Review: Kingston Next Generation SSDNow V200

This SSDNow V200 solid state drive from Kingston was a real winner for me, particularly because it was user-friendly.

The SSDNow comes packaged with SATA power cables, USB cables and a casing. This means it can be used to upgrade a computer's internal drive, or as an external hard drive. The black casing features a single USB input.

The SSDNow comes in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities, making it a suitable option for a wide spectrum of users.

Installing the SSDNow V200 is fairly simple as it comes with cloning software. In fact, Kingston has even thrown in a step-by-step installation video for when users get really stuck.

The cloning software helps users transfer their entire operating system and all files without having to reinstall Windows or a single program in it. It also helps turn the old HDD into a perfect backup of the new SSD, which is great for users like me, who may accidentally delete files.

SSDs have some great features in terms of physical integrity, especially in laptops. Laptops and portable hard drives are susceptible to permanent damage when moved around during usage. Light bumps are a sure way to shorten a hard drive's lifespan, and vibration has destroyed plenty of hard drives.

However, with SSDs, that worry is a thing of the past. As the drive has no moving parts, mechanical wear and tear is almost non-existent.

Speed is another obvious improvement. Not only is an SSD, at the very least, triple the speed of an HDD, it also has several other speedy features. My old laptop hard drive rarely performed at speeds faster than 60Mbps, despite being branded as capable of 100Mbps. With direct duplication of files on the SSD drive, I managed an average of around 157Mbps.

While this is well below the benchmark of 220Mbps advertised on the packaging, it is still a great deal faster than the 60Mbps that devices like USBs max out at. In all fairness, the speeds are dependent on other factors, and my laptop is no longer shiny and new.

One must also keep in mind that I was getting an average of 157Mbps across large files, about 30Gb each, which would mean that the burst rate and smaller transfers would probably be even faster.

Other factors come into play with tests like this, so while benchmarking programs may give you better-looking speeds, practical application usually yields more real-world results. The amount of available RAM and the number of background tasks can heavily influence hard drive or SSD performance.

The most noticeable speed increase was the boot time of Windows. My old hard drive used to take close on two minutes from powering on the machine to get to the login window, then another 30 or 40 seconds to actually get into Windows and begin opening programs. With the SDD installed and an exact clone of my old drive on it, the power to login was about 25 seconds, login at around seven or eight, while programs opened in mere seconds.

One failing of SSDs is that they have a limited number of write cycles. This means that even with no mechanical parts, these drives still have a limited lifespan, ranging from 5 000 to 10 000 cycles, depending on the manufacturer and quality of the drive itself. At 5 000 cycles, one is looking at an approximate two-year lifespan with very heavy use. That said, by the time the write cycles of the SSD are used up, the technology will have advanced so much, you will be itching to upgrade.

According to Kingston, its SSDs are backed by a three-year warranty and 24/7 live technical support. This is a great plus, considering hard drives are notorious for failing.

The Kingston SSDNow is easy to use and offers a great way to get more performance out of your computer. It can also be used as an external drive, which, thanks to its solid state disks, will not fail on you.