Callisto Deluxe 60GB

TRIM Support TRIM Support when used with compatible operating system

SandForce Driven™ Approved by the elite SandForce Driven™ quality program

Shock-Resistant Designed for continued reliable function

3 Year Warranty Quality guaranteed - we offer a 3 year limited warranty on this product.

Extreme Performance Unparalleled speeds to save time and money while transferring content rich data.

Introduction:

The Callisto series of solid state drives (SSDs) from Mushkin were released just four months ago and showed that the use of the Sandforce 1200 series controller offered performance superior to that of the INDILINX and Jmicron controlled drives that were the mainstay in the market at that time. The one downside to that original Sandforce controller-equipped drive was that it was equipped with a firmware that capped 4K random write performance to 10,000 IOPs. Even so, it delivered great performance that outpaced the results delivered by other drives with competing SSD processors, including the INDILINX-equipped Mushkin Io. Fast forward that same four months and Mushkin has updated the firmware on this new "Deluxe" version of its Callisto series drives so you get the Sandforce controller's uncapped 4K random write performance of up to 50,000 IOPs.

Other than the uncapped firmware, the Mushkin Callisto Deluxe has the same feature set, with read speeds of up to 285 MB/s and write speeds of up to 275 MB/s, the Sandforce SF1200 consumer grade controller, TRIM support, 34nm MLC Flash memory, 2,000,000 hours MTBF, and a three year warranty. The Callisto Deluxe comes in the same capacities as the original - 60GB (our test drive), 120GB, and 240GB. The pricing for this drive comes in at a meager (for SSDs) $144 for the 60 GB version I am testing. Performance-wise, I look for this drive to show the same characteristics as its predecessor, the Callisto.

Closer Look:

Let's start out looking at the packaging of the Callisto Deluxe. The front panel shows the product name with a small crescent to the left of the name. This moon shape makes reference to the third largest moon of Jupiter, Callisto, with the product description underneath. The upper left has the Mushkin Enhanced logo, while the bottom right contains a tag with the product number and SKU. The rear panel has a short sales pitch on the merits of the Mushkin Callisto series of solid state drives that includes speed and silence along with TRIM support. The bottom left has a link to the Mushkin website and a notation about the drive being assembled in the United States.