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Review: Micron Reviewed by: Antonis Provided by: Micron Model: M510DC 480GB SSD Firmware version: 0005
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It's not very often I get the opportunity
to take a look at a Client/Consumer SSD, and when Micron released the M510DC I
thought that it would worth taking a look before Jeremy gets to review it. I
know that these drives are not meant to be used as consumer drives, but most of
us probably want to see what they're capable of, so let’s take a look at the
Micron M510DC.
From the above picture we can see where the
Micron M510DC is positioned, and we can see that the drive is also a SATA
drive, something that makes a lot of sense. It will give the M510DC the benefit
of an aggressive price, and it's packed with all the features that Micron has
to offer for their enterprise SSDs which should make the M510DC an excellent
choice for small businesses.
A quick look at the above picture and we can see
everything that the Micron M510DC has to offer including the full XPERT
features, such as protection of data in the process of being transferred and
also at rest, RAIN, custom firmware, and most importantly for an SATA SSD,
TCG-E encryption. Keep in mind that the M510DC is also available without the
TCG-E for markets that don’t allow encrypted drives or if you don’t want this
feature on your SSD. To find out more about Micron you will only need to click here.
So let’s start this review by taking a
quick look at the Micron M510DC SSD.
Micron M510DC 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 M510DC 480GB SSD
Top side of the Micron M510DC SSD
Drive underside
Inside the Micron M510DC SSD
A quick look at the top side of the Micron
M510DC SSD, where we can see the Marvel controller, the DDR3 RAM, the NAND, and
13 capacitors that will ensure that all your data will be safe in the event of
a power failure.
On the other side of the Micron M510DC we
see another DDR3 chip and four 16nm NAND chips.
Here
is a closer look at the Micron 16nm MLC NAND.
A
close look at the 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 M510DC is
available as a 2.5-Inch drive and in four capacities, 120GB, 240GB, 480GB, and 960GB.
An 800GB version should also be available by the time you read this review.
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 centres. 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 canter 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, which will provide a more detailed view of XPERT's features.
The PDF can be downloaded here.
CrystalDiskInfo
In
the above screen shot we see all the available info for the Micron M510DC SSD.
Let’s head to the next page where we
take a look at our testing methods and the review PC.
