Thursday, December 09, 2010

Icy Tip: Maximize the Intel X25-M SSD's Performance in RAID 0 For PC & Mac with Icy Dock MB982SPR-2S


The prices of solid state drives are decreasing slowly, which means they are becoming more widely available for the average consumer, rather than being reserved for power and enterprise users. Even with this new wave of major system upgrades, users are still trying to tap into the potential that SSDs have to offer, and do so using the same tools they know and love such as RAID arrays and hot swap drive bays.

This is where the Icy Dock MB982SPR-2S Dual Bay SSD RAID Converter stands alone, offering unique abilities through a practical design and cutting edge technologies. The MB982SPR-2S allows a user to insert 2 x 2.5" SATA SSDs into a enclosure that fits the exact form factor of a 3.5" SATA hard disk drive. This means that it fits anywhere a 3.5" drive can fit, including hot swap mobile racks, and standard internal drive bays. Best of all, it doesn't require a single tool or screw to install the drives. And it does all of this while giving the user the ability to set up a RAID array such as RAID 0 or RAID 1, and making it so that it is not dependent on an external RAID card or a motherboard.

Since Icy Dock is the top name in SSD converters, it was a natural step to create a product that can take SSDs to a whole new level. The MB982SPR-2S takes various technologies that have been perfected by Icy Dock, and integrates them into the ultimate SSD add-on component, which can be used with any Windows system, as well as the Mac Pro desktop. The biggest feature of the device is that it crams 2 high performance SATA drives into the same space as a single 3.5" drive, and does so in a tool-less fashion. Once in the enclosure, the converter fits right into your PC tower, Mac Pro, or mobile rack. Here are some top computer cases that will gladly hold your MB982SPR-2S:

1. Antec Nine Hundred ATX Mid Tower
2. Cooler Master Centurion 5 ATX Mid Tower
3. Thermaltake Armor Plus ATX Full Tower
4. NZXT Apollo ATX Mid Tower
5. Corsaid Obsidian Series ATX Full Tower

Once inside the Windows or Mac desktop, the user can utilize provided software for both platforms to set up a RAID array. Putting the drives into RAID 0 increases drive performance, and doubles the storage capacity, and using a pair of Intel X25-M 80GB SSDs, the MB982SPR-2S achieved read speeds of 253.3 MB/sec, and write speeds around 134.3 MB/second; read speeds maxed out the SATA II limitation, and write speeds increased by almost 75%! When not in RAID, each drive had read speeds of 240.7 MB/sec and write speeds of 82.2 MB/sec. On the other side of the spectrum, using a RAID 1 array mirrors the two drives together for maximum protection against drive failure. So if 1 drive fails, you can keep working uninterrupted since the backup drive is an exact clone of the other. Then, when work can be paused, the replacement drive can be inserted and automatic rebuilding can begin, at which point you can start working again. In either case, because the RAID array is created and maintained by the enclosure, your high performance volume is now mobile, and can be transferred from system to system; it also leaves your RAID volume unaffected by situations such as a motherboard replacement or BIOS update.


Alongside the Intel X25-M 80GB SSD, here are some other blazing fast drives that will yield astounding increases in performance:

1. Corsair P128, 128GB
2. OCZ Agility 2, 60GB
3. Kingston SSDNow V+ Series, 64GB
4. ADATA S599, 64GB
5. OCZ Vertex Series, 60GB

Whether you are a media professional looking to boost your system for video rendering or audio editing, or you are a hardcore gamer looking to avoid loading times, the MB982SPR-2S will take your computing experience to the next level of power.

MB982SPR-2S - Dual 2.5" to 3.5" SATA HDD & SSD RAID Converter
http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=121

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