Plextor is good, its far more cheaper(the M5Pro version) than other performance SSD like OCZ vertex and Samsung 840/pro, well at least on Singapore
Most ppl here prefer Intel i think, but if it's really cheap you should just grab one before the price increase.

Yes i think its doable, but you need to enter recovery mode and restore the image, it's similar to disk cloning.

IOPS basically means responsiveness, if im correct
High IOPS = low random access time, that's SSD, HDD and optical disk drive always have low IOPS and high latency.

Basically even and old SSD like the one i was using, Kingstone SSDnow v100+, it doesn't even using Sandforce controller, but it feels snappier when booting to OS, launching apps or opening large TIFF files compare to HDD.

Normal user using normal SSD should be enough, the IOPS is really hard to measure or feel in real world usage, you can only see the difference when performing benchmark
performance SSD are for speed freak or has a lot of cash to burn lol
there is always a option of RAID0 your SSD if your mobo is intel z77 chipset, double the storage space and speed, but at the cost of higher risk of data loss if never perform scheduled backup.

Flash chip has limited write cycle, most SSD(as well as some thumbdrive/memory card) are rated 3K program/erase cycle if i'm correct (aka P/E Cycle), but those thing are handled by the SSD controller, is called wear leveling to prevent flash chip premature death http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wear_leveling
You dont have to worry bout the life imho, i'm pretty sure every hardware enthusiastic like us will upgrade the SSD every a few years. just sell it after upgrade, then your SSD's life expectancy will become someone else problem lol

unless you are using the older OS like Vista, which does not support SSD natively. Windows 7 by default do not defrag SSD, but it still defrag it if your SSD has second partiton.
So you still have to disable the defrag on specific drive manually

Unless our HDD equipped with sudden motion sensor, or free fall sensor, or whatever sensor to prevent head crash,
desktop HDD are very vulnerable to sudden drop or kick. it's life expectancy isnt any longer/better than SSD, i've RMA'ed(due to smart warning/dying) several my Western Digital HDD liao

it's recommended to use the mobo's sata ports, even if it's just sata 2, rather than third party pcie sata3 card, those made by Asus or msi(both using marvel sata controller) aren't as good as the native Intel or amd chipset.

Huh, i'm pretty sure it can, it's not pcie ssd, it's sata port expansion card.
The Asus u3s6 is almost a same thing as the MSI one, as both are using Marvel SATA controller.
Another option is to buy the LSI pcie sata card, but those card is very expensive, you could even buy a new mobo with that price iirc

Why only Kingston and intel SSD? both performs similar as both are using same SSD controller, may be with different firmware.

Plextor's SSD quite good imho.

Their stability is okay now, i'm using Kingston SSD right now, they are fine SSD.
but the write performance may be come worst if the drive is dirty, and may not restore properly unless secure erase the whole SSD.

Imho Plextor are better, because an SSD using newer controller such as Marvel, do not suffer poor performance when copy/writing incompressible(FLAC audio, h264 video, JPEG/PNG image) data.

Sandforce driven SSD may look good on benchmark, because they use ATTO which by default using compressible data. If they were using AS SSD or ATTO with incompressible settings, their benchmark result would look crappy lol.

You should try to google it yourself
Sandisk Extreme is just another Sandforce Driven SSD, which perform similar to Kingston HyperX, OCZ, Corsair, Gskill SSD, Intel 330, ect.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/d...gb_4.html#sect0

The newer one is Sandisk Ultra Plus, iirc.

It's damn cheap already, but Singapore still selling it at RM350 (149SGD)
128GB is sweetspot imho, i bought the 256GB version but can't really utilize the space much, even installed 3 OSs on it , unless install games,
now The SSD is left to collect dust until i bought a new Wifi adapter(Windows 8 serious driver problem lol)

Back then the Kingston 96GB cost almost same price as the 256GB m5pro lol.

There are easier way to do that, its a software called "SSD Tweaker" lol.
Yeah by default no need to tweak anything, Windows 7 will regconize SSD and optimize it right way after installing.
Unless user cloned the OS from HDD to SSD, then may be tweaking is necessary.

For me it's not, im malaysian working on there lol
Thats the specific wifi adapter issue, TPLINK, even the stable version of driver will cause windows 8 to reset the usb hub everytime when uploading some large file, every damn time, 100% reproducible, windows 8 has been out for 6 months already they have yet to fix the problem.

Mine is USB adapter, TL-WN821N, it was fine when using slow connection(HSPA 7.2mbps), i got the prob after changed to 4G, the upload will not last for 10 second, and the adapter will disconnected itself.

Hmm i have not tried yet, thier stable driver and the recent beta driver also gave me the same problem, it's realy pain in the arse, right now i'm on windows 7 and facing frequent lagging problem, most of my application always hang and it took a few minutes to recover, im not sure if its a SSD problem.
I save/load large TIFF files frequently.

My w7 on Kingston HyperX, W8 on Plextor mp5. getting real tired of my sh1tty system

why do you need SLC? i just googled Intel x25e, 32GB SLC SSD, 335 USD, discounted already lol http://www.amazon.com/Intel-X25-E-SATA-Dri...1/dp/B001RLG0GY

Even some of the high end workstation SSD also use MLC mostly
http://www.fusionio.com/products/

Low? Depends on the benchmarking tools used.

As you can see, my Kingston SSD performance is already severely degraded(Used for quite long time already), so this comparison might not fair lol.
Too lazy to wipe the drive, going to sell it soon

The benchmark didnt finished, the transfer rate already is the best answer.
I could post more pics, but i'm just too lazy lol

For more info you should read a review instead http://www.anandtech.com/show/6090/plextor...-256gb-review/5

If Crucial one is cheaper, just buy loh, performance wise Samsung SSD are faster, but also more pricey if i recall correctly.
Normal user should always chose cheaper with larger capacity, no need to go for extreme performance, it's not like 5 or 10 second faster could change your life or something.

well, if I recall correctly, my htpc boot faster than my gaming machine, because my dual core htpc has less components plus much simpler, and it only has 5400rpm hdd.
below ten second boot time is difficult unless you know how to optimize your pc.

which review show plextor can't match with other ssd? there are m3, m5s and m5pro. from mainstream level to performance respectively.
even if you buy the m3, it,s still marginally faster than any hdd on the market.

Not really a must, but its recommended, For Plextor firmware update, you can use this http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/
to create bootable thumbdrive/sdcard to update the SSD firmware, without using DVD-R/RW.

Use ASS SSD
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchm...Benchmark.shtml
bleh broken link lol

This post has been edited by 1024kbps: Apr 23 2013, 11:47 AM