| Mtron MOBI 3000 2.5-Inch 16GB SSD MSD-SATA3025 |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Storage | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Olin Coles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday, 25 February 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mtron MSD-SATA3025EDITORS NOTE: Please read Solid State Drive (SSD) Benchmark Performance Testing to understand how the benchmarks used in this article should be interpreted. As a professional system builder of higher-end computer systems, I have learned some very important lessons in regards to system performance over the past eight years. While gamers constantly leap for higher frame rates out of their video card, there is something more important than a faster processor, memory, or front side bus. The real backbone to overall speed and performance is the system drive. In today's world, that means the hard disk drive for nearly all computers. After hundreds of performance computers built and sold, I have seen 10,000 RPM drives make a 2GHz CPU seemingly perform twice as fast, whereas a 5,400 RPM drive makes that same CPU run like it was only half as fast. Solid State Drives are not for everyone. Similar to the evolution towards DDR3 system memory, a gradual replacement of the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) by the Solid State Drive (SDD) is going to move very slow. The cost of purchase for SSD's is the primary cause, since most drives cost more than an entire computer system. Other factors include the restricted bandwidth available to flash-based SSD's. But what if the price was within reach? What if the data throughput was comparable? This is where Benchmark Reviews comes in to answer the tough questions, as we test the Mtron MOBI 3000 2.5-Inch 16GB SSD MSD-SATA3025. Mtron offers the MOBI SSD as a high performance storage device designed to solve the bottleneck of computing system by traditional hard disk drives. The MOBI SSD can be a drop-in replacement to hard disk drives without any additional software installation. Customers may benefit instantly from the SSD's high random access performance and solve the legacy problem of access time bottlenecks traditional to hard disk drives.
Mtron utilizes the Serial ATA (SATA) interface for easy replacement of hard disk drives in both desktop and laptop computers with their MOBI SSD. The MOBI MSD-SATA3025 has an especially great advantage for notebook computers and ultra-mobile portable computers (UMPC) because it uses flash memory for less heat and noise, and has strong protection against outside environment. According to the research by expert market analyst, Web-Feet, the current SSD market has grown 74% every year, and it is expected to total $10 billion by 2012. The consumer SSD market is also expected grow significantly from 42 million in 2006 to $7.5 billion in 2012, replacing current hard disk with SSD 
What is an SSD (Solid State Drive)? Solid State Drives are data storage devices consisting of flash memory. This eliminates motors and mechanical drives included in conventional Hard Disk Drives to remove the heat and noise generation and provide resistance against external impact. Compared to a HDD with an identical capacity, the Mtron MOBI SSD offers half the weight, and fractions of the response time. Moreover, Mtron MOBI SSD's allows the user to easily install the SSD to replace an existing HDD without system modification. Solid State Disks are expected to expand applications from high-performance mobile PCs to replace conventional HDDs. What is the Mtron MOBI SSD?
About the company: Mtron Co.,Ltd.Established in 2005, Mtron is the pioneer in Flash memory solution world by using their technology on storage, server systems, and security systems. Mtron merged with Digital First in 2008 and changed their official name to Mtron storage Technology. As worldwide leader in Flash memory SSD, Mtron focuses on R&D and market research in order to develop new SSD products for consumers and improve SSD industry around the world. For more information, please visit the Mtron company website. Mtron MOBI SDD FeaturesRemarkable Reduction of Booting Time The booting speed is determined by the time required for the hard disk to read the data required for OS operation, regardless of CPU or memory performance. Accordingly, it is difficult to expect fundamental improvement in booting speed without addressing the structural problem associated with the hard disk. Mtron SSD MOBI uses the flash memory to resolve the problem. With a maximum read speed of 100MB/s, data is read three times faster than a hard disk, remarkably expediting your booting process. Improved Work Efficiency for Heavy Load Tasks including Photoshop, Premiere and CAD Applications that involve large-scale images or videos such as Photoshop, Premiere and CAD require substantial amounts of time for rendering and storing data. Mtron SSD MOBI reduces the work time so that professional photographers, graphic designers, video professionals and architects conduct tasks efficiently and maximize cost reduction. Seamless Game Experience Online and PC games such as Lineage and Battle Field involve large scale data exceeding 1GB, extending the time required to load the game and read new data when accessing a new map. Mtron SSD MOBI expedites the loading process and allows users to experience uninterrupted, optimal game environments. Outstanding Durability Optimized for Mobile System Thanks to the ubiquitous environment that allows networking regardless of time and place, various types of mobile devices have become essential part of our lives. However, it is not easy to maintain data security in mobile and portable devices that are always on the move. Mtron SSD MOBI is a semiconductor storage device built with flash memories. It is light and sturdy, minimizing the risk of damaging the data against drops, impact or vibration. Reduced Battery Power Consumption for Longer Notebook Computer Use Being able to use a notebook PC or a mobile device even for 10 minutes longer is very important. Since the devices are often reboot or taken to the standby mode in the mobile environment, power consumption by the hard disk is inevitably high. Mtron SSD MOBI only consumes 0.5W in the idle state, allowing significant power saving for the notebook computer. Notebook Computer without Noise and Heat
Noise from a computer can be more annoying than subways or vehicles. Since Mtron SSD MOBI consumes power only when accessing the semiconductor chip, there is very little heat, which reduces fan mechanism, the main source of computer noise, and creates a quite computing environment.
