SanDisk Ultra II SSD Review (240GB) — TLC Memory Goes Mainstream
Sean Webster
3 Comments
SanDisk is a world leading producer in NAND flash and NAND flash products. From consumer SD cards and USB drives to OEM flash storage, SanDisk is everywhere in this market. Just a few months ago, they released their highest end, enthusiast class SSD, the Extreme Pro. It came in the market and offered some of the best SATA 3 performance we have seen and an unprecedented 10 year warranty at the time. Now, SanDisk is focusing on the mainstream consumer market with the release of their Ultra II series SSD.
Following the market trend of offering higher capacity while continuing cost reduction, SanDisk’s Ultra II is their first TLC memory equipped SSD. As we all know, 3-bit TLC NAND has some disadvantages when compared to 2-bit MLC, slower speeds and a lower program/erase cycles. To combat this, SanDisk has programs in their nCache 2.0 technology that utilizes a two-tiered caching architecture to optimize drive speed and endurance.
SANDISK ULTRA II SPECIFICATIONS, PRICING, AND AVAILABILITY
It comes in an ultra slim 2.5-inch 7mm form factor and the typical features such as S.M.A.R.T., TRIM, and NCQ are supported. More advanced features include volatile and non-volatile tiered caching, multi-stream support which improves user experience in multitasking systems, and minimal write amplification that increases endurance and performance. Advanced flash management features to note include nCache 2.0, multi-page recovery, XOR recovery, dynamic and static wear-leveling, bad block management, and background garbage collection.
nCache 2.0 is a non-volatile write cache feature that essentially makes a portion of the TLC NAND to function as SLC NAND to increase the drives performance. First data is written to the pseudo-SLC NAND. Then it uses a new DMA like folding mechanism that allows efficient data transfer via the NAND’s “On Chip Copy” feature to fold the pseudo-SLC NAND blocks into TLC blocks. The TLC blocks are then written sequentially to optimize write amplification.
The copy operation is all done inside the NAND without the need to use the controller or DDR.
Furthermore, SanDisk is using multi-page recovery helps to combat the inherent program errors that are associated with TLC NAND data integrity.
The SanDisk Ultra II available capacities are 120GB, 240GB, 480GB, and 960GB. Prices are $79.99, $114.99, $219.99, and $429.99 respectively. As shown in the graph above, the Ultra 2 series drives are rated for up to 550MB/s read and 500MB/s write speeds. 4K performance ranges from 80,000 IOPS to 99,000 IOPS. As for the warranty, SanDisk is backing the Ultra II with a three year warranty.
SANDISK ULTRA II SOFTWARE
There is also new software that comes with the new SanDisk drives; it is called the SanDisk SSD Dashboard. It allows you to monitor the performance, manual or scheduled TRIM, available firmware updates and tips on how to maintain the drive at its peak operation. Users can choose from 17 different languages and get assistance from “Live Chat” and “Ask a Question via Email” buttons.
Other software features include cloning by Apricorn, Trend Micro™ Titanium™ Antivirus+, and Absolute Lojack, a security by Absolute Software.
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SanDisk Ultra II 240GB review
Price when reviewed
The SanDisk’s name makes it sound like a high-end drive, but that’s deceptive – its £80 price and 240GB capacity means it costs only 33p per gigabyte, making it one of the cheapest big-name SSDs you can buy.
It’s the first SanDisk drive to use TLC NAND, and the first consumer drive to use this type of memory aside from Samsung. The chips used here are 19nm parts – a process node less than half the size of Samsung’s 40nm silicon. Elsewhere, SanDisk uses a Marvell-made controller.
The TLC NAND is chosen for its price more than its performance, but the Ultra punched above its weight in many of the benchmarks we ran.
In AS SSD’s sequential read and write tests, the SanDisk scored 505MB/sec and 473MB/sec – not enough pace to trouble the Samsung 850 Pro, but within touching distance of more expensive rivals.
It’s also a better performer than other budget SSDs. In some of ATTO’s smaller read tests the SanDisk was twice as quick as affordable rivals, and it peaked at 558MB/sec – barely any slower than market-leading products. The Ultra proved even better when writing files; it topped out at 506MB/sec, which is a great result for a drive this cheap.
Meanwhile, in the Anvil test suite, its 4MB sequential read pace of 522MB/sec is among the best we’ve seen and its 475MB/sec write speed is decent, too.
