Kingspec ssd users? (Pic Warning)

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RDR · #61 Post by **RDR** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:55 pm

makes sense, so what do we have that can improve the writes? Page file on my Kingspec 64gb is still enabled. As a side note, I have an x41 non-tablet and it really works great in it. Moved it over to the X41 tablet, and it was terrible. Mouse jerked all over the place waiting for data. pure lag. put the HD bac into the tablet and performance back. Hmmmm.......

sjthinkpader · #62 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 5:44 pm

Generally, here is what I do on flash based boot drive:

WinXP
Defrag disabled
Indexing disabled
I can't find Prefetch. If I find it, I'll disable it.

Win7
Defrag disabled
Indexing disabled
Superfetch disabled
Readyboost disabled

I've tried Page files size set to zero and automatic. Currently all SSD/CF boot drives have Page files set to automatic.

I tried Flashfire but it caused file corruption on Standby. So it was removed. Instead, I used a program called Eraser and do a single pass write pattern of "1111..." data to all free space. Effectively what this does is to eliminate the slow erase operation when the SSD has "dirty" free space. This then improves write speed.

The TRIM function in Win7 does pretty much the same thing except automatically. The drawback is that there are no way to recover deleted files after TRIM or this manual erase.

As for the Tablet, the Wacom driver must be doing small writes to disk all the time. This is interesting to know as I was going to try a SSD in my X41t. Can you try disabling the Wacom pad in Device Manager and see if it eliminates the pauses?

This must be fixed for the X200t version since it has SSD options. Does the X200t Wacom driver work on X41t?

bgx · #63 Post by **bgx** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:54 pm

i dont get it, why dont you get a *GOOD* SSD for your X41t?

I am in Singapore, ordered a RUnCore Pro IV (indilinx barefoot inside), and this thing should just rock the world... still 1 week before i get my hand on it, in 2 you ll get my review about it

... (paid ~210 euros for 64GB, seems to be available at 220 $US for the lucky one in the land of cheap).

immaculate · #64 Post by **immaculate** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 3:05 pm

Just wanted to chime in and say that I purchased a KingSpec 64gb for my X40 (2371-GEU) w/1.4ghz Dothan, 1.5gb RAM. I got it from eBay while Microsoft's Bing Cashback was at 15%. It arrived after about a week and a half and I got it up and running yesterday. Here is a link to the side by side comparison of CrystalDiskMark 2.2's scores:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaronliao/3891900682/

Rather than Ghost/Acronis my image over, I took the opportunity to reformat and re-do my X40. I was going to go Win7 Ultimate RTM as I have been on all of my other machines, but ended up doing an nLite'd WinXP SP3. I am pretty happy with the results so far. The machine boots slightly faster, restarts/sleeps/wakes from sleep VERY quickly, and applications like Photoshop, Word, etc launch quicker. The drive is silent and not having to install ThinkVantage APS makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside

On a side note, I also got an Intel X25-M G2 80gb SSD for my X61s and that thing rocks, too ;]

aaron

RDR · #65 Post by **RDR** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 1:28 pm

What I think we need is a good set of proven utilities that work with SDD's to make the performance of the drie the best it can be. Where else can you get a 2+ year old X41 to have a battery life of 6+ hours, plenty of ram, plenty of SDD storage and small enough to take with you anywhere, looks great, and perfroms with the best NETBOOKS out there! I would stack my x41 against any small netbook and win hands down.

I am looking for a good set of optimizer settings or software that will make XP fly with the x41.

Thoughts?

mosta · #66 Post by **mosta** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 9:16 pm

Well I got the Kingspec too, 64gb, from the Irish place MemoryC. Unfortunately it's been over a week and I still haven't gotten it running. I'm cloning the original x40 drive in my a31p bay, onto a blank partition on my a31p system drive, using XXClone (x40 and a31p are Win XP. XXClone was designed to make bootable clones of xp, and has done so successfully for me many times on the a31.), and then switching the ssd into the bay and cloning from the auxillary partition to the ssd. Well this clone on the ssd simply won't boot. On a first try, some Intel boot utility comes up, writes a few lines, and concludes OS not found. Attempts to reboot just go to the top-left blinking cursor. The ssd drive is readable in the a31. Maybe it's a problem b/c xxclone wants to do its work while working from the intended computer to be booted? Well I don't have a bay for the x40 (dock). Or a second xxclone license. I guess I'll try running Casper on the a31, though it's licensed on my 3rd thinkpad (which I don't think can read this drive, being a w500).

