Model: Plextor M8V 256GB Solid State Drive
Manufacturer: Plextor
Provided By: Plextor LLC

As one of the biggest names in the storage industry, Plextor doesn't need much of an introduction. For nearly twenty years, they've produced some of the best optical drives the industry has seen. Known the world over for their quality, performance, and features, these drives have become favorites among consumers and professionals alike. Today, Plextor continues to lead the way by bringing cutting edge storage technologies to market. Along with an assortment of high-performance DVD and Blu-ray drives, the company offers a growing number of solid state drives.

At this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Plextor launched its new M8V series SSDs. Available in two form factors, the M8V series includes the M.2 2280 M8VG and the company's latest 2.5-inch SSD, the M8VC. These entry-level devices are powered by Silicon Motion's SM2258 controller and are available with up to 512GB of Toshiba's 64-layer BiCS3 3D TLC NAND flash. To compensate for the slow write speeds typically associated with TLC NAND, the M8V series is equipped with Plextor's PlexNitro cache acceleration technology, which optimizes performance without taking up any space on the drive. The M8VG and M8VC also feature built in LDPC technology as well as a RAID engine and data shaping for enhanced data transfer stability. To top it all off, the drives support Plextor exclusive applications like PlexTurbo, PlexCompressor and PlexVault.

The M8V is available in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities. For this review, Plextor sent us the 256GB version of the drive, which is capable of delivering up to 550 MB/s sequential read and 510 MB/s sequential write speeds as well as up to 81,000 random read and 80,000 random write IOPS.

   Plextor M8V 256GB Solid State Drive
General Specifications
Part Number PX-256M8VC
Capacity 256GB
NAND Flash Toshiba BiCS 3D TLC
Controller SMI SM2258
Cache 512MB DDR3
Form Factor 2.5-inch
Interface SATA III 6Gb/s

Performance
Sequential Read 560 MB/s Max
Sequential Write 510 MB/s Max
Random Read (IOPS 4K) 81,000 Max
Random Write (IOPS 4K) 80,000 Max

Environment and Reliability
Power Requirement DC 5V / 1.5A
Temperature (Operating) 0°C ~ 70°C / 32°F ~ 158°F
Shock 1500G (Max.), at 1 msec half-sine
Vibration (Operating) 7 ~ 800Hz, 3.08Grms
MTBF 1.5 million hours
Endurance (TBW) 140TB

Dimensions and Weight
Dimensions 100 mm x 69.85 mm x 6.8 mm
Weight 60g

Other Features
PlexTurbo, PlexCompressor, PlexVault, PlexNitro and TrueSpeed technologies
Supports latest LDPC technology to guarantee data accuracy and SSD reliability
Supports TRIM, SMART, NCQ, ATA/ATAPI-8
Three year warranty

Needless to say, this is only a taste of what the M8V has to offer. To give you an idea of what to expect, we'll take a closer look at Plextor's new SSD and then see how well it performs. Does the M8V have what it takes? More importantly, is it the best bang for your buck? Keep reading as we find out.


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