In other areas, the SanDisk’s budget origins are more obvious. In IOMeter its total I/O figure of 1,843 is one of the poorest scores we’ve recorded, and its maximum I/O response time of 52ms is several times slower than the best SSDs.
For the money, though, the SanDisk Ultra II 240GB is very impressive.
It stays in touch with top SSDs in some benchmarks, and in almost every test it’s quicker and more consistent than its similarly priced rivals. Crucial’s MX100 was once the budget king, but now SanDisk’s Ultra II has seized that crown.
SanDisk Ultra II 240GB |
|
| Capacity | 240GB |
| Cost per gigabyte | £0.33 |
| Interface | SATA3 |
| Claimed read | 550MB/sec |
| Claimed write | 500MB/sec |
| Controller | Marvell 88SS9187 |
| NAND flash type | 19NM TLC |
Not SanDisk Ultra II review — android.
mobile-review.com
November 10, 2017
Ilya Subbotin
Impressions and conclusions after the first acquaintance with SSD …
About a year ago, I began to notice that a battered home laptop (Samsung RV515) began to work not as fast as I would like. Moreover, the scenarios cannot be called complex: the Internet, office applications (Word, very rarely Excel), films, TV shows, streaming music services, Telegram. But even with such a load, the laptop «thought», especially for a long time came out of «sleep». For a long time I could not force myself to sit down and figure out the reasons for such a “slowdown”. In the end, I decided that it would be time to change the HDD to SSD.
The initial choice fell on Samsung’s Evo line, namely the 750 / 750 Pro models. Apparently, I wanted to take an SSD from the same manufacturer as the laptop.
In addition, a program for cloning an existing HDD was promised along with the SSD. I scared away the cost and interruptions in the availability of the necessary configuration (240-250 GB) in stores. In addition, the costs associated with the vacation came to the fore, after which the intentions to buy an SSD were forgotten and lost in a heap of everyday thoughts. The unexpected opportunity to test the Ultra II SSD from SanDisk served as a good reason to think about the fact that it is still worth turning long-term plans into reality.
Positioning
I had a 240 GB version at my disposal, just about the same amount that I need for everyday work with a laptop: I don’t download large amounts of data, limited to rare films and series, if I can’t find them in the online version, “heavy” software not using.
The Ultra II was one of the first TLC versions of the popular SSDs. Entering the market was a response to the «monopoly» in the market at that time, when only one manufacturer had such solutions.
Now, of course, TLC NAND has become widespread and no longer surprises anyone. But, nevertheless, at one time the Ultra II model was positioned as a breakthrough solution, designed to improve the speed of work dozens of times and significantly increase productivity. Did it work in my case? First, let’s look at the characteristics.
Specifications
SSD SanDisk Ultra II (SDSSDHII-240G-G25)
- Form factor: 2.5″
- Connection interface: SATA 3 (up to 6Gbps)
- Capacity: 240 GB (120, 480 and 960 GB versions available)
- Memory: SanDisk 19nm A19 TLC ToggleNAND
- Controller: Marvell 88SS9190
- Read / write speed 550 / 500 Mb/s
- Random write speed (4k blocks) — 83,000 IOPS
- Random read speed (blocks of 4 kb) — 91000 IOPS
- Encryption: none
- Features: Energy Efficient, Silent, Shockproof, Low Heat
- Optional: nCache0 technology, M.P.R. (Multi Page Recovery), working with SSD Dashboard
- Contents: SSD, adhesive strip for thickening, documentation
utility
The body of the disc is made of metal (bottom) and plastic (lid), thickness is 7 mm.
Characteristics can be called quite common for this class of devices. Of the features mentioned, it is worth highlighting SanDisk’s proprietary technology — nCache 2.0, which provides a more careful attitude to Flash memory, which increases the potential life cycle of the disk. In one of the foreign tests, this parameter for the 240 GB Ultra II version was estimated at almost 13 years. The essence of nCache is to allocate part of the flash memory and use it in the Single Level Cell mode in the case when information is written in the mode of one bit per cell, as the name implies. The amount of nCache 2.0 for the mentioned amount of memory is 10 GB.
SSD Dashboard
The SSD Dashboard utility is responsible for managing the disk, the download link is indicated in the documentation.
Using the SSD Dashboard, you can check the status of the drive, update its firmware, get information about the status of the system, and also perform a series of service operations (Secure Erase, Sanitize, PSID Revert).
