Legit Storage Reviews
Kingston 128GB V+ Series SNV325-S2 SSD Review
| Manufacturer: | Kingston |
| Product: | SNV325-S2/128GB |
| Date: | Tue, Jan 26, 2010 - 12:00 AM |
| Written By: | Nathan Kirsch - |
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Kingston's SNV325-S2/128GB SSD
Kingston announced the SSDNow V+ series of SSDs on August 10, 2009 and aimed the product at mainstream consumers who wanted to switch over from a hard drive to a solid-state drive. Legit Reviews did a review on the 256GB V+ series SSD last fall and found it to be using all Samsung components and was an overall solid performing mainstream drive. Kingston announced their second generation of V+ series SSDs yesterday and we have spent the past several weeks playing around with one of these new drives. What has Kingston done differently with their second generation of V+ series drives? Well, for starters they have moved over to a Toshiba controller with Toshiba MLC NAND Flash. The drive also features Windows 7 TRIM support right out of the box, is available in higher capacities, and is said to be speedier overall with improved read/write speeds.
According to Kingston Technology Company, the SSDNow V+ is the ideal solid-state drive for power users, system builders, system integrators and demanding corporate environments where efficiency and performance are important where more system resources are in use. The retail box can be seen above and lists the key features of the drive.
Kingston Second Generation SSDNow V+ Series Drives:
- Kingston SSDNow V+ Series SNV325-S2/64GB - $268.00
- Kingston SSDNow V+ Series SNV325-S2/128GB - $512.00
- Kingston SSDNow V+ Series SNV325-S2/256GB - $992.00
- Kingston SSDNow V+ Series SNV325-S2/512GB - $1969.00
Kingston Second Generation SSDNow V+ Series Bundle Kits:
- Kingston SSDNow V+ Series SNV325-S2B/64GB - $283.00
- Kingston SSDNow V+ Series SNV325-S2B/128GB - $528.00
- Kingston SSDNow V+ Series SNV325-S2B/256GB - $1008.00
- Kingston SSDNow V+ Series SNV325-S2B/512GB - $1985.00
The new V+ Series is currently available in 64GB, 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities in a stand-alone drive or complete bundle kit retail package. Today, we will be looking exclusively at the 128GB version, which comes with part number SNV325-S2B/128GB. Depending on what size drive you purchase, the price of these drives ranges from $268 for the 64GB SSD up to nearly $2000 for the 512GB drive.
The Kingston SSDNow V+ Series SATA 2.5 bundle kit includes the SSDNow V+ Series 128GB drive, USB-to-mini-USB Cable, 2.5" SATA Enclosure, Serial ATA data cable, 4-pin Molex to Serial ATA power adapter cable, and bracket w/screws for 2.5” to 3.5” conversion. The heart of the bundle is Acronis True Image HD software, an imaging program that copies the contents of one computer hard disk and loads those contents to another system drive; that will take you through the cloning process. This software allows you to move your Operating System and your personal data (including all settings, emails, etc.) from your current system hard drive to your new SSD. Once the Acronis True Image HD cloning process is complete and the data is successfully transferred to your SSD, your hard drive can then be used as a secondary drive for data storage with the included external SATA drive housing. Legit Reviews has reviewed a kit like this before here, so we won't go through step by step on how to use the software that comes with this bundle.
Kingston has updated their 2.5" SATA enclosure and it looks great and is simpler to use than the previous version they were shipping. Kingston provides a USB-to-mini-USB cable, so the bundle kit comes with everything you need to get rid of your old 2.5" hard drive and replace it with a cutting edge solid-state drive like one from the Kingston SNV325-S2 series.
The Kingston SSDNow V+ Series 128GB SATA drive uses the 2.5" form factor used in notebooks, so this drive will work in any notebook. If you want to mount it in a desktop chassis you can, and this kit actually comes with the adapter rails you might need. Many cases only come with 3.5" drive bays, so you'll be forced to use 3.5" adapter brackets in order to get it bolted up in the system properly. The SSDNow V+ Series also uses less power than traditional hard drives as it consumes just 2.6 Watts during active use and 0.15 Watt in an idle state. This is good news for laptop and netbook users as you will see better battery life and desktop users will see less heat and more power savings.
Flipping the Kingston SSDNow V+ Series 128GB SSD over you get a better look at the back of the drive. Notice that it has threaded mounting holes on both the bottom and sides to fit in various cases and laptops. It looks like a sticker should go in the recessed area on the back of the drive, but one is obviously not being used.
Here is a better look at the SATA II header, SATA power connector and the jumper that is needed for firmware flashing. The SATA 2 storage interface is backwards-compatible with SATA 1. For maximum performance, Kingston recommends installing V+ series SSDs on a SATA 2 controller and enabling ‘AHCI’ mode in the BIOS. Kingston also states that the SSDNow V+ Series has a MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) of 1.0 million hours and features a 3 year warranty with 24/7 tech support.
Let's take a look inside the drive and see what makes it tick.
Next Page - Inside The 2nd Gen SSDNow V+ Drive
| Review Index |
|
Page 1 - Kingston's SNV325-S2/128GB SSD
Page 2 - Inside The 2nd Gen SSDNow V+ Drive Page 3 - The Test System Page 4 - HD Tach v3.0.4.0 Page 5 - HD Tune v3.50 Page 6 - HD Tune v3.50 - Random Access Page 7 - SiSoftware Sandra 2010 Page 8 - CrystalDiskMark v2.2 Page 9 - ATTO Disk Benchmark v2.34 Page 10 - PCMark Vantage Page 11 - AS SSD Benchmark Page 12 - Capacity and Windows 7 Page 13 - Final Thoughts and Conclusions |
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