Legit Storage Reviews

ADATA S596 128GB JMicron JMF612 SSD Review

Manufacturer: A-DATA
Product: AS596B-128GM-C
Date: Tue, Jun 22, 2010 - 12:00 AM
Written By: Joe Evans -
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ADATA S596 128GB SSD Intro

ADATA is well-known in the industry for their memory products and offer a fairly diverse lineup of products from RAM to flash drives. Founded in 2001, they have recently begun their foray into Solid State Drive (SSD) storage and asked us to evaluate one of their drives from their 500 Series of SSD's. The S596 model we received is of the 128GB variety featuring MLC NAND and a JMicron JMF612 controller. We've seen this controller before in other models and have a good idea what to expect but changes to the firmware could make a significant difference in the overall drive performance.

ADATA S596 FRONT

The S596 12GB is currently listed for $319.49 and does come in 32GB, 64GB and 256GB capacities as well. The anodized aluminum casing features a brushed finish which gives it a refined look and it weighs in at only 67 grams.

ADATA S596 BOX

In the box, in addition to the S596 drive, we find a Y-split USB 2.0 cable for connecting the drive via a USB port. This is a nice option to have for those who may need data off the disk but only have a laptop computer available to them although severely limits the data transfer rate to a theoretical max of 480 Mbit/s (60MB/s). That being said, the best you can hope for from any USB interfaced drive is roughly 40MB/s due to the overhead between the drive and the host controller.

ADATA S596 DRIVE AND CABLE

The features and specifications are as follows:

  Part #:   AS596B-128GM-C
  Capacity:   32, 64, 128, & 256GB
  Form Factor:   2.5"

  128GB performance:
  Read: Up to 240~250MB/s
  Write: Up to 170~180MB/s

The business end of the drive shows the usual SATA II data and power connections but also a mini-USB port for connecting to the supplied USB cable. This is a rarity on SSD's.

ADATA S596 SATA PORTS

Another rarity is an actual LED I/O activity light on the drive. Normally, SSD's are tucked away inside the PC as the are connected to the SATA port and having an activity light doesn't make much sense. However, when used via USB it does become useful and a thoughtful feature added by ADATA. Most SSDs do have activity lights on the PCB, but ADATA is the first company that we have seen that actually uses them!

ADATA S596 LED

The bottom of the drive has four holes which can be used for mounting in your PC with an adapter plate although one is not supplied with the drive.

ADATA S596 BACK

Let's have a look inside for the important bits.

Next Page - A Look Inside The ADATA S596


Review Index
Page 1 - ADATA S596 128GB SSD Intro
Page 2 - A Look Inside The ADATA S596
Page 3 - The Test System
Page 4 - ATTO v2.41 & AS SSD Benchmarks
Page 5 - HD Tune Pro v4.01
Page 6 - HD Tach v3.0.4.0 & CrystalDiskMark v3.0
Page 7 - PCMark Vantage & SiSoft Sandra 2010
Page 8 - Capacity, Final Thoughts & Conclusions