The «Service» tab also contains links to specialized evaluation versions of products from partner companies: TrendMicro (antivirus), Acronis (old disk cloning), Absolute Lo Jack (theft protection). Remarkably, I did the cloning of my HDD using Acronis True Image 2018, everything went not so quickly, but smoothly, I took out the old disk, connected the SSD — everything worked, as if nothing had changed.
Impressions
Changes, be that as it may, immediately caught my eye. Turning on and loading until the moment when Telegram and Spotify added to autoload are loaded now takes a maximum of a minute and a half. Improved output of the laptop from «sleep», now you can almost immediately get to work or continue to watch the paused series. One of the important aspects was the silence during work, the last disc was heard almost always, it seems to be a trifle, but in contrast you notice them too.
I have personally known SanDisk products for a long time, I don’t remember any problems with their drives.
If, like me, you do not work with scenarios that require super-performing hard drives, and you have a computer that needs to speed up work with files and general «revitalization», then I can advise you to pay attention to this model. The Ultra II drive performed well overall, in my experience with SSDs. Of course, the drive is not a unique offering, but the cost and availability add to the appeal.
SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD V2 2TB Review and Test
The need for a reliable drive is obvious to any modern creative person who creates digital content. The volume of files today is growing every day, and with them the need for the speed of exchange of this data, as well as the reliability of their storage. Today, a USB drive SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD V2 with a capacity of 2 TB came to me for review, which, as the name implies, is designed for professional work in extreme conditions.
SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD V2
The volume of 2 TB at the present time is not at all amazing, but is necessary and sufficient for comfortable work with photos and videos, but the high data transfer rate is impressive — 2000 Mb / s is enough even for editing 4K video when working directly from the drive.
An excellent bonus is the protection of the case according to the IP55 standard and compatibility with smartphones. In addition, the disk is simply comfortable and beautiful.
Housing design
The first impression after unpacking the box is how small it is! Indeed, holding an unopened box in your hands, you expect to take out something larger than a business card. The drive is a monolithic product made of aluminum, covered with silicone with a very pleasant to the touch non-slip surface, the drive just fits in your hand and does not try to fall out. The dimensions of the drive are extremely convenient in everyday use — it is larger than a regular flash drive that is constantly lost somewhere, but at the same time it is significantly smaller than a standard 2.5 ”external drive.
Many hikers will appreciate the carabiner hole. And the truth is, going on a long journey, you will certainly pay attention to such trifles that are unknown to those who are used to working in the office or at home.
Friends, it’s time to get out of stuffy rooms! As my favorite photographer and blogger Thomas Heaton likes to say: “Photos live around us, they are 24/7 on the right, left, front and back, and even under your feet or over your head, you just need to be not lazy to catch them in time!”. And when you catch it, hide it securely, and that’s exactly where the SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD V2 will help us.
USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C
The drive’s advertised data transfer rate is 2000 Mb/s (megabytes per second). However, to achieve this speed, you will need a modern computer that supports the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 interface. Today, many users continue to work on desktops and laptops that are equipped with the very first version of USB 3.0, this standard is also often called 3.1 Gen 1 or 3.2 Gen 1, it provides speeds of only about 500 megabytes per second. More modern computers have on board USB 3.1 Gen 2 with data transfer speeds twice as fast — approximately 1000 megabytes per second.
Of course, the SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD V2 can easily work with such devices, only the data transfer rate will not be maximum.
For reference, the list of USB interface speeds:
- USB 2.0 — 50 Mbps
- USB 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1, 3.2 Gen 1) — 500 Mbps
- USB 3.1 Gen 2 (3.2 Gen 2) — 1000 Mbps
- USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 — 2000 Mbps
- USB 4 promises 5000 Mbps
Until recently, my desktop stood in a shop window with a red “new” inscription, and the performance of the i5 processor and memory is still enough for me even to make 4K videos, but my USB 3.0 interface with a blue stripe is outdated, stuck at 450 Mb / s . An update, of course, is planned, but today I will test the data exchange speed on the equipment that is in the arsenal.
Speed measurements on the desktop in AS SSD Benchmark 2.0.7316
As usual, to test the speed of copying the file to the drive, I overwrite the iso file of the Windows installation, which has a size of 4 GB.
This file can be downloaded at any time from the Microsoft website, and it has a convenient size, most likely due to the supposed possibility of burning it to DVD. Anyway, the file on my desktop was being overwritten in 1 minute 45 seconds.
During operation, the disk heats up slightly, but not significantly. We can say that in the hand when working it is warm.
