Patriot Torqx 2 128GB SSD Drive Review by Jeff Roy

The better computers are, the faster they are. But, you are only as good as the weakest link. When it comes to computers, the weakest link tends to be the hard drive. Up for review today is the Patriot Torqx 2 128GB SSD hard drive.

Not only is it fast, it is also much more reliable. If you are asking yourself what an SSD drive is, think of it as a small flash drive or thumb drive on steroids. You know, the little things that are easily found in sizes now of up to 16 GBs? I remember when standard hard drives were about that size.

Hard drives also tend to be the source of our worst computer nightmares. After all, what's one of the worst things that can happen to your computer? That would be hard drive failure. Hard drives contain platters inside that hold all the information. These platters spin, and are read while they spin. The higher RPM they spin at, the higher the performance. But if they stop spinning, you are basically screwed. All of your data is gone, unless you want to spend a small fortune to get it recovered.

So, the small thumb drives aren't like your traditional hard drives. There are no moving parts inside. And this means chance of failure is far less likely to happen. Now the fast performance of small flash drives are now brought to your computer in a larger size. And the need for RAID configurations for back-up security is also gone.

It's features and specs include:

- Sequential Read: up to 270MB/s*
- Sequential Write: up to 230MB/s*
- Interface: SATA I/II
- TRIM Support (O/S dependent)
- RAID Support: Yes
- 128MB DRAM Cache
- Power Consumption: DC 5V, Standby 0.5W, Operating 5.3W
- MTBF: > 1,500,000 Hours
- Data Retention: >5 years at 25° C
- Data Reliability: Built in BCH 9, 24-bit ECC
- Operating Temperature: 0°C~70°C
- Storage Temperature: 40°C~85°C
- Operating Shock: 1,500G (@ 0.5msec half sine wave)
- Vibration Resistance: 20G/80~2000Hz w 3 axis
- Humidity: 0°C to 55°C / 95% RH, 10 cycles
- O/S Support: Win XP / Vista / 7

Build quality appears quite good. Although there is not a whole lot to it. The casing appears to be aluminum. It is a small 2.5" drive. And at the rear are your standard SATA data and power connections. It felt solid enough and well put together. And it was much lighter than a typical hard drive, as there is no dense platter inside.

As you can see from the specs listed below, it is quite speedy. It was the perfect size, so I installed it in my laptop. My hard drive used to be my weakest link. Now it is my strongest, giving me a windows experience index of 6.8. And as you can see from the benchmarks below, it performed very well. When compared to a standard hard drive......well, there really is no comparison. Trying to compare it to a standard hard drive would be like trying to race a new Camero Z28 in a new but stock Ford Focus. Don't do it. And in this case, my stock Seagate 500GB 5400RPM hard drive was the one that got embarrassed. Check out the benchmarks below.

As you can see the Patriot Torqx 2 is an excellent drive. What was probably the slowest component in your computer can now be one of the fastest. The Patriot Torqx 2 is built well, and performs well. SSD drives are the way to go, and the Patriot Torqx 2 performed amazingly without a single glitch. Based on it's features, quality and performance, it has earned our Highly Recommended Award. For more info and complete specs, check out their website at www.patriotmemory.com.