Crucial today expanded its recently introduced MX300 solid state drive with additional capacities, now giving you four relatively affordable SKUs to choose from instead of just one: 275GB, 525GB, 750GB, and 1TB. Previously it was only available in a limited edition 750GB SKU.
Following in Samsung's footsteps with its 850/950 Pro SSDs, Crucial and its parent company Micron are wading into 3D NAND flash waters with the MX300 line, albeit at a more casual pace. Whereas Samsung is targeting enthusiasts with flagship solutions, Crucial's MX300 SSDs take aim at mainstream users, which is reflected both in price and rated performance.
That's not to say the MX300 line is slow—it boasts rated read speeds of up to 530MB/s and write performance of up to 510MB/s, and Crucial says that's true of all file types. Compared to the growing number PCIe-based SSDs entering the market, those performance metrics won't knock anyone's socks off, but they're on the upper end of what's available in the SATA 6Gbps category.
Crucial also touts a high level of endurance. Courtesy of Micron's 3D NAND technology, Crucial claims its MX300 SSDs can endure up to 220TB of written data.
Other features include AES 256-bit hardware-based encryption support, RAIN technology (an enterprise-class feature that disperses data on multiple storage components in case a particular section fails), adaptive thermal protection, and a data defense feature that Crucial says protects files from becoming corrupted.
Pricing for the full lineup of MX300 drives breaks down as follows:
All of those work out to around $0.25 to $0.26 per gigabyte. Not bad all around, though if you're looking for a 1TB-class SSD solution, there are less expensive options, such as the Silicon Power S55 960GB ($210), PNY CS1311 960GB ($220), SanDisk Ultra II 960GB ($230), Mushkin Reactor 1TB ($235), SanDisk X400 1TB ($248), and OCZ Trion 150 960GB ($250).
Crucial also plans to release a 2TB capacity MX300 SSD at some point, though it hasn't said when that will happen.
