New Crucial M4 firmware released.

[nanaki333]

it's an iso you burn, boot from disc, flash, reset, done.

 

[ikachu]

No OS install is needed, although you do need to disable AHCI in the BIOS menu before performing the update (you can turn it back on afterwards).

The firmware is a boot cd so just boot to it and follow the instructions, it should only take a few minutes to patch. There's a pretty decent guide on the crucial site.

 

[imaheadcase]

Yah i just used USB stick. Didn't have to change AHCI in bios.

This drive is smoking fash. Maybe its because my SATA chip is marvel to, but some of my scores are higher than ones i've seen here.

 

[nanaki333]

i didn't have to turn of AHCI.

 

[onethreehill]

Crucial m4 SSD Review (Firmware 0009)
http://www.storagereview.com/crucial_m4_ssd_review_firmware_0009

 

[Patrick Wolf]

how is this done? I assuem no fresh install of OS needed?

will build a pc for parents tomorrow woth the 64 GB version in is and i assume it will be on 0002 firmware.

http://www.crucial.com/firmware/m4/0...0009_08-11.pdf

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

what software do you use to burn ISO to USB stick?

 

[LokutusofBorg]

Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool

Don't let the "Microsoft Store" branding throw you off. I believe that works with any bootable ISO. It's super easy to use.

 

[nanaki333]

Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool

Don't let the "Microsoft Store" branding throw you off. I believe that works with any bootable ISO. It's super easy to use.

yep. works great. sadly, i have to use it more often than i should because my flash drives get misplaced

 

[maxP]

I believe that works with any bootable ISO. It's super easy to use.

Perhaps you have an earlier version of the software?

I just tried. It rejected the Crucial ISO. It also rejected freeDOS and Damn Small Linux ISO. It does accept Microsoft ISO though.

 

[beginner99]

new m4 64 gb on new win 7 install. before about 410 mb/sec read after upgrade 510 mbye/sec in as ssd bench. write however is clearly slower than in the 128 gb version. around 100 mb/s.

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

how did you get the microsoft tool to work with any ISO?
it says its not a valid iso file

 

[Burner27]

Even with this new FW for the M4, I didn't see an improvement on the 4k random reads/writes when I had my 64GB drive. My C300 still bests it by at least 20MB/s

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

how did you get the microsoft tool to work with any ISO?
it says its not a valid iso file

yeah... does not work for me either

 

[Coup27]

Even with this new FW for the M4, I didn't see an improvement on the 4k random reads/writes when I had my 64GB drive. My C300 still bests it by at least 20MB/s

I personally think the M4 is a bit of a red herring - unless you use your SSD for large sequential access. The M4 has been entirely designed for seq speed. Random speed has taken a complete knock. Even garbage collection is put off as long as possible to aid maximum speed.

This is not how I use my machine. ~250MB/sec seq speed is more than enough. Any headroom beyond that, I would like devoted to random access. Fortunately this is exactly how Intel designed their X25-M G1 & G2. Garbage collection / TRIM is a lot more active which, maybe at the expense of top end speed, ensures the drives performance over the months.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

yeah... does not work for me either

Sorry, I forgot to post back in here that I was dumb and didn't use the MS tool for the Crucial ISO. I was reinstalling three different computers and used it for MS ISOs, but burned the Crucial one to disk. Sorry about that guys.

There are tools out there to do it though. Just google for it. unetbootin is one.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

finally got around to doing this....

 

[imaheadcase]

finally got around to doing this....

You on sata 3?

Odd my writes are slightly better on some scores on sata 2..maybe cause its the 256gig model?

* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 279.211 MB/s
Sequential Write : 230.456 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 251.449 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 228.368 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 23.024 MB/s [ 5621.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 75.807 MB/s [ 18507.6 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 179.339 MB/s [ 43783.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 187.188 MB/s [ 45700.1 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 20.1% (48.0/238.5 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2011/09/15 9:43:17
OS : Windows 7 SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

 

[arredondo]

I just got a M4 for a computer I am building. How do I easily find out which version I have before I install Win7?

 

[Burner27]

I just got a M4 for a computer I am building. How do I easily find out which version I have before I install Win7?

Look at the sticker on the drive itself. It will tell you which version is installed.

 

[arredondo]

Ahhh, so they employed 'The Purloined Letter' tactic. You win this round Crucial. :sneaky:

 

[Davegod]

Anyone seeing an M4/Vertex3/ForceGT comparison with the latest firmware for each?

People seem to be trumpeting the M4 reliability so I'd be tempted to go for that instead if the performance has got closer.

 

[curlysir]

Anyone seeing an M4/Vertex3/ForceGT comparison with the latest firmware for each?

People seem to be trumpeting the M4 reliability so I'd be tempted to go for that instead if the performance has got closer.

Yes, there are reviews out there with the new FW, do a search on Crucial M4 reviews. Read performance is now on par with the others, write performance is better then it was but still slower then the Vertex3/ForceGT.