Frank Glencairn wrote:Marco Solorio wrote:Bill, I agree with Rick. The larger 480GB drive (like most SSDs) have faster read/write times. I have no experience with anything less than 480GB on the SanDisk. Personally, I wouldn't take a chance. What happens if you drop frames on the "perfect shot" that you can't recreate? Personally, it's not worth it to me. The 480GB SanDisk Extreme SSDs have been 100% solid: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=230&start=30#p9267
Actually the 240GB is faster than the 480GB - at least on the SanDisc spec sheet.
Write: 520 vs 480 - read: 550 vs 540
Real world speed may be different though.
http://www.sandisk.de/products/solid-st ... tate-drive
Frank
Frank, you may be right that the 240GB SSD is better, but BMD have said that larger SSDs tend to perform better than smaller SSDs. Following the manufacturers' specs is normally the way we've judged drive performance. However, there's no consistent way the various SSDs are tested across manufacturers and, who knows, for a given manufacturer's product line. The way SSD data is written varies with their internal controllers and firmware revisions. Until there's a standard test adopted and that test applies to the long-duration streaming nature required by the BMCC, they're not reliable gauges of performance for our purposes.
SSDs using MLC (multi-level cell recording) may perform significantly slower when they reach half their capacity for example. That's totally unlike the HDD, to which we are accustomed, that writes/reads much more consistently and predictably whether new or old, empty or nearly full. So this is one time you can ignore the specs or at least understand that real-world use/performance trumps published specs. We may put our trust in the BMD Speed Test results, but personally, I'd trust Marco's endorsement because 1) he's used drives that fail to measure up and 2) he's used drives that have performed flawlessly.
The major reason I'm also interested in the new Plextor M5 Pro is that I trust Plextor will deliver an honest 'professional' product and not practice intentionally deceptive performance characteristics that are irrelevant to our camera needs. Still I wouldn't assume those new SSDs work either until we see the evidence.