Perfect for a laptop
The SSD arrived perfectly well packaged, and worked immediately (no need for flashing it). It fits well in a Sony Vaio SZ, although it is 2 mm thicker than the original HDD, so make sure you have a little extra space.
As for the performance, it is simply incredible. You'll never go back to a standard HDD! Windows XP pro took 3 mn to boot with the previous HDD (7200...
Check their forums before any purchase......
They have some firmware issues that you should read into before you purchase.. They are working to correct them but I think you should read into it before. I had the drive go dead after 1.4 > 1.5.
This review is from: OCZ Technology 120 GB Vertex Series SATA II Solid State Drive (Black) OCZSSD2-1VTX120G (Electronics)
The SSD arrived perfectly well packaged, and worked immediately (no need for flashing it). It fits well in a Sony Vaio SZ, although it is 2 mm thicker than the original HDD, so make sure you have a little extra space.
As for the performance, it is simply incredible. You'll never go back to a standard HDD! Windows XP pro took 3 mn to boot with the previous HDD (7200 rpm), now with the Vertex it's 25 seconds (cloned disc). Everything runs much faster -- just DO NOT keep your automatic defrag software, as they cause problems on SSD.
Excellent purchase.
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This review is from: OCZ Technology 120 GB Vertex Series SATA II Solid State Drive (Black) OCZSSD2-1VTX120G (Electronics)
I picked up this SSD last week, and it has made a big difference on my overall system performance. I have a HP Elitebook 8530w with 8GB DDR 2 RAM, 512MB ATI graphics processor, and an Intel P9600 CPU. The original drive was a 7200 RPM Hitatchi. This is drive came quick, installed quick, loaded a clean install of Windows 7 (64 bit) in under 20 minutes. Once the OS was installed, but before apps and data, it went from "power off" to a fully loaded MSN page in 20 minutes. With Outlook 2010 beta installed, it loads all the add-in and opens outlook to a full inbox in 2-3 seconds.
I did run into some challenges migrating my previous HDD's OS load, apps, and data to the new disk. Eventually got it using Acronis True Image Home 2010. I have a blog post series here about my experience if you'd like to know more ([...]).
Overall, great product. My timing was definitely bad, though - it's almost $100 less this week than last (I paid $499).
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This review is from: OCZ Technology 120 GB Vertex Series SATA II Solid State Drive (Black) OCZSSD2-1VTX120G (Electronics)
I've been in IT since 1991 (officially) and worked with every type of hard drive imaginable. Never, I do mean NEVER, have I seen a hard drive of any type, of any configuration perform like this one. I'm dual booting OS X 10.5.7 and Windows XP Professional. Both load with a usable GUI sub 10 seconds. I don't wait for requests anymore - makes me feel like I've got the fastest iMac on the planet. This drive rules. I'm buying everyone in the house a Vertex!!!
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This review is from: OCZ Technology 120 GB Vertex Series SATA II Solid State Drive (Black) OCZSSD2-1VTX120G (Electronics)
Faster than you expected --and cheaper than comparable SSD's, doesn't REALLY extend laptop battery life.
We compared it side by side with Intel* M and E version SSD's and we couldn't tell the difference until using benchmarking suites to decimalize the difference.
In short, the Intel E's performed marginally better by decimals when saving massively sized files of 10GB or loading the latest murder simulator FPS game along with all the sprites and cutscenes.
Boot times between the three were less than a second and the OCZ outperformed the Intel M while booting and fell short by an indiscernible split second from the E.
BUT THE INTEL E COSTS $80 MORE FOR 1/3 THE SIZE OF THE OCZ !!!
This OCZ is worth every penny, and the reason it DOESN't REALLY EXTeND YOUR LAPTOP battery..... is because laptops are equipped with power saving features regardless of your hard drive speed. ... When you use this OCZ in Maximum Performance mode which is also the fastest draining mode, you'll never go back to any type of battery saver, conservationist battery extension mode again !!!
YES, technically, compared to a traditional spindle drive this OCZ still performs faster in low mode, coma mode, battery saver mode, whatever...and you could still get better performance if you set your notebook to coma mode for a transatlantic flight BUT YOU'LL REFUSE TO DO SO WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SHEER TIRE BURNING SPEED YOU COULD HAVE AND THE SSD WILL CHALLENGE YOUR CPU, KEEPING IT 100% throttled.
A GOOD 100% though since the CPU doesn't really drag or slow down, it's just running itz azzz off and overcycling your cooling fan like marathon runner bolted onto a jet engine !
You need to buy this thing, ..just to see it for yourself.
