Intel X25-M 80G SSD $40 AR + shipping @ TigerDirect

[Pheran]

This is an older SATA2 SSD, but it's Intel and dirt cheap at $40 AR if you just need a fast boot drive!

Intel X25-M 80G from TigerDirect

Rebate Link

$60 - $20 rebate + shipping

The econo shipping was only $2.29 for me.

 

[gevorg]

"slow" by modern standards but likely to have highest reliability by modern standards

great deal!

 

[Pheran]

"slow" by modern standards but likely to have highest reliability by modern standards

great deal!

A "slow" SSD still smokes the hell out of a spinning drive.

It's funny, I'm looking at some posts from 2 years ago about this drive and it cost $200+.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

How does one determine if a ssd is slow? If something is .003 seconds faster how do I notice the difference?

 

[Pheran]

How does one determine if a ssd is slow? If something is .003 seconds faster how do I notice the difference?

Benchmark scores. The user experience is not likely to be very different. AT has a review of the 160G version of this drive.

 

[PingSpike]

Benchmark scores. The user experience is not likely to be very different. AT has a review of the 160G version of this drive.

I'm pretty sure the 80GB version will likely be slower than that reviewed though. I can't remember off the top of my head why but the smaller drives always seemed to have lower rated speeds when I was looking at them.

 

[vshah]

i'm using this drive in my main system, and it's plenty fast. 80gb gets a bit tight after a while though. just with OS and programs installed (no games) i'm at 70gb.

considering picking up another for the htpc.

 

[Pheran]

i'm using this drive in my main system, and it's plenty fast. 80gb gets a bit tight after a while though. just with OS and programs installed (no games) i'm at 70gb.

considering picking up another for the htpc.

When I build the system I relocate the Users directory (using a junction) to my spinning RAID1 set. So that way none of the user profiles, my documents, browser caches, etc. take up any space on the boot drive - and they are protected from drive failure. Of course, you also make sure not to do anything silly like installing Steam on the C drive. This method worked fine on a 60G OCZ, so 80G will be more than enough.

 

[vshah]

^ i actually tried that. i like having it on the ssd since lots of random writes go on in that directory, and that's where ssds have the most benefit.

for example, quicksaving a game with the directory on the ssd is seamless. doing it with the user directory on a hard drive causes the game to stutter a bit.

 

[chizow]

I've been running the 160GB G2 for a few years now flawlessly. Great drive still but tends to get outclassed by the faster SATA6G drives like the HyperX and Samsung 830 even when they are running a SATA3G speeds.

I think the 80GB is starting to look a bit tight for most uses, maybe just for OS nowadays in a desktop with additional drives for storage.

Another compelling option would be as a cache drive for mechanical drives. I'd consider grabbing this as a cache drive if there wasn't a MIR attached.

 

[Jiggz]

It's perfect for those old notebooks with SATA 1 or 2 or for netbooks!

 

[The0ne]

Yep, it's plenty fast for SATA1/2. I have a M4 128 and I haven't been able to use it up yet. I guess I don't have that many games installed on there

Going to grab two, thanks!

 

[thegimp03]

A "slow" SSD still smokes the hell out of a spinning drive.

It's funny, I'm looking at some posts from 2 years ago about this drive and it cost $200+.

Haha, yeah, I think I paid about $210 for mine around the time they came out. I still use it today and it works fine.

 

[VirtualLarry]

In for two, seems cheap enough, and should be more reliable than my OCZ drives.

 

[vshah]

In for two, seems cheap enough, and should be more reliable than my OCZ drives.

not a single problem with mine in 2.8 years / 5.5tb host writes

 

[VirtualLarry]

not a single problem with mine in 2.8 years / 5.5tb host writes

I racked up 9TB of host writes on a 30GB OCZ Agility doing DC with it (checkpoint saves every minute or so, I guess, until I changed that setting). Says it has 74% life left in SSDLife.

 

[AkumaX]

NAIISUU. A great drive, and also worth it for the 7mm height after removing the spacer. Would go great with that Acer "netbook" that requires 7mm drives!

 

[WaTaGuMp]

$40 for higher WEI scores, what more can we ask for? :biggrin:

 

[Zap]

$40 for higher WEI scores, what more can we ask for? :biggrin:

Well, we could ask for other SSDs to be as reliable or for HDDs to be as cheap, but we'll take what we can.

 

[ElFenix]

I'm pretty sure the 80GB version will likely be slower than that reviewed though. I can't remember off the top of my head why but the smaller drives always seemed to have lower rated speeds when I was looking at them.

smaller drives don't necessarily max out the number of channels in use on the controller because they use fewer flash chips.

 

[blakhama]

Perfect (reliable) drive for an Untangle fw. In for 2.

 

[luv2liv]

is there a free imaging program i can use???
would be nice if i can image my old C: partition on old HD onto this new SSD. i hate to waste time reinstalling everything

 

[bryanW1995]

I bought an x25m g2 on BF 2009 for about $225. I still have it, though I moved it to my work rig about 6 mos ago. Awesome drive, I would spend $40 on this in hearbeat vs 50¢/gb on a small but more modern drive from a 2nd/3rd tier manufacturer.

FYI, I had a somewhat noticeable performance improvement when I went to 1 x m4 256gb, but I didn't really get blown away until I got the 2nd m4 in RAID.

 

[hoorah]

If it weren't for the rebate I'd snatch this up, but only because I know I'm terrible with rebates. Thanks to the OP for posting this!

I've been looking for a good deal on a smaller drive that I can pair with a spinning disk in my desktop as opposed to my laptop that I wanted a bigger solo drive in.

 

[Jiggz]

is there a free imaging program i can use???
would be nice if i can image my old C: partition on old HD onto this new SSD. i hate to waste time reinstalling everything

Free imaging is hard to come by. But you can check Paragon's drive copy and also their back up and recovery (free full version trial) which can back up your hdd and then restore to the ssd. I do it all the time.