Please run a benchmark now and rerun the same benchmark after about 6 months of use.

Hi sjthinkpader.

Have you read this article: http://www.storagesearch.com/ssdmyths-endurance.html

More info here: http://www.storagesearch.com/ssdarticles.html

I'd just like to add that I enabled writeback mode for ext3 in ubuntu and it gave a big performance boost to my 32GB Transcend compactflash. It's no speed demon, but it at least has usable performance online now, rarely stuttering or freezing. (used to have to use Flashblock to disable all flash apps, disable all javascript too)

The Windows equivalent would be to Enable Write Caching and Enable Advanced performance. They're available by going into device manager, checking out properties on the drive, and going to policies.

It's taken me a while, but I have now had an answer from A-data about my 32GB card. They will re-flash it for me, but only if I send it in to them. Not the answer I wanted, but at least I know now. While I was waiting for A-data to reply, I did start using the card for storage on my desktop, and now I realize how s-l-o-w their "Speedy" card is I don't think I'd want to use it in my X40 anyway. So, I'm now in the market for a 32GB card to accompany my 8GB 300x Transcend. Can anyone recommend a current 32GB card that can be made to work in the second slot of the Addonics card?

i am planning on getting a thinkpad x41t off ebay at some point and look to upgrade the hdd to a runcore 32gb pata zif sdd (http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/SPD/ru ... 178925.jsp) and was wondering what connector i would need to do so, etc soldering. would it be pretty much the same dea as ive read here?

Hi Zborbas, did you find a solution to your problem? I have by fortuity, exactly your configuration and hence the same
problem.

I have been reading this thread with interest since I am planning on picking up a X40 once this school semester ends. I do have a question though. How has reliability/speed been? I have read elsewhere about flash memory performance degrading over time - has anyone here had problems with that?

Just got myself an X40 again, had one some years ago, but missed the X40. I got it for about 140$, with a missing hdd, but with almost new 8cell bat.

So I had a sandisk extreme3 4gb CF card. Got a cheap adapter at a local store. Found the sandisk utility to turn it into a fixed disk. Put in a 16gb SD card I also had laying around.

That did the trick. Working like a charm. Much better then my new EEE 1000H, will sell it. Much prefer the X40.

Will probably get a real SDD somewhere in the future. But this will do for now. Or a faster CF card.

Here is my benchmark. Not to bad, i think, considering this is only 233x speed if I remember correct. Xp sp3
img]http://i41.tinypic.com/21dq5xv.jpg[/img]

Comparison to the 1000h(160gb), that hd is quite fast, so will need something faster to beat that. But the CF is way faster on 4k reads, that's something.
img]http://i43.tinypic.com/b8r5ls.jpg[/img]

So this guy, will he just plug and play? If so I need to get an ice pick and head for my frozen credit card

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=360138312066

This is one of the few SSD solutions for X40/X41/X41t.

Compared to a full size 32GB Transcend SSD at $90, it is pretty expensive. It is an unknown brand thus warranty service is unknown at the moment. Alternative in using a fast and large CF is not so cheap either.

HDD solutions are spotty also; fast but scarce Samsung 5400 HS121JC, slow 4200 and 3600 ipod ZIF drives, expensive, slow and second hand Hitachi PATA drives.

Hey just an update,
I'm currently using the Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope?) pre-release formatted with ext4 on my compact flash card and it's much faster than ext3 was. Well, I suppose it could be 9.04 that's faster than 8.10, but either way performance is much improved. The latest Fedora installs also offer ext4 as an option, so I'd imagine performance is better on those as well. Still, the Ubuntu alpha is worth grabbing if you're feeling adventurous, otherwise wait until next month when the final release is out.

I'd be interested in seeing how Windows 7 performs on compact flash cards, but I somehow doubt the answer is "good".

Theoretically, Microsoft modified Win7 to detect SSDs (NAND flash, CFs) during installation and somehow shape the OS during install for improved performance on that media. Therefore ... Win7 running on CF will likely be at least "good" and perhaps even "great" particularly since it's notably faster than Vista already. As I haven't yet tested on my x31 since upgrading to an SSD, I can't confirm.

-godling

Hi all

I'm am thinking about upgrading my X41 to solid state harddisk. What is currently the best way to
go in terms of hardware?
I want to keep my existing WinXpPro installation, what is an easy way to copy it to the SSHD?

best regs
Halli

somehow ... maybe ... perhaps


I wouldn't believe and propagate any Microsoft proposition until its thoroughly tested and proven.

Just to reply to the question posted in the thread.

Yes I have tried a SSD in my X41 tablet. I am currently using a MTRON 32Gig 1.8" SLC SSD. It's crazy fast! i had to order an adapter from one of the forum members (legbone) to get it to work with the X41 tablet. The MTRON SSD is one of the more expensive SSDs out there. but believe me, once you try it, you won't regret it.

