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Technical Details
Size: 120 GB | Style: 9mm
- Brand Name: OCZ
- Model: VTX3-25SAT3-120G
- Hard Disk Size: 120.00 GB
- Form Factor: 2.5-Inch
- Width: 5.00 inches
Product DetailsSize: 120 GB | Style: 9mm
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Product Description
Size: 120 GB | Style: 9mm
Amazon.com
Unleashing the performance potential of the SATA 6 Gbps interface, OCX leads the speed revolution with the next-generation Vertex 3 Series solid state drive. As the first SSD to feature the latest Sandforce controller design, OCZ created the Vertex 3 to push the limits in both sequential and random read/write rates to blaze past the competition when every MB/s matters.
With incredible random 4k file writes up to 60,000 IOPS, this SSD takes productivity, gaming, and multimedia applications to the next level to work in perfect symmetry with the latest enthusiast platforms. This model of the 2.5-inch Vertex 3 (VTX3-25SAT3-120G) offers 120 GB of storage capacity and a 500 MB/s maximum write speed.
Built with the quality, reliability, and durability that lives up to the OCZ name, the Vertex 3 Series easily integrates into today's mobile and desktop platforms, and it features TRIM support to optimize performance over the drive's lifespan as the ultimate Windows 7 companion. It's backed by a 3-year limited warranty.
The OCZ Vertex 3 2.5-inch SSD with included adapter (view larger).
Superior PC Experience
In addition to maximum performance, a Vertex 3 upgrade promotes cooler, quieter, and more energy efficient conditions compared to traditional mechanical hard drives. With no moving parts, SSDs provide peace of mind with their superior durability and reliability. Read more about SSDs below.
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Which OCZ Vertex 3 SSD is Right for You? | |||||
| VTX3-25SAT3-60G | VTX3-25SAT3-90G | VTX3-25SAT3-120G | VTX3-25SAT3-240G | VTX3-25SAT3-480G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performance | |||||
| Capacity | 60 GB | 90 GB | 120 GB | 240 GB | 480 GB |
| Maximum Reads | 535 MB/s | 550 MB/s | 550 MB/s | 550 MB/s | 530 MB/s |
| Maximum Writes | 480 MB/s | 500 MB/s | 500 MB/s | 520 MB/s | 450 MB/s |
| Random 4k Read | 12,000 IOPS | 20,000 IOPS | 20,000 IOPS | 40,000 IOPS | 50,000 IOPS |
| Random 4k Write | 60,000 IOPS | 60,000 IOPS | 60,000 IOPS | 60,000 IOPS | 40,000 IOPS |
| Max Random 4k Write | 80,000 IOPS | 85,000 IOPS | 85,000 IOPS | 85,000 IOPS | 40,000 IOPS |
| Physical | |||||
| NAND Components | 2Xnm Synchronous Multi-Level Cell (MLC) | ||||
| Interface | SATA III / 6 Gbps (backwards compatible with SATA II / 3 Gbps but optimized for SATA 6 Gbps) | ||||
| Form Factor | 2.5-inch | ||||
| NAND Controller | SandForce 2281 | ||||
| Dimensions | 99.8 x 69.63 x 9.3mm | ||||
| Weight | 77g | ||||
More Specifications
Reliability/Protection
- Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF): 2 million hours
- Data Path Protection: ECC corrects up to 55 random bits per 512 byte sector (BCH)
- Product Health Monitoring: Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) Support
Compatibility
- Serial ATA (SATA): Fully compliant with Serial ATA International Organization (Serial ATA Revision 3.0) and ATA/ATAPI-8 Standard Native Command Queuing (NCQ)
- Operating System: Windows XP 32-bit / 64-bit; Windows Vista 32-bit / 64-bit; Windows 7 32-bit / 64-bit; Linux; Mac OS X
Additional Features
- Native TRIM support (requires OS support)
- Shock resistant up to 1500G
- Low power consumption (3W active, 1.65W idle)
- Included 3.5-inch desktop adapter bracket
- Service & Support: 3-year warranty, toll-free tech support, 24 hour forum support
The SSD Advantage
Whether you're refreshing an older laptop or trying to maximize the potential of the latest platform, SSDs provide substantial benefits over traditional hard drives.