I could reinstall everything, but I no longer have discs for xp or office (got x40 as a refurb)--so I'm scared it wouldn't all run. I'd be just about to the point of sending the drive back--but I don't expect that take now or for this reason.

sjthinkpader · #67 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 9:51 pm

With the SSD in X40, remove the partition wit FDISK, after that make a new partition. Then clone the drive in A31p.

mosta · #68 Post by **mosta** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 7:35 pm

I'll leave the original message below just b/c it was already out there for several minutes. But: I tried an XXClone repair (the 3 steps below) on the Casper version of the cloning to the ssd--and presto it works! Yay and woo hoo. (Not that I can contribute anything useful to anyone about why my various attempts did or did not work--except to say: keep trying).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for trying, but I think I'm too dense for this. Of the many issues I'm lost on, here's just one (or 2): if I format with fdisk, wouldn't I have to use fat-16 or fat-32? Is that good? And to use fdisk in an XP computer, wouldn't I have to boot off a win 98 disc or something (or so my reading seems to say)? (Or use an XP disc to boot into recovery and use a fix mbr command or something like that?)

I have managed to clone again in the a31p with casper now, and get exactly the same error of Intel boot manager or utility or whatever not finding an OS. XXClone claims to Write MBR, Write Boot Sector, and Write BOOT.INI. Not working in this case. I tried to see if the xxclone Quick Boot Diskette would help me--but that wants a floppy and my 600e drive and enclosure are not compatible (4 thinkpads, zero cross compatibility for bays...).

I'm going to guess that I need to get an x40 bay (and probably another cloning software license) and clone in it (though others seem not to have had to). Or install from scratch and see if OEM stuff doesnt kill me.

loyukfai · #69 Post by **loyukfai** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:51 am

When will Kingspec release new SSD with newer controllers? The current ones choke at heavy small writes.

karen_li · #70 Post by **karen_li** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 9:01 pm

kingspec new products will be finished on at the middle of Oct .Jmicron 602 contraller ,write speed about 300mb/s

sjthinkpader · #71 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 9:24 pm

300mb/s would be interface to cache. What would be cache to NAND device? How large is the write cache?

karen_li · #72 Post by **karen_li** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:53 pm

With 64MB buffer

sjthinkpader · #73 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:50 pm

And the write buffer to memory speed? Another words, once the buffer is full; what would be the write speed?

loyukfai · #74 Post by **loyukfai** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 12:19 pm

Emailed with KingSpec recently. They said they will release new SSD based on the new JMicron controller, but they'll be 2.5" SATA ones.

And currently there's no plan to combine the new controller with the 1.8" PATA form factor.

oliversl · #75 Post by **oliversl** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:22 pm

Hi,
do you have the model number? Is it ZIF or IDE(PATA)?

Thanks
Oliver

m0sh3g wrote:I've just got Kingspec SSD 64G for X40 and it just zooms around the room

oliversl · #76 Post by **oliversl** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:25 pm

You can try cloning using Acronis or gpartd live CD

HTH
Oliver

mosta wrote:Well I got the Kingspec too, 64gb, from the Irish place MemoryC. Unfortunately it's been over a week and I still haven't gotten it running. I'm cloning the original x40 drive in my a31p bay, onto a blank partition on my a31p system drive, using XXClone (x40 and a31p are Win XP. XXClone was designed to make bootable clones of xp, and has done so successfully for me many times on the a31.), and then switching the ssd into the bay and cloning from the auxillary partition to the ssd. Well this clone on the ssd simply won't boot. On a first try, some Intel boot utility comes up, writes a few lines, and concludes OS not found. Attempts to reboot just go to the top-left blinking cursor. The ssd drive is readable in the a31. Maybe it's a problem b/c xxclone wants to do its work while working from the intended computer to be booted? Well I don't have a bay for the x40 (dock). Or a second xxclone license. I guess I'll try running Casper on the a31, though it's licensed on my 3rd thinkpad (which I don't think can read this drive, being a w500).

I could reinstall everything, but I no longer have discs for xp or office (got x40 as a refurb)--so I'm scared it wouldn't all run. I'd be just about to the point of sending the drive back--but I don't expect that take now or for this reason.

