Is there a difference between these two Intel SSD's?

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NewYork

Limp Gawd
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A firmware update Intel released a few months ago boosted the sequential write speeds on the 160GB X25-M G2 drive from 70MB/s to 100MB/w (and only the 160GB, the 80GB didn't see the same write speed boost)... Hence the disparity you're seeing, just outdated info. Otherwise they're the same drive. I think Newegg jumbled that model number too (none of 'em actually ends in XXX, the C1/C2/R5 denotes OEM/retail etc.).
 
If I have a G1 and switch it with a G2, can I just image my current config over to the new SSD ? Or should I just start fresh?

Thanks
 
You should be able image it over, but it depends largely on the imaging program you're using to do so... The program has to either be able to preserve partition alignment properly, or be able to restore an image backup unto a previously (manually) created partition. I believe DriveImage XML and Windows' own image backup tool can do the latter... And I know for a fact that Ghost 14.0 or later will actually respect existing partition alignment, even if you have it resize partitions, which is quite nice.

You can also use CrystalMark's CrystalDiskInfo to verify that TRIM is working properly on the new drive (it's the only driver-level element that would really change, since the G1's lacked TRIM). So yea, if you're careful you should absolutely be able to image backup/restore an existing G1 install unto a G2.
 
Thanks Impulse for all the info.

Last question, is there a best practice to wipe my G1 SSD so I know no data is retrieved off it(for resale)?
 
Probably the same secure wipe utility used to "reset" them to 'like new' speeds.
 
Yeah I'd guess so... Tho Intel doesn't make one such utility and I dunno what tool would work w/their drives. I don't think the Intel Toolbox provides any formatting tools for G1 drives (more of a force-TRIM tool for G2's). I'd imagine using one of the old garbage-writig utilities meant for HDD's might work too (though you might need to go thru several more cycles to make sure the wear level'ing algorithms aren't keeping cells from being re-written and such, I guess). Even easier than either of those options might just be filling it up w/garbage and then deleting it, at that point most user-level recovery utilities would just be able to restore w/e you just filled it with.
 
I alluded to something like DBAN before, but is that gonna work effectively on a SSD tho? From what I remember DBAN just writes trash to the drive over and over so that it overwrites all previous data...

Remember SSD actively avoid writing data to previously written spaces (so the entire drive gets used up uniformly, to avoid killing specific memory cells prematurely)... It's not like a hard drive where stuff gets written more or less contiguously (at 'least until Windows defrag/optimizing services step in). I'd guess you'd have to either run it multiple times (which might decrease the drive's lifespan) or run it in a way that it fills the drive up (which is gonna degrade performance), either way it's not entirely healthy for a G1 drive w/o TRIM (that you're trying to sell w/o incident).

I think drgnfng's suggestion was a lil' more on point... At 'least it sounds like it'll be more effective w/o impacting the drive's performance (quite the opposite).
 
My understanding (feel free to correct me), is that utilities like DBAN work by making multiple writes on the HDD/SSD, where as HDDErase works by levering the SATA secure erase command. Assuming that is true then DBAN will just shorten the life of the SSD.
 
Yeah, that's how I understood DBAN worked as well. I wasn't sure exactly how HDDErase worked but from skimming the link you pasted it seemed like the better or more appropriate solution for a SSD.
 
Secure Erase is essentially hardware DBAN. SE uses a firmware method to write 0's to the entire disk. The Enhanced version of SE writes a pre-programmed pattern of data on the disk (theoretically, the residual magnetic traces left on a disk after writing 0's over everything would be different for 1's and 0's, meaning that extremely sophisticated equipment could tell which bits previously held which values). Because SE is implemented in the drive itself, it can actually access the entire drive (bad sectors, etc.) while DBAN can only access the disk as it's presented to software. Also, DBAN is issuing write commands to the disk, and will be limited to the write speeds of the system. SE is internal to the drive, so the command can complete as fast as the drive can process it internally. Both methods are still writing a full disk's worth of data to the drive so they'll both take a while, but DBAN adds other components into the mix that can cause bottlenecks.