MSD-SATA3025 Specifications
InterfaceThe interface of MSD-SATA3025 complies with the standard serial ATA revision 1.0a Transfer modes:
Capacity
Mtron MOBI SSD Closer LookModern day computers have been heading in two different directions for several years now. Desktop computer systems have been pushing the performance envelope, and everything from designer cases to extremely powerful graphics cards have kept everything large scale. On the other hand, notebook computers are in a constant struggle to get more out of less. Very recently Apple announced the new MacBook Air notebook, which offers the solid state drive as an optional upgrade. Not coincidentally, the Mtron MOBI 3000 MSD-SATA3025 SSD offers the best to both worlds, and manufacturers are beginning to take notice.
The very first impression the Mtron MOBI 3000 made on me was how light it was. At first, I thought that I had just picked up an empty box. At 86 grams, the MOBI weighs considerably less than the average 2.5" notebook drive which typically spans 110-120 grams. This is primarily attributed to the lack of metal components used to construct the drive. Some people may not be a fan of the white plastic shell, but quite frankly it seemed visually pleasing to me. Of course, if you're a fan of anything Apple Computers has produced in the past five years, you'll probably like it too. On the up-side to Mtron's design is the malleable plastic used in the casing; sharp impacts will leave a dent in the plastic and not a crack. On the down-side, none of the screw holes come pre-drilled, which means you had better be ready to manhandle a screwdriver.
A bright white plastic encases the Mtron MOBI, and offers a lightweight and durable shell to the inner components. While some other manufacturers have decided that a metal case helps separate their product from the pack, they forget a few key variables such as impact on weight and shock value (both electrical and gravitational). Mtron's decision to use a plastic shell might seem "economical", but after several weeks of constantly handling the drive I see their wisdom. Dropping an ultra-lightweight plastic shell on a hard surface creates far less of an impact than a heavier metal-encased SSD.
Mtron SSD's consist of only semiconductors and NAND flash memory, which help give the MOBI a rugged durability against shock and vibration. Furthermore, Mtron has equipped their SSD's with a very elaborate flash memory management algorithm to guarantee high data integrity. In our next section, Benchmark Reviews takes a look at what makes the Mtron MOBI 3000 SSD tick. We let Mtron disassemble their own SSD to illustrate this, but we explain the concept. Mtron MSD-SATA3025 Detailed FeaturesThe Mtron MOBI SSD uses SLC (Single Level Cell) memory to provide the maximum reading speed of 100 MB per second, maximum writing speed of 80 MB per second, and random access time of 0.1 ms. Because if a nearly-instant response time, the boot-up speed is nearly twice as fast as current hard disk drives. The MOBI allows you to work at significantly faster speeds for large rendering tasks such as AutoCAD, Photoshop, and Premier.
As a consumer, you might think that Solid State Drives are little more than a 2.5" or 3.5" case with flash memory loaded inside. Take a nice long look at the diagram above, and your misunderstanding of the technology will be quickly corrected. A lot more than memory modules go into the construction of your average Solid State Drive, although they are at the core. Solid State Disks are not created by simply assembling flash memory into a unit; there's a lot more to it. The difference in SSD technology depends on the controller that manages the flash memories used for storage. The Mtron MOBI SSD uses the proprietary Multi-Channel Parallel Array controller technology to achieve maximum read and write speeds of 100MB/s and 80MB/s, respectively, which is three times faster than most conventional hard disks.