Greater Durability
Solid State Drives feature a non-mechanical design of NAND flash mounted to circuit boards, shock resistant up to 1500g. Hard disk drives consist of various moving parts making them susceptible to shock and damage.
Faster Performance
SSDs have 100 times greater throughput and instantaneous access times for quicker boot-ups, faster file transfers, and overall snappier performance than hard drives. HDDs can only access the data faster the closer it is from the read/ write heads, while all parts of the SSD can be accessed at once.
Less Power Consumption, Silent Operation, and Lightweight
SSDs use significantly less wattage at peak load than hard disk drives--less than 2W versus 6W for an HDD--delivering longer battery life in notebooks, less power strain on system, and a cooler computing environment. With no moving parts, SSDs run virtually silent in your notebook or PC case to eliminate distracting noises during gaming or entertainment. And SSDs won't weigh down your laptop, netbook, or tablet PC when you're on the go.
 SSDs run much cooler than hard disk drives... |  ...and much quieter, too. |
Product Description
As the third generation of the legendary VertexSeries,OCZ Vertex3 Solid-state Drives are designed and built to unleash the full potential of the 6Gbps SATA3 interface. The OCZVertex3 pushes the limits in both sequential and random data transfer rates, significantly improving your gaming, multimedia, and overall computing experience over traditional mechanical hard drives. In addition to maximized productivity, a Vertex3 upgrade makes a hard drive- equipped notebook more portable than ever with superior durability and reduced power consumption. Using the latest breakthrough controller and flash technology, Vertex3 SSDs work in perfect harmony with next generation platforms and operating systems to deliver the industry's best storage solution.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
64 of 69 people found the following review helpful
By Chris Angelo
Style Name:9mm| Size Name:240 GB|Amazon Verified Purchase
I purchased the Vertex 3 specifically for gaming so this will the focus of my review. I've owned all three generations of Vertex drives and I'm most pleased with this drive. That pleasure comes from the capacity and speed of the Vertex 3.
The Vertex 3 drive itself is a 2.5" form factor and comes with a 3.5" adapter this time around. Great for those desktop installs, however you will still need to purchase a SATA cable to connect it. To get the most out of this drive, you'll need a SATA III (6GB) port since the blazzing speed of this drive will max out a SATA II connection.
The drive currently resides in my sandy bridge desktop system as a secondary storage location for all my steam games and Starcraft 2. Along side a Vertex 2 60 gig that is the primary OS disk, the formated capacity of 223GB provides plenty of space for most of the titles that I actively play. It was a bit of a struggle to fit my steam folder on the Vertex 3 as it is quite easy to accumulate numerous titles via steam. With a much higher capacity traditional hard disk, you can keep most all of your titles available locally, but sadly this isn't the case with a drive of this capacity. It's the price you pay for having such blistering fast speed.
You can read a number of reviews stating the theoretical and real world tests illustrating the Vertex 3's speed, but I was mainly concerned with the user experience improvement gained from having one in my system. Copying my 160 gig steam folder was quite fast, maxing out the read transfer rate of my magnetic hard disk at about 75-80 MB per second. After the copy, I proceeded to launch Portal 2 which I had been playing the night before. If you haven't played the game, there are many level transitions that happen between chambers (or in my case deaths). The load times on my traditional magnetic hard drive were around 15-20 seconds. On the Vertex 3, the loads were shortened by 10 to 15 seconds. It was quite a difference that definitely improved my user experience as I was spending more time playing instead of staring at a progress bar.
Playing starcraft 2, I found the improvement to be much more subtle as the game files were previously on my Vertex 1. The menus seemed a bit more responsive, but it wasn't as stark a contrast moving from the magnetic drive. World of Warcraft ran slightly faster as well, shaving a couple of seconds loading into major cities or instances. Heroes of Newerth didn't seem to be affected that much, but then again the install for the game is only ~500MB.
I plan on installing this drive in my new gaming desktop replacement notebook later on in the year as a primary OS/Program drive. I'm sure I will appreciate the larger capacity when trying to jam the OS, productivity apps, and games all on a single drive.
