Plextor announces 480MB/s M2S SSD with SATA 3.0

Plextor has announced its first UK-bound solid-state drives, the second-generation M2S series. The 2.5-inch drives will come in three capacities -- 64GB, 128GB and 256GB -- and features the latest SATA 6Gbs interface. That's not just for show as the drive touts read and write speeds of up to 480MBs and 330MBs, so the extra headroom provided by SATA 3.0 should actually be put to use.

It's worth noting that those speeds are exclusive to the largest drive. The 128GB and 64GB versions run at 420MBs/210MBs and 370MBs/110MBs. The M2S series carries Marvell's 88SS9174 which Plextor hails as the world's most advanced controller. It's the same chip seen in Crucial's RealSSD C300 and it features 128MB of cache, which boosts small write performance and reduce stuttering.


The M2S series also supports Windows 7's TRIM command as well as dynamic wear leveling to help prevent the inevitable performance decrease after heavy use. Plextor will begin shipping units sometime next month, though an exact release date hasn't been announced -- nor has pricing. Drives will come with a three-year warranty and Acronis True Image for migration and backups.