Question 1

Is this drive slc, mlc, or tlc?

Accepted Answer

Actually, I understand  that it's sorta all three.
Basically the drive operated in something of a dynamic mode, it uses a dynamic portion of the drive's cell memory as SLC, writing 1 bit of data to the cell, and uses the remaining portion of the drive as TLC(tri level cell) a type of the border meaning of the term MLC (multi level cell).  However, the SLC portion of the drive is dynamic, changing in size depending on the amount of available space on the drive, and most imperatively, the SLC portion of the drive functions only as a cache buffer, not as "permanent memory", so, since the buffer is relatively small, i understand, as soon as the drive finishes writting to the SLC portion, it transfers the data stored in SLC to cells presently used as TLC.  So it's something of a hybrid, but that, it doesn't retain the data long in SLC, and is more primarily a TLC + SLC buffer drive.  Samsung uses the same strategy, and both brands, i understand, have trademarked or branded SLC caching strategy as a technology name, like samsung turbowrite.  At least In previous generations of Samsung drives the SLC cache portion was static in size, like 3, or 8 gigabytes, for example, while this corsair drive has a dynamic size SLC cache buffer. So that means, SLC cache size pending, if your just writing 2 gigabytes, you first write to SLC, then in the background that data is moved to a TLC form of storage.  I havnt seen crucial well explain to shoppers exactly how much SLC cache they can expect in their various usage scenarios, but that the SLC buffer writes a fair bit quicker, probably nearly saturates what you'd expect for the SATA drive.  Like on par with an 850evo/860 +- .  Some SLC cache sizes, like in 860evo are way up at i think around 40 gigs, depending on the drives, but that, this is only for operating as a buffer, the actually storage is in TLC form, possibly even if you say, were able to adjust the size like, 250 gigs of SLC, on this 500gig drive, it would still be ONLY operating as a buffer BUT THAT, it's not as bad as that sounds for many use cases, since reading from TLC is as fast as reading from SLC +-. When writing,the SLC buffer is cleared in a matter of milliseconds.  AND I THINK, it clears the buffer dynamically as well, whereas previous generation woudlnt, what i mean by that is, lets say you have a 10 gig buffer, and you move a 20 gig file, in the past, you'd write the first 10 gigs to SLC by the controller, then the controller would begin writing to TLC, and your speed would slow down.. somewhat substantially,. but that the TLC is pretty good, and you'd sit at the slightly slower pace for the rest of the transfer, however, i suspect, from a graph i had seen that the recent drive MIGHT actually be dynamically clearing the buffer as it fills in-transfer.  What I mean by this, is that when moving a 20 gig file with a 10gig SLC buffer, the first 10 gigs would fill up, and the buffer would write to TLC UNTIL the cache has been cleared (with a subsystem controller?) and then when it's cleared, as the transfer is still happening to TLC it would move back to the now clear SLC buffer, which again took milliseconds to clear.  so what you would see is a step down pattern..,  I've founds Crucial's service to marketing to be very low, not not well explained the product is, however, this is the understanding which I have surmised, but that inspecting long write performance reports, you might be able to come to a better, more certain finding.  What that would mean is that you are first writing almost always in SLC mode, to the cache buffer, where you cache buffer is a reasonable size for your activities, and then only dip to TLC writing until the cache is clear, which is a small fraction of time.  So in a way I GUESS your writing twice at once to TLC, first from the SLC buffer, and also from your current write, when the buffer is full. However, in terms of reads, storage, &cell wear, your using TLC+

Question 2

Does this work for a yoga 2.11, currently running a segate ultra slim hdd sata 2.5" 5mm?

Accepted Answer

Thank you for your question. The Yoga 2 11 can come with one of three different drives: an M.2, a regular 2.5" drive, or a slim 2.5" drive. If you are certain you have the ultra slim drive, then you would need to find an ultra slim replacement option. The 7mm MX500 SSD will unfortunately not work in your current yoga.

Question 3

What is the endurance rating on this? I couldn't find this info though seems very important in terms of longevity.

Accepted Answer

Thank you for your question. The 2TB variant is rates at 700TB Total Bytes Written (TBW), equal to 383GB per day for 5 years.

Question 4

Do these drives come with Acronis Software to copy from old drive?

Accepted Answer

Thank you for contacting Crucial and for your question.  Yes, every purchase of a Crucial SSD will come with the Acronis True Image software that can be used to copy everything from your old drive over to the new SSD.  To complete this process, you will need to have both drives connected to your system at the same time.  If your system does not have multiple drive bays then you will need to purchase an additional adapter so that you can connect the SSD to a USB port for the cloning process.  These adapters are typically called SATA to USB cables or external enclosures for a 2.5 inch drive.

Brand	Crucial
Manufacturer	micron
Series	MX500
Colour	silver
Form Factor	2.5-inch
Item Height	2 Inches
Item Width	0.5 Inches
Product Dimensions	7.62 x 1.27 x 5.08 cm; 9.07 g
Item model number	CT500MX500SSD1Z
Processor Count	1
Hard Drive Size	500 GB
Hard Disk Description	Solid State Drive
Hard Drive Interface	Solid State
Are Batteries Included	No
Manufacturer	micron
Item Weight	9.07 g

Crucial MX500 500GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD (CT500MX500SSD1)

Details

Description

Specifications

Have a Question? See What Others Asked

Common Questions