Intel X25-M 160 GB Mainstream SATA II MLC 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive OEM

by Intel

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches ; 2.9 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B002IGT7IU
• Item model number: SSDSA2MH160G2C1
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 20, 2009

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The future of computer storage is here! The Intel X25-M Mainstream SATA II Solid State Drive (OEM) provides faster disk performance and greater durability than traditional hard drives. Since it stores data using NAND flash memory instead of spinning platters, the X25-M will never keep you waiting for disks to spin up. For further convenience, there are no moving parts to worry about breaking down.

X25-M Solid State Drive (OEM) features: 160 GB of solid state storage. No moving parts for better reliability and performance. Silent operation. Lower battery consumption than traditional drives.

With no moving parts, the X25-M Solid State Drive provides silent and reliable storage. View larger.

The Intel SSD Toolbox lets you easily optimize the performance of your drive. View larger.

A New Kind of Storage for Faster Data Access
The X25-M is a SATA II hard drive with a capacity of 160 GB. Additionally, it's in a 2.5-inch form factor that will work anywhere a regular 2.5-inch hard drive does, such as in notebook computers and external enclosures.

But don't think that the X25-M is any old drive. Instead of using spinning platters like traditional hard drives, the X25-M is a Solid State Drive (SSD), and it uses flash memory for storage, giving you dramatically faster data access. If you need less disk space, the X25-M also comes in a 80 GB version.

Performs Faster than Other Solid State Drives
Intel has been making memory chips for decades, and the company's experience is clearly displayed with the X25-M drive, which uses Intel's Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND Flash Memory. This delivers better performance than other SSDs, thanks to an advanced architecture and technologies such as Native Command Queuing, which enables up to 32 simultaneous operations. The result is sustained sequential read speeds of up to 250 MBps, sustained sequential write speeds of up to 70 MBps, and a read latency of just 85 microseconds.

And thanks to the drive's SATA interface that offers data throughput of up to 3.0 Gbps, you can take advantage of all that speed. What all this means for you is that applications launch instantaneously, files copy in less time, and your overall productivity is increased.

Optimize Performance with the Intel SSD Toolbox
Intel offers the Intel SSD Toolbox with Intel SSD Optimizer, so you can easily optimize and manage the performance of your drive. Simply download the Intel SSD Toolbox and you'll get a powerful set of management, information, and diagnostic tools to help you maintain performance at "fresh out-of-the-box" levels. The Intel SSD Toolbox with Intel SSD Optimizer is specially designed to run on Microsoft Windows 7, and it also works with Microsoft Windows Vista and XP.

Higher Reliability and Silent Operation
Compared to traditional hard drives, the X25-M is both faster and more durable. Because it doesn't have spinning disks or writing heads, there are fewer parts to fail. It is also less susceptible to vibration and shock and is completely silent. Providing superb reliability, the X25-M is rated at 1.2 million hours mean time before failure (MTBF).

Lower Power Consumption is Good for the Environment
The X25-M also consumes far less power than traditional drives, which saves you money and makes this drive a choice. The drive is certified RoHS compliant for its use of non-hazardous materials. Additionally, when it's installed in a laptop, the X25-M will give you better battery life, which means you can work longer on cross-country plane trips.

The Intel X25-M Mainstream SATA II Solid State Drive supports Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (SMART) commands, as well as additional SSD monitoring.

The X25-M is backed by a three-year limited warranty.

END

Product Description

Intel 2.5" 160GB X25-M Mainstream SATA II MLC SSD OEM

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic performance improvement, December 27, 2009

By 

A. Wiersch (Lantana, TX USA (near Dallas)) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Intel X25-M 160 GB Mainstream SATA II MLC 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive OEM (Personal Computers)

This review is for the product itself, not about stock or sellers!

This is a fantastic upgrade to a computer system. The Intel G2 drives support TRIM when upgraded with the latest firmware. Windows 7 automatically support TRIM. TRIM increases the drive's performance and efficiency.

Upgrading from an HD to a good SSD like an Intel SSD will result in a SIGNIFICANT performance improvement unlike make other upgrades you may make, like a bump in CPU performance, memory, or video card. An SSD is many times faster than an HD in many important ways and has a big impact on the responsiveness of a computer.

The Intel is even price competitive with other SSD offerings.

Pros:
* SPEED
* Significantly faster than a VelociRaptor 10,000 RPM hard drive
* Superior controller design vs other manufacturers
* Windows 7 scores this drive a 7.8 (highest possible is 7.9)
* Low power consumption, great for notebooks especially (but also good for desktops)
* Works just like a regular 2.5 inch drive so works great in SATA notebooks
* Retail version comes with a metal 2.5" to 3.5" adapter for desktop use
* Supports TRIM with latest firmware (G2 - second generation drives)
* Latest firmware upgrades sequential write speed to about 100MB/s from 80MB/s (160GB version only)
* Can download "Intel SSD Toolbox" to view drive information and optimize the drive

Cons:
* Expensive compared to HD's
* Slower sequential write speed than some competitors - but for many this does not significantly affect overall performance

