Windows Boot

For this test, I used a general installation of Windows 7, which is to say I didn't use a fresh install for testing. It's all very well saying that your PC can boot in 30 seconds, but it's the time after as your background applications load and you are ready to use your system that really matter. With that in mind, we timed from just after POST (add 11 seconds to the numbers below to include POST times) to the time of the last startup application or gadget finishing. Windows was set to login without a password. Eight Gadgets, Mailwasher, mIRC, Waterchill Control Panel, Stardock Object Dock, Stardock Fences, SabNZBD+, Core Temp, Everest Ultimate, Live Messenger, Steam and Dropbox; all of these were set to load and the times shown below include the loading of those programs.

Quite a difference. It's fascinating to see gadgets that each loaded a few seconds apart all load within a couple of seconds total. With the WD 640, in between the gadgets loading, the Stardock ObjectDock would load, and again there is a few seconds gap between the ObjectDock loading and a gadget. With the M10, there is no big pause and everything just pops up on the screen nearly all at once.

Crysis Warhead

Rather than testing just a start up of the game, I thought it might be interesting to see how quickly the game would start if loading a demo at Enthusiast levels.

Again, the difference between the two is significant. A 35 second difference in fact. While I've not recorded numbers for it, one other game worth mentioning is Left 4 Dead 2. Installing the game to M10, I played the game online with friends. The game loaded in ¾ of the time taken on a mechanical drive, but interestingly, at the beginning of a map at least, I then had to wait for the others in the game to catch up before it started. When the next level loads, I am the first one there which is nice.

Final Words

During the testing, as seen with other JMicron based controllers, there was some stuttering detectable after a (forced) time of using the drive, however with a little regular maintenance this was easily corrected. The first part was to run “defrag c: /x" from a command line. This will run the inbuilt Windows 7 defragger but rather than defrag, it combines the free space. Secondly, CCleaner was used (in slow 1 pass mode) to securely wipe the free space clean. In effect, a similar process as TRIM for a drive that doesn't support TRIM. I've not moved the pagefile or disabled it, as if it has to be used, why not be able to read from the pagefile as fast as possible?

The bottom line is that regardless of it's features, the is still not going to compete with other high end SSD drives on the market as a dedicated boot drive, but as a secondary drive or an external drive it's pretty damn good. If we look at slower drives like the Kingston V series, then things look very good for the with it's up to 170MB/s reads. I have been thinking about a 'Live Drive', as this could conceivably carry a portable OS and applications, and be capable of booting from USB or eSATA rapidly. Or how about as a Music drive for an In Car Stereo? I've plugged the into my Kenwood head unit, and it recognized it, and searched for music extremely fast. Granted, that's a pretty expensive use for an SSD, but with the SATA port to transfer the Music to the drive from your PC, and the USB to read it in the car, price aside that a handy set up. It looks good, is very lightweight, shock resistant, and the inclusion of the LED's just enhances the portable nature.

That's not to say you can't use the as a Boot drive ; it's pretty quick so worth buying as a boot drive if you can find it at the right price and understand what your getting. With a little regular care (unfortunately not automated like a defragment would be) and perhaps some tweaks, the can remain as fast as when it was first used and stutter free. I've used the as a boot drive for a couple of weeks now, simulating extra writes by copying random files to the drive and deleting them, installing applications and deleting them, enabling and disabling the pagefile. Using the defrag and CCleaner method above, I've had good results in removing any stutters and returning the drives speeds to high levels. But the is certainly very well suited as a portable or secondary drive which is how market it. I'm not one to balk at tweaking, so I'm very happy to use it as a boot drive as well. So while Silicon Power may market the M10 as a portable SSD, with it's good looks and USB support, don't dismiss the drive as an internal boot drive either; just know you may want to tweak things a little to maintain high speeds.

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