What is the degree of protection IP55?
The IP55 protection standard means that the housing of the “” product is completely protected from the negative mechanical influence of various objects and partly from the penetration of dust ”. As a rule, this protection standard is assigned to devices that operate in damp rooms or outdoors, where water splashes can fall on their housing, for example, electrical panels for outdoor installation have this protection class.
Despite protection against splashes and moisture, the drive must not be completely immersed in water.
This limitation must be taken into account when planning a trip, for example, a water trip, because the disc can easily end up at the bottom of the backpack, which, in turn, will end up at the bottom of the boat, where water almost always accumulates. But when transporting in an airplane or car, you don’t have to worry too much about the safety of the drive, because even if someone in a hurry carelessly throws a backpack on the asphalt or puts something heavy on it, SanDisk will withstand the blow — resistance to falling from a height of up to 2 meters is declared .
If the device has already been exposed to rain, SanDisk recommends that it is mandatory to dry the drive properly, and only then connect it to a computer or smartphone, since the interface is not protected in any way, and water may remain in it.
Of course, when packing props for a trip, it is always advisable to take care of the safety of electronic gadgets on the road. The security of the drive in this case is not a panacea at all, but a useful additional bonus that will help out if necessary.
By the way, it is in field conditions that one can truly appreciate the presence of a hole for a carbine. Useful feature.
File protection with AES 256-bit encryption
When traveling or on a long trip, it will not be superfluous to think not only about the safety of the drive itself, but also about protecting the data that is written to it. The drive allows you to encrypt files using 256-bit AES encryption, and this feature can help out, for example, if the drive is accidentally lost or for some reason ends up in the hands of an ill-wisher. When working in an office or walking in a nearby park, we rarely think about encryption, but outside the comfort zone, data protection can save not only the footage, but also the reputation and nerve cells of the owner, since confidential information can easily be on the disk.
The drive itself contains two files: Install Security for Mac.zip and Install Security for Windows.exe, the names of which speak for themselves and do not need special comments./s.glbimg.com/po/tt2/f/original/2014/08/20/sandisk-ultra-ssd-120gb.png)
SanDisk Security installs in two clicks and is the one that allows you to protect your data with a password:
A little frustrating is the fact that you have to somehow come up with a 25-character password and remember it well.
Compatible with smartphones
The drive can be connected to modern smartphones that are equipped with a USB Type-C interface, so you can transfer footage or created documents to the drive directly from your smartphone, without using a computer, which is extremely useful when away from home. Surely, many more than once faced with the situation when it was necessary to shoot a long video in 4K format on a smartphone, and the place in the device’s memory was rapidly melting, while there was no desire to delete the previously captured footage. A 2 TB drive is exactly what you need for such situations.
The author of these lines checked the work with the smartphone, and there were no problems, the data was copied regularly.
By the way, while working on this review, I used this function more than once. Comfortable.
SanDisk Memory Zone Application
The SanDisk Memory Zone app lets you conveniently manage files on your smartphone, microSD card, SanDisk storage, and cloud storage. The application is developed only for Android devices, from cloud services Box, Dropbox, One Drive and Google Drive are offered.
| SanDisk drive and Google Drive cloud service connected | Application displays files on the drive |
What’s in the box?
The SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD V2 drive kit can be called ascetic, and at the same time sufficient: the box contains the disk itself, instructions and two USB cables: Type-C — Type-C and Type-C — Type-A. The cables are of very high quality, they are 31 cm long, but they do not remember the shape given to them, which would be extremely convenient both for use on a hike and for storage and transportation.
The instruction is typed in very small print, while its back is empty, which is strange, since one could easily make the font larger by filling in the back too. Armed with a magnifying glass, you can find text in Russian there, which in black and white, and even in bold, prohibits getting into the rain with the device. The instruction does not say a word about the IP55 protection class, nor about installing applications, giving only a link to the site. However, as is often the case with electronics, despite any protection against moisture, the warranty often does not apply to cases where equipment is flooded with water.
Instructions in English
Key Features SanDisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD V2
- Storage Capacity: 2TB
- Connection interface: USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (USB Type-C)
- Drive type: NVMe SSD
- Maximum read speed: 2000 Mb/s
- Maximum write speed: 2000 Mbps
- Encryption: 256-bit AES
- Power supply: via USB
- Body material: forged aluminium, silicone shell
- IP55 drop, water and dust resistant
- Dimensions: 10.