But to begin the explanation of SSD technology you have to start at the Host Interface Connector, which in the case of the Mtron MOBI 3000 is Serial-ATA. From the Host Interface Logic controller, which interprets the interface commands and transfer codes, data is moved onto the first-in-first-out controller before reaching a SDRAM buffer. This buffer works in a fashion similar to the cache buffer found on a Hard Disk Drive, however the SDRAM buffer is merely a hold and store location for additional algorithm processors and task-balancing controllers. In the final step, data is split and stored in multiple flash memory modules and kept secure using a memory management algorithm. Mtron SSD's support both static and dynamic wear-leveling. Together, these two algorithms guarantee all flash memory will be at same level of erase cycles to improve lifetime limitation of NAND based storage.
Please continue on to our testing and results section, where Benchmark Reviews will determine if Mtron's MOBI 3000 2.5-Inch 16GB SSD MSD-SATA3025 offers the superior performance, reliability and durability, Mtron claims. We will also see if this SSD increases overall performance and value for mobile systems and enterprise computer environments. Testing MethodologyEDITORS NOTE: Please read Solid State Drive (SSD) Benchmark Performance Testing to understand how the benchmarks used in this article should be interpreted. At this point in technology, there are several key differences between Solid State Disks and magnetic rotational Hard Disk Drives. While the DRAM-based buffer size is ever-increasing, there is still a delay in the initial response time. This is one key area in which the SSD presently dominates. Conversely, once the SSD begins reading or writing data it does so at a constant rate when the HDD tapers off in performance. This makes the average transaction speed of a SSD comparable to the data burst rate mentioned in HDD tests. Test System
Disk Hardware
Test Tools
Comparing a Solid State Disk to a standard Hard Disk Drives is always relative; even if you're comparing the fastest rotational spindle speeds. One is going to be many times faster in response (SSD's), while the other is going to have higher throughput bandwidth (HDD's). Additionally, there are certain factors which can effect the results of a test which we do our best to avoid. Nevertheless there will be some tests which will not be completely representative of the individual product tested, but a combination of the product and supporting system hardware. An excellent example of such a test is the write bandwidth benchmarks, which rely heavily on another source to force data and the bus bandwidth to support it. This is why you will see Benchmark Reviews place an emphasis on read bandwidth over write tests. HD Tach BenchmarksEDITORS NOTE: Please read Solid State Drive (SSD) Benchmark Performance Testing to understand how the benchmarks used in this article should be interpreted. WARNING: It has recently been discovered that all Intel ICH9 and ICH9R chipsets which come on the 3 and 4 series motherboards exhibit a bandwidth limit of approximately 80MBps when not operating in ACHI mode (BIOS configuration). Benchmark Reviews has confirmed this with Intel Corporation, who are working on a solution. Since the Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 motherboard used for testing also comes equipped with a JMicron JMB363 SATA controller for two additional SATA-II ports, we will re-test the drives and post new results. It is unfortunate that neither the SSD manufacturer, nor Intel, disclosed this information prior to the publication of this article. Please accept our apology for any confusion this may have caused. UPDATE: The updated HD Tach Results have been posted on 06 March 2008. The remainder of this article will be updated as soon as testing is complete. Now we can get down to business. Benchmark Reviews prides itself on using the most comprehensive tools available to test the performance of products; after all, we try our best to live up to the name. Although SSD's clearly offer some advantages, it sometimes takes seeing a product compared to the performance of others in order to make the connection. In the tests below, Benchmark Reviews utilized the HD Tach RW tool to compare the Mtron MOBI 3000 2.5-Inch 16GB SSD MSD-SATA3025 to several other relative products. HD Tach is a software program for Microsoft Windows that tests the sequential read, random access and interface burst speeds of the attached storage device. For the record. every single product tested was brand new and never used. HD Tach allows write-bandwidth tests only if no partition is present. Additionally, each and every product was tested five times with the average result displayed here.
