Specifications, Pricing and Availability

MyDigitalSSD has three SMART models based on capacity. All three are currently selling at MyDigitalDiscount and Amazon, but at the time of writing, only a few from each capacity were left from the first batch. We sat in on a call a few nights ago between MDSSD and their supplier and were reassured that MDSSD will have a sufficient number of each capacity available by the time this article hits the web.

There are so many good things to talk about that we're going to work backwards a bit. Let's just dive right into the price. When we reviewed the RunCore T50 120GB mSATA SSD it cost right around $400. NAND flash production has increased since then, but the T50 is still far from 'low cost' even by today's standards. The MyDigitalSSD 256GB that we're reviewing today costs less than the T50 120GB. The price breakdown looks like this - 256GB for $319.99, 128GB for $179.99 and the 64GB for $99.99. The closest competitor to the SMART series is the ADATA SX300 and MemoRight MS-701, both are unavailable for purchase at the time of writing.

The form factor is 50mm mSATA. Finding a comprehensive list of notebook and ultrabooks that use mSATA has proven difficult, mainly because more are coming to market every week. Just last week my friend called me to say his new Alienware gaming notebook has two mSATA slots under the keyboard! I would estimate that over 100 notebooks now ship with an open mSATA slot and several more are shipping with low speed SSDs populating the mSATA port.

We haven't covered the flash yet, so let's get it out of the way. The spec sheet stated 24nm Synchronous flash, but that isn't exactly correct. The flash is Micron codename L74, so 25nm synchronous flash original die from a 300mm wafer produced in Fab 4 in Boise, Idaho. We prefer the simple form though, IMFT 25nm synchronous flash - the good stuff.

MyDigitalSSD is offering a standard three year warranty with every SMART mSATA SSD. When it comes to add-ons you also receive a pair of screws for securing your drive into a slot that uses screws to secure the drive. I would also suggest purchasing an mSATA to 2.5" adapter as well; especially since we know a firmware update is coming. MDD sells them for $24.99, but we found some on Amazon for as low as $9.99. This is important because you can't flash the firmware on your operating system drive while booted into the operating system.