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MTRON SOLID STATE DIGITAL DISK, 7000 SERIES ENTERPRISE EDITION

Company Profile

In understanding new technology it sometimes helps to have a contextual framework. When a significant advance in technology is introduced by a smaller, lesser known entity, as opposed to industry giants like Nvidia and Asus, I like to know a little about where my hard earned dollars are going before they are spent. This is particularly true with a high ticket item like a $1,000+ SSD. Who is behind product development and, more importantly, warranty and tech support should issues arise?

Mtron was the first corporation to mass produce high performance SSD’s for commercial and military industrial applications. Established in 2005 with a very modest cash infusion of $200,000, the South Korean business has since received financial backing in excess of $7.0M from powerhouses like Hyundai and Digital First Co., while forging R&D relationships with Samsung Electronics and Seoul National University.

Before Mtron was aware of my affiliation with Asus Independent, I was already a customer. I had purchased a 32GB 7000 Series SSD from one of four US distributors. Mtron enjoys a larger customer base and distribution network in Asia and Europe than it does in the United States. While its corporate presence in the US is a modest one, its customer service is anything but. I was enormously impressed by the care, quality and responsiveness of Mtron to the few issues and concerns that arose after my first purchase. All client support is handled directly by Mtron engineers in South Korea. Despite geographic and time zone hindrances, Mtron was quick to respond to any questions with thoughtful and detailed answers.

Technology

Mtron’s SSD’s take an old idea and present it with a healthy infusion of new technology, with the end result being a device that likely replaces conventional hard disk drives. SSD’s are comprised of arrays of flash memory chips. The base technology has been around longer than Mtron. What distinguishes Mtron’s product is its longevity, accuracy and revolutionary error correcting algorithms. Mtron’s patented Hydra Multiray architecture incorporates four distinct concepts to maximize parallelism utilizing multiple control channels:

(1) Multi-data bus array: a four channel flash memory bus

(2) Multi-flash chips array: four way flash chip interleaving

(3) Multi-data streams: simultaneous processing of multiple data streams

(4) Multi-flash control: priority-based scheduling for fore and background flash memory access

Mtron also introduces an innovation, the patented “Hydra Flash Translation Layer” (FTL), which analyzes requested commands, maps addresses between logical sector numbers and physical flash memory locations and handles data transfer to and from the flash memory. It’s FTL’s unique algorithm that permits flash memory management and consistent performance for various request patterns. Specifically, FTL enables:

• Intelligent interleaving

• Intelligent logical block allocation

• Intelligent address mapping

Lastly, Mtron’s “Hydra Flash Management” algorithm employs three new technologies to ensure data reliability and integrity:

(1) Wear leveling – Dynamic & Static

Since flash memory has a finite number of program and erase cycles, the controller must manage that pattern or the device is vulnerable to failure. HFM’s wear-leveling algorithm spreads data evenly across the entire drive, supporting both dynamic and static wear-leveling.

(2) Bad block management

Since flash memory contains bad blocks from inception and accrues new bad blocks during use, HFM’s algorithm was written to detect these bad blocks and substitute reserved blocks in their place, while updating all data contained within.

(3) 7bith BCH ECC

No unlike server RAM, HFM incorporates an error correcting code mechanism to minimize byte errors per page. HFM can detect and correct errors up to 7 bits per 512byte page.

The end result of Hydra Flash Management – and a consideration that helps justify investment in the costly disks – is an extension of average lifespan of a 32GB SSD to 140 years, given 50GB of sequential writing per day. To give you an idea of how far flash technology has progressed, conventional flash memory has a limited write endurance of 100,000 write/erase cycles, or a MTBF of 5.5 years. The SSD has a MTBF of 1,000,000 hours.

In layman’s terms: no moving parts, no wear. ECC: no data corruption. Even with a superficial understanding of the technology, it is readily understandable why the military and enterprise data storage environments were early adopters of Mtron’s revolutionary SSD’s, given typical HDD failure of 8.6%. Power consumption of SSD’s is also approximately one eighth that of the conventional hard disk drive.

Product and Pricing

Efficiency, longevity and accuracy are not the SSD’s only calling cards. Perhaps its most dramatic improvement over the antiquated HDD dynamic platter technology is the disk’s sustained read/write speeds. Mtron’s enterprise computing 7000 Series SSD has 120MB/s read, 90MB/s write speeds. Its personal line of SSD’s, the Mobi Series, has sustained read/write speeds of 100/80MBs

While both series of SSD’s are crafted with high quality materials, the enterprise series is more rugged housed in an aluminum case. The Mobi series SSD housing is high grade plastic. Both series come in both 2.5 and 3.5” form factors and have a SATA 1.0a interface. The SSD’s are available in capacities of 16, 32 and 64GB (the 64GB SSD is only available in the 3.5” form factor).