My only current gripe with the Vertex 3 is the high cost. While I would love to have a second one to replace my Vertex 1 and 2, the $500+ price tag doesn't justify the speed increase I would gain over the older drives. At nearly $2 per GB, it is quite the barrier to owning multiple Vertex 3 drives at this capacity.
I would like to note that this is an enthusiast item since the manufacturer (OCZ) is consistently improving the firmware for their products. From past experience with the Vertex 1 and 2, most of the updates are minor bug fixes, but there are some revisions that add performance gains as well. Updating the firmware has come a long way as a short time. Previously, it wasn't easy to flash a drive that had an OS on it while running the OS. Boot disks were needed and constantly needed to be rebuilt as new firmware came out. OCZ's new toolbox is much better now, but updating firmware still isn't for the novice user or someone that expects to plug the drive in and never worry about it again.
Overall, I love my new SSD. It allows me to accomplish most tasks on my system with less frustration induced by wait times and unresponsiveness. Just be sure to plan your program installations accordingly and have the appropriate hardware to get the most out of your purchase.
Update: April 2012
As of July 2011, OCZ has updated the firmware to 2.15 to correct the stability issues plaguing the Sandforce 2281 controller. I have been running the firmware since then both on a Agility 3 as my primary OS drive and on the vertex 3 containing the majority of my games. I have yet to encounter stuttering or stability problem that I experienced on the previous revisions for the 6+ months I've been running it. Subjectively, the speed is the same as when I secured erased both drives to reinstall Windows 7.
OCZ has since released the Vertex 4 drives based on the Everest 2 controller. If you write a lot of incompressable data to your SSD (such as videos), the Vertex 4 is a better choice. If price and a more aggressive garbage collection (for non TRIM OSes such as OSX) are more important, the Vertex 3 is still a great buy.
The Vertex 3 drive itself is a 2.5" form factor and comes with a 3.5" adapter this time around. Great for those desktop installs, however you will still need to purchase a SATA cable to connect it. To get the most out of this drive, you'll need a SATA III (6GB) port since the blazzing speed of this drive will max out a SATA II connection.
The drive currently resides in my sandy bridge desktop system as a secondary storage location for all my steam games and Starcraft 2. Along side a Vertex 2 60 gig that is the primary OS disk, the formated capacity of 223GB provides plenty of space for most of the titles that I actively play. It was a bit of a struggle to fit my steam folder on the Vertex 3 as it is quite easy to accumulate numerous titles via steam. With a much higher capacity traditional hard disk, you can keep most all of your titles available locally, but sadly this isn't the case with a drive of this capacity. It's the price you pay for having such blistering fast speed.
You can read a number of reviews stating the theoretical and real world tests illustrating the Vertex 3's speed, but I was mainly concerned with the user experience improvement gained from having one in my system. Copying my 160 gig steam folder was quite fast, maxing out the read transfer rate of my magnetic hard disk at about 75-80 MB per second. After the copy, I proceeded to launch Portal 2 which I had been playing the night before. If you haven't played the game, there are many level transitions that happen between chambers (or in my case deaths). The load times on my traditional magnetic hard drive were around 15-20 seconds. On the Vertex 3, the loads were shortened by 10 to 15 seconds. It was quite a difference that definitely improved my user experience as I was spending more time playing instead of staring at a progress bar.
Playing starcraft 2, I found the improvement to be much more subtle as the game files were previously on my Vertex 1. The menus seemed a bit more responsive, but it wasn't as stark a contrast moving from the magnetic drive. World of Warcraft ran slightly faster as well, shaving a couple of seconds loading into major cities or instances. Heroes of Newerth didn't seem to be affected that much, but then again the install for the game is only ~500MB.
I plan on installing this drive in my new gaming desktop replacement notebook later on in the year as a primary OS/Program drive. I'm sure I will appreciate the larger capacity when trying to jam the OS, productivity apps, and games all on a single drive.
My only current gripe with the Vertex 3 is the high cost. While I would love to have a second one to replace my Vertex 1 and 2, the $500+ price tag doesn't justify the speed increase I would gain over the older drives. At nearly $2 per GB, it is quite the barrier to owning multiple Vertex 3 drives at this capacity.
