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The continuing evolution of flash storage is producing a variety of new form factors, often trending towards ever-smaller devices. One of the smallest we have encountered yet is the DOM (disk-on-module) form factor. A SATA-DOM is a DOM with a standard SATA data connection incorporated, such as the DIY series of SATA-DOM SSDs from Mach Xtreme Technology, with a footprint barely the length and width of a postage stamp.
INTRODUCTION
Today’s review is of the Mach Xtreme DIY series 32GB (MLC) SATA-DOM, a SATA II (3.0GB/s) miniaturized SSD designed for high-read, low-write usage scenarios that only require a small operating system; such as NAS enclosures, routers, set-top boxes, point-of-sale devices, hand-held devices, gaming machines, etc.
Mach Xtreme Technology is a Taiwanese producer of high-performance solid state storage products for both industrial applications and for power users. Mach Xtreme has a strong presence in the European markets, but has yet to gain a significant foothold in North America. That could easily change with a unique offering such as the DIY series of SATA-DOMs.
To give you a perspective on just how small the Mach Xtreme SATA-DOM SSD is, the above image shows the SATA-DOM sitting atop a standard 3.5″ Western Digital 1TB HDD.
PACKAGE AND CONTENTS
Our Mach Xtreme SATA-DOM SSD arrived from Taiwan in a cardboard-colored package with black graphics. A round “shield” on the front center designates this as a “DIY Edition” above crossed screwdrivers, with the capacity of 32GB designated below. Opening the box reveals a sealed anti-static bag containing the SATA-DOM SSD itself and the power harness. This is all that is needed to make this little SSD fully functional. No SATA data cable is needed as the drive plugs right into a SATA port.
MACH XTREME SATA-DOM 32GB
Mach Xtreme’s SATA-DOM offers robust performance for a SATA II (3.0 GB/s) device, low power consumption, and highly intelligent block management and wear-leveling to extend endurance. The Mach Xtreme SATA-DOM is available in several configurations: either horizontal or vertical orientations, either SLC or MLC NAND flash memory, and capacity points of 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB.
Our 32GB review sample is the MLC version and is rated for sequential read speeds of up to 220 MB/s, and sequential writes of up to 45 MB/s. Mean time between failures is stated as being in excess of 2,500,000 hours. Mach Xtreme is backing the DIY series of (MLC) SATA-DOMs with a two-year warranty.
Yikes!!
That random write is really really bad. Like jmicron 602 bad. Can’t imagine how this thing would stutter if OS was installed in there. A proper controller would fix that easily..
But i guess this is meant more for caching and READ only enviroments (POS systems?)…
Bear in mind that this is only a SATAII device. Most of the newer controller technology and NAND improvements are going into SATAIII devices.
True, but there are far far better SATAII controllers (like sandforce 1st gen) that have no issues with random speeds.
But again, this is a very simple controller and hence random speeds suffer.