INTRODUCTION

   As some of my friends have pointed out recently i may have been doing SSD reviews for slightly over 5 years now (roughly 6) but although a large number of consumer oriented models have landed in my hands i can't say the same about enterprise/industrial grade models and so in the following months we will do our best to try and fix that. We already started by testing the SSDnow E50 100GB SSD by Kingston a couple of weeks ago a drive which offered very good read/write speeds with the data safety only an enterprise grade product can offer. However the E50 is not the flagship SSD model in the Kingston SSDnow line and so we decided that it would be in everyone’s best interest to get the top of the line E100 200GB variant (although quite older) and see not only how it does against its smaller brother the E50 but also against every single SSD in our charts.

   Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products. Kingston designs, manufactures and distributes memory products for desktops, laptops, servers, printers, and Flash memory products for PDAs, mobile phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players. Through its global network of subsidiaries and affiliates, Kingston has manufacturing facilities in California, Taiwan, China and sales representatives in the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Australia, New Zealand, India, Taiwan, China, and Latin America.

   The main differences between the E50 and E100 models lie with the flash controller and the NAND flash modules since whereas the E50 wears the SF-2581 controller by LSI/SandForce paired with 19nm MLC NAND flash modules by Toshiba the E100 makes use of the more advanced SF-2582 controller by LSI/Sandforce which in this case is paired with 32nm MLC NAND flash modules again manufactured by Toshiba. Of course the E50 hardware configuration makes use of the latest generation 19nm MLC NAND flash modules by Toshiba which although may indeed be faster and cooler compared to the 32nm ones are far less durable (3 DWPD for the E50 vs 11 DWPD for the E100 - Drive Writes Per Day). The LSI/SandForce SF-2582 controller is also quite more improved compared to the SF-2581 and features DuraClass (life and speed optimizations), DuraWrite (intelligent block management, wear leveling, read disturb management and garbage collection) and RAISE (intelligent data retention optimization and best-in-class ECC protection for longest data retention and drive life) technologies paired with end-to-end CRC protection and ECC recovery. To complete the set of features Kingston has once again used a set of Tantalum capacitors which can act as a failsafe for accessed data in the event of a power loss. Just like with the E50 we don't expect the E100 to be king of the hill in terms of read/write performance but we do want to see what potential buyers can really expect from it.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Exactly like the E50 the E100 model arrived inside the same clamshell package so you can take a look at the drive from the front prior to purchasing it.

At the rear you will find a sticker with the products serial number and barcode along with a product description in 16 languages.

Unfortunately once again the only two things in the package are the SSDNow E100 200GB and the getting started guide.

THE SSDNOW E100 200GB

Nothing new in terms of appearance since the SSDNow E100 200GB uses the same casing as pretty much every other SSDNow model.

Several certification icons along with the model name, capacity, electrical requirements, serial number and barcode are placed on the large sticker at the top.

Turning the drive over it’s clear that Kingston has once again used Torx screws to secure the housing (unfortunately the nose of our only Torx screwdriver was worn off so we were unable to open the casing - we will however update the review whenever possible with interior shots).

At the rear of the E100 we see the typical SATA power and data connectors.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY 

   After roughly 6 years of testing sold state drives i have concluded that it's almost impossible for any single benchmark suite to accurately measure their performance and that's why in certain benchmark suites we see amazing read/write performance numbers with some drives while in others things are quite different. The reason behind this is that some benchmarking suites are configured to read and write random chunks of data while others read and write constant (sequential) ones. So that's why i always use a very wide selection of benchmarking suites including AIDA64, HD Tach RW, HD Tune Pro, Crystal Disk Mark, Sisoftware Sandra Pro, AS SSD, IOmeter and ATTO. To get the most accurate results each test gets repeated a total of 6 times with the average performance numbers recorded into our charts.

   Many people made inquiries about the charts ever since the last comparison so once again please do keep in mind that the Charts have the average performance numbers of each drive recorded and not the peak (highest) ones. Also although every single one of these programs can help potential buyers choose the right drive for their needs you should also remember that from any kind of benchmark up to real world usage the gap is not small (and usually most differences will go unnoticed by most people). All tests were performed in a fresh Windows 7 Ultimate x64 installation with every update installed up to June 15th 2014.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TUNE PRO / HD TACH RW

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

TEST RESULTS - AS SSD / IOMETER

CONCLUSION

   After reading our charts some of you may think that the SSDNow E100 is not a very good SSD since there are quite a few models that surpass its speeds but like i said with the E50 the E100 is not a model aimed solely at performance but rather a model aimed at the sweet spot between performance and data integrity (with NAND flash modules sporting almost four times the life of the ones used in the E50 the E100 has that in abundance) the two features cherished most by professionals and enterprise users around the world. That being said the E100 already counts almost 2 full years in the market and if it can hold its own for so long even against brand new models (it did better than the E50 in many important tests after all) i really want to see what Kingston will offer with its successor.

   Since the E100 is the top of the line enterprise grade model sold by Kingston (higher than the E50) we did expect it to carry a hefty price tag and it does (and then some) since the 200GB variant which we have here with us today retails for USD761.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 676.02Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). True this price tag is way up there but let's not forget that the SSDNow E100 is aimed at professionals and enterprise users who can't afford not to secure their data with the best possible hardware and with a lifespan almost 4 times over than that of the E50 the E100 can obviously offer that. Needless to say regular consumers have very little need for such drives and since currently one can get a brand new high-performance 240GB model for 1/3rd of the money i don't think there's even a valid comparison in place. For enterprise environments however the SSDNow E100 with its performance, features and endurance/durability is the obvious choice and that's why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (Enterprise Grade/1m Hours MTBF)
- Almost 4 Times As Durable As The E50
- Very Good Performance
- Power Loss Protection/DuraClass/DuraWrite/RAISE Features
- 3 Years Warranty

CONS

- Price (For Some)