Up until this point the solid state drives we have looked at have been limited to the SATA 3Gbps standard. While solid state drives are still much faster than normal hard drives we haven’t been able to really push them to their limits. There is where SATA 6Gbps comes in; basically you are getting 2X the speed of SATA 3Gbps. We have already seen ASUS and Gigabyte make SATA 6Gbps standard on some of their motherboards and I’m sure others will follow. Crucial is the first to come out with a SATA 6Gbps solid state drive. The drive is the C300 and it features the new Marvell 88SS9174-BJP2 Solid State Drive controller and boasts speeds of 355MB/s read and 215MB/s write. This drive also is one of the first to use ONFI 2.1 synchronous NAND flash. Read on as we test one of the fastest solid state hard drives available!

Features
- Read speeds up to 355MB/s
- SATA 6Gb/s interface
- High-speed Synchronous NAND
- Limited three-year warranty

Specifications
* These specifications are for the 256GB version of the drive; if you want to see the specs for the 128GB version of the drive see the C300 datasheet here.
Capacity: 256GB
NAND: Micron MLC
Controller: Marvell
Firmware: Field Upgradeable
RAID Support: Yes
Interface: SATA
Transfer Rate: 6Gb/sec (compatible 3Gb/sec)
Power Supply: 5V
Certifications: FCC, CE, RoHS, UL
Command Set: ATA-8 w/ TRIM
Average Access Time: < .1 ms
Sequential Read (up to): 355MB/s (SATA 6Gb/s), 265MB/s (SATA 3Gb/s)
Sequential Write (up to): 215MB/s
Random 4K Read: 60,000 IOPS
Random 4K Write: 45,000 IOPS
Form Factor: 2.5-inch
Dimensions: 100.45 x 69.85 x 9.50 mm
Weight: 75g

Packaging
The RealSSD C300 comes typical solid state drive packaging we are used to seeing. It comes in a box that is a little larger than the drive itself. On the front there is a sticker that tells us the capacity of the drive. On the back there is a little bit about the drive and a list of specifications.

Opening the box up the drive is nicely packaged inside of an anti-static bag. Inside you will find the drive and an installation guide.