Crucial MX100 256GB & 512GB SSD Review
Great Performance, Low Price
Crucial has deemed it time to replace the popular yet aging M500 drive and have chosen to do so with the MX100 series of drives. These new Crucial MX100 SSD series features the Marvell 88SS9189 controller, a minor upgrade from the 88SS9187 that was found in the M500 drive. The MX100’s 88SS9189 is paired with 16nm MLC NAND which is a change from the 20nm MLC NAND found on the M500. Nothing we haven’t seen before, but the real story with these drives is the pricing. For just $79.99, you can pick up the 128GB drive and for $109.99 you can pick up a 256GB drive which is well within reach for many users. The 512GB version is barely double that of the 256GB drive at $224.99. It wasn’t long ago that you couldn’t find a 512GB drive for less than $700.
Though inexpensive, performance is a mixed bag when you look at the raw numbers. While all three capacities see sequential reads of 550MB/s, writes are heavily capacity influenced where the larger capacities have a clear performance advantage due to the 128Gbit NAND. The smaller capacities have less NAND dies working in parallel and thus are less effective. How this impacts real world performance is something we’ll bear out in our testing. All are covered by a three year warranty and rated for roughly 65GB/day host writes for 3 years life span. Each drive features hardware encryption and on board capacitors to mitigate data loss through a loss of host power.
| Crucial MX100 Specifications: | |||
| Capacity: | 128GB | 256GB | 512GB |
| Controller: | Marvell 88SS9189 | ||
| NAND: | Micron 16nm 128Gbit MLC | ||
| Retail Pricing: | $79.99 | $109.99 | $224.99 |
| Sequential Read: | 550MB/s | 550MB/s | 550MB/s |
| Sequential Write: | 150MB/s | 330MB/s | 500MB/s |
| 4KB Random Read: | 80K IOPS | 85K IOPS | 90K IOPS |
| 4KB Random Write: | 40K IOPS | 70K IOPS | 85K IOPS |
| Endurance: | 72TB (~65GB/day for 3 years) | ||
| Warranty: | Three years | ||
Crucial MX100 Features:
- Hardware Encryption
- AES 256-bit encryption
- TCG Opal 2.0-compliant
- IEEE-1667-compliant
- Compatible with Microsoft eDrive
- Advanced Features:
- Native Write Acceleration
- Redundant Array of Independent NAND (RAIN)
- Exclusive Data Defense
- Adaptive Thermal Protection
- Power Loss Protection
- Data Path Protection
- Active Garbage Collection
- TRIM Support
- Self Monitoring and Reporting Technology (SMART)
- Error Correction Code (ECC)
The external graphics etc haven’t changed much and look very similar to the M500 and M550.
Each drive comes with a 7mm to 9.5mm spacer shim and also includes a software key for Acronis True Image HD drive imaging software to ease the migration process.