I would like to note that this is an enthusiast item since the manufacturer (OCZ) is consistently improving the firmware for their products. From past experience with the Vertex 1 and 2, most of the updates are minor bug fixes, but there are some revisions that add performance gains as well. Updating the firmware has come a long way as a short time. Previously, it wasn't easy to flash a drive that had an OS on it while running the OS. Boot disks were needed and constantly needed to be rebuilt as new firmware came out. OCZ's new toolbox is much better now, but updating firmware still isn't for the novice user or someone that expects to plug the drive in and never worry about it again.
Overall, I love my new SSD. It allows me to accomplish most tasks on my system with less frustration induced by wait times and unresponsiveness. Just be sure to plan your program installations accordingly and have the appropriate hardware to get the most out of your purchase.
Update: April 2012
As of July 2011, OCZ has updated the firmware to 2.15 to correct the stability issues plaguing the Sandforce 2281 controller. I have been running the firmware since then both on a Agility 3 as my primary OS drive and on the vertex 3 containing the majority of my games. I have yet to encounter stuttering or stability problem that I experienced on the previous revisions for the 6+ months I've been running it. Subjectively, the speed is the same as when I secured erased both drives to reinstall Windows 7.
OCZ has since released the Vertex 4 drives based on the Everest 2 controller. If you write a lot of incompressable data to your SSD (such as videos), the Vertex 4 is a better choice. If price and a more aggressive garbage collection (for non TRIM OSes such as OSX) are more important, the Vertex 3 is still a great buy.
151 of 182 people found the following review helpful
Style Name:9mm|Size Name:240 GB
This drive is built with a SandForce 2281 chip which has a hardware bug. For many users, myself included, this will randomly cause your computer to crash with the blue screen of death. For me, it used to happen every few weeks now it happens every few days. When this problem happens the hard drive will seem to disappear from your computer until you power it off and on again (reset does nothing, because you have to actually cut power to the SandForce 2281 in the drive).
Not everyone sees the bug - it looks like the exact configuration of some computers triggers it much more easily. For the technically minded, each system generates different access patterns to the hard drive and only some patterns will trigger the bug.
Corsair also used this chip in their products and encountered the exact same problem. They issued a recall back in June. The popular AnandTech hardware review site has reproduced this problem and a description of it appears on the first page of their latest review of drives using the SandForce 2281 chip. SandForce has offered to fly in engineers if AnandTech can figure out how to reproduce it more quickly.
Unlike Corsair, OCZ simply lied to all their customers, claiming their issue had nothing to do with the SandForce issue that prompted Corsair to issue a recall, and can be fixed in firmware. Note that "their" firmware is just a renamed version of the SandForce firmware, because the chip manufacturer is the one who writes the firmware controlling the chip. However, after months of firmware updates the problem still occurs.
I haven't even applied the updates personally, I'm just going by the word of all the other people who say they've made no difference. This is because the firmware update process is obscene. They do NOT provide an update program that works from a CD or flash drive. This means that you have to remove the drive from your computer, install it in another Windows PC, and update it from that PC. Given the large number of firmware updates, that's a lot of times to ask a friend to borrow the inside of their computer.
It gets worse. At least some of the firmware updates are "destructive", meaning they erase all data on the drive. So you have to reinstall everything, or be savvy enough to make a disk image backup of your hard disk and then restore it after updating.
The SandForce 2281 problems aren't the fault of the companies selling the drives, although SandForce is a fairly modestly sized startup and they obviously can't afford to test their chips thoroughly enough. It's probably possible to fix the chip and manufacture updated versions within a couple of months, but there is zero public indication that SandForce has fixed the error.
In the future I will avoid all products using SandForce chips unless they've been in the market for many months without reported problems, because they have demonstrated they don't have the resources to properly verify and validate their products and address post-silicon bugs. It's not like this is the only bug found with their chip or drivers, but the others are small in comparison.
