Crucial MX500 500GB SSD Drive Review

There is no doubt that SSDs (Solid State Drives) are the way of future when it comes to PC storage.  While SSDs may not be the most cost effective storage solution they are by far one of the fastest and work well when matched with a storage drive or by themselves in higher capacities.  The Crucial MX series offers a variety of advanced features that are typically not seen in consumer SSDs.  Features like Hardware Based Encryption helps to keep personal files safe while Dynamic Write Acceleration makes saves faster and a Redundant Array of Independent NAND protects data at the component level.  With the MX500 drives you’ll be able to choose between a standard SATA based drive or upgrade to a M.2 form factor to save space and increase performance.

MLC and TLC NAND are what you find in consumer SSDs and tend to have faster wear rates over higher quality chips like the SLC NAND found in enterprise drives.  MLC and TLC NAND are also slower than SLC leading to the extreme cost difference between the different drive types.  You can tweak these known differences by changing the way the NAND is constructed, namely by going vertical.

In this review I’ll be looking at the Crucial MX500 500GB SSD (CT500MX500SSD1).  This is one of the few SSDs currently on the market which uses the new vertical NAND process and sold by the company who invented it.  The MX500 is using the Silicon Motion SM2258 controller which can also be found in the lower end BX300 giving you a good alternative to the Marvell controller found in previous designs.

• Dynamic Write Acceleration for faster saves and file transfers.
• Hardware-based encryption tokeep personal files and confidential data secure.
• Integrated Power Loss Immunity toavoid unintended data loss when the power unexpectedly goes out.
• Exclusive Data Defense to prevent files from becoming corrupted and unusable.
• Redundant Array of Independent NAND to protect data at the component level.

Brand Crucial
Form Factor 2.5-inch internal SSD
Total Capacity 500GB
Warranty Limited 5-year
Specs 500GB 2.5-inch internal SSD • SATA 6.0Gb/s • 560 MB/s Read, 510 MB/s Write
Series MX500
Product Line Client SSD
Interface SATA 6.0Gb/s
Device Type Internal Solid State Drive
Unit Height 7.0mm
Form Factor 2.5-inch (7mm)
Package Content Crucial MX500 2.5-inch 7mm SSD, 7mm to 9.5mm spacer, Acronis True Image HD certificate