Solid-State Drives (SSD)

[TallGraham]

I spent a long time reading reviews before I decided on the Crucial M225 SSD.  It did well in all reviews I read and was also reasonably priced too.

The drive arrived Thursday and I was hoping to fit it this weekend until I read all the things on here about the the firmware.  Now rather than just be someone to come on here and moan I was hoping to track what went on with my drive in the hope it might helps others too.

First question is: Which firmware should I use?  The drive is still in the box so I don't even know what is on it yet, how do I easily find out?.  Is 1571 best and occasionally run the wiper tool, or the latest version?

Secondly, if I am installing a brand new drive for the first time, with Windows 7 Ultimare 64bit, I am guessing this will align the partition for me when it creates it.  And also there will be no conflicts between TRIM like others who have re-installed have encountered.

I am fitting this drive to my Sony Vaio VGN-FW21E laptop.

Is there anyone who hasn't experienced the huge slowdown in writing speeds using a fresh drive with the new firmware?

Thanks in advance

Graham

[88fingerslukee]

TG, I'm in exactly your position.  I have a drive 256GB M225 coming (T-Minus 4 days) and I have been following the forums here and over at OCZ trying to figure out the best course of actioin.  I will be running Linux (Ubuntu 9.10) on this machine on an AOpen DE945FL mini-itx machine.

I really would like to get the best performance, but mostly I'm looking for best life.   I would love to give my best possible information to the forum as well.

[targetbsp]

I'd put 1571 on while the drive is blank on the grounds it's easier to upgrade to the newer firmware later (takes about 2 seconds) than to downgrade to 1571 later (a 1571 flash wipes the drive)