OCZ, on the other hand... I will never buy another OCZ product. Their "support" actively lies to customers to avoid doing a recall like their competition. They string everyone along with the promise that the next firmware update will fix it, really, despite that promise always turning out wrong. (Note: I have a little technical knowledge in this area, and suspect that if they could work around this bug in firmware it would probably involve slowing down the drive quite a bit, which would be incredibly unpopular with users who haven't encountered the bug).
I was *amazed* that a hard disk manufacturer doesn't offer a bootable update CD to update firmware without putting the drive in another machine. That is just nuts. In many years using many computers, I have never had to do that before.
I'm not going through firmware update hell. I am buying another SSD. This expensive choice will allow me to install it in my system and seamlessly transfer my files to the new drive. After that I will wait for a fix for the OCZ drive, and if one comes I will apply it or RMA it and give it to a friend or sell it for a modest amount.
SandForce 2281 based drives are unfortunately the fastest out there, but I am now buying the latest Intel drive (the 510) based on a Marvell chip. It is maybe 10-20% slower in benchmarks (via AnandTech), but Intel has a reputation for rock solid drives and they work to maintain it. They have a three year warranty on drives and have recently upgraded a smaller drive (the 320) to five years. A French reseller recently revealed that SSDs are returned to them at a 2-3% rate, except for Intel SSDs which are returned at about a 0.6% rate. The Crucial m4 is also based on the same Marvell chip used by the latest Intel drives. It benchmarks faster than the Intel drive, but Crucial doesn't have the 0.6% return rate. It's still competitive with the OCZ with much lower risk.
Oh, another annoyance: the drive's 3.5" mounting bracket lacked some of the standard screw holes that my case happens to require, and wouldn't fit into a 3.5 to 5.25 inch adapter I bought either. I had to buy a special 3.5" adapter and put that in the 5.25" adapter.
Not everyone sees the bug - it looks like the exact configuration of some computers triggers it much more easily. For the technically minded, each system generates different access patterns to the hard drive and only some patterns will trigger the bug.
Corsair also used this chip in their products and encountered the exact same problem. They issued a recall back in June. The popular AnandTech hardware review site has reproduced this problem and a description of it appears on the first page of their latest review of drives using the SandForce 2281 chip. SandForce has offered to fly in engineers if AnandTech can figure out how to reproduce it more quickly.
Unlike Corsair, OCZ simply lied to all their customers, claiming their issue had nothing to do with the SandForce issue that prompted Corsair to issue a recall, and can be fixed in firmware. Note that "their" firmware is just a renamed version of the SandForce firmware, because the chip manufacturer is the one who writes the firmware controlling the chip. However, after months of firmware updates the problem still occurs.
I haven't even applied the updates personally, I'm just going by the word of all the other people who say they've made no difference. This is because the firmware update process is obscene. They do NOT provide an update program that works from a CD or flash drive. This means that you have to remove the drive from your computer, install it in another Windows PC, and update it from that PC. Given the large number of firmware updates, that's a lot of times to ask a friend to borrow the inside of their computer.
It gets worse. At least some of the firmware updates are "destructive", meaning they erase all data on the drive. So you have to reinstall everything, or be savvy enough to make a disk image backup of your hard disk and then restore it after updating.
The SandForce 2281 problems aren't the fault of the companies selling the drives, although SandForce is a fairly modestly sized startup and they obviously can't afford to test their chips thoroughly enough. It's probably possible to fix the chip and manufacture updated versions within a couple of months, but there is zero public indication that SandForce has fixed the error.
In the future I will avoid all products using SandForce chips unless they've been in the market for many months without reported problems, because they have demonstrated they don't have the resources to properly verify and validate their products and address post-silicon bugs. It's not like this is the only bug found with their chip or drivers, but the others are small in comparison.
OCZ, on the other hand... I will never buy another OCZ product. Their "support" actively lies to customers to avoid doing a recall like their competition. They string everyone along with the promise that the next firmware update will fix it, really, despite that promise always turning out wrong. (Note: I have a little technical knowledge in this area, and suspect that if they could work around this bug in firmware it would probably involve slowing down the drive quite a bit, which would be incredibly unpopular with users who haven't encountered the bug).
I was *amazed* that a hard disk manufacturer doesn't offer a bootable update CD to update firmware without putting the drive in another machine. That is just nuts. In many years using many computers, I have never had to do that before.
