Micron M500DC 480GB SSD Review

 

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Review: Micron
M500DC
Reviewed by: Antonis
Sapanidis

Provided by: Micron
Model: M500DC 480GB SSD

Firmware version: 0129

 

 

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The name Micron isn’t an unknown name to
most readers. We see the Micron name very often, mainly in SSDs from Crucial
and other manufacturers, also you can find micron on other storage related
products, such as USB3flash drives, an example of that is the Lexar P10, a
flash drive with speeds very close to SSDs This time I am taking a look on an
enterprise SSD that doesn’t have the Crucial name on it. Micron was kind to
send me the 480GB M500DC SSD for an in-depth review. You can find all the
information you want about Micron history and their products simply by clicking
here.

So let’s start this review by taking a
quick look at the Micron M500DC SSD.

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Micron M500DC 480GB SSD

As expected, you won't find any fancy
packaging or any 7mm to 9.5mm adapters, all you get is the drive in an
antistatic bag. So let’s take a close look at the drive.

A closer look at the Micron M500DC 480GB SSD


Top side of the Micron M500DC SSD


Drive underside

It’s clear that the Micron M500DC has only
the very basic information that is required, and no kind of fancy stickers. As
simple as it gets.

Inside the Micron M500DC SSD

On the top of the Micron M500DC circuit
board we can see 256MB of DDR3 RAM, the Marvel controller, and two 20 nm NAND
chips, also there are a lots of capacitors that will provide sufficient power
to ensure that data isn't lost on the M500DC.

On the other side of the M500DC circuit
board we find another 256MB of DDR3 RAM, and four 20nm NAND chips manufactured
by Micron. So we have a total size of 768GB, and the Micron M500DC has a total
of 288GB to be used for over provisioning.

Here
is a closer look at the Micron 20nm MLC NAND.

                 A close look at the eight
channel Marvell 88SS9187

controller.                                                                               

                               

The
DDR3 memory is also manufactured by Micron.

Specifications

The following specifications are taken from
the official Micron website, to find out more information click here.

As we can see the Micron M500DC is
available in two form factors, 1.8” and 2.5”, and also in four capacities,
120GB, 240GB, 480GB, and 800GB.

XPERT (eXtended Performance and Enhanced Reliability) 

Here is how Micron describes XPERT.

eXtended Performance and Enhanced
Reliability Technology (XPERT) is a suite of Micron-designed storage
architecture enhancements that greatly improve SSD performance and reliability.
XPERT extends drive life and ensures data integrity. RAIN Redundant Array of
Independent NAND).

With XPERT, Micron aligns storage media
design, SSD firmware development, and hardware integration to create a
comprehensive architecture that enables enterprise class SSDs to meet the
unrelenting demands of 24/7/365 data centers. The XPERT feature set gives us
the flexibility to design SSDs to meet exact application requirements. Only the
XPERT features that are appropriate to a particular application are designed
in, so our SSDs can precisely match data center usage models. From booting
general purpose servers and storing mission-critical databases, to ensuring
long-term, trouble-free operation of appliances and managing petabytes of cloud
data—XPERT-enabled SSDs meet the stringent usage requirements demanded by the
massive growth of digital data.

XPERT Feature Set – Overview

  • Adaptive Read Management/Optimized Read
    (ARM/OR)
  • Redundant Array of Independent NAND
    (RAIN)
  • DataSAFE
  • Reduce Command Access Latency

    (ReCAL)

  • Media Customizations

 

At this point I won’t go into further
details, as you can find an excellent PDF file that you can download directly
from Micron, that will provide a more detailed view on XPERT's features.
The PDF can be downloaded here.

CrystalDiskInfo

In
the above screen shot we see all the available info for the Micron M500DC SSD.

 


Let’s head to the next page where we
take a look at our testing methods and the review PC.

 

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