Cost of the SSD’s has hampered their popularity up until recently both in enthusiast circles and more pedestrian applications, such as inclusion in ultra-light notebook computers. The new Apple MacBook Air employs SSD technology, as do a handful of new ultra-portables. SSD’s have also found a home in notebooks designed for rugged, field work, as they are far less susceptible to damage and data corruption.

With the cost of a 16GB 3000 Series dropping to $380, the SDD’s have also begun replacing RAM drives in custom built computers used by those in competitive benchmark events. The faster read and write speeds give power users an edge in benchmarks such as PCMark05 and Geek Bench as is born out in the benchmark section of this review.

The 32GB 3000 Series is priced at $700 and the 64GB SSD, $1,300. In short, in each given series, one can expect a doubling in price with a doubling in capacity. There is a marked increase in price point as one progresses to Mtron’s enterprise series of SSD’s. The 16GB 7000 Series SSD is priced at $759; the 32GB, $1,159; and the 64GB SSD is a staggering $1,959. This pricing requires adjusted thinking for consumers grown accustomed to high performance terabyte HDD priced at $400.

Test Setup

System Hardware

Processor: Intel QX9650 CPU. Overclocked to 3.6GHz. 12MB L2 Cache.

Platform: Asus Maximus Extreme (Socket 775). Intel X38 chipset. BIOS 1003.

RAM: 2GB Super Talent 1800MHz Project X. DDR3 PC14400. Mfr Part Number W1800UX2GP

System Hard Drives: 4x Mtron SSD’s in RAID 0 array.

RAID Controller Card: Areca Arc-1220. SATA II. PCIe x8. 256MB on-board DDR333 SDRAM. IntelR IOP333 I/O processor.

Graphics: Sapphire ATI HD3870 X2 (x2) VGA cards. 1GB GDDR3. RAMDAC 400MHz. Mfr #100221SR.

System Software & Drivers

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit Ultimate Edition.

Graphics Drivers: ATI Crossfire v8.3

Platform Driver: Intel chipset 8.3.0.011

Benchmarks

SiSoftware Sandra Pro Business XII, SP1

HDTune Pro v3.00

Comparative Benchmark Scores

To fully exploit the read and write speed potential of any SSD, any configuration other than a RAID array on an add-on card is self-defeating. To illustrate this point, I provide contrasting read tests running four SSD’s in RAID 0 via the Arc-1220 RAID card alongside read tests running an individual SSD via the onboard SATA controller.

Mtron Write and Read Benchmarks Using Onboard SATA

First, HD Tune Pro read test running the SSD via the onboard SATA controller:

The HD Tune Read Benchmark shows both average and maximum write speeds of 77.5 MB/s. Access time is a remarkable 0.1ms.

HD Tune Pro: MTRON MSP-SATA7025 Benchmark

Read transfer rate

Transfer Rate Minimum : 77.2 MB/sec

Transfer Rate Maximum : 77.5 MB/sec

Transfer Rate Average : 77.5 MB/sec

Access Time : 0.1 ms

Burst Rate : 70.4 MB/sec

CPU Usage : 1.2%

The HD Tune File Benchmark Test shows maximum read speeds at 82.18 MB/s with a maximum write speed of 64.29 MB/s (as block size increases, read and write speeds increase):

HD Tune Pro: MTRON MSP-SATA7025 File Benchmark

File Size: 64 MB

Block size Read speed

0.5 KB 8474 KB/s

1 KB 15503 KB/s

2 KB 26252 KB/s

4 KB 40188 KB/s

8 KB 55216 KB/s

16 KB 66716 KB/s

32 KB 74512 KB/s

64 KB 79115 KB/s

128 KB 81646 KB/s

256 KB 81913 KB/s

512 KB 82115 KB/s

1024 KB 82149 KB/s

2048 KB 82224 KB/s

4096 KB 82250 KB/s

8192 KB 82180 KB/s

Block size Write speed

0.5 KB 11211 KB/s

1 KB 18900 KB/s

2 KB 30796 KB/s

4 KB 40441 KB/s

8 KB 61135 KB/s

16 KB 63252 KB/s

32 KB 63582 KB/s

64 KB 62899 KB/s

128 KB 64293 KB/s

256 KB 63279 KB/s

512 KB 64163 KB/s

1024 KB 63272 KB/s

2048 KB 62972 KB/s

4096 KB 64932 KB/s

8192 KB 64883 KB/s

Mtron Write and Read Benchmarks Using Arcea Arc-1220 RAID Controller Card

When connected to the RAID card, you can see the dramatic difference in Mtron SSD performance. HD Tune Pro Read Benchmark speed jumps from an average of 77.5 MB/s when connected via the onboard SATA to 352.4 MB/s with a maximum transfer rate of 357.6 MB/s:

HD Tune Pro: Areca ARC-1220-VOL#00 Benchmark

Read transfer rate

Transfer Rate Minimum : 328.2 MB/sec

Transfer Rate Maximum : 357.6 MB/sec

Transfer Rate Average : 352.4 MB/sec

Access Time : 0.1 ms

Burst Rate : 441.1 MB/sec

CPU Usage : 4.1%

Maximum File Benchmark read speed is 799.62 MB/s. Maximum write speed is 559.91 MB/s:

HD Tune Pro: Areca ARC-1220-VOL#00 File Benchmark

File Size: 64 MB

Block size Read speed

0.5 KB 13952 KB/s

1 KB 27051 KB/s

2 KB 52128 KB/s

4 KB 97984 KB/s

8 KB 173708 KB/s

16 KB 285541 KB/s

32 KB 424362 KB/s

64 KB 557147 KB/s

128 KB 648653 KB/s

256 KB 689827 KB/s

512 KB 749301 KB/s

1024 KB 782251 KB/s

2048 KB 791282 KB/s

4096 KB 799618 KB/s

8192 KB 795674 KB/s

Block size Write speed

0.5 KB 13479 KB/s

1 KB 26296 KB/s

2 KB 50616 KB/s

4 KB 89803 KB/s

8 KB 148816 KB/s

16 KB 222972 KB/s

32 KB 296930 KB/s

64 KB 355856 KB/s

128 KB 390643 KB/s

256 KB 556679 KB/s

512 KB 559911 KB/s

1024 KB 590271 KB/s

2048 KB 643491 KB/s

4096 KB 663909 KB/s

8192 KB 674329 KB/s

The SiSoftware Sandra Probank of drive tests provides us the best comparative with current high performance conventional dynamic hard disk drives. The following Detailed Read chart compares median performance scores between the Mtron 7000 Series SSD and popular brand HDD’s:

The graph shows performance of the Mtron SSD's in RAID 0 array is nearly triple that of the Deskstar HDD's in RAID 0 array.

To view the same data graphed in a different format, here is the Combined Result Chart:

Lastly, here is the distilled Sandra Read Performance vs Speed Test:

User Impressions and Conclusion

Installing Windows XP Professional in 12 minutes total time from beginning to end was the first indication this was not conventional hardware. Every ten years, we see one or two innovations that forever change the face of personal and enterprise computing. Mtron’s SSD is such an innovation. High speed tape backups, the DVD-ROM and, the enthusiast’s favorite, the 8800GTX video card, were all evolutionary in nature. This was hardware that changed the way computing and software design is approached: technology that engineers designed for, not around.

I believe the SSD will find a similar legacy as its decreasing price point brings it into popular consumer culture. With 64GB – 128GB disks still in the $3,000 – 4,000 price range, the higher capacity drives are presently the province of enterprise computing and the military industrial complex.

Mtron has in the works a more consumer friendly priced series of SSD’s planned for release in the near future. OCZ Technology has a second generation 32GB SSD priced near the $700 mark with performance figures comparable to Mtron’s 7000 Series slated for release later this month. MemoRight, another competitor, presently offers a 64GB SSD with 120 MB/s read and write speeds – priced accordingly at $2,089. There is competition and that will ultimately drive down price to make the SSD a more tenable solution for the enthusiast market. Lower capacity and more affordable drives like the Mtron Mobi 3000 Series 16GB are still large enough to serve as a boot disk; as such, the SSD is a likely successor to the RAM disks used by competitive benchmarkers.

The SSD's do not generate any heat. Compared to the average operating temperature of 35C of a high performance HDD like the Western Digital Raptor, this becomes a significant consideration when running RAID arrays of four or more disks. As can be seen in some of the above graphs, the temperature level of the SSD did not shift by so much as 1.0C during the most rigorous of benchmarks.

The absence of moving parts that translates to absence of heat similarly translates to absence of noise. Any noise. I became painfully aware of just how much noise pollution conventional hard drives clanking about generate -- and the fans required to keep them cool -- when I disconnected my five HDD Raptor RAID array and connected the four disk Mtron RAID array. Absolute, sweet silence. Not all performance differentiation can be reflected by digits and graphs. Just ask a studio sound engineer. The lessening of user fatigue following the drop in operating decibels was a welcome benefit of the SSD design.

The raw data stands on its own as a testimonial to the SSD’s very real potential to replace the antiquated dynamic HDD. Early adopters like Apple Computer will be joined by other notebook and high-end desktop solution providers that wish to remain competitive.

Purchase and manufacturer information: http://www.mtron.net/English/Purchase/america_info.asp

______________________

i Mtron Corp. Hydra Multiray white paper

ii Mtron Corp. Hydra Flash Translation Layer white paper

iii Mtron Cor. Hydra Flash Management white paper