Intel x25-m SSDSA2M160G2HP

[idata]

I just bought a 160gb intel ssd and was wondering about the seriel number SSDSA2M160G2HP its the HP on the end that im looking at, im guesing its maybe something to do with hp laptops although it is a retail sealed box, so far i cant find any info on this drive apart from a benchmark page on passmark where it shows it performing 300 points over the other gen2 drives.

I would like to know what the difference is between the drives and why it would get a higher score?

Is it a genuine intel product?

http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hdd_lookup.php?cpu=INTEL+SSDSA2M160G2HP http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hdd_lookup.php?cpu=INTEL+SSDSA2M160G2HP

Hope someone can help.

Thanks

[idata]

It has "HP" in the marking, better check with HP, might be an OEM model.

[idata]

Hi, Just found your comment regards this SSDSA2M160G2HP. Can you please tell me where did you buy from and is it labele/marked as Engineering Sample Only as disclaimer on the label under the Model Tag? Are you still using that drive and can you use Intel SSD Toolbox and update firmware like other retail versions such as G2R5 or other G2--? Thanks advance for your repply. Please follow link to find photo of drive . Cheers

https://picasaweb.google.com/mmichael999/SSDG2HP?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ3Bx9eY15S4_wE&feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/mmichael999/SSDG2HP?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ3Bx9eY15S4_wE&feat=directlink

[idata]

I also bought one of these SSDSA2M160G2HP through Amazon.co.uk.

Whats the story with Manufactures Warenty on this?

I think these must have been supplied to HP originally but can't find any info anywhere.

Should I return this item to the seller?

[idata]

Maybe the "M16" part of the model string means that Intel SSDs are made out of recycled M16 rifles? Or maybe "HP" stands for "High Performance", "Hot Plug", "Horse Power", or "Hugh Phillips"?

Try actually reading the http://www.intel.com/design/flash/nand/mainstream/technicaldocuments.htm Intel-provided documentation which would bring you to the articles titled http://download.intel.com/design/flash/nand/mainstream/Specification322296.pdf Intel® X18-M/X25-M SATA Solid-State Drive – 34nm Product Line Product Manual and http://www.intel.com/design/flash/NAND/mainstream/pdf/322697.pdf Intel® X18-M/X25-M SATA Solid State Drive – 34nm Product Line: Enterprise Server/Storage Applications Product Manual Addendum which defines quite clearly what the model strings are.

Specifically, you will find a couple things in the PDFs:

1) The phrase "...please refer to the Intel High Performance SATA Solid-State Drives Product Selection Guide"

2) Model codes defined at the top of the document, which include "SSD2M160G2XX"

To me, that pretty much defines it right there. "XX" represents that there are two placeholder characters which can mean pretty much anything. So, "HP" as in Hewlett Packard is just as plausible as any of the others I listed above. For sake of comparison, my X25-M drive ends in "GC", which I would love to assume stands for "General Consumption", but in the end it doesn't matter to me. Gamer-forum-weirdos would probably love to assume it stands for "Garbage Collection", which is utter nonsense. So why doesn't it matter to me?

Because the specification explicitly states the model string ends with two digits of any value ("XX" like I stated) which means anything could go there and it would be the exact same as any other drive with any other two letters.

Sorry to sound sore/rude about it, but this is something that people become OCD about for no good reason other than to try and either dig up dirt or make themselves paranoid/concerned over nothing. If you're worried that the drive you bought is refurbished, call Intel and ask them to do a verification on the serial (not model) number; they should be able to tell you based on that if the drive is OEM. Flash the drive to the latest retail firmware if you're worried about any potential oddities, but chances are they all run the same firmware (I'm not aware of any OEM-specific firmwares in the wild for Intel SSDs).