Toe-Dipping in SSD Waters

[PGHammer]

As much as I would LOVE to purchase an SSD for my own use, recent price fluctuation at the target capacity (120-128 GB) has forced me to stall. However, I have seen the occasional deal on smaller SSDs, such as this refurbished Intel X-18 - http://microcenter.com/product/4093...nternal_Solid_State_Drive_(SSD)_-_Refurbished.

The ONLY reason I'm considering a refurb at all is because this won't be a daily-usage boot SSD (capacity is too small) - it will be used as a bootable drive for hardware tests/analysis; there ARE times when even Hiren's bootable CDs/DVDs are simply too small.

How does the X-18 compare to the Intel 330 series (specifically, the 64GB model) in terms of performance? I fully expect it to be a snail compared to more modern SSDs (such as Intel's own 52x series, let alone the Samsung 840 series) - however, this will be my first personal SSD.

Also, have any of you had an X-18? How did it hold up?

 

[ob1]

Honestly, I would just keep saving and get a new unit in your target or larger size requirements. I don't know what your financial status is, but I cannot imagine anything so dire that you could afford a refurb unit over a new unit in the sub 120 GB SSD market.

 

[Bigdady92]

$200 for a 256GB M4 SSD is not that all together expensive.

If you can afford to wait and or save I'd highly suggest picking one up.

 

[drescherjm]

$200 for a 256GB M4 SSD is not that all together expensive.

And it seems to go on sale for $150 to $160 every 2 to 3 weeks. If not that one the Samsung 840 can be had in the same price range on sale as well.