit NAND it is about 1TB. When they design a controller to exist during the lifetime of 256Gbit NAND there is a good chance that someone is actually going to make a 2TB drive because that much NAND would then fit inside that 'max price' so they will design the controller for that max amount. And in the same vein a contrller for the 128Gbit era would be 'OK' with a 1TB max.... if that makes sense, heh.hojnikb - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Also, there is already 2TBs drives out thre on the old 64Gbit flash :)danwat1234 - Monday, January 26, 2015 - link
Intel S3500 2TB exists, not sure if it works in laptops thoughfruitcrash - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - link
It's not that you can't address it (for ONFI NAND you can use the Volume Select command), but that you can't have more than about 8 chips on a channel because of capacitive loading.extide - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
NOTE: I am talking about the future NAND, NOT what is used in this drive.hojnikb - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Still, 256Gbit dies can can't help you much, if controller can't adress that much space. As i've said above, once could fit 4-8TB of flash, it's just isn't possible yet.hojnikb - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Any details on the 128GB version ?I've read somewhere, that it will be using the old 20nm flash...
blanarahul - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Crucial sucks balls at making performance drives.. They should leave that market to Sandforce and Samsung, and concentrate on beating Samsung in value SSD market...hojnikb - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Sandforce makes performance drives ?!hahahah thats new :)
MrSpadge - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - link
Please read the article.SmilingTornado - Thursday, June 5, 2014 - link
I am pretty sure this would be a "budget" SSD because of the $110 price tag and the fact that TigerDirect would be selling it for as little as $100 if you get a coupondanwat1234 - Monday, January 26, 2015 - link
No need for more performance than sandforce 2xxx, that pretty much eliminates the hard drive bottleneck completely for most uses in home computersEricZBA - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Already instock at Amazon. Sweet! http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX100-adapter-Intern...Hrel - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
"Sequential Write 150MB/s 330MB/s"Why so slow? Especially when $100 drives get 550MB/s at 95k IOPS.
hojnikb - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Where do you have 100$ drive, that gets 550MB/ write ?!extide - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
This is explained in the article... But it is because it uses fewer large capacity NAND dies to hit the low prices. For fast writed with NAND you need lots of dies, which is why the bigger versions of this drive see better performance.hojnikb - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
And competitors are using nasty tricks like turbowrite or compression to achive such write speeds. But actual nand inside those mainstream drives isn't capable of such speeds.sonny73n - Saturday, December 20, 2014 - link
Samsung Evo comes to mind ;-)MikeMurphy - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
330MB/s reads with zero random access penalty is ample for 99.99% of the users out there.There isn't much (or any) real world difference between this and something faster.
isa - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Yes, I'd love to see a link to a $100 external SSD with 550MB/s at 95k IOPS.UltraWide - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Do you plan to include tests with encryption enabled in the future? Thank you.Zoomer - Tuesday, June 3, 2014 - link
And does it support bitlocker eDrive / OPAL, etc?stickmansam - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Dang those prices look goodMakes me wish I had waited to grab the MX100 instead of getting the SP920
Similar sustained performance but MX100 has better GC and consistency
nfriedly - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Neither of the Samsung buttons work for the last chart on http://www.anandtech.com/show/8066/crucial-mx100-2...The error in the firebug console is "TypeError: document.getElementById(...) is null"
JarredWalton - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Fixed, thanks!MikeMurphy - Monday, June 2, 2014 - link
Why are 4k random reads so much slower than 4k random writes? Or, are the graphs mislabeled and mixed up?khkha - Tuesday, June 3, 2014 - link
I have just bought seagate 600 for my early 2011 mbp. Should I return the drive and buy this instead for 30gb space bump?Thoughts anyone?
s44 - Tuesday, June 3, 2014 - link
Space will be the same, they're just advertised differently. But the Crucial idles at much lower power than the Seagate, so I'd consider switching to save battery life.tobho - Tuesday, June 3, 2014 - link
Some serious question over here: is this drive a real competitor to the Sammys Evo or even Pro SSDs? I was planning on buying the 256Pro but the Crucial seems to perform better in a lot of tasks. I cannot really differentiate much but the price: 256Pro = 512MX100hojnikb - Tuesday, June 3, 2014 - link
Just get MX100. For the price, its a steal..rvb3n - Tuesday, June 3, 2014 - link
Hi, can someone give me a suggestion for a pro SSD for a laptop with about 500 GB? Is the Samsung 840 Pro still the king (price/performance)?blackrain - Tuesday, June 3, 2014 - link
Looking forward to the Bench being updated with the Crucial MX100 line:http://www.anandtech.com/bench/SSD/65
blackrain - Tuesday, June 3, 2014 - link
I wonder how my Samsung 830 128GB compares to the MX100 128GB? Again, looking forward to the Bench being updated with the MX100 line.Kristian Vättö - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - link
They were there, but just hidden so we wouldn't break NDA. Should be visible now :)rahuldesai1987 - Tuesday, June 3, 2014 - link
A 256Gbit die should enable a $300 1TB and $600 2TB drive, 6 months down the line. Hope we see a TLC Samsung 850EVO soon, at even cheaper prices.sequoia464 - Tuesday, June 3, 2014 - link
Killer prices on these already,, picked up a 256 GB drive this morning for ~$90 delivered.Oyster - Tuesday, June 3, 2014 - link
For those that are interested, looks like these are on a fire sale.512GB $200, 256GB $100, 128GB $70 AC
http://slickdeals.net/f/6972254-crucial-mx100-soli...
juhatus - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - link
Does the Samsung XP941 use Samsung's 3D NAND? Availability at least would fit as the first drive's where seen last Q3/13 on OEM machines..juhatus - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - link
To answer for my own question: Yes and that also explains XP941's rarityhttp://english.etnews.com/device/2963105_1304.html
Kristian Vättö - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - link
So far Samsung has only been sampling 3D NAND SSDs to enterprise OEMs, although they have just started providing some to the PC OEMs with the new 32-layer NAND. The XP941 is still regular MLC but Samsung it's only available for OEMs.Samus - Thursday, June 5, 2014 - link
I've installed over 100 M500's and have personally been using a C300 since 2010 in my daily driver laptop. Rock solid drives. Who cares if they're 10% "slower" than a Sandforce drive.Onyx2291 - Thursday, June 5, 2014 - link
Just ordered a 512GB for $199.99. Such good value.beatsbyden - Thursday, August 21, 2014 - link
Great bargain for the price. I heard the 256GB drive is in fact a 320 GB drive with 20% overprovisioning...that would even be more a bargain. Performance decrades less than with all other brands that only have 7%. I also like the protection and encryption on the mx 100. Still have to chose between the samsung 840 evo 250gb and the mx100. Would chose the mx100 if had better writing performance...but now i have doubts...Gonna use it for audioproduction...so lots of reads and writes that would make the samsung evo 840 a better choice right....i have a Samsung 830 128GB now and i'm satisfied with it, never failed me, but need a bigger one. Should i stick with Samsung or get the MX 100?SpartanTech - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
Get the 512GB MX100, should satisfy your needs and provides even more storage....PS: Don't think you'll notice any difference tbh
Canadaram - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
Because Crucial is a direct seller as well as a wholesaler, they can set the MSRP much closer to wholesale/street pricing levels, so don't expect as large of a discount from MSRP to street as you would on retail brands.akin1231 - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
This drive is not a steal, it's a massive rip off because it doesn't work reliably. There's a massive issue with it falling off intermittently but frequently. There's no fix for it yet. Check the Crucial forum:http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Crucial-SSDs/MX100-wil...
I bought 3 of these... I'm a sucker
fossxplorer - Friday, April 10, 2015 - link
Good and very important info.