Investinwaffles · #77 Post by **Investinwaffles** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:32 pm

Hey guys,

I am looking to get a 32gb Kingspec SSD off of ebay because that seems to be the cheapest place to get it.

They are only available internationally, and im sure a few US thinkpadders have ordered an SSD from overseas.

Can anyone refer me to a legit seller? I dont want to get burned, especially since it is internationally. Anyone know of any cheap US Sellers?
The going rate is $130-ish.

Thanks!

spoiltbrat · #78 Post by **spoiltbrat** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 1:50 am

Hi, I just received a Kingspec 32GB and it seems to work perfectly. Like everyone else has said, it's an excellent upgrade. I got mine from a seller called "hallingstores" who are in Hong Kong. Shipping took about two weeks to Australia, which is a bit slower than usual. Seems like they waited a few days before sending the item, then they gave me a tracking number.

On a slightly different note, I emailed Kingspec directly to find out about the ongoing performance of their SSDs (as nobody on this forum answered my questions!). Unfortunately their English is so poor that they didn't understand the questions and thought I was making a complaint about their product. The upside of this is that they replied promptly with RMA details, so it has given me some faith in their product, and it seems that they will honour the warranty.

loyukfai · #79 Post by **loyukfai** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 12:28 pm

Hi guys, after a few months of use, how's your KingSpec SSD doing? Does it now suffer more frequently from stuttering issues than when it's first installed? If yes, how much is your drive filled (e.g. 80%)?

Cheers.

mattvrablik · #80 Post by **mattvrablik** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 11:03 am

My brief experience with the KingSepc SSD (32GB) has been very disappointing. First off, like many, I could not boot off a norton ghost image of my hitachi hd. So I tried installing Windows XP - I couldn't even boot off of that! So then I installed Windows 2000, booted off of this, and then installed XP (I wonder if there was something wrong with the MBR?).

But unfortunately, I started noticing that everything was installing veeeerrryy sssslllloooowwwllly on the kingspec. Software installation was happening many times slower than on my Hitachi drive. Just as an example, booting into MS Word 2002 normally takes an extra minute or so the first time (for configuration and registration): with the Kingspec, my computer was locked up for something like 7-10 minutes!

In computer managment, it is registered as Ultra ATA / Mode 5, but it seems to be operating much much slower than this. Personally, I've wasted enough time, and the ebay seller is letting me return it for a full refund. But if anyone has some quick insights, on what went wrong, I'm certainly open to listening...

sjthinkpader · #81 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 11:24 am

You didn't indicate what kind of computer you are installing this SSD. Was it a X40, X41, X41t?

mattvrablik · #82 Post by **mattvrablik** » Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:43 pm

It's an x40, 1.2ghz, 768mb ram (256mb on the board). One of the earliest editions, I think. The bios does not beep or error upon booting, although I had a heck of a time getting it to recognize the boot partition.

The only conflicting evidence is that there were moments when it seemed faster...such as the first 20 seconds or so of boot, or when opening something simple (such as notepad). But it would quickly slow down. Is this a buffer overrun? Or an input/output error?

Or, could it be a problem with my drive controller?

Matt

sjthinkpader · #83 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 9:50 am

This is not normal. There were some report of a bump drive. You may want to return it.

nippo · #84 Post by **nippo** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 2:39 pm

Kingspec 128 Gb for Thinkpad X40

Hello;

As many other X40 owners, I am really satisfied with my machine, even after 5 years of intensive use, but a few weeks ago I was really running out of disk space.

Since I did not like too much the idea of upgrading to another machine, I replaced my original 40 Gb Hitachi HD with the 128 Gb SSD Kingspec 1.8" PATA (part number: KSD-PA18.1-128MJ), and it works beautifully.

The SSD connects perfectly to the computer's HD slot without any additional adapter and fits the space of the original disk. The plastic part of the X40 case that was attached to the old disk can also be screwed with no problems to the SSD. In short, it really looks like this item has been conceived to replace old X40 drives.

About writing speed, I did not experience any of the problems that seem to be common to other SSDs. Actually, this guy is definitely faster than the original HD.

With respect to the migration, it also went very smoothly. I cloned the original disk (including the hidden FAT32 "Access IBM" partition) into the SSD with Acronis Migrate Easy, via a shuttle USB drive and a bootable CD (to be burned in advance, by using the same Migrate Easy soft).

