Crucial M500 SSD Review (960GB) – Speed, Value, Size and Data Security Redefined

ATTO DISK BENCHMARK VER. 2.46

ATTO Disk Benchmark is perhaps one of the oldest benchmarks going and is definitely the main staple for manufacturer performance specifications. ATTO uses RAW or compressible data and, for our benchmarks, we use a set length of 256mb and test both the read and write performance of various transfer sizes ranging from 0.5 to 8192kb. Manufacturers prefer this method of testing as it deals with raw (compressible) data rather than random (includes incompressible data) which, although more realistic, results in lower performance results.

We reached transfer speed highs of 535MB/s read and 453MB/s write from the M500 SSD, whereas performance at this capacity is listed at 500MB/s read and 400MB/s write. This is an excellent start, however, we would like to see the same with 100% incompressible data testing. ATTO is the ‘big easy’ of SSD performance.

CRYSTAL DISK BENCHMARK VER. 3.0 X64

Crystal Disk Benchmark is used to measure read and write performance through sampling of raw (0/1 Fill/compressible) or random data which is, for the most part, incompressible. In the Crucial M500 SSD, performance results are very similar whether we test with compressible or incompressible data and, for this reason, results are displayed utilizing incompressible data.

Transfer speeds dropped a bit, as they always do when comparing ATTO and CDM, but they are still relatively close to specifications with the read exceeding while the write performance drops just a bit below. Overall, the Crucial M500 SSD displays consistently high results at all levels of disk access.

AS SSD BENCHMARK VER 1.6

Up until recently, AS SSD was the only benchmark created specifically for SSD testing and it uses incompressible data. AS SSD, for the most part, gives us the ‘worst case scenario’ in SSD transfer speeds because of its use of incompressible data and many enthusiasts like to AS SSD for their needs. Transfer speeds are displayed on the left with IOPS results on the right.

The Score of 1035 points highlights the M500 as does the incredible IOPS performance of both 84093 IOPS read and 78548 IOPS write, both scores not typically seen until Anvil testing. In fact, we think the result here is only beaten by two other SSDs, both of which claim IOPS of 100,000 or better. These are the Samsung 840 Pro and OCZ Vector, both of which we reviewed previously. All three had very close AS SSD Copy Benchmark results.