Just to support a little bit Zborbas explanations, when I start my x40 I face the same problem:
"ERROR 0200 ..." but after restarting the computer it boots perfectly and the hard drive (CF Transcend 32GB) appears as a fixed drive and works perfectly. Anyone as an idea for fixing this problem?

Is the slave CF formatted as NTFS or FAT32? I think it needs to be NTFS or the CF be marked as fixed disk in CIS.

Went ahead and tried the 32GB 133x Kingston Elite Pro with an eBay ID-CF adapter on my X41T.
Performance was fairly decent with Windows 7.

CrystalDiskMark reported:
100MB Read | Write [MB/s]
Seq: 45.24 | 18.11
512k 46.01 | 3.192
4k 10.42 | 0.032

However, just after a day, things started to go south. The laptop would get stuck in a reboot loop saying "Loading Windows Files." Reformatting with XP and Vista produced similar results as I would get a corrupt or missing Windows file error after a fresh install. Usual methods of recovery didn't help either.

Are these signature signs of CF card failure? Or are there other potential culprits such as the adapter? Thanks for reading!

My 8GB Kingston 133x card ran slow too. Kingston replaced it but the new card is not any better. A RiDATA 8GB 233x is still running in the X40 and seems to be ok.

My conclusion is that slow CF card are too slow to be use. Fast 300x CF cards are too expensive.

The 1.8 inch PATA SSD are coming from unknown vendors that charge a lot for them.

1.8 inch ZIF SSD from known vendors are around $130 for 16GB which is still expensive.

New 40GB-60GB ipod PATA ZIF drives may be the way to go at the moment and can be had for reasonable cost.

Larger, faster 1.8 inch ZIF drives cost a lot too. I was able to find that HS122JC for a little over $100. Considering a WD 160GB 2.5 inch cost $50-$55, there is no good reason that HS122JC can demand $150 other than supply and demand.

We actually got one Samsung 60Gb SSD back from Lenovo/IBM for a replacement for an X41 that was still under warranty. Of course, the next couple drives that we got back were still the 4200rpm type.

The 60Gb they sent me is awesome, BUT only runs @ UDMA3. The 8Gb Transcent 300X with a ZIF adapter is actually faster in read speeds, surprisingly.

Seems to work great, so far. We are going to do some testing now, one concern is long-term reliability, though at 1/4 the cost of a new 4200rpm drive they are somewhat expendable; the other concern is whether or not we can get away with only 1.5Gb of physical memory and no page file.

It's only used for XP with a couple Citrix apps, FWIW

I am confused. 60GB SSD at 1/4 the cost of a 4200 RPM? Please clarify.

Hello,

I'm new here and my English isn't very well, but I have great news for XP users.

I say just one word: FlashPoint

Try it if you suffer from lags, frezzes and general slownes on your SSD.
This is unbelivable, but MLC CF with FlashPoint run as fast as SLC CF.
This aplication add write buffer to first phisical drive, buffer is located in RAM and is relatively small (24MB in beta2 nad 32MB in beta3p1).

It works perfect in terms of performance, but there are still some minor problems with file system erros and scandisk.

To convince You to try this small, but realy great software, I have some CrystalDiskBenchmark benchlogs to post here:

Testing SSD device:
CompactFlash Silicon Power 200x 8GB (MLC, UDMA). This card performance is eqivalent to following CFs: Transcend 133x 8GB, Pretec 233x 8GB, RiData 233x 8GB.
PC: ThinkPad X40, CPU: 1,4GHz/2MB, RAM: 1,5GB

1. CF SP200x8GB with default FAT32 4kB FS (without FlashPoint):

3x50MB

2. CF SP200x8GB with cluster alignment - CF page-aligned FAT32 16kB FS (without FlashPoint):

3x50MB

3. CF SP200x8GB with cluster alignment - CF page-aligned FAT32 16kB FS with FlashPoint:

Sample size was 3x100MB, because 3x50MB was to high to be believable.

With SLC CF random write 4kB rises to 6MB/s.

Please spread this information to as many SSD users as You can. There is no time to wait.

Thanks for help,
Janko Wodnik

Thanks Janko. I have to test more. But the 4k write improvement went through the roof. Here is the benchmark I posted before, and this one now. Will be interesting to find out how much IRL improvement this will give.

But as you said-the 50mb gave very high results. Before they was more or less the same.

Old benchmark 3x50(I think it was about the same with 3x100 if I remember correct. But there is a huge difference with this tweak.


3x50mb test


3x100mb

Hi,

And about Error 0200...

This problem was solved, in our topic...

