13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Suits my needs
I just got a new laptop with a 64 GB SLC SSD. These days, that isn't quite enough space, so I ordered this to serve as a data disk for music, pictures, etc.
So far, this has served its purpose very well, but there is one major caveat that may make some people think twice - the write speed. Ignore the stated specs! Read speeds, which is all that's really...
Good use for ExpressCard slot, but Mac problems
Some others had mentioned using this item with Mac laptops, so I thought I'd give it a try. So far I've had the problem that it disconnects the drive every time the computer goes to sleep (with an error alert telling me I removed it improperly), and that it seems to also constantly re-wake the MacBook Pro, even if the lid is closed. An email to tech support went ignored,...
This review is from: Transcend 32GB ExpressCard SSD, MLC (Electronics)
I just got a new laptop with a 64 GB SLC SSD. These days, that isn't quite enough space, so I ordered this to serve as a data disk for music, pictures, etc.
So far, this has served its purpose very well, but there is one major caveat that may make some people think twice - the write speed. Ignore the stated specs! Read speeds, which is all that's really important for what I need, are fine - I generally get a transfer rate FROM the drive of about 20-25 MB/sec. Not stellar, but decent. Writes, however, are a tragedy - sequential writes are, at best, about 3.5 MB/sec, and often slower. So, getting my 16 GB of music to the drive took a while, but once it was all there, things were fine.
So - five stars for me, since it's just what I was looking for, and the write speed doesn't bother me. But be warned - those stars may drop pretty fast for you, if writing to the drive is important.
BTW, a USB adapter is included, which is nice. It gives me yet another option for those times when I need to transfer data from my laptop to my desktop.
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This review is from: Transcend 32GB ExpressCard SSD, MLC (Electronics)
Some others had mentioned using this item with Mac laptops, so I thought I'd give it a try. So far I've had the problem that it disconnects the drive every time the computer goes to sleep (with an error alert telling me I removed it improperly), and that it seems to also constantly re-wake the MacBook Pro, even if the lid is closed. An email to tech support went ignored, but am hoping the forum can provide an answer. Will update the review if they can provide a fix, but so far, this item has been more trouble than it's worth.
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This review is from: Transcend 32GB ExpressCard SSD, MLC (Electronics)
In order to boost recording speed, go to control panel, system, device manager, disk drives, find your ssd usb card right click on it, go to properties, then policies and click on better performance (or similar, depending on the OS). This will enable write caching and vastly improve the performance.
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This review is from: Transcend 32GB ExpressCard SSD, MLC (Electronics)
i bought this along with an sd/mmc card reader just to make use of the expresscard slot on my macbook pro. i havent taken it out in weeks. it is very good for transition files and low speed required files. the interface is much slower than usb/firewire but it has many uses and 32GB is a lot of space. recommended for those not using expresscard slot for usb/firewire cards or audio expresscard.
*edit*
i had to buy another one so i could format one to OSX ext for games. the only time this leaves the MBP is to swap the other. i use this card for storing music and movies which i want to be accessible under the windows partition. included usb adapter works with other express cards.
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This review is from: Transcend 32GB ExpressCard SSD, MLC (Electronics)
I've had my unit for about 6 months; it lived in my laptop's ExpressCard slot, was never subjected to excessive moisture/humidity, shock, vibration, operating temperatures, or read/write cycles. It received light use in an environment in which my laptop has continued to function beautifully for 3 years.
It's fast enough; it's probably slower than your internal or usb hard drive, and slower than your faster ("class 6") SD cards, but faster than your typical run of the mill SD card.
Mine worked like a champ, and was completely satisfactory, until it just died last week. By "died", I mean it no longer even shows up in "My Computer" or in the Disk/Volume Manager. I've tried it in the provided USB adaptor as well (in case my ExpressCard slot was just somehow broken), no dice. Likewise on at least 3 other machines, running Vista and XP. It's just done.
Customer support was prompt and polite, but useless. My request for help got a response within a few hours; they provided me with a "Photo Recover" program that required the device to be present ... in other words, it was no help at all for a device that doesn't show up in "My Computer" (Windows Explorer). Subsequent requests for help received no response.
So, given that the main selling point of an SSD is reliability ... I can't recommend this one at all. If you're considering a unit like this, consider instead a 32GB SDHC card and an ExpressCard adaptor. You'll get the same functionality, but it's more flexible, because SD cards are much more compact, and they typically have a "Read Only" switch, which is nice.
I will say that I use Transcend SDHC cards, and I haven't had a problem with them yet. So hopefully, I just got a dud unit. That happens, even with the best of products. But in my experience, when failure of a particular product is rare, companies tend to be a little more helpful in the support department ... I guess they aren't overwhelmed with calls from irate customers ...
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This review is from: Transcend 32GB ExpressCard SSD, MLC (Electronics)
Excellent purchase. I needed additional storage for a laptop and this works well. Yes, writing to flash drives is slow but that's to be expected. Reading from flash drives is considerably faster, though, so once the data are stored then using it is fast and easy.
I rate it 4 stars because it is a bit slow (to be expected for flash memory) but otherwise allows me to add 30% storage capacity to my Dell laptop.
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This review is from: Transcend 32GB ExpressCard SSD, MLC (Electronics)
I purchased this product as a "test" - as some previous reviews complained about its read/write speed. As I own a sub 3-lb notebook with 64 GByte total Solid-State "hard drive" - I wanted some "semi-permanent" (32 GByte in this case) - additional on-board storage - that I could place IN the express card slot and essentially "forget about it" - and basically store ALL of my documents on the external drive.
In my 4 weeks of use - I have NO COMPLAINTS about its speed - while obviously NOT as fast as the main storage device - it is FAST ENOUGH - for ALL of my documents, photos, and some videos stored on the Transcend device.
My "only" complaint about the express card slot (NOT THE DEVICE ITSELF) - is that it is all too easy for the "eject button" to be actuated while carrying the computer in its case - so every once in a while the card is ejected - without my planned action - so I've just gotten in the habit of a quick-check when pulling the computer out of its case. (Maybe I'll TAPE the button down!!!!!)
So - to summarize the product is doing EVERYTHING I expected of it - and I've purchased a SECOND unit (for my wife's identical computer) - which for some reason has not been shipped for over a month - I wonder if this storage medai has finally been "discovered" - and is now totally out of stock - I would not be surprised.
PS - I've using the Transcend with Vista Business - and 2 GByte of system RAM (along with a 64 GByte SSD).
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This review is from: Transcend 32GB ExpressCard SSD, MLC (Electronics)
Unfortunately, it wasn't until after I had bought this, tried it, and found how slow it is that I investigated the general issue of ExpressCard speed. Now I know that I made a mistake since the slot affords very slow transfer speeds with cards from any brand. For instance, a 7.7 GB file that I can transfer to a relatively slow 2.5 inch external USB hard drive in about six minutes takes about 26 minutes to transfer to this card (using a MacBook Pro). According to many reader posts to web discussions, USB memory sticks are also much faster than ExpressCard SSDs like this one. If speed is at all a consideration then you probably will be dissatisfied with this or any memory card that uses the ExpressCard slot.
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This review is from: Transcend 32GB ExpressCard SSD, MLC (Electronics)
This Transcend card was a real disappointment. It's so slow that the only way I can make it useful is by using it for long-running, network-limited downloads. It takes more than ten minutes to transfer a gigabyte, which is obnoxiously slow -- filling the card 50% will take you nearly 3 hours. Truly a big piece of failcake. I won't be buying Transcend again.
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