In short, I have the same computer as before, but with more disk space.

morbo · #85 Post by **morbo** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:45 pm

I too picked up a 2.5" IDE Kingspec 128GB drive for my 2GHz A31 with 1GB ram. I purchased a used one from an eBay seller: dizzyparts It was ~370$. Shipping was slow via Fedex ground (NY->CA in a week+ I think). Anyway, it did not look used (hologram Kingspec warranty seal was intact on the antistatic bag).

The volume being rehosted is an XP SP3 FAT32 drive. 97% full of sw.

I got it to replace a 120GB WD. For backups of that drive, I had been using a USB 2.0 card in the slot with a shoebox 1TB drive. I boot the A31 using Slax, a linux cd disti. The shoebox is formatted ext3. A script there generates dated 'dd' images of /dev/hda.

Today I reversed the process and dd'd yesterdays image to the Kingspec.

Well the machine is up! Working well. Not an optimized install of course so my read/write times using the crystal tool:

30.14 26.87
29.88 23.47
9.757 2.007

Well, its better than a 4500RPM WD thats for sure

And especially a WD that was getting > 200 seek error retries, not to mention the heat and general worry by me that it could pack up at an inopportune moment

So far so good with the Kingspec. I will report further if something comes up.

nippo · #86 Post by **nippo** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 8:29 am

Just one question. Does anybody know how to send a Secure Erase ATA signal to these Kingspec SSDs, in order to reset the disk to factory settings and avoid time-related slowdowns? (see http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdo ... =3531&p=11 ).
Neither HDDERASE nor hparm seem to work, at least with my 1.8" PATA.
A program that could fill up all the clusters with zeroes (or ones) would probably also make it, although I am not sure...

In2explore · #87 Post by **In2explore** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:49 am

I did a win 7 install on the x40 and it worked well... decided to make it go a bit faster so I installed max memory and a kingspec 32G SSD drive from MemoryC.com (standard shipping seemed reasonable coming from overseas).

I'm doing a clean win 7 install, but I didn't partition the HD beforehand -which has worked fine for other win 7 installs I've done since it takes care of the partition during install. But the problem is that it's asking me for an SSD driver which i don't have and is not on the Kingspec site.

Any ideas how to do the clean install without physically uninstalling from the unit? Also I did the physical install without the metal hard drive caddy, figuring the SSD would need it cause it generates less heat. Is this ok?

nippo · #88 Post by **nippo** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 5:40 am

In2explore wrote:I'm doing a clean win 7 install, but I didn't partition the HD beforehand -which has worked fine for other win 7 installs I've done since it takes care of the partition during install. But the problem is that it's asking me for an SSD driver which i don't have and is not on the Kingspec site.

I did not have any request for drivers. The SSD was simply recognized as an internal HD and it is managed by the Microsoft driver I had for the old Hitachi. Driver Date: 01-Jul-01, Version 5.1.2523.0 (whatever this means). But I have XP.

In2explore wrote:Also I did the physical install without the metal hard drive caddy, figuring the SSD would need it cause it generates less heat. Is this ok?

I did the same. So far, so good.

In2explore · #89 Post by **In2explore** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 12:59 pm

Here's how I got around win 7 install looking for a driver. I took the drive out and reseated it. Then I used hiren's bootCD to boot into xp and then diskmgmt.msc reformat c as NTFS.

Then windows 7 install no problems the wei for the HD was 5.9.

Having no disk caddy didn't seem to cause heat problems.

mosta · #90 Post by **mosta** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:26 pm

Well it was good while it lasted. I think. Maybe. I posted above (also pg. 3) when I got the 64gb Kingspec from the place in Ireland. I didn't benchmark it, but it did put to an end my problems with my X40 hanging all the time.

And now it's over. Drive won't boot. Quick blue screen with 3 paragraphs that I forget what they said. (Google for "kingspec thinkpad failed" without quotes, to get another person with the same). Won't take safe mode, or any other F8 options.

I don't think I'll try to remake the registry or various other intensive efforts to revive a drive--seems like this is a total failure of an inexpensive product, and is the gamble I took.

I guess I'll try to inquire about an RMA, and then there's shipping, price and bother... (And it was such a pain to get the clone to finally work, etc etc...)

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