To solve this problem, you have to insert both CF cards to dual adaptor and instal Windows again. There is no problem with FAT32. NTFS sucks on MLC cards

FAT32 allow cluster alignment operations on MLC flash media. And this is really complex operation, not "just set a partition start on multiplication of 128kB/512kB block size and insert NTFS FS" as some forums reports. "dfboff64.exe" is essential for obtaining and verifing alignment. Dedicated software for partitioning (for example Ranish Partition Manager, BootIt NG) is a must.

Thanks to bjorn (thank for testing FlashPoint and posting benchmark results),
JW

Thank you for your answer. Can you please point me to the discussion(english link, please, if possible) about how to format my CF cards? If I understand you, my primary Transcend CF 300x 8GB does not have to be reformatted as it is SLC, however, the secondary Transcend 133x 32Gb needs alignment and reformatting. Currently this is my speed test (Currently the secondary card is in a cardbus reader, hence the unusually low sequential performance)

--------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 2.2 (C) 2007-2008 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
--------------------------------------------------
Transcend 300x 8GB in addonics dual adaptor (NTFS)

Sequential Read : 43.582 MB/s
Sequential Write : 37.655 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 43.215 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 15.863 MB/s
Random Read 4KB : 11.084 MB/s
Random Write 4KB : 0.204 MB/s

Test Size : 100 MB
Date : 2009/04/22 12:13:59


Transcend 133x 32 GB in cardbus reader (FAT32)

Sequential Read : 11.101 MB/s
Sequential Write : 8.377 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 11.091 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 2.536 MB/s
Random Read 4KB : 6.699 MB/s
Random Write 4KB : 0.025 MB/s

Test Size : 100 MB
Date : 2009/04/22 12:19:16


"This problem was solved, in our topic..." -Can you tell me where is this topic?

Well...
I spend few hours serching over this forum with no results. But im sure I found how to fix "error 0200" in this topic

Someone said something like that: "after putting 2nd CF I get error 0200". And another person reply: "put both CF cards and reinstall Windows". The first person confirm this method as working. I also check it for my own, and it really works fine.

After serching, I found some "way points" in this topic:
First report of error 0200/Fixed Disk Error 1 (page 4)
The reson was "bad" CF card.
First(?) report of successful Windows XP installation on dual CF adaptor with 2 CFs (page 4)
Please note, that after XP installation "error 0200" is not present.
First(?) report of "Fixed Disk Error" related to insertion of two CF cards in adaptor (page 17)
I guess person put the second CF card after XP installation. But only guess.

I was sure, that answer is between page 10 and page 17, but it is not

I also remember post, in which someone claims, that putting second card to dual adaptor would make Windows XP installation imposible (!) - that's not true. I could not find this post now
Very bad to me

However, I have made conversion of "bad designed" no-name dual adaptor in mid June 2008, and check the XP installation with both CF cards present in adaptor in mid July 2008.
I have posted solution of "error 0200" in one of polish computer forums in early November 2008.

And it is something else, that would cause error 0200. It is "IORDY command" (you may verify it using "hdparm" program from Linux distro like USB Slax).
If you connect two CF cards to one IDE channel, and if one CF support IORDY in different way than the second CF, you may experience error 0200.

Please give me some time to prepare "step-by-step" version of tutorial for cluster alignment operations. I couldn't find english version (a shame).
There is a hint. Good tutorials includes name of the "core" program, "dfboff64.exe" (this program finds flash page's size and position on FAT filesystem).

Sorry to bother You with my really bad English
JW

Wow!

I did not really think that you would spend hours with searching something for me, thank you very much for the effort. I will try your solution as soon I have time for backup+reinstall. Also, I can hardly wait for your tutorial.

Cheers,
Zoltan
Polak - venger dva bratanki

Hi,

Let's try find flash page size on CF Transcend 32GB using dfb64.exe (package is located here: dfb100of.rar).

Please set benchmark parameters as in picture below:


You may set Total MB to r/w to 16 or 20.

In Drive to test option set drive letter asigned to CF Transcend 32GB.

This program run very slowly, so wait until "OK" botton appear:


Make two benchmarks and post the results of benchmark (content of file "benchlog.txt") in new post. You may reduce font size to save some space

Have you ever set MBR on pendrive (USB thumb drive) to make it bootable?

Janko Wodnik

P.S.
"Za waszą i naszą wolność" - 1848

Thanks, I will try the above, when I have time, maybe not anytime soon...

Regarding setting the MBR, no, I have never done it, for me master boot record has always been a big "no touch" - but I can learn it if you tell me how to do it.

I will report the result.

What is the best method of selecting an SSD solution for my x41t?

Going with an 8gb fast card for the primary drive, and a slower 32gb as a secondary storage drive?
(around $200 +)
Or just getting a kingspec SSD that is built to work with the X41 tablet?
(around 170+)?

Im looking for the most consistent performance (no hanging/lags) as well as the least amount of downtime.