I need some relatively-affordable 256 GB SSD drives for a Linux application where fast seek performance (many IOPS) is more important than sequential throughput. The ratio of reads to writes is more than 10,000 to 1.
I like Intel X-25 drives but can't wait for their 320 GB MLC so I'm looking at others.
OCZ, Corsair, Patriot, Super Talent, Kingston, etc. have 256 GB MLC drives in the $600-$700 range but I haven't found high quality or Linux-oriented performance metrics for them. Can anyone point me to good benchmarks or describe their own testing with these drives?
Which of them have support for updating the firmware in Linux? Booting an ISO to do the firmware update is possible but annoying. Running a Windows executable is not an option.
Thanks!
Best Answer
Anandtech is the place I go for current commentary on SSDs.
The most recent article is The SSD Relapse: Understanding and Choosing the Best SSD
The short version is; bigger drives are faster. Intel makes the best, Indilinx based drives are a close second. As to firmware updates, I have yet to see anyone make a tool to do it for anything but Windows.
I have had very good experience with SuperTalent UltraDrive's sized at 64 and 128gb and would buy a 256gb version of the drive in a heartbeat if I had a need for that size.