The Crucial m4 (Micron C400) SSD Review

Micron Technology announced the RealSSD C400 SSD series yesterday and we had a chance to check out this drive in person today. The current Micron C300 line uses 34nm process technology; the C400 uses 25nm technology, which has enabled Micron to double maximum capacity to 512GB. There are three other capacities available: 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB. All four products stay with the 6Gb/s SATA III interface and use 25nm multi-level cell (MLC) technology. The Micron C400 SSD has a top sequential read speed of 415MB/s and that is 17 percent higher than the C300's peak read speed of 355MB/s. The best sequential write speed is the 512GB C400 is 260MB/s, which is slightly more than 20 percent above the best that the 256GB RealSSD C300 can do. This SSD has impressive numbers, but when we heard that Micron had the drive at Storage Visions we had to stop by and take a look at the drive in person. 

The Micron C400 SSD looks very similar to the original C300 SSD Series as it still uses a Marvell controller and Micron MLC NAND Flash memory. Micron said the controller is a newer revision and that they have placed more IP into the controller to help out performance and the reliability of the drive. Micron also says that they plan on still allowing end user firmware updates that will be non-destructible. Early adopters of the Micron C300 might remember that the first firmware update for the C300 was destructive and all the data on the drive was lost. Micron still cringes when that firmware revision is brought up and said those types of firmware updates are a thing of a past and that having data safe updates is a priority for their SSDs. 

The Micron RealSSD C400 looks the same from the outside and that doesn't make for a very interesting story.  We were able to get Justin Sykes, Director of SSD marketing for Micron Technology to give us a live demo of the new 256GB C400 versus a traditional 5400RPM hard drive in a pair of identical IBM notebook PCs that are fairly common among business travelers. 

The demo shows that the Micron RealSSD C400 is able to boot and a movie and 25 high-definition images in photoshop much quicker than a 5400RPM drive on an identical system. The demo shows you what you can expect from an SSD in the real world. We should mention that the laptops are both running on a SATA II interface which is actually limiting the capability of the C400.

Micron is currently working with notebook manufacturers to qualify its new RealSSD drives under the C400 product name. With samples of the RealSSD C400 drives available now to manufacturers, Micron expects mass production to begin in February. Bringing the drives to business customers and consumers on the retail market will be Crucial, a division of Micron. Crucial will begin selling the portfolio under the name, Crucial m4 SSD. The Crucial m4 SSD product line is expected to be available sometime in the first quarter of 2011. Pricing will be set around the times are released. You can expect a full review of the Micron RealSSD C400 and/or the Crucial m4 SSD in the near future.

Crucial M4 / Micron C400 256GB SSD Review

Crucial m4/Micron C400 - Two Names, One Drive

Crucial, best known for their memory products, was the first to put an SSD on the market with a 6Gbps interface way back in early 2010 with the C300 drive. Back then, we ran some tests and found it to be impressive when compared to what was on the market at the time with its 355 MB/s reads and 215 MB/s writes. Since then, a lot has changed and there are a number of 6Gbps drives on the market now so competition is definitely stiffer this time around. For clarification, the naming of the drive can be a little confusing between Crucial and Micron. Crucial drives will carry the moniker of m4 while the Micron model name is C400. Both are the same drive with different branding and successor to what most people know as the C300 drive we referenced above. For the purposes of the article and simplicity's sake, we'll refer to the drive as the Crucial m4.

As you may have expected if you've been keeping up with the newest drives, the controller driving the m4 is essentially the same architecturally as its predecessor, but obviously some firmware changes have taken place if for nothing else but to support the 25nm NAND on board. The 256 GB drive we received arrived in attractive packaging but without any of the literature, etc. the retail packaging would include.

The m4 will be available in several capacities from 64 GB to 512 GB and all should be available this month. Crucial finalized pricing this week, so 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB SSD's will retail for $129.99, $249.99, $499.99 and $999.99, respectively. Our 256 GB drive rated for up to 415 MB/s reads and 260 MB/s writes which is a little behind that of the Intel 510 Series drive which uses the same Marvell controller - although the m4 utilizes eight channels while the Intel uses ten. Obviously, the firmware employed by each differs and the benchmarks will bear out how they perform in comparison.

Crucial M4 SSD 2.5"	CT064M4SSD2	CT0128M4SSD2	CT0256M4SSD2	CT0512M4SSD2
Capacity (Unformatted)	64 GB	128 GB	256 GB	512 GB
NAND	Micron MLC	Micron MLC	Micron MLC	Micron MLC
Controller	Integrated 8-channel single chip	Integrated 8-channel single chip	Integrated 8-channel single chip	Integrated 8-channel single chip
RAID Support	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Firmware	Field Upgradeable	Field Upgradeable	Field Upgradeable	Field Upgradeable
SATA Transfer Rate	6Gb/s (3Gb/s compatible)	6Gb/s (3Gb/s compatible)	6Gb/s (3Gb/s compatible)	6Gb/s (3Gb/s compatible)
Sequential Read (up to)	415 MB/sec	415 MB/sec	415 MB/sec	415 MB/sec
Sequential Write (up to)	95 MB/sec	175 MB/sec	260 MB/sec	260 MB/sec
Random 4k READ	40,000 IOPS	40,000 IOPS	40,000 IOPS	40,000 IOPS
Random 4k WRITE	20,000 IOPS	35,000 IOPS	50,000 IOPS	50,000 IOPS
PCMark Vantage	55K HDD test score	55K HDD test score	65K HDD test score	65K HDD test score
Dimensions (L x W x H)	100.5 x 69.5 x 9.50 mm	100.5 x 69.5 x 9.50 mm	100.5 x 69.5 x 9.50 mm	100.5 x 69.5 x 9.50 mm
Weight	75g	75g	75g	75g
MTBF	1.2 Million Hours	1.2 Million Hours	1.2 Million Hours	1.2 Million Hours
Data Reliability	Built-in EDC/ECC	Built-in EDC/ECC	Built-in EDC/ECC	Built-in EDC/ECC
Drive Endurance	36TB=20GB per day for 5 years	72TB=40GB per day for 5 years	72TB=40GB per day for 5 years	72TB=40GB per day for 5 years
Warranty	Limited 3 Year Warranty	Limited 3 Year Warranty	Limited 3 Year Warranty	Limited 3 Year Warranty

The design of the exterior is not all that different from the original version with a simple design sticker on the front and the rear featuring a sticker with all of the drive information and legal verbiage. No flashy lights or bling here.

Let's have a look inside.