Crucial Releases New (20% Faster) m4 SSD Firmware

Crucial has issued a firmware update for its m4 series of SSDs and promises a range of performance improvements beyond your normal firmware fixes. The company is claiming up to a 20 percent performance increase in sequential read speeds.  It is like "having your cake and eating it too" - You get those little firmware bugs fixed and you get a nice performance increase for free.

SSDs rely heavily on their firmware for their performance, along with controller-related features such as Garbage Collection, Wear-leveling, to name a couple. Other improvements in the firmware upgrade includes; increased throughput performance, lower write latency, improved chipset compatibility, improvement for cold boot failures, and faster boot up time. The firmware comes through an ISO image that is installed through a CD or DVD. (This is one area I would've like to see Crucial take a page from OCZ and provide its firmware updates from a "Crucial Toolbox".)

Crucial's Official Release Notes:

“Release Date: 08/25/2011

Change Log:

  • Changes made in version 0002 (m4 can be updated to revision 0009 directly from either revision 0001 or 0002)
  • Improved throughput performance.
  • Increase in PCMark Vantage benchmark score, resulting in improved user experience in most operating systems.
  • Improved write latency for better performance under heavy write workloads.
  • Faster boot up times.
  • Improved compatibility with latest chipsets.
  • Compensation for SATA speed negotiation issues between some SATA-II chipsets and the SATA-III device.
  • Improvement for intermittent failures in cold boot up related to some specific host systems.”

Firmware Download: Crucial

  • sseyler
    If these claims are even 50% true, then great! It would put even more pressure on OCZ Vertex 3 drives.
    Reply
  • mute20
    If this was released by apple they would have charged 40$
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    sseylerIf these claims are even 50% true, then great! It would put even more pressure on OCZ Vertex 3 drives.i don't wanna sound rude, but OCZ reliability has plummeted, that's why they've become cheaper. look at the newegg reviews, there are many complaints of their SSD's failing after 7 or so months. that doesn;t so too great. crucial on the other hand seems to be rolling out with great products... i might pick up the 64gb m4 for OS =]
    Reply
  • heroictofu
    Yeah, based on all the Sandforce errors I've been hearing about, Crucial's M4 looks mighty fine right about now. And with a potential 20% increase in performance, that puts it pretty darn close, if not surpassing some of the Sandforce controllers out there.
    Reply
  • chick0n
    mute20If this was released by apple they would have charged 40$
    Why not? Anything outa Apple's labs/factory comes with free magic dust.
    Reply
  • AbdullahG
    Well that's good news. Might pick up a Crucial SDD for a new build of mine (just need to save up a little more).
    Reply
  • roscolo
    Looks like the best just got a little better. Glad I picked one of these up when Newegg had 'em on sale. I've only just now installed the 128GB m4, so I look forward to giving the new firmware a go!
    Reply
  • wintermint
    This is what SSD manufacturers should be focusing on: providing us with FREE firmware updates that will IMPROVE our PERFORMANCE instead of OFFERING us more EXPENSIVE products that holds the same storage amount :]
    Reply
  • ikyung
    Been using Crucial c300 for about a year now. Haven't failed, and the firmwares fixed any bugs or problems.
    Reply
  • fyend
    Why is free in quotes in the title since it is actually free and all, makes one think there is some catch or hidden charge.
    Reply