The Package and Drive
While many manufacturers are using simple clam shells to ship their SSDs when a drive comes with extra features an actual package must be used. The ADATA SP900 Premiere Pro comes in a thin white cardboard box with a large window to view the SSD. Adorning the front is the ADATA multicolored hummingbird of Technological nectar gathering.
The box conveys all necessary information for making a purchasing decision, including model and type of SSD being purchased as well as a number of features of the drive. It also mentions the included features such as 3.5” desktop adapter and Free downloads of Acronis and Norton Internet Security.
Removing the plastic holder from the package shows the SSD resting in its own little cubby. Underneath the drive is a metaliic blue adapter and two inserts one to cover how to setup and install the SSD the other containing information on the software includes.
The Drive itself is a brushed aluminum casing painted all black with a black decal on the front for identifying the drive and its data density. Handsomely colored with some grey shading and white lettering it seems a shame to hide such a device inside a case where it will never be seen again.
The back of the drive includes identification numbers, warranty code and a stocker containing the product key for use with the Acronis True Image HD software. The process for activating this software is lengthy. One inputs the code downloads the software, fills out an email, gets another longer code for entering into the software and then it is activated. the email with the activation code should be saved for use in case another install is required.
Opening up the drive we can see what makes the drive worth it. The SandForce controller is a SF-2281 controller we have seen before and a number of Micron 29F64G08CBAAA ICs. As always with Micron their model number denotes the density of each chip. 64G = 64 Gigabits or 8 GB per NAND chip 128/8 = 16 and thus we have 8 NAND chips on each side of the PCB. Because the SF-2281 only has 8 channels available, 2 chips are tied to each channel much like DRAM (although DRAM is actually running up to 8 ranks not just 2). This helps improve performance but still limits speeds to that of the controller.
*note: the ranking system is oversimplified to give a general idea without going into the details of modern NAND and DRAM construction.
