A-RAM Ultra Series 64 GB SSD

The A-RAM Ultra Series 64 GB SSD, ARSSD64GBU, appears to be reasonably priced for the speed. A first look does not show any special good features and highlights one bad feature.

Recycling

The packaging is simple. The plastic inner liner is not marked for recycling, a legitimate complaint today because almost all packaging from major brands is marked for recycling. I did not notice recycling marks on the plastic part of the SSD case.

Instructions

The instructions are minimal. There is a contact jumper tag supplied for use when updating firmware but no instructions for use. There is minimal information at www.a-ram.com/faq.asp. There are no firmware downloads listed for any of their SSD devices. After seeing the poor support on their Web site, I will go back to Kingston for future SSDs.

Cost

The price in Australia is around AU$240. By comparison, the slightly slower Kingston V series 64 GB is AU$190 and the slightly faster Kingston V+ series is AU$280. The Gskill Falcon II is built from the same chips, has a similar performance, and almost the same price.

Specifications

Here are the specifications quoted on shopping sites.

• Indilinx Barefoot controller
• 64Mb of DRAM buffer
• Ultra high speed Samsung Flash
• 260Mb/s read
• 160Mb/s write
• supports TRIM function
• supports AUTOTRIM in Windows 7
• built-in ECC (error correction code)
• MTBF >2,000,000 hours
• 10-year minimum data retentions
• power cycling > 3000 times
• shock 1500G
• shock & vibration resistant
• operational temp. : 0C to 70C
• weight 120g
• power consumption active 1.5W
• stutter-free
• silent
• fully compatible with notebooks and PCs
• RoHS compliant
• 2-year warranty

Most of those specifications are common for a 64 GB SSD because most of them use similar components. An Indilinx controller and Samsung flash memory is common. Guarantees are usually only a year for economy model SSDs and two or three years for the higher priced models.

Note the power cycling limit of 3000 times. Some SSDs list a limit and some do not. Where there is a limit listed, a top brand will list 50000 cycles in line with a good magnetic disk. If you use a portable device, a netbook or notebook, and switch it on then off ten times a day, perhaps once for every customer visit for someone out on the road, you would use up the 3000 starts in one year. Make sure your device goes into suspend mode instead of a full power off.

The 64 MB of DRAM buffer will give you short bursts of maximum speed. When you run a speed test, you have to push enough data through to fill the 64 MB buffer and measure the speed response after the buffer fills up.

Non sequential reads and writes are far slower than sequential reads and writes. This is where the controller makes a difference. SSD should not care if whether the read and write operations are sequential or not. In practice SSDs hit a speed hump similar to seek times on magnetic disks. The controller can line up read and write operations in various ways to speed things up. Some SSDs produce awful benchmark results when first released then produce better results after a firmware update for the controller. Check the firmware level mentioned in SSD reviews. Check for firmware updates when you buy an SSD.

Non sequential reads average 26 MBps instead of 260 MBps after the 64 MB cache runs out.

Non sequential writes are lucky to reach 6 MBps and depend on the use of the trim function. In a write, the controller first erases the space to zeros then goes back and writes the data as a pattern of binary ones. The trim function can perform some of the erasing in background to save time when you write new data. Trim does not work when you replace a row in a database because the erase and write occur at the same time. Trim can save time when you delete a file because the space occupied by the deleted file can be erased in background read for the writing of new data. In most cases, your operating system has to tell the controller what should be trimmed. Some controller chips can recognise some file changes in some file systems and take action without the operating system sending trim requests.

The Indilinx Barefoot controller is used in this and other SSDs. There is a firmware update for the controller that increases the speed of small reads and writes, with reads climbing from 26 MBps to 32 MBps and small writes jumping from a few MBps up to 7.9 MBps. A-Ram do not provide information on what firmware is in their SSD or how to update it. Gskill mention it on their site. Given the nearly identical price, the Gskill is the better choice based on documentation and support.

Conclusion

The A-RAM product is easy to use, a reasonable price, and is faster that a magnetic disk but, due to the lack of information and updates on the A-Ram Web site, I will by the nearly identical Gskill Falcon II or another well supported brand.