Intel SSD 320 Series 120 GB review
Pros: Reliable and fast
Cons: Possible problems in the case of a power outage
I've had this SSD since June 2011 and all I can say is that I made the right choice. 1,03 TB of Host Writes and 811,88 GB of Host Reads, powered on 248 times, with a total of 1907 hours, and no problems whatsoever. Benchmarks I've run confirmed the advertised speeds, both read and write (write was even a little better).
Since I bought it some people have complained that under certain circumstances, if there is a power outage, after a few times (it doesn't always happen the first time, so is more likely in places that have frequent power outages) the SSD may report that it only has 8 MB of capacity. In that case you can do a secure erase and you'll get your space back, but of course, lose all the data you had in it. Intel has since addressed the problem with a firmware fix, although I've read some people say that it didn't do much to fix the problem. In my case, I never even bothered to install the firmware fix because I rarely have power outages where I live.
As a first SSD I wanted to have the best experience possible and not worry about compatibility and reliability problems that affected the other popular brands that used the Sandforce controllers. Nowadays the landscape is a little different - it seems that Sandforce has finally come up with a firmware fix for their controllers' problems ( I haven't checked to see if it actually fixes the problems though), and Crucial has gained recognition for their reliability and also performance. Samsung is also a player to be reckoned with, altough they don't market their SSDs much.
Nowadays people who are more into performance and want the latest and greatest to pair with their Sata 3, 6 GB/s capable motherboards (or with an expansion card), might want to try the 510 Series Sata 3 models, but they are still a bit more expensive. If you have a Sata 2 motherboard and want excellent read speeds and very reasonable write speeds and reliabililty, this Intel 320 series SSD is a good bet; the 120 GB model I bought has more than enough space to install Windows 7 64-bit and all of it's updates, along with your main applications and even a game or two you want to load / stream faster.
Since I bought it some people have complained that under certain circumstances, if there is a power outage, after a few times (it doesn't always happen the first time, so is more likely in places that have frequent power outages) the SSD may report that it only has 8 MB of capacity. In that case you can do a secure erase and you'll get your space back, but of course, lose all the data you had in it. Intel has since addressed the problem with a firmware fix, although I've read some people say that it didn't do much to fix the problem. In my case, I never even bothered to install the firmware fix because I rarely have power outages where I live.
As a first SSD I wanted to have the best experience possible and not worry about compatibility and reliability problems that affected the other popular brands that used the Sandforce controllers. Nowadays the landscape is a little different - it seems that Sandforce has finally come up with a firmware fix for their controllers' problems ( I haven't checked to see if it actually fixes the problems though), and Crucial has gained recognition for their reliability and also performance. Samsung is also a player to be reckoned with, altough they don't market their SSDs much.
Nowadays people who are more into performance and want the latest and greatest to pair with their Sata 3, 6 GB/s capable motherboards (or with an expansion card), might want to try the 510 Series Sata 3 models, but they are still a bit more expensive. If you have a Sata 2 motherboard and want excellent read speeds and very reasonable write speeds and reliabililty, this Intel 320 series SSD is a good bet; the 120 GB model I bought has more than enough space to install Windows 7 64-bit and all of it's updates, along with your main applications and even a game or two you want to load / stream faster.
