TRIM and True Speed:
While SSD's offer many benefits, there are some downsides to using flash memory. One of the biggest issues people run into is performance degradation. Over time, an SSD will run out of fresh blocks and will have to write over data the file system has marked as deleted. This procedure is very complicated and can slow an SSD's write speeds considerably.
To fix this problem, most manufacturers have added TRIM support to their SSDs. The TRIM command allows an operating system, such as Windows 7, to tell an SSD which data blocks are no longer in use. Using this information, the drive pro-actively erases these blocks and adds them to the free block pool.
The M6M is the latest drive to ship with their Plextor's exclusive True Speed technology. By leveraging the power of advanced firmware, True Speed ensures that the SSD works at its full potential even after extensive use and long periods of operation. Along with support for TRIM, the M6M's firmware incorporates Plextor's Bad Block Management, Global Wear Leveling and Instant Restore technologies. Where Bad Block Management and Global Wear Leveling optimize the way data is written on the drive, Instant Restore maintains "like new" performance by reorganizing data to maximize the number of free cells.
Plextor's True Speed technology works very well, as I saw very little performance degradation, even after hours of testing. I was finally able to overwhelm it by using Iometer to fill the entire drive and then running a random write test for 30 minutes. This had little impact on the PX-256M6M's read speed. However, its average writing speed dropped to 35.4 MB/s when in this "dirty" state.
Plextor PX-256M6M - Dirty
To see how well the PX-256M6M could recover, I let the computer sit for about an hour and then reran the test. Looking at the screenshot below, you can see that the drive has not fully recovered yet.
Plextor PX-256M6M - Recovering
I let the computer sit for another hour and then ran the test again. The drive still wasn't able to reach the factory fresh performance shown in our earlier tests. However, its average write speed climbed up to 410.5 MB/s.
Plextor PX-256M6M - After TRIM
Lastly, I used LtnSSD to pre-format the PX-256M6M. With the drive wiped clean, it had average read and write speeds of 418.7 MB/s and 366.6 MB/s, respectively.
Plextor PX-256M6M - Secure Erase
Final Thoughts:
Plextor has come a long way over the last few years. The company has gone from being an also ran to one of the leading innovators in the consumer SSD market. While not as revolutionary as some of Plextor's previous offerings, the M6M is the mSATA SSD to combine Marvell's 88SS9188 "Monet Lite" controller with Toshiba's new Advanced 19nm (A19) Toggle Mode MLC NAND flash. The 88SS9188 has half the NAND flash channels as the 88SS9187 "Monet" controller found in the M5M and M5 Pro. However, thanks to a custom firmware, the M6M is still able to deliver a fast, responsive computing experience. In our sequential read and write tests, the PX-256M6M was able to read at speeds as high as 521 MB/s and write at speeds in excess of 432 MB/s. It also did reasonably well our random write tests, producing more than 62,000 IOPS at low queue depths.
Impressive performance isn't the only thing the M6M has to offer. The drive supports Plextor's exclusive True Speed technology, which does a fairly good job of maintaining original performance levels, even after intensive use and long periods of operation. The M6M also features Plextor's True Protect double-data protection technology, which provides integrity checking for long-term data accuracy and 256-bit AES full disk encryption for data confidentiality. Last, but not least, the M6M supports the SATA Device Sleep (DEVSLP) standard which extends the battery life of a device by reducing the drive's power consumption when it's not in use.
The M6M is expected to ship some time in the second quarter of this year and, if the suggested retail prices of the PX-128M6M ($140), PX-256M6M ($250) and PX-512M6M ($500) are any indication, it could end up costing more than Plextor's previous mSATA SSD, the M5M. As it is, the M5M is not exactly cheap and with the mSATA versions of the Samsung SSD 840 EVO and Crucial m550 selling for as little as $0.6/GB, the M6M is going to be a tough sell, especially for consumers and enthusiasts on a budget.
Highs:
- mSATA form factor
- Available in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities
- Good sequential and random read and write performance
- Performs equally well with compressible and incompressible data
- SATA 6Gb/s interface
- Toggle Mode MLC NAND flash
- Large DRAM cache
- True Speed technology provides consistent performance, even after intensive usage
- True Protect double-data protection technology
- 256-bit AES encryption
- DEVSLP power mode
- Supports TRIM, SMART and NCQ
- 3 year warranty
Lows:
- Not as fast as the M5M when reading
- Does not support TCG Opal or eDrive encryption
- Pricey
