Earlier Kingston announced the new SSD’s and it includes storage capacities of 240GB and 480GB. It is nearly eight times smaller than a 2.5” drive, SSDNow m200 claims sequentially read/write speeds of 550MB/s and 520MB/s. The mS200’s small-form factor is perfect for notebook, tablet and Ultrabook PCs, as well as a variety of embedded systems. It can also be used as a caching device with motherboards that support Intel Smart Response Technology (SRT) to improve system performance.
According to Kingston,
“Kingston’s SSDNow m200 mSATA solid-state drive allows system builders and enthusiasts a cost-effective performance boost with quicker boost time and application loads while requiring less power than HDDs.”
The device is fully compliant with mSATA interface, uses NAND based flash memory and supports Intel’s SRT, S.M.A.R.T., and TRIM. The device comes with a 3-year warranty (2-year for the 30GB) and has a street price ranging from $45 to 460.
Kingston SSDNow mS200 mSATA Features and Specifications
- LSI SandForce 2241 (30GB, 60GB, 120GB) and 2281 (240GB, 480GB) controller with SATA Rev. 3.0 (6Gb/s) interface: twice as fast as the previous generation, yet more cost-efficient
- mSATA interface: fully compliant with industry standard, easy to fit, guaranteed to work
- NAND Flash memory based: shock-resistant with low power consumption
- Supports Intel’s SRT: combines capacity advantage of HDD with performance improvements of SSD in dual-storage configuration
- Supports S.M.A.R.T.: monitors the status of your drive
- Supports TRIM: maintains maximum performance on compatible operating systems
- Interface: SATA Rev. 3.0 (6Gb/s), SATA Rev. 2.0 (3Gb/s), SATA Rev. 1.0 (1.5Gb/s)
- Capacities: 30GB, 60GB, 120GB, 240GB, 480GB
- Automatic Encryption (AES 128-bit): Password at the drive level ensures secure data protection
- Sequential Read/Write:
- 30GB – 550 MB/s / 510MB/s
- 60GB – 550 MB/s / 520MB/s
- 120GB – 550MB/s / 520MB/s
- 240GB – 540MB/s / 530MB/s
- 480GB – 530MB/s / 340MB/s
- Maximum 4k Read/Write:
- 30GB – up to 86,000/ up to 77,000 IOPS
- 60GB – up to 86,000/ up to 79,000 IOPS
- 120GB – up to 86,000/ up to 48,000 IOPS
- 240GB – up to 72,000/up to 40,000 IOPS
- 480GB – up to 72,000/up to 18,000 IOPS
- Random 4k Read/Write:
- 30GB – up to 7,500/71,000 IOPS
- 60GB – up to 14,000/77,000 IOPS
- 120GB – up to 17,000/45,000 IOPS
- 240GB – up to 21,000/41,000 IOPS
- 480GB – up to 21,000/13,000 IOPS
- PCMARK Vantage HDD Suite Score: 60,000
- Power Consumption: 0.4W Idle / 1.2 (TYP) Read / 1.8W (TYP) Write
- Storage temperature: -40°C ~ 85°C
- Operating temperature: 0°C ~ 70°C
- Dimensions: 50.88mm x 30mm
- Weight: 6.86g
- TRIM Supported
- Vibration operating: 2.17G
- Vibration non-operating: 20G
- MTTF: 1,000,000 Hrs
- Warranty/support:
- 30GB – two-year warranty with free technical support
- 60GB, 120GB, 240GB, 480GB – three-year warranty with free technical support
- Total Bytes Written (TBW):
- 30GB: 121TB 3 DWPD
- 60GB: 218TB 3 DWPD
- 120GB: 337TBW 2 DWPD
- 240GB: 585TBW 2 DWPD
- 480GB: 1562TBW 2 DWPD
Design And Build
The Kingston SSDNOW m200 nicely packed in small plastic with clear front and it has nearly the same size of the mSATA SSD. The PCB has dark green color. Inside the packaging, there is mSATA SSD and a small manual written in different languages. Apart from these two, there is nothing in the packing and there are no screws included in the packing.
The Kingston SSDNow mS200 mSATA weighs 6.86 grams and when compared with standard HDD it is 99.5% lighter and about 1/3 the size of the standard hard disk.
On the front, the SSD shows the product information such as serial numbers, model, capacity, voltage rating and others.
On the back, there is a controller on the left and NAND flash modules of the SSD. The mS200’s flash controller is a LSI SandForce SF-2281 and the NAND flash modules on the mS200 are from Micron.
Performance
On different benchmarking, it provides consistent results and it is a great one to increase system performance. Although I don’t recommend and like Benchmarking tests but it will help certainly to tests the performance of device. Real test comes when user use that product and is completely satisfied.
After using Kingston SSDNow mS200 240GB mSATA SSD for about 1 Month, I can say that it works great and I’m completely satisfied.
Conclusion
The Kingston SSDNow mS200 240GB mSATA SSD provides good performance, higher capacities and it’s a good upgrade choice. Although it’s pretty good but it has shortcomings like it did not come out on top with the 4K write performance and it has lowest average write latency. It is specifically designed for OEMs and enthusiasts in mind. The pricing make a good upgrade choice for budget-centric buyers who want more out of their mSATA port. It comes in multiple capacities from 30GB up to 280GB using Toshiba NAND and SandForce controller.
Pros
- Low price
- Good boot drive performance
- Performance centric and can easily be used to upgrade a ultra-thin laptop or tablet of desktop board with mSATA support
- Three-year warranty
Cons
- Lacks in performance as claimed by Kingston in benchmarking tests
- Slightly costly when compared with others
