Looking for ways to speed up the performance of your desktop or laptop? Crucial will soon offer two new storage solutions: the Crucial MX200 for power users and the Crucial BX100 for mainstream customers. Both SSDs were unveiled this week at CES and will be available in Q1 2015 with a starting price of $69.99.
According to the specifications, the upcoming Crucial MX200 will arrive in three flavors: 250 GB, 500 GB and 1 TB. All three will have sequential read speeds of up to 555 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 500 MB/s. The random reads are expected at 100,000 IOPS and the random writes at 87,000 IOPS. All three will measure 7 mm and will come with a bracket for 9 mm spaces.
Crucial notes that the 250 GB drive will include Dynamic Write Acceleration, which provides faster file transfers and saves; the 500 GB and 1 TB drives don't need this feature. The company also lists Power Loss Protection, Adaptive Thermal Protection, AES 256-bit encryption and four layers of Exclusive Data Defense, the latter of which prevents file corruption, as the drives features. All three drives will also include Acronis True Image HD software for moving the user's system from a hard drive to the SSD.
As for the BX100, this SSD will be offered in four capacities: 120 GB, 250 GB, 500 GB and 1 TB. The specifications show that the SSD will offer sequential read speeds of up to 535 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 185 MB/s for the 120 GB drive, up to 370 MB/s for the 250 GB drive, and up to 450 MB/s for the 500 GB and 1 TB drives. The random read IOPS will be 87,000 IOPS for the 120 GB and 250 GB models and 90,000 IOPS for the 500 GB and 1 TB models. The random write IOPS will be 70,000 IOPS across the board save for the 120 GB model, which will be 43,000 IOPS.
The product page points out that the BX100 isn't the fastest on the market. Instead of speed and a high dollar amount, the company wanted an SSD that packs a lot of performance into a value-priced drive. Thus, this drive is ideal for the consumer who is not looking to play the latest hardware-demanding game. Helping to pack a potent punch is the Silicon Motion SM2246EN controller, which is being used in a Crucial SSD for the very first time.
In addition to the new drives, Crucial has also released a new tool for keeping their SSD in tip-top shape. The tool is called the Crucial Storage Executive and customers can use the software to reset the encryption password, update the firmware and check on the drive's overall health, including temperature and current status. This tool can only be used on existing M500, M550 and MX100 SSDs as well as the new MX200 and BX100 SSDs.
On the pricing front, the BX100 will cost $69.99 (120 GB), $109.99 (240 GB), $199.99 (500 GB) and $399.99 (1 TB). The MX200 SSD will cost a meatier $139.99 (250 GB), $249.99 (500 GB) and $469.99 (1 TB). Both models will be released sometime in Q1 2015.
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