Hardware Review: Lite-On S100 128GB SSD

[News Portal]

Optical drive manufacturers Lite-On are hitting the Australian market with their new S100 range of solid state drives. We take the 128GB model into the workshop for a spin.

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Read full article by Tim Colwill

[InAUGral]

Ive had my Vertex2 SSD for over a year and its still fast as it was when I got it although the Vertex3 would be faster for me I have no need for a new SSD at this stage. Idk if I would trust a lite-on branded SSD myself but I would change my mind if someone still had a working lite-on SSD a year down the road.

[TheD]

Using IDE mode can have a large effect on performance compared to using ACHI with a SSD.

Let me guess, your "stability issues" are Windows crashing at boot because you did not install Windows with AHCI set to enabled in the BIOS?
You can just change a setting in the registry before you reboot into the BIOS to turn AHCI on that makes windows load up the AHCI driver (and thus, not crash).

In Windows 7, open regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci

Find the key called "Start" and change it to 0

[Matty]

SSD prices have come down a long way since I got mine...

[Tim Colwill]

Using IDE mode can have a large effect on performance compared to using ACHI with a SSD.

Let me guess, your "stability issues" are Windows crashing at boot because you did not install Windows with AHCI set enabled in the BIOS?
You can just change a setting in the registry before you reboot into the BIOS to turn AHCI on that makes windows load up the AHCI driver (and thus, not crash).

In Windows 7, open regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci

Find the key called "Start" and change it to 0

I've actually done this! And had no luck, it still crashes.

From my research though, speeds should only improve by around 20-30 MB/s? Which still puts the Lite-On below other drives in the same price point.

[MaddMoose]

Reinstall Windows with AHCI enabled first. It does make a difference.

[TheD]

Using IDE mode can have a large effect on performance compared to using ACHI with a SSD.

Let me guess, your "stability issues" are Windows crashing at boot because you did not install Windows with AHCI set enabled in the BIOS?
You can just change a setting in the registry before you reboot into the BIOS to turn AHCI on that makes windows load up the AHCI driver (and thus, not crash).

In Windows 7, open regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci

Find the key called "Start" and change it to 0

I've actually done this! And had no luck, it still crashes.

From my research though, speeds should only improve by around 20-30 MB/s? Which still puts the Lite-On below other drives in the same price point.

That is odd, what about HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV ?

From what I have seen, using IDE mode has huge effects on things like the 4K-64 score.
It should be at least a few times higher than the plain 4K score.

I also hoped you used a SATA3 port. An intel one on intel boards or an AMD one one AMD boards, don't use the third party SATA controllers that some boards have, they are complete ****.

With a Marvel 88SS9174 and Toggle NAND, the S100 should be very fast (a bit faster than a M4).

[Tim Colwill]

That is odd, what about HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV ?

From what I have seen, using IDE mode has huge effects on things like the 4K-64 score. It should be at least a few times higher than the plain 4K score.

I also hoped you used a SATA3 port. An intel one on intel boards or an AMD one one AMD boards, don't use the third party controllers that some boards have, they are complete ****.

Same deal with that registry key also. I spent most of yesterday trying to get it working so I could be sure of the findings, but to no avail

I am using a AMD SATA3 port on an AMD board, yep

[TheD]

That is odd, what about HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV ?

From what I have seen, using IDE mode has huge effects on things like the 4K-64 score. It should be at least a few times higher than the plain 4K score.

I also hoped you used a SATA3 port. An intel one on intel boards or an AMD one one AMD boards, don't use the third party controllers that some boards have, they are complete ****.

Same deal with that registry key also. I spent most of yesterday trying to get it working but to no avail

I am using a AMD SATA3 port on an AMD board, yep

Seems like AMD SATA controllers might have a problem with the msahci drivers for some reason.

If the drive was tested with AHCI set to on I am sure the performance would be much, much better.

Nothing else other than a reinstall of Windows (with ACHI already set to on in the BIOS) would allow you to test the drive at it's max it seems.

[Tim Colwill]

Frustrating. Well, I'll try that over the weekend and see how it goes. I'd be happy to see the numbers go up, but I am still concerned they will not reach the levels of other drives in the same price tier.

[steve_rogers42]

Yea AHCI will show a bit of a difference. Most interesting thing is that the controller seems to be the Marvel 88SS9174, which is the same used in the Crucial M4 and the Corsair Pro, so its interesting to see the performance difference.

I dont expect Lite-on to update their firmware as regularly as crucial/corsair/other ssd manu's due, but here is hoping. Looks like their nand flash is a bit average also.

I also had the ahci bios/boot issue for my ssd, something i will rectify when i get around to reinstalling....

<3

semi interesting numbers for a sata6 drive, but $200 for a 'new' drive when you can get same capacity Intel drives for less than that? no thanks.

[Bluefire]

If it was a liteon optical drive... a 1x liteon cd burner with blind bit copy was fkn shiny.. wouldnt mind a dvd burner of the same..
Not so sure about a ssd tho..
Ever since my IBM glass plater drive... Wish they would start making those again..
Im happy with the ibm ssd we got fer my wife.. wouldnt bother with another company unless its 50% of cost and proven reliable.

[TRB]

My main concern for SSDs is not their raw speed but their reliability.

I was using one for my C drive for a while then it went really funky and needed a full reset/format [custom operation with the manufacturers tools] to work again, which sucked because reinstalling windows and everything again sucks.

It seems reliability is improving in general but its still my main point of reference when looking at which SSD is the best.

[exe3]

My friend did RAID SSD's back when they cost 500bux each. They lasted a year or 2 before they were both dieing on him. They were Corsair branded and as such he's vowed to never buy Corsair again. He currently has a Vertex 2 and it's been going string for a while now. My brother has a Vertex 3 and besides the firmware crashes which are fixed once you update his has also been fine. Finally my friend recently got one from a friend, a Fujitsu 250gig one for free (T_T) and so far it's been fine. So I think reliability shouldn't be an issue for SSD's as long as you don't cheap out on them.

ps: I loathe SSD's and they're the scum of the universe, guess why.

[steve_rogers42]

^ they have G4WL and DRM?