A-RAM's Ultra II 50GB pleases and disappoints

A-RAM's Ultra II 50GB pleases and disappoints

By mark84
13:42 Jul 7, 2010

Speed. Sandforce controller. 27% over provisioning + durawrite for longer life span.

Cost. 27% over provisioning takes away 10 or so gig of potentially useable space.

I got this to dip my toe into the SSD waters and try one out. With all the FUD about drive life spans I wanted to get one that would apparently last a long time.

With the Sandforce controller supporting their Durawrite tech which compresses data being written to the drive enabling a 0.5 write amplification combined with 27% over provisioning guarantees this drive should out last others SSDs being sold/made now.

Sure is costs a bunch and there's not much space but you get a good chance at fast and long lived SSD.

Newer versions drive with updated firmware are starting to come out but they give you only 7% over provisioning, but then you do gain 20% more capacity so it's a trade off.

Overall very happy with it considering the price point and features compared to other SSDs.

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