Toshiba delivers the complete solution for
those wanting to move to SSD
If you have a slow laptop and you're
running Windows Vista or later you can always switch to using an SDD, and give
your computer a much needed kick in the pants. That's the logic behind the SSD
PC Upgrade Kit by Toshiba, available in a 60GB capacity reviewed here, along
with larger 120GB and 240GB flavors if you need them.
Toshiba
SSD PC Upgrade Kit
Inside the small retail package is a
2.5" silver SSD, a mounting kit for installation in a 3.5" desktop PC
drive bay, all the SATA cables you'll need and an adapter that allows you to
connect it to USB for the file transfer.
Using that last item along with software
Toshiba also kindly provides, you can take an existing system and easily
migrate it over to the SSD, before physically replacing the drive. Doing this
isn't the easiest exercise, but at least Toshiba tried to make it as relatively
painless as possible.
If you're converting a desktop PC, you'll
have SA TA connections to speed that data movement up, but exchanging a laptop
drive using the USB method will take substantially longer. However, this is
something you could leave running overnight, assuming you have time the next
day to pick up the pieces if it fails or succeeds.
What is assumed by the kit is that your
system will fit into 60GB, the majority of which probably won't without some
judicious pruning. That's another task you might want to factor into your time
allocation for the job.
On the box art Toshiba proudly proclaims
that the drive can read at 557MB/s and write at 526MB/s – claims I was keen to
test. Benchmarking this on the fastest desktop PC I could find, using SA TA
6Gbps connections I managed just 488MB/s reading and 472MB/s writing. That's
less than what Toshiba quotes but still blindingly quick, and any system that
you convert from a physical hard drive to this solution will be noticeably
quicker.
Fast
SSD drive with all the extras to transfer easily
For those without SA TA 6Gbps ports, the
best you'll experience is about 250MB/s either reading or writing, so the
justification for this investment would be less.
What I liked about this solution is that it
had everything you'd need to shift, without needing to find software or needing
a free desktop PC when you have a laptop drive to convert.
I think you still need to be technically
minded to use it, and there might be a few hiccups with some copy protected
software that may want to be reactivated.
So where does it not deliver? There aren't
many places, unless you can't imagine shoehorning your system into 60GB. If you
can, though, the drive is competitively priced, and the extra hardware and
software it comes with should seal the deal. The 120GB and 240GB drives are
marginally cheaper per gigabyte, if you need more space and can afford them.
The arrival of products like this from
Toshiba is the strongest indication we've yet seen that the conventional hard
drive era is coming to a close, and soon we will all deploy SSD drives to speed
up our systems. mm Mark Pickavance
Fast SSD drive with all the extras to
transfer easily
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Details
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Price:
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$108, 120 GB for $207, and 240 GB for
$305.
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Manufacturer:
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Toshiba
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Website:
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www.toshiba.com
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Required spec:
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SATA port
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Quality:
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8
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Value:
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8
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Overall:
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8
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