To begin our comparisons, we put the recently reviewed OCZ 64GB OCZSSD64GB SSD directly against the Mtron MOBI 3000 SSD. The very first thing that becomes evident is how capacity has no effect on the sequential read speed, which should be the case for any flash-based drive. The similarities end here, however. While OCZ favors the more economical Samsung MCBQE64GBMP part to build their SSD, Mtron makes their own product. The performance in both sequential read and burst speeds seems very defined, and almost enough to place the Samsung SSD among Hard Disk Drive performance results. The MOBI 3000 was able to outperform the OCZSSD64GB by more than 41.0 MBps in the data burst speed test, and averaged exactly 47.0 MBps better sequential read speeds. The toughest result to swallow was the write test, which offered speeds nearly equal to the OCZ read speed. The final difference came by way of the random access time, or response time, where the MOBI 3000 proved itself twice as fast with a 0.1 ms response. So far, the MOBI has devoured the OCZ SSD, and the performance results speak for themselves. As more of our Solid State Disk products release from embargo, I will update these charts with more SSD results.
Our next match-up puts the Mtron MOBI 3000 SSD against the most popular desktop hard disk drive of all time: the Western Digital Raptor. While we have tested all four variations of the Raptor, the 74GB version was the most popular among gamers and so that's what we displayed. All four Raptor hard drives performed nearly the same, with only very negligible differences in burst and average speeds. Comparing the MOBI to the Raptor may amount to the largest factor for most enthusiasts considering the new SSD technology. In the Burst Speed tests, the Raptor averaged 127.9 MBps compared to the MOBI's 103.3. This is not a huge surprise, since the combination of fast spindle speed and large 16MB cache buffer amount to a substantial burst capability. Over the span of capacity however, the advantage lends itself to the Mtron SSD. The MOBI averaged 102.4 MBps (which by all accounts is fantastic for any SSD) while the Raptor was clearly beaten with a 78.2 MBps sequential read average. The only test in which the Raptor prevailed was in write bandwidth, where the MOBI's 51.8 MBps was slower than the Raptor's 68.2. Although not shown, the other Raptor models also performed within 3% of these results. Suffice it to say, the Mtron MOBI 3000 SSD certainly measures up well against the entire Western Digital Raptor line of Hard Disk Drives. Cost aside, the near-instant 0.1 ms response time is days ahead of the Raptor's 7.8ms, as was the read bandwidth. The write bandwidth and burst reads were both very similar in performance, however still favor the Raptor.
Just for good measure, I have included the test results of the Mtron MOBI 3000 SSD matched up against Seagates newest 7200.11 Hard Disk Drive. The 7200.11 features a cache buffer twice the size of previous hard disks, totaling 32MB. This comes into play early on in the tests, as the Seagate 7200.11 actually beats out the Western Digital Raptor in sequential read speed performance by a long shot. But this isn't a Raptor vs 7200.11 review, now is it? Pressing along with its 103.3 MBps burst, the MOBI is overwhelmed by the Seagate 7200.11 burst of 120.0 MBps; seemingly identical to the Raptor comparison before it. Unlike the previous comparison however, the 7200.11 puts all 32MB worth of cache buffer to use as sequential read speeds reach 88.8 MBps on average, compared to the 102.4 MBps offered by the more powerful Mtron MOBI. With Hard Disk Drive cache buffers growing larger and larger, perhaps there is a reasonable middle ground that provides the best of both worlds. Seagate recently contacted Benchmark Review to test a hybrid drive that stresses this point. Aside from the immediate response time, SSD's still seem to have some ground to cover before beating HDD's in bandwidth throughput. I suspect that hybrid drives could play an important role in this argument very soon.
Just like I stated at the very beginning of this article, the system disk is the primary factor in computer performance. Processor and system memory all make an impact, but they wait on the slowest man in the race to retrieve data, and that's presently the Hard Disk Drive. Not even an increased bus speeds can make a difference, because when you open a file or application, you're not waiting on your CPU or RAM to process that response, you're waiting on the disk. I have please hundreds of customers with the upsell to Raptor desktop drives in their system, but very soon this will have to change. System Speed Test v4.78 ResultsEDITORS NOTE: Please read Solid State Drive (SSD) Benchmark Performance Testing to understand how the benchmarks used in this article should be interpreted. WARNING: It has recently been discovered that all Intel ICH9 and ICH9R chipsets which come on the 3 and 4 series motherboards exhibit a bandwidth limit of approximately 80MBps when not operating in ACHI mode (BIOS configuration). Benchmark Reviews has confirmed this with Intel Corporation, who are working on a solution. Since the Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 motherboard used for testing also comes equipped with a JMicron JMB363 SATA controller for two additional SATA-II ports, we will re-test the drives and post new results. It is unfortunate that neither the SSD manufacturer, nor Intel, disclosed this information prior to the publication of this article. Please accept our apology for any confusion this may have caused. I doubt that when DOS died, Vladimir Afanasiev ever thought he would see his System Speed Test software used again in professional reviews. This program offers comprehensive system information, but it also has a powerful benchmarking tool for memory, processor, and disks. In terms of disk performance, it measures interface and physical transfer rates, seek and access times at the hardware level, and it does so without delay or interference from Operating System software or running processes. This is why Benchmark Reviews will continue to use this test: it polls its results directly from the hardware!
