Crucial Launches RealSSD™ C300 Drives
Now available through crucial.com—the RealSSD C300 client drive that everyone’s talking about. Crucial is offering the 2.5” drive in 128GB and 256GB densities (priced at $499.99 and $799.99, respectively).
Visit crucial.com for more information.
20 Comments to “Crucial Launches RealSSD™ C300 Drives”
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I’ve been reading in some forums that data retention is quite short for current and next-gen (25nm) SSDs. But I cannot find a spec on data retention for the C300.
If I took a brand new C300, filled it up with 256GB of data, and then put it in a drawer (unpowered, room temperature) for months or years, how long will it be before the data cannot be read back without errors?
Additionally, same question except the drive is first written to for half of its endurance (15K cycles?) before being filled with data and put in a drawer.
Hi,
Im thinking of buying a Micron RealSSD C300 but i need a host bus adapter to run it at 6Gb/s. In one of the videos he uses a Marvell host bus adapter but i couldn’t find it anywhere. What is a good host bus adapter for this ssd? Can you give me a link?
Thank You
JW,
We’ve just begun to sample 25nm NAND (and the parts we have now aren’t the same as parts that would eventually go into SSDs) so you should be skeptical of forum posters who claim to have expertise in next-generation SSD data retention.
We do spec NAND retention to our customers, but SSD data retention is dependent upon total bytes written and multiple other factors that make it difficult to give a simple, definitive spec. That said, we’re very confident in the quality of our NAND and the durability that it lends to our SSDs. No one recommends using an SSD as archive media (throwing it in a drawer for years), but when it’s used as a normal drive in real-world conditions, data retention is really a non-issue for the C300.
I understand that you cannot give a number for 25nm NAND. But I was asking specifically for the unpowered data retention spec for the C300, which I belive uses 34nm NAND. I also understand that it depends on the writes. That is why I specifically asked for the spec for a brand new C300 and/or for a C300 that has been written to for half its endurance.
As for real-world use, I just mentioned putting it in a drawer to create a vivid picture that what I was asking for was unpowered data retention. This does have a real-world use. Someone may have a computer in storage for a long time and then take it out and expect it to work. My question is, how long before the data decays and it cannot be used?
Surely someone at micron can give a reasonable estimate of the unpowered data retention time for the C300?
Hi Jack,
Glad to hear you’re interested in the C300 drive. Micron has working relationships with several HBA manufacturers, so we don’t want to play favorites and publicly endorse a specific one here. I’d recommend checking with Crucial’s forums to see what’s working well for other C300 customers. And keep an eye on Crucial’s accessory offerings—I think they plan to start selling a recommended HBA soon.
Hi JW,
Yes, the C300 uses our 34nm NAND, but it’s important to look at more than process node—not all 3xnm NAND is the same. For example, we’ve been manufacturing 34nm NAND since 2008; it took months of refinement before we reached the reliability and performance we felt was necessary to build an SSD worthy of the Micron brand. It’s true that the design effort does get more difficult as the process shrinks, but design maturity and refinement can go a long way toward improving durability and performance on any process node. We’re confident that our 34nm NAND is among the best on the market.
For a little more explanation on how NAND matures during development, see Kevin’s video on Enterprise NAND. He’s talking about how we’ve been able to increase endurance over time for an enterprise part, but the same principle applies to general NAND development.
Our NAND adheres to the JEDEC specification for data retention, which is 10 years of retention at up to 10% of the maximum specified number or program/erase cycles, and one year after max cycling, at 55°C. (Retention would be significantly better at “room” temp.) This is a baseline number; SSDs built on these retention specs will do equal to or better than this, depending on how sophisticated the controller is and on actual drive temperature.
Unfortunately, I don’t have an SSD retention spec to give you. As I noted, there are many, many variables that affect the eventual retention spec. While it’s true that we could define a set of specific use case conditions and come up with a number that would likely be true for some users, doing so would make it very easy for any competitor to tweak the test to their favor and market against us—claiming that they have better retention. And because most people just look at the spec, not the test methodology, most people would believe it. This lack of a testing standard for various SSD specs is an issue we’ll see crop up more as SSDs become more mainstream. Once the industry agrees on standardized measurements for performance, reliability, and endurance, it’ll be easier for consumers (and manufacturers) to make a true head-to-head comparison. But again, we expect the data retention to be more than sufficient in actual SSD use.
Justin, I am with JW on this. You are ignoring the question and people are very worried about data retention on SSD’s. This has nothing to do with JEDEC read/write cycles. These are “nothing” cycles.
How long will 34nm vs 25 vs 22 vs whatever NAND flash last when powered off and the bits are *not* being shuffled around by any algorithm?
If I understand your response, then you are saying that a brand new C300 would have an unpowered data retention time of AT LEAST 10 years, since you said it adheres to the JEDEC spec of 10 years at up to 10% of maximum specified program/erase cycles.
And a C300 near the end of its life (at maximum specified program/erase cycles) would have an unpowered data retention time of at least 1 year.
In both cases I wrote “at least” since you said that data retention would be longer at room temperature than at the JEDEC 55C.
Is this correct?
What is the C300 spec for maximum program/erase cycles? 3,000? 10,000?
Just put in a order for the 128GB C300 but for can’t find any information on whether or not it includes a 3.5 mounting bracket.
JW,
Yes, a new C300 will retain data unpowered (and at room temp) for at least 10 years. A drive at the end of its life will retain data in the same conditions for at least one year.
Hypernikes,
I’d recommend following up with the distributor you purchased the drive through to determine what they include with the drive.
When can we expect the 1.8″ form factor C300 drives at 256gb available through Crucial?
Hey Marv–we’re just moving the 1.8″ drives into production and expect to have them available at Crucial in early summer.
Thanks in advance for your patience. What sort of system are you buying for?
The system I am buying is a T410s with discrete graphics. I want to use SSD but it requires a 1.8″ drive, so therefore I am anxious to get a higher capacity drive than the manufacturer currently offers. Thanks for your response.
I noticed that the Micron part number MTFDDAA256MAG-1G1 is available at Avnet and Arrow. Is this a complete C300 1.8″ drive we talked about above?, or are these PARTS for OEM’s to build a drive?
i.e. can I buy this drive and put it in my T410s?
Marv,
Yes, the MTFDDAA256MAG-1G1 part you see on Arrow and Avnet is a complete 1.8″ drive. You can order from their stock today, but large electronics distributors aren’t usually the best place for small retail orders. We’re still working to get the 1.8” drives into the retail channel and will post an update here when they’re ready. Thanks for your patience.
Any news on the Crucial 1.8″ drive? Availability? Pricing?
I am curious about the Crucial 1.8″ drives also. I keep looking on Crucial for them!
aork, Marv,
Thanks for your interest—I apologize that we’ve kept you waiting so long. My contact at Crucial tells me that brisk distributor sales and short inventories keep pushing out their retail launch date for the 1.8” drives on crucial.com. However, the 1.8” C300 is available today at other online distributors like
Newegg.
Thanks again for your patience. Let us know how your build goes.
-Justin
The issue of unpowered retention does arise in certain situations. I have a (wealthy) client who wants a computer for their summer cottage. It will be powered off for many months each winter.
Likewise, disaster-recovery spares might be preloaded with software and then put on the shelf for use when needed, interrupted only be testing every 6-12 months.