Introduction

The original A-DATA S599 was the second SandForce SSD we tested, but that was all the way back in March. Quite a lot has changed since then with all of the SandForce partners; the products are now more refined and the competition of a saturated market has led to more value added accessories being included.

A-DATA took a leading role in pricing for a short time with their first SandForce drive, but stiff competition has made it difficult for anyone to stay the cost leader in this category. At the time of writing the new A-DATA S599 was the second lowest priced SandForce 120GB SSD listed at Newegg. The S599 is currently trailing behind the Mushkin Callisto by a very small margin.

The first time we looked at the S599 was prior to the MP2 programming roll out. Since then the capacity has been increased from 100 to 120GB in this price category and A-DATA has now included a 2.5 to 3.5 desktop adapter bracket to increase the appeal for desktop users.

Today we are taking a second look at the A-DATA S599 SandForce based SSD in what I would call revision 2 form. Let's have a look at the specifications.

Specifications, Pricing and Availability

As you can see from the specifications list, A-DATA has added some new capacity sizes to the S599 product line. We will be focusing on what A-DATA is calling their 128GB model; other manufacturers are calling this model the 120GB. No matter what you call it, after formatting you are left with right around 110GB of free space.

New to the A-DATA S599 spec sheet is the high IOPS programming that caused such a stir a few months ago. A-DATA has joined many other manufacturers in bringing this enterprise feature to consumers. Also new is the latest firmware revision that increases performance in some areas but also reduces performance in other areas, neither is very noticeable under real world conditions but it does show up in some performance benchmarks.

When it comes to availability, an area that we had an issue with on the first S599, we were able to find the new spec A-DATA S599 at Newegg and other etailers easily. Newegg currently lists our 128GB sample at 264.99 USD, the second lowest priced SandForce 120GB drive. Newegg also lists the 256GB model for 551.00 USD and both units are in stock.

To bring additional value to the consumer A-DATA is now including a 2.5" to 3.5" form factory desktop adapter bracket with the S599 Series SSDs.