Crucial Releases v4 Value Solid-State Drives

The biggest bottleneck in computer performance nowadays is the hard drive, a mechanical device consisting of a number of metal disks spinning at a quick rate – not quick enough, however, for fast program launches or file access. Luckily, solid-state flash memory is quickly gaining traction, and Crucial is looking to relieve many more computers of their weakest links with the new v4 SSD series.

The v4 mainly differs from the company's long-established m4 series with the use of an older SATA II 3Gbps interface instead of the latest SATA III 6Gbps. This brings lower performance – a 230MB/s read speed for the top v4 compared to 500MB/s for the top m4. That's still a pretty respectable rate, though, and Crucial says that the v4 series SSDs are still a good nine times faster than your average HDD.

Crucial will be offering four different versions of the v4, as follows.

• 32GB (200MB/s Reads, 60MB/s Writes, 1200 IOPS Random Writes, $49.99 MSRP)

• 64GB (230MB/s Reads, 100MB/s Writes, 2400 IOPS Random Writes, $69.99 MSRP)

• 128GB (230MB/s Reads, 175MB/s Writes, 4000 IOPS Random Writes, $99.99 MSRP)

• http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00826WEX0/ ?tag=americaninven-20&" target="_blank">256GB (230MB/s Reads, 190MB/s Writes, 4000 IOPS Random Writes, $189.99 MSRP)

As with most solid-state drives, performance increases with the total capacity. All of the drives are 9.5mm-high 2.5”-wide models and should come available in stores during the next few weeks. (Via StorageReview)

UPDATE: Crucial's V4 Value Solid-State Drives are now available here on Amazon and other retailers.