Western Digital Solid State Drives

When Western Digital acquired SiliconSystems, a solid state drive manufacturer, in March 2009, it was only a matter of time before they started selling solid state drives under the Western Digital brand. That has materialized in the form of the new Western Digital line of solid state drives :

• the Embedded Solid State Storage line - WD SiliconDrive series of solid state drives,
• the Desktop & Mobile Storage line

Currently, Western Digital only offers the WD SiliconEdge Blue drives for the desktop and mobile PC market. However, you can count on more solid state drive models in the future. This first-generation solid state drives come in three capacities - 256 GB, 128 GB and 64 GB, and boast the following features :

• WD Quality and Reliability - These SSDs were designed and tested in WD's Fit Lab on hundreds of systems to pass our rigorous data integrity and reliability screening.

• Fast Data Transfer - Up to 250 MB/s read and up to 170 MB/s write transfer rates allow your system to run faster so you can work more efficiently.

• Low Power Consumption - Translates to longer battery life for portable computers.

• Advanced Wear-Leveling -Lengthens SSD life and preserves speed with a combination of dynamic and static wear-leveling algorithms designed to overcome performance degradation that occurs as a result of continual heavy use.

• TRIM Command Support (Windows 7) - Helps maintain the SSD's performance throughout its lifespan.

• Native Command Queuing (NCQ) - Increases the performance of SATA drives by placing read/write commands in the optimal sequential order for the fastest execution.

• Advanced Error Correction - Enables error-free data transmission by deploying advanced correction technologies to detect and correct errors.

In this review, we will be looking at Western Digital's ultimate solid state drive for desktop and notebook PCs - the 256 GB SiliconEdge Blue (SSC-D0256SC-2100) . Let's find out how well this drive performs!

Packaging

Like OEM-packed hard disk drives, the WD SiliconEdge Blue 256 GB solid state drive came in a sealed anti-static plastic packet. Other than the sparse packaging (and no documentation), this OEM-packed drive is no different from the retail version, right down to the excellent 3-year warranty.

All you need to do is just cut open the plastic packet and slide out the drive. Solid state drives are much more resilient and will tolerate rough handling. However, it can still be damaged by static, so be sure to ground yourself before handling the drive. In particular, you should try to avoid touching the exposed SATA data and power connectors.

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