Parted Magic has a nice little GUI program for erasing disks, which lets you select a DBAN-style brute force overwrite or (Enhanced) Secure Erase, if supported.

As with any SE tool, your system may impose roadblocks to actually performing a Secure Erase. It's rather common for SE to be blocked by the BIOS, to keep viruses and such from issuing the command. You may need to connect the target drive after bootup to avoid BIOS blocking. The old GX280 I use at work for wiping drives has no issues with BIOS version A06, but doesn't like SE if upgraded to A07.

My biggest issue is that SE is a bit of a black box. You tell the drive to do the SE, it does some stuff for a while, then says it's done. I guess you could get a low-level disk viewer to make sure the data is cleared, but at least with DBAN you can view the source code and check it out to make sure it's really doing what it says.
 
Impulse said:
You should be able image it over, but it depends largely on the imaging program you're using to do so... The program has to either be able to preserve partition alignment properly, or be able to restore an image backup unto a previously (manually) created partition. I believe DriveImage XML and Windows' own image backup tool can do the latter... And I know for a fact that Ghost 14.0 or later will actually respect existing partition alignment, even if you have it resize partitions, which is quite nice.

You can also use CrystalMark's CrystalDiskInfo to verify that TRIM is working properly on the new drive (it's the only driver-level element that would really change, since the G1's lacked TRIM). So yea, if you're careful you should absolutely be able to image backup/restore an existing G1 install unto a G2.
Click to expand...

I'm lazy, I just want to boot off a cd, backup my current config, install new drive, format it, and image the new drive and restart. Is there a best program to use for doing this?

CloneZilla is the only program I'm used to using, will it work if I use this?
 
I'm not familiar w/CloneZilla... Either of the programs I mentioned will work tho (Ghost or DriveImage XML), you just have to install it first, hook up the drive, clone it, and then change the boot order. With the latest version of Ghost you'd be able to do it by booting off the CD w/o installing anything as well, but it's not free obviously. DriveImage XML you could integrate into a BartPE CD or the like so you can run it off a bootable CD but it'd be more complicated.

From looking over CloneZilla's site it should work just as well, just make sure you check partition alignment after the procedure, just in case.
 
InvisiBill said:
I used EASEUS Disk Copy to clone my 80GB HDD to my 80GB SSD. http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1035347009#post1035347009 Being able to hook up both drives at the same time and being the same size made it incredibly simple. It was much easier than using other tools I had to copy partitions and stuff manually (I have and kept the Win7 100MB system partition).
Click to expand...

but ive heard of issues of trim not working properly when moving to an ssd from an hdd. is this true?
 
Impulse said:
I'm not familiar w/CloneZilla... Either of the programs I mentioned will work tho (Ghost or DriveImage XML), you just have to install it first, hook up the drive, clone it, and then change the boot order. With the latest version of Ghost you'd be able to do it by booting off the CD w/o installing anything as well, but it's not free obviously. DriveImage XML you could integrate into a BartPE CD or the like so you can run it off a bootable CD but it'd be more complicated.

From looking over CloneZilla's site it should work just as well, just make sure you check partition alignment after the procedure, just in case.
Click to expand...

CloneZilla worked nicely. Booted from CD, backed up image, powered off and installed new SSD, powered on(did format with Win 7 disc first just to be safe) and imaged new drive, done.

I like CloneZilla, lol.

Now I just have to reread what was said in this thread so I can securely erase my Gen 1 SSD so I can ship it out.

Thanks everyone.
 
Corban227 said:
but ive heard of issues of trim not working properly when moving to an ssd from an hdd. is this true?
Click to expand...

There shouldn't be any major issues, you can always check that it's working right off the bat using CrystalDiskInfo... I'm sure w/e conflict arises could be fixed by re-installing the MS driver too. The only issue would be if you try imaging an install that was using SATA RAID drivers for your particular controller, since none of those support TRIM yet.
 
None of these eraser programs work inside windows?

Parted Magic requires you boot off the ISO. I could, just laszy and want to wipe while my PC is on.LOL

darn

EDIT: LOL, can't the get the disc to work inside windows anyways, Disk Manager says there's a matching disc error.

oops
 
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