To detect the Random Access Time of each device, we ran quick tests on all products a total of five times. In nearly every benchmark the result was identical, but in our charts we chose to display the average of all readings. The fastest drive of the series was our featured test subject: the Mtron MOBI 3000 MSD-SATA3025. At 0.10 milliseconds, the MOBI was twice as fast as the next fastest device. We continued our testing all the way to the Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 notebook drive. Very obvious in our results was the distinct difference in potential notebook access time at the start of our chart, compared to the current notebook access time on the far right.
Bandwidth is a whole other consideration once you record the results. In our tests, Seagates 7200.11 drive with 32MB cache buffer really showed its strength as is narrowly outperformed the Western Digital Raptor. Close on the Raptors' tail (pun) was the past generation Seagate 7200.10 Hard Disk Drive. Directly behind our three HDD subjects are the SSD's. While Mtron's MOBI did perform remarkably better than OCZ's SSD, it still fell well behind the bandwidth capabilities of the three Hard Disk Drives. Looked at a different way and ignoring the dominant buffered read speed results trend set by the Hard Disk Drives, the MOBI actually hold ground against the Raptor, and is well ahead of the Seagate 7200.10. The 32MB buffer in the 7200.11 is not within reach, but the MOBI still shows real promise in the linear read speed tests.
Originally I hadn't planned on including the ATTO Disk Benchmark results in this article. While the software is decent enough to mention, it was merely included because the manufacturer (Mtron) tested with it. After several tests had been completed, I began to see why they chose this particular software for benchmarks. Shown above are the test results by Disk Benchmark. I won't begin to speculate why, but the collection of previous test results is completely reversed by the results of this antiquated software tool. Nevertheless, it's here for comparison's sake. In our next section, we address the collection of test results and give our conclusion. Please continue on to find out what we think of the Mtron MOBI MSD-SATA3025 SSD. SSD Final ThoughtsEDITORS NOTE: Please read Solid State Drive (SSD) Benchmark Performance Testing to understand how the benchmarks used in this article should be interpreted. WARNING: It has recently been discovered that all Intel ICH9 and ICH9R chipsets which come on the 3 and 4 series motherboards exhibit a bandwidth limit of approximately 80MBps. Benchmark Reviews has confirmed this with Intel Corporation, who are working on a solution. Since the Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 motherboard used for testing also comes equipped with a JMicron JMB363 controller for two additional SATA-II ports, we will re-test the drives and post new results. It is unfortunate that neither the manufacturer, nor Intel, disclosed this information prior to tested. Please accept our apology for any confusion this may have caused. Obvious to any consumer who has priced the technology, SSD's are still a very new technology for retail shelves. The US Government has been making use of Solid State Disks in their military equipment for over two years now, which might indicate why the budget deficit is so high. While nearly all product offerings presently available to the market have not caught up with SATA-II host controller support, they are right on the verge. At the same time, hybrid hard drives are making their own climb onto the store shelves and may offer much more performance per dollar.
Very recently OCZ was able to offer the Samsung-based 64GB Solid State Drive to consumers for around $17/Gigabyte, making it the most affordable SSD play yet. But since the performance results on that OCZ SSD are far from top-shelf, there's no reason not to speed another couple of hundred for something that performs twice as well. Until the climate of Solid State technology changes to accommodate either affordable mainstream pricing, or hybrid hard drives to offer the best of both worlds, SSD's will remain the answer for those affluent few who can afford the luxury. But for those blessed few, the performance really is worth the trouble.
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