Silicon Power E10 and M10 SSDs

Introduction

Solid State Drives, who doesn't love them? No matter how old and wheezy your desktop or laptop PC is a Solid State Drive is guaranteed to provide a performance boost. So fast are they that even the cheapest models will provide a decent speed boost and they should be at the absolute top of everyones want list.

Silicon Power might not be the first name that trips off your tongue when you're thinking of Solid State Drives but, as anyone who follows Solid State technology will know, the name on the case matters little because it's the technology inside that defines the performance level and there are only a few companies who provide the "innards".

Today we'll be looking at two of their SSDs, the extreme performance E10 and the high performance M10. So let's start with the extreme performance model.

Silicon Power E10 32GB

Of the two drives we've got on test today the Silicon Power E10 is the extreme performance model. Silicon Power state it should read at 230MB/s and write at 150MB/s, which definitely puts it up with the highest performing models on the market.

Here are the statistics and specifications from the Silicon Power website :

Standard 2.5-inch SSD, compatible with SATA interface (SATA I/ II)
High quality case and high-speed data transfer
Built-in ECC (Error Correction Code) functionality and wear-leveling algorithm ensures highly reliable of data transfer
Low Power Consumption
Shock resistance
No noise, no latency delay and no seek error
Compliant with RoHS requirement
Performance： MLC-Read up to 230MB/s, Write up to 150MB/s
Dimensions：100 x 69.85 x 9.4mm
Weight：70g
Durability：10,000 insertions(minimum)
Power Requirement：4.5V~5.5V

Silicon Power M10 64GB

Unlike the E10, the M10 is a dual purpose drive with connections both for the standard SATA II interface, and also USB. Naturally USB connectivity provides and enormous reduction in speed, so it's more good as a light, easily portable, storage solution than for the blazing speed SSDs normally provide. However, most of us will look at a SSD around this capacity as our OS drive using SATA II and it's under these conditions we'll be looking at it today.

Again, the statistics and specifications from the Silicon Power website :

Standard 2.5" SSD, compatible with SATA interface (SATA I / II)
Two connection options：SATA (for internal use) and mini USB2.0 (for external use)
High quality case and high-speed data transfer
Built-in ECC (Error Correction Code) functionality and wear-levelling algorithm ensures highly reliable of data transfer
Low Power Consumption
Shock resistance
No noise, no latency delay and no seek error
Compliant with RoHS requirement
Performance： MLC SATA：Read up to 165MB/s, Write up to 95MB/s         
                              USB2：Read up to 35MB/s,  Write up to 25MB/s
Dimensions：100 x 69.85 x 9.4mm
Weight：70g
Durability：10,000 insertions (minimum)
Power Requirement：4.5V~5.5V

The main things to note are the only slightly reduced speed between the extreme performance and more normal performance models. Also important is that both models come with error correction and wear levelling. This is a performance element that is often overlooked when SSDs are shouting loud about their read and write speeds but without them a Solid State Drive will quickly grind to a metaphorical halt.

Ok packaging time.