Thinkpads Forum

I know there's been a lot of general discussion about SSD's in Thinkpads but I wondered whether anyone had specific experience with an OCZ Vertex SSD in a Thinkpad T6x. I'm considering one but wondered whether there were compatibility problems or if there was another model I should be considering. Would appreciate any experience based advice forum members are able to share.
Thanks in advance.

The only problem = SATA 150 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really, 150 MB/s is not the biggest problem. Yes, it'll cap the transfers at a (still very speedy) 150 MB/s, but that's still very, very fast.

The real problems can come in as the drive fills up and the the flash memory needs to be erased and rewritten in large blocks, causing delays and stuttering (see Anandtech's excellent analysis for details). The Indilinx chipset is one of the better ones, but still suffers a significant performance drop as the drive gets near full. Leaving a portion (10-20%) of the drive unallocated can substantially improve this performance, though.

Really, 150 MB/s is not the biggest problem. Yes, it'll cap the transfers at a (still very speedy) 150 MB/s, but that's still very, very fast.
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I've an Intel X25E which tops at 130 Mo/s reading & writing, it's fine but disappointing coz losing 50% is not pleasing.
All the to day TP are topped at SATA 150
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The real problems can come in as the drive fills up and the the flash memory needs to be erased and rewritten in large blocks, causing delays and stuttering (see Anandtech's excellent analysis for details). The Indilinx chipset is one of the better ones, but still suffers a significant performance drop as the drive gets near full. Leaving a portion (10-20%) of the drive unallocated can substantially improve this performance, though.
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You're right.
I've left 8 Go unallocated , it runs nicely.
Before the Intel SSD, I had a Mtron Mobi 3025 (SLC) which don't need the unallocation.
If globalkiwi can afford a SLC SSD it'll be better anyway; a speedy MLC SSD wiil be useless and slower with the 4 Ko

Rochefort wrote:I've an Intel X25E which tops at 130 Mo/s reading & writing, it's fine but disappointing coz losing 50% is not pleasing.
All the to day TP are topped at SATA 150

Of course most SSDs are not as fast (or as expensives) as your X25-E. But the transfer limit is certainly something to consider when choosing an SSD: paying for anything faster than 150 MB/s is pointless with the current generation of ThinkPads.

Rochefort wrote: If globalkiwi can afford a SLC SSD it'll be better anyway; a speedy MLC SSD wiil be useless and slower with the 4 Ko

Can you explain this a little? I'm unclear how an SLC will actually be better in a TP capped at 150 MB?

tomh009 wrote: But the transfer limit is certainly something to consider when choosing an SSD: paying for anything faster than 150 MB/s is pointless with the current generation of ThinkPads.

I'll use it for my next SATA 300 notebook.

You're right but I love so much my 4/3 IPS that I want the speediest drive for it.
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SSDSA2SH032G1GN (X25E 32 Go) with XP Pro
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CrystalDiskMark 2.2 (C) 2007-2008 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
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Sequential Read : 132.021 MB/s
Sequential Write : 118.407 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 114.296 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 127.216 MB/s
Random Read 4KB : 18.479 MB/s
Random Write 4KB : 38.044 MB/s

Test Size : 100 MB
Date : 2009/05/24 10:07:36

globalkiwi wrote:
Can you explain this a little? I'm unclear how an SLC will actually be better in a TP capped at 150 MB?

The SLC drives are much more stables'n speedier for writing/reading small files.

Rochefort wrote:
The SLC drives are much more stables'n speedier for writing/reading small files.

Ok, but they're *way* more expensive than MLC drives, it's hard to imagine that extra expense is worth it with the Thinkpads SATA 1 limitation. Do you really think I'd notice the difference on a T61?

It's important for the writing times.
Your OS is writing a lot of small files and the SSD life will be improved.
If you plan buying a Ford Mustang , you can get it with a V8 or a V6 engine....
Have a look HERE

Rochefort wrote:It's important for the writing times.
Your OS is writing a lot of small files and the SSD life will be improved.
If you plan buying a Ford Mustang , you can get it with a V8 or a V6 engine....
Have a look HERE

But that article doesn't say anything about SLC vs. MLC - it's just a comparison between an Intel SSD & a Hitachi HDD. There's no question that the SSD blows the HDD away, that's the point of buying an SSD. What I was asking was whether the performance differential between SLC & MLC drives warrants the very large price differential - especially on a machine that is capped at SATA 1 speed. My conclusion was that it's not.

globalkiwi wrote:
But that article doesn't say anything about SLC vs. MLC -
What I was asking was whether the performance differential between SLC & MLC drives warrants the very large price differential - especially on a machine that is capped at SATA 1 speed. My conclusion was that it's not.

Xcuse the wrong link
THAT ONE will be more useful for explaining the MLC weakness.
Airlines are using only SLC SSDs for their black boxes