[SpecK73]

I bought a RunCore 64GB SSD to replace the standard 8GB STEC SSD that was in my Dell Mini 9.

I didn't notice any improvement in speed or performace at all and after 11 months the device failed and took my data with it.

I got a replacement RunCore 64GB SSD from the good people at MyDigitalDiscount.com and I decided to time the hibernation and return from hibernation tasks which on my Dell amount to a 2GB write to disk and read from disk respectively.

The 8GB STEC drive took 20.5 seconds to write the 2GB hibernation file and the RunCore 64GB drive takes 25.9 seconds to do the same.

Both devices take 8 seconds to read the 2GB file when the Dell returns from hibernation.

Overall, following my experience, I could not recommend the RunCore 64GB SSD (model RCP-I-M5064-C) to anyone because for me it has been unreliable and the claims RunCore makes regarding performance improvements have been totally unrealised.

I hope that this information is helpful to others.

[holmes4]

Welcome to the forum, I guess. Many of us have been very happy with RunCore SSDs. I've been running a 64GB model for a year and a half and the speed improvement over the stock 16GB STEC drive was noticeable.

However, it is certainly true that an unnaturally large number of people have had their RunCore (and STEC) SSDs fail. I've been lucky in this regard (knock plastic) so far.

[SpecK73]

Thanks for the welcome.

Can you tell me the areas where you feel that the RunCore SSD improves performance over the STEC unit?

On a brighter note, I installed Windows 7 on my Dell Mini 9 yesterday and it has given it a new lease on life. It performs so well! I have got all the drivers working with the exception of the ethernet interface (wireless is up). Does anyone know if there's a Windows 7 driver for the ethernet adaptor that allows you to activate the 'hidden' GPS feature like you could do on XP?

[holmes4]

For me, it was booting, shutdown and just normal activities were significantly faster.

What "hidden GPS feature"? Windows 7 installed a standard Ethernet driver for me. Try running Windows Update.

[SpecK73]

Sorry, I meant the 3G modem, not the ethernet adaptor. The 3G modem that comes with the Dell has a built-in GPS receiver that's not active by default. Under XP it was possible to install a different driver that allowed you to utilise it.

I'll do some more research and let you know.

[grungysquash]

At the moment there are no drivers which will allow the GPS inside the 3G unit to work with windows 7. The GPS will function under win XP under win 7 while you may get NRMA data you will not get a lock. But if you succeed well let us know.

[SpecK73]

Just to let you guys know that the 64GB SSD that MyDigitalDiscount.com sent to me to replace the first one has failed today. It's becoming expensive to send these back to America. I have no confidence at all in these devices. Hopefully MyDigitalDiscount.com will refund my money. This was an expensive bit of kit!