SSD PATA IDE Dilemma / Advice

[bnevets27]

I'm having some trouble figuring out which is the best option for getting a solid state drive with PATA interface. I've done as much research as I can find, but there doesn?t seem like much information for PATA SSDs. I have also read the articles on this site and that has given me and idea of what?s important as far as real word performance. Like random write speed.
Though not knowing if any drive I buy today will support TRIM is kind of annoying. Anyhow, from the looking around I have done, it looks as if the RunCore Pro IV 1.8 PATA has the best balance of speed and cost. But what has thrown me off is the specs between their SATA model and PATA model. Here they are (I'm specifically looking at 32GB versions):


RunCore Pro IV 1.8" 5mm micro SATA Solid State Drive SSD

MPN 32GB: RCP-IV-S1832-C
Capacity 32GB
Cache 32MB
Interface microSATA
NAND Flash MLC
Write Rate Max* 170MB/s
Read Rate Max* 230MB/s
Random 4K Read Rate* 21MB/s
Random 4K Write Rate* 18MB/s



RunCore Pro IV 1.8" PATA IDE Solid State Drive SSD

MPN 32GB: RCP-IV-P1832-C
Capacity 32GB
Cache 32MB
Interface PATA IDE
NAND Flash MLC
Write Rate Max* 66MB/s
Read Rate Max* 80MB/s
Random 4K Read Rate* 21MB/s
Random 4K Write Rate* 18MB/s


Notice the max read and write differences. Also take note that the random read/write speeds are the same between SATA and PATA. Now I am aware that the PATA interface can't do the speeds that the SATA interface is capable of, but if you have a look at this article
you see that it looks like the PATA interface can sustain a rate between 100MB/s and 90MB/s.

So the question is, would it be worth it to get the SATA model and get a SATA to PATA adapter? Of course the reason for this would be to get the extra speed but it would also make the drive useful in the future, and won?t be spending money on a dead interface. Of course this only works because these are 1.8". Allowing room for the in a laptop with a 2.5" drive.

The cost of both of the drives are exactly the same that?s one of the other main reasons behind this.

Heres an adapter I found: SATA to PATA Adapter

I hope that it would fit and actually work. The other thing I was worried about was if the adapter would hurt the speed but in the article above they were using an adapter and it didn't seem to make a difference.


What are your thoughts?

 

[Emulex]

The drives are exactly the same. answers your question. put a pata to sata converter in like the PATA version and you'll get those results as listed 2nd.

i'm not a fan of the pata to sata converters myself. adds crap on crap.

In most cases whatever you are trying to attach that pata ssd to; is not worth the $$$ to do so.

Need to stop looking at advertised clean burst sequential rates and focus more on random i/o rate, imo.

remember 1.8" PATA drives like to be ZIF ribbon cable and low voltage when considering that converter. and definitely shoehorned in there. they are nothing like their 2.5" relatives.

 

[bnevets27]

I just realized a mistake I made. I thought in the article they were using a SATA drive with an adapter to PATA. That?s not the case, they are using a 1.8" ZIF to 3.5" adapter, which doesn't have any circuitry. But the article does show that 100mb/s seems to be the max on PATA. But in that article they were using a SLC based drive designed for PATA. So if I use an adapter to convert from SATA to PATA it will drop the speed way down? Meaning that the adapter is going to be the limiting factor, not the PATA interface?

I don't particularly like the idea of the adapter ether, it?s just another thing to break or not work or cause problems. But it does allow the drive to used in the future on SATA and would then open it back up the high speeds.

As far as being worth it, I did expect that to be mentioned. The situation is I am working on this laptop for a friend. She has managed to go threw 2 hard drives. The second one wasn't new so might not have been her fault. She doesn't really need a new laptop, there isn't much reason to do so. So I figured a SSD drive would be good for her as it?s more durable (she takes it to school) and hopefully make the laptop a bit quicker.

I agree with the focus needing to be on random i/o rates but its next to impossible to get the information unless someone has done a review of the drive and done a benchmark targeted toward that. This is one of the reasons I've been looking at this drive. It is the only drive I've come across that actually advertises its random i/o rate.

I think I read these drives are using the Indilinx controller. Be it they are older drives from what I can tell.

I am aware that the 1.8" PATA drives are ZIF, this one is. The adapters are straight forward with no circuitry, so I'm not too worried.

All in all I wouldn't mind getting just a 2.5" PATA but I can't seem to find any details about most of them.

Do you have any subjections?

Looking at the $150 range. So far what I have found in that area are:

PhotoFast G-Monster 1.8" IDE 44PIN 32GB MLC---------- $190 (another 1.8" zif and pricey)
Transcend 32GB SSD IDE TS32GSSD2G-M------------------ $100 (used)
Super Talent 2.5'' 32GB MasterDrive EX-------------------- $110
RunCore Pro IV 1.8" PATA IDE---------------------------------$160 (1.8" zif)
RunCore Pro IV 1.8" SATA--------------------------------------$160 (SATA)
KingSpec 2.5" IDE PATA 32GB SSD MLC---------------------$135
ssdfactory 2.5" IDE PATA 32GB SSD MLC-------------------$165 (ebay company, claim to use samsung MLC flash module's and Silicon Motion Controller) LINK

They all have arond the same, not so stellar, read/write max. But of course the only one that has anything listed for random read/write is the RunCore.