I'm not going through firmware update hell. I am buying another SSD. This expensive choice will allow me to install it in my system and seamlessly transfer my files to the new drive. After that I will wait for a fix for the OCZ drive, and if one comes I will apply it or RMA it and give it to a friend or sell it for a modest amount.
SandForce 2281 based drives are unfortunately the fastest out there, but I am now buying the latest Intel drive (the 510) based on a Marvell chip. It is maybe 10-20% slower in benchmarks (via AnandTech), but Intel has a reputation for rock solid drives and they work to maintain it. They have a three year warranty on drives and have recently upgraded a smaller drive (the 320) to five years. A French reseller recently revealed that SSDs are returned to them at a 2-3% rate, except for Intel SSDs which are returned at about a 0.6% rate. The Crucial m4 is also based on the same Marvell chip used by the latest Intel drives. It benchmarks faster than the Intel drive, but Crucial doesn't have the 0.6% return rate. It's still competitive with the OCZ with much lower risk.
Oh, another annoyance: the drive's 3.5" mounting bracket lacked some of the standard screw holes that my case happens to require, and wouldn't fit into a 3.5 to 5.25 inch adapter I bought either. I had to buy a special 3.5" adapter and put that in the 5.25" adapter.
28 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Style Name:9mm| Size Name:240 GB|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have a 2011 macbook pro 15". This laptop has the 6GB SATA III interface that works great with this drive. I just got the drive today immediately installed it. I have an OWC adapter on the way so I can put my old 750GB drive where the superdrive goes.
I installed OSX, updated, and then installed office 2011 and let it sync up my 400GB exchange mailbox. Then then testing began.
#%^^&$%& this drive is fast! For grins, I configured ALL office apps, safari, firefox all to open on startup. the machine boots in under 30 seconds and all of those apps are loaded before the desktop even appears!
What a great buy this drive was, and very easy to install!
I installed OSX, updated, and then installed office 2011 and let it sync up my 400GB exchange mailbox. Then then testing began.
#%^^&$%& this drive is fast! For grins, I configured ALL office apps, safari, firefox all to open on startup. the machine boots in under 30 seconds and all of those apps are loaded before the desktop even appears!
What a great buy this drive was, and very easy to install!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
My system loads in seconds!
Bought this over a year ago and updated the firmware before loading it with my new copy of Win7. Have had zero troubles with it and it can go from completely off to back in... Read more
Published 1 day ago by Chris D. Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars
great all around drive
Great speed and throughput. Installing software and updates are no longer constrained to disk performance. Have 2, they are phenomenal! Best value for performance.
Published 23 days ago by urskullz4trophys
5.0 out of 5 stars
SSD are great
This was the first SSD I purchased. I wasn't quite sure if it was worth the cost but if you game at all, I would absolutely recommend. Read more
Published 1 month ago by J. Loomis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fast and reliable
This drive was purchased as a part of a hackintosh desktop build- the drive is working just as fast as when I bought it, and I am looking forward to more fast and reliable use.
Published 1 month ago by KM
5.0 out of 5 stars
amazing speed!
suppppper!!!just love with it super fast speed,will let all my friend knows.so good thing to use for upgrade your laptop or desktop.
Published 1 month ago by huang
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still going...
No problems so far. Running 4 of these in home currently, media center, laptop, and 2 in raid on my desktop. No issues whatsoever that I wouldn't have expected. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Joe Sorensen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Muy buen producto!
Lleno todas mis espectativas y mas, le ha dado nueva vida a mi PC y bastante rapidez, estoy muy contento con el disco de estado solido.
Published 1 month ago by Asdrubal
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great ssd
This is a very good SSD. It works extremely well and we are very happy with the purchase, its been in use over a year now.
Published 2 months ago by phx reviewer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great product
Have owned two of these SSDs for several years. Both perform great and have been very reliable. OCZ products and customer support are always great. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Gigabyte
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really fast
Bought this at a local tigerdirect, but I still wanted to share my thoughts on this drive to the AMAZONS. So the only thing I can think of right now is that this drive is fast. Read more
Published 2 months ago by RayFish
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