(Intel M's are titled for read performance, while the more expensive E's are designed for faster write performance)
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This review is from: OCZ Technology 120 GB Vertex Series SATA II Solid State Drive (Black) OCZSSD2-1VTX120G (Electronics)
This is indeed a *very* fast drive, however you need to be aware that set up can be a bear, and that tech support is uneven - for example the first time I called I was told the drive MUST be jumperd to upgrade the firmware when using the latest version of the flashing software, the second time I was told it MUST NOT (support was correct the second time).
Also, setup and configuration requirements (for example that you must re-flash the drive with the version supporting GC for use with RAID under windows 7) are not documented except in various postings on OCZ forum, and even then not in one place or in an orderly manner - if the default setup does not work with your configuration, expect to spend HOURS reading your way through LONG threads - and taking LOTS of notes - to learn all the little details you will need for success.
Eventually I did get everything working under 1.40 and TRIM, only to have the drive crash in an un-bootable state after a few hours (sigh...)
After reading extensively on the OCZ forum, and two discussions with OCZ tech support, I finally decided to download the ISO for a Windows 7/32 bit rescue disc, flashed the DRIVE to 1.41 to implement GC, ran OCZ's "sanitary erase" and wipe the drive (SE will not run if you boot from a 64 bit rescue disc), reinstalled windows, turned off the OS TRIM and immediately ran driver detective and upgraded *every* driver... after which all was well.
Which part of this process solved the problem?
Who knows?
But judging from the forum posts, I'm not the only one who has had to work their way through a similar process.
Is TRIM stable under WIN 7/64?
Who knows?
But with GC working well at the drive firmware level, my conclusion was why bother with TRIM implemented at the OS level, even in non-RAID configurations?
(This was a Dell Vostro 430, i7, Win 7/64 bit system, BTW).
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This review is from: OCZ Technology 120 GB Vertex Series SATA II Solid State Drive (Black) OCZSSD2-1VTX120G (Electronics)
I have this in my desktop and I love it! I Don't think I could ever go back to a normal hard drive(for boot and OS anways). There is a wealth of information on the OCZ site and the support is A++ in thier forums. When I had questions they would be answered usually in an hour on the forums. Very cool. I am using Windows XP with IDE mode. I was going to the get the Intel X25 instead, but being I saw that Intel obandoned thier first gen drive and gave no support/updates to it I felt the same thing could happen if I bought thier 2nd generation drive. In addition, Intel released a firmware that improved the write speed for thier 160 gig model, but they did nothing to improve the write speed of thier 80 gig model(which had really bad specs). OCZ is very good about firmware and software updates thier whole drive line. The price of the drive made this to good of a deal to pass up.
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This review is from: OCZ Technology 120 GB Vertex Series SATA II Solid State Drive (Black) OCZSSD2-1VTX120G (Electronics)
The first one died after 2 weeks, a prompt replacement has been working fine in my Dell D620 laptop running Vista for over a month now. I used the free edition of an excellent product called "Macrium Reflect" to back up my old drive and image the new one.
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This review is from: OCZ Technology 120 GB Vertex Series SATA II Solid State Drive (Black) OCZSSD2-1VTX120G (Electronics)
Fast - This SSD is super fast. I used to have an average 7200rpm drive. My windows bootup was cut in half and some intensive applications start in less than 50% of the old time.
Quiet - No more access noise, no more seeking, and no more waiting for the hard drive.
Cool - It isn't a huge difference, but it is enough that my hand doesn't get sore from typing large documents on my laptop.
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This review is from: OCZ Technology 120 GB Vertex Series SATA II Solid State Drive (Black) OCZSSD2-1VTX120G (Electronics)
PLEASE NOTE: FLASH THIS DRIVE'S FIRMWARE BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING WITH IT!
Regarding an earlier post, I had difficulty upgrading the firmware in Vista 64, UNTIL i booted into Safe mode w/console. Then it flashed just fine. I saw significant performance improvements after upgrading the firmware. SMART was enabled and it solved a serious problem with BSODs after resuming from sleep. OCZ would be wise to start shipping these with the latest firmware! I wasted many hours trying to diagnose the sleep problem and then jumping through numerous hoops trying to upgrade the firmware - yes you will need a spare jumper to flash the drive.
All in all, this is a superior SSD with a 64MB cache and a smart controller to manage wear leveling. My laptop has new life after suffering from Chronic Windows Vista Bloat Syndrome. It's quite snappy now.
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This review is from: OCZ Technology 120 GB Vertex Series SATA II Solid State Drive (Black) OCZSSD2-1VTX120G (Electronics)
They have some firmware issues that you should read into before you purchase.. They are working to correct them but I think you should read into it before. I had the drive go dead after 1.4 > 1.5.
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