Other:
* My suggestion: Use an SSD for OS and applications and an HD for storage (like a Western Digital green drive)
* See the photos I uploaded

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Substantial Improvement - Download the Intel SSD Toolbox for max performance, January 30, 2010

By 

Michael R (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Intel X25-M 160 GB Mainstream SATA II MLC 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive OEM (Personal Computers)

Intel 160 GB X25M Mainstream SATA II MLC Solid State Drive (SSD) Bare/OEM Package SSDSA2MH160G2C1

My experience is generally consistent with other very positive reviews on this site. Installed my new drive (Intel X25M 160GB Mainstream Solid State Drive SSDSA2MH160G2C1) on my Sony VAIO (VGN SR430J, Intel Core 2 Duo, P8700 @ 2.53GHz, 4.00 GB Ram, Win 7 64 Bit).

Because I was having some issues with the previous drive I don't have a direct side by side comparison of before and after performance. Turns out measuring side by side performance wasn't necessary to evaluate the difference, the performance improvement is easily discernible.

The installation & set-up process was as follows:


- Install physical drive (A direct placement for the old Hitachi 320GB drive). Physically a perfect fit, no issues. 5 - 10 minute job max. No different that replacing a regular hard drive in this respect.

- Recover the laptop to it's original state using the recovery disks (Vista 64 bit). Straightforward, no issues

- Ran the vista experience tool. Noticed a hard drive score of 5.9 (much lower than the 7.7 to 7.8 reported in the other Amazon reviews), but the machine was obviously quicker in the start-up than with the conventional drive.

- Installed the windows 7 upgrade

- Ran the windows 7 experience tool, hard drive score still 5.9

- Installed the Intel SSD Toolbox and ran the optimizer located in the Intel SSD Management Tools menu. Took about 15 minutes... Intel recommends the optimizer be run weekly. (You'll need to download the toolbox from the Intel web site. I tried to post the link here but the Amazon editors removed it, guess you're only allowed to be a "little bit" helpful in these reviews?)


- Ran the windows 7 experience tool, score increase from 5.9 - 7.7. Subjectively the machine felt slightly faster after doing so.

I have the following comments:

1. Dramatic decrease in boot time. Its now 40 seconds from pushing the power button to having the desktop fully ready for use. The machine has Win 7, MS Office 2007, The Sony VAIO applications and drivers & AVG Antivirus... I noticed that the AVG Anti-Virus added about 8 seconds to the boot time :-(

2. The machine is much quieter

3. Generally the laptop is much more responsive. Downloaded Software applications install very quickly (After installing Office 2007 I had to download and install the SP1 update... this happened much quicker than expected). This is substantial improvement compared with a "traditional" hard drive. The regular MS windows and office updates also install noticeably quicker.

4. Office applications open... instantly (perhaps 2 seconds?) to a blank application. Files open much quicker as well (Opening office to a 1.5MB *.pptx file took about 4 seconds.


While most of these observations are subjective, the overall experience is that this did not just "enhance" the performance of my laptop, it resulted in a substantial performance transformation.

It's not cheap (paid about $455 ($475 with one day shipping), but the performance increase was certainly worth it. It feels like this is how our computers are meant to run... I alternate between more than one machine and it's going to be difficult to use the computers with conventional drives... I think there are going to be more SSDs in my future.

The only question is whether or not to get one of the cheaper "value SSDs". After reading several independent reviews I came to the conclusion that a "value SSD" was still an expensive purchase, and so decided to pay more for the Intel product. The drive controller seems to enable (by a noticable margin) the fasted seek times and least performance degradation over time. I think Kingston has now licensed this controller for it's higher end drives, but the cost seems at par with the Intel models.

My only advice is that after installing the SSD, make certain you download and run the Intel SSD toolbox to get max performance.

Hope this helps you in your decision making

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My SSD Rocks, December 20, 2009

By 

Che J. Mcnichols - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Intel X25-M 160 GB Mainstream SATA II MLC 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive OEM (Personal Computers)

I was hesitant to get this drive for my Macbook Pro (Mid-2009) for several reasons. According to the forums on Apple's site, several users were complaining of intermittent lockups after upgrading to SSDs, and there were reported problems with EDI 1.7. Since I hadn't experienced any problems with my computer to date, and could really benefit from the performance boost offered by SSDs, I took the leap. Getting into the new Mac chassis was a breeze, and getting the drive installed was a snap. After installing the drive I ran the firmware update, and used Time machine to restore my system. This process took about an hour to do over WiFi, and after restarting the computer, it was noticeably faster. Boots before using the SSD took about 40 seconds. Current boot time is around 15 seconds. Login takes about 8 seconds including all of my startup scripts which were previously disk bound. An added bonus is the fact that my laptop can now sit comfortably in my lap for several hours because there is virtually no heat at the bottom.

Furthermore, the battery life is now unbelievable. The battery monitor now reports that I have 8:29 minutes of life in the battery versus 4:27 minutes before. Actual battery life before reserve has bested at 6:52 minutes versus 5:12 minutes. I do run power saving that is more aggressive than what Apple's test scenario states because usually I do not need the full power of my laptop.