| OCZ Agility 3 SSD AGT3-25SAT3 |
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Reviews -
Featured Reviews: Storage
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| Written by Olin Coles |
| Tuesday, 21 June 2011 |
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Page 4 of 12
SandForce SF-2200 Features
Endurance and Longevity
As each generation of flash memory evolves and the silicon geometries shrink - performance, reliability, endurance, and data retention are negatively impacted. DuraWrite technology extends the life of the SSD over conventional controllers, by optimizing writes to the flash memory and delivering a write amplification below 1, without complex DRAM caching requirements.
Performance and Power Optimization
SSDs are capable of significantly outperforming traditional HDDs, but typical controllers haven't delivered the compelling value necessary for mainstream adoption. SandForce DuraClass technology enables the SSD to maximize both the endurance and performance for the life of the drive fulfilling the promise of high speed flash memory in client computing applications and improving system performance by up to 50% as measured by the SYSmark Benchmark.
Mobile Computing Security
The SF-2200 series has built in AES-256 bit double encryption controllable by a configurable user password. This feature prevents would-be thieves from extracting data directly from the flash memory should they ever have access to the drive.
Data Protection and Reliability
SF-2200 SSD Processors provide up to 100x greater data protection than today's SSDs, and leading enterprise HDDs. This is a result of superior ECC protection and unique RAISE (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements) technology. RAISE provides the protection and reliability of RAID on a single drive without the significant write overhead.
SF-2281/Agility 3 Specifications
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DuraClass Technology:
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- DuraWrite extends the endurance of SSDs
- Intelligent Block Management and Wear Leveling
- Intelligent Read Disturb Management
- Intelligent "Recycling" for advanced free space management
- RAISE (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements)
- Intelligent Data Retention optimization
- Best-in-Class ECC protection for longest data retention and drive life
- Power/Performance Balancing
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Host Interface:
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- SATA 3.0 Compliant, 6.0 Gb/s support
- Native Command Queuing (up to 32 commands)
- SMART Command Transport (basic)
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Capacity Supported:
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- $135 60GB: AGT3-25SAT3-60G
- $230 120GB: AGT3-25SAT3-120G
- $480 240GB: AGT3-25SAT3-240G
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Performance (sustained):
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- Sequential Read Transfer: Up to 525 MB/s (240GB model)
- Sequential Write Transfer: Up to 500 MB/s (240GB model)
- Random Read IOPS: 35,000 (4K aligned)
- Random Write IOPS: 45,000 (4K aligned)
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Flash Memory Support:
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- 30/20 nm SLC, MLC
- Asynch/Toggle/ONFi2 interfaces
- Up to 166MT
- Binary user capacity points (RAISE off mode)
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Power Consumption:
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- Typical: 2W Operational
- Sleep/Slumber: 50mW
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Security:
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- Data Encryption: TCG OPAL with AES-256/128 and double encryption
- Optional disk password
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Protection:
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- Enhanced ECC with BCH and 55 bits/512 byte sector
- Unrecoverable Read Errors: Less than 1 sector per 1016 bits read
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Reliability:
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- MTTF: 2,000,000 operating hours
- Supports 5-year consumer life cycle
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Operating Temperature:
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0°C to 55°C ambient
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Package:
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256-pin BGA in 14x14mm @ 0.80mm pitch
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Compliance:
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RoHS, Halogen-Free, Green
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Source: OCZ and SandForce
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Comments
I note in your rating under "cons" that you say "some manufacturers offer 5 yr warranty"; in the section for specifications OCZ lists "5 yr consumer life cycle". Is there something I don't understand? Is there or is there not a 5 yr warranty?
#i.imgur.com/2qaBU.png
I can't just make things up out of thin air; I only report what I experience first-hand.
I had a Corsair Force 3 series (120Gig) that uses this controller and for one week i tested this and re-installed windows thinking it was a driver problem or mobo or something else. I realized it was the Disk.
It didnt last more then 1-2 day or sometimes 1h before Windows froze. Also the installation refused to create the System partition on it for some reason when i had a second disk connected.
so yes this controller is very bad and i recommend people staying away from it until its confirmed its fixed.
I now use an Intel 510. It worked right away. System partition no problem, stability = rock solid.
You can find more info about my nightmare and what i tested here:
##tomshardware.co.uk/forum/294888-12-corsair-system-freeze#t2002139
Tomshardware (@jaquith) was extremely helpful and gave lots of useful tips on the matter but sadly this is a hardware issue rather then software.
I sent it back. Within 48 hours of my second one, the same thing. OCZ recommended upgrading the firmware. Tried it. Wouldn't work. They recommended another whole bunch of steps, but frankly, I'd just like to buy something and have it work. I already built my own system, I don't want to spend hours or days messing with this stuff.
Tried system with a different drive, worked fine. Ran my SSD in a friend's system- same result. Sent it back to my supplier.
Received a replacement. Installed it on Sunday, crashed last night. I will never buy an OCZ product again.. sorry guys.. :(
##tomshardware.co.uk/forum/294888-12-corsair-system-freeze#t2002139
The problem is the Disk and not your pc sadly :(
Put the ssd into my netbook. Worked fine for the entire duration of visiting a friend and copying about 30 gb of files to it. Put the ssd into my Acer .... Worked fine for a few minutes, but crashed about thirty seconds to a minute into watching a video. Reboots, then same again each time. Seems to work fine until I start watching a movie. Tested whether it was just that video that caused the reboot, but it wasn't the case. Other videos did the same. So I installed a different video player. I still hung after about thirty seconds or so with a different player. Took it out of the Acer and connected it to a sata to usb adapter, with external power source..... Worked long enough to copy off the movies to the other drive. Still seems to be working as an external drive, and for the netbook, but the real # is that I bought it specifically for the acer....
I think I'm going to use it where it seems to want to work properly, namely in the netbook, and start pricing an Intel 510. I've seen other similar good reviews of the 510 to what Reza mentioned above, but I didn't bother to look into it before taking the ssd leap of faith with OCZ. I was hoping the bad press OCZ has been getting was just a vocal minority. I might be joining them.....
Something about the Ubuntu installation just doesn't like the ssd running in my Acer, but has no problems with the netbook. Next thing to try would be to reinstall with the drive in the acer, but a live usb of Ubuntu won't boot on the acer, and I don't have a cd drive at the moment, nor an install disk.
I'm going to have to get an external CD drive, and a burnt copy of Ubuntu Live before I can try that.....
The acer just rebooted while playing 30 seconds of a video from a regular hdd. Different copy of Ubuntu, different drive... leaves only the Acer itself to blame.
Guess that I'm not going to be shopping for an Intel 510 until after I get a new machine.....
The process of elimination solved that mystery. The ssd is still working fine.
You'd think that would be good news....
Thanks for the reply! I am really looking forward to the drive. I have a question, if you don't mind. I am currently running XP and am planning to install the new SSD to my systemas a second drive, temporarily, to perform the firmware update before installing Windows 7 on it. From what I read on the OCZ website it states that you can't perform the update running XP. I created an Ubuntu Linux CD and tried it out. When I downloaded the Linux firmware update instructions it looks like it is not very user friendly, (no GUI,) and may be beyond my comfort level. As a firmware update is not supposed to lose data, should I install Windows 7 on the SSD first and then upgrade the firmware? Any downside that you can think of? Thanks again for your great review of the drive and any assistance you can provide.