Crucial m4 256GB mSATA SSD Review

Overview

The m4 mSATA SSD on top of a 9.5mm thick 2.5" HDD

Until recently mSATA SSD capacities stopped at 128GB. However, several brands of 256GB mSATA SSDs have recently appeared with pricing which is not placing a large premium for small size (unlike small notebooks). Consequently, adding or upgrading an mSATA SSD is now an affordable option. I had been holding off on buying a Samsung NP900X4C ultrabook because of its limited storage capacity (available in the UK), but when I spotted that the Crucial m4 256GB SSD was available, and at a price much lower than I had expected, I immediately placed orders for the SSD and the Samsung ultrabook.

Crucial is the retail part of Micron, one of the major global memory manufacturers and the Crucial m4 mSATA SSD is the retail version of Micron's C400 mSATA SSD. Crucial  / Micron have already established a good reputation for its m4 / C400 series of 2.5" SATA SSDs as providing good performance with aggressive pricing. Does the mSATA m4 live up to sharing the name?

Top side of the m4 mSATA SSD

Hardware Details

• Part number: CT256M4SSD3
• Standard mSATA form factor  (29.9 x 50.8 x 3.75 mm) with a Mini-PCIe edge connector, complies with JEDEC MO-300A standard
• SATA Revision 3.0(6Gb/s) compliant and compatible with SATA 3Gb/s interface
• Marvell 88SS9174 (BLD2) controller
• Micron 25 nanometer (nm) MLC NAND Flash
• Voltage: 3.3V
• Read performance: Up to 500 MB/s
• Write performance: Up to 260 MB/s
• Average active power consumption:  <200mW
• Idle power consumption:  <85mW
• Operating temperature: 0°C to +70°C
• Weight: <10 grams="" --10--="">
• Warranty: 3 years
• Retail price: $260-$300 at the time of this writing

Data according to CrystalDiskInfo

The mSATA m4 has much in common with the 2.5-inch version. I'm surmising that it shares the same firmware since firmware 000F on the mSATA SSD is also the latest firmware for the larger sibling. As such, the problems that have occurred with the m4 during the past year should be flushed out. The Marvell SSD controller is one of the few controller designs that are used by most SSD manufacturers (Sandforce is the other leading third party controller while Samsung and Intel, until recently, use their own).

The Marvell controller is hidden under the label

In total, this SSD contains six noteworthy chips: The controller, buffer memory and two NAND memory packages are on the top side with two more memory packages on the bottom. A capacity of 256GB in a component not much bigger than a RAM module!

Bottom side of the m4 mSATA SSD

The only way I could test the SSD's full performance capabilities was to place it inside the Samsung NP900X4C ultrabook (which uses Intel's latest Ivy Bridge platform). After cloning the existing SSD with the help of a mSATA to 2.5-inch SATA adapter in a 2.5-inch HDD USB 3.0 enclosure, it was time to get out the screwdriver.

The SSD next to the fan in the Samsung NP900X4C